Anderton Jim: Ministerial Statements — Earthquake—Canterbury 
Anderton Jim: Ministerial Statements — Earthquake—Canterbury 
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Hon JIM ANDERTON (Leader—Progressive) 
: 
 My thoughts and I am sure those of the members of the House are with the tens of thousands of people from my city who are only now realising the full impact of this disaster. The one ray of light is the miracle that not one single citizen was killed. I have been moving around the suburbs of Christchurch and I can see that the damage there is even worse than many people had first thought. A lot of attention has been given to the inner city but the suburbs of Christchurch have suffered very significant and serious damage. 
First I would like to pay tribute to the spirit of the people of the city: the elderly men who were on the footpath in the Spreydon shopping centre at 7 o’clock on the morning of the quake sweeping up all the glass and taking it away in skips so that people could walk on the footpaths; the neighbour who carried the elderly sick lady in the house next to him into his house so that he could care for her; and the 150 students who yesterday cleaned up an extraordinary mess in the suburbs of Hoon Hay and Halswell. Students often get a bad rap but I would say that they deserve the highest of praise for the spirit of community service they showed there. 
There were the many hundreds of people who have helped out in the aftermath of this quake. I especially thank the mayor the civil defence team and the workers attached to it the police the firefighters the Red Cross and the thousands of volunteers for their dedicated work. All of those people are working long days to get food and water to those in need to clear the rubble and make the buildings safe and then of course they have to go back to their own homes that in many cases have been damaged beyond repair and to their own families who are suffering as well. 
I also want to thank the people from across New Zealand who have offered help and been a source of strength and inspiration to the families and businesses affected by this earthquake. Today every New Zealander is a citizen of Christchurch. It makes me proud to be a Cantabrian even if only through adoption and proud to be a New Zealander to see these offers of help in such a time of need. 
I also want to say that the clear and concise messages from Mayor Bob Parker have helped all the people of Christchurch in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. We should be in no doubt that we need to boil our water for 3 minutes before drinking. He deserves credit for his clarity and the time he has given in this crisis. Prime Minister John Key’s determination to be on site and available has also been appreciated by everybody. However I would like to see that there is a cross-party commission group or body so that we can utilise the skills of all the people in Christchurch—MPs and councillors no matter what their political persuasion. We all have knowledge experience and skills to offer and they will be needed. Now is the time to work together for the sake of our city. I would like to offer John Key’s Ministers on the ground John Carter and Gerry Brownlee and Mayor Bob Parker our hand of help because we will need each other to build the city again. 
First we have to stabilise the situation and provide relief for those in urgent need. We need to provide medium and long-term accommodation to those who cannot return to their homes. There is the obvious damage in the inner city; then there is the less obvious but no less serious damage to suburban housing and infrastructure. There might not be the dramatic pictures of our inner-city buildings turned to rubble and the TV cameras might not be there but I can tell the House that many many hundreds if not thousands of suburban homes will never be lived in again or not for any length of time anyway. Thousands more are at risk of demolition. Imagine the stress and trauma that will cause the people who fail yet to realise the enormity of this earthquake. 
Like most people in Christchurch I live in the suburbs and I want to see help to people living there. I visited an elderly couple yesterday who had lived in their solid 1960s home for 46 years. Now that house in the suburbs will have to be demolished. What will they do? Will they rebuild? The whole country and the Government will have to get behind every family and business in Christchurch. This is the time I think for examining all the levels of help through the Earthquake Commission and so on and putting them to work. 
The Government needs to make a commitment to move quickly because people need reassurance now. If they are fully insured they may get sufficient insurance from their insurance companies or they may not—not to mention the number who may not be fully insured. By reports at least 100000 homes are affected in Canterbury. It will take months or even years to fully recover and the cost of the recovery will be well over $2 billion and maybe much more. 
Finally we will need the whole country and the Government to get behind Christchurch because it is not just homes that have been destroyed; it is jobs as well. There are people who will never go back to their workplace. First we have to provide immediate relief to people who have lost their incomes and have bills to pay but no wages coming in. People need some certainty about that relief and they need to know that they will be helped now. Then we will have to talk about the long-term plan to rebuild our city create jobs and rebuild businesses—and that will involve everybody. 
This is a time for all New Zealanders to be behind the people of Canterbury. They are assured by the responses they have had until now that they will be but it will be a very long-haul operation. It will take not weeks or months but years and we have to be in for the long haul.