Wagner Nicky: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Wagner Nicky: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 30 May 2012. Volume:680;Page:2696. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central) 
: 
 Talofa lava Mr Speaker. I am very pleased to stand today and support the Appropriation (2012/13 Estimates) Bill. I want to support it because I want to celebrate what Budget 2012 has done for Canterbury and the people of Christchurch. As the MP for Christchurch Central I really appreciate the commitment by this Government to the Christchurch rebuild. It is very appropriate I believe that the rebuild is one of the Government’s four priorities and hearing the Prime Minister say that his Government is 100 percent committed to rebuilding a strong and vibrant city is music to our ears.  
The Budget commitments of 2011 and 2012 give Christchurch certainty. They give us certainty because they are important for us as the second-largest city in New Zealand as the gateway to the South Island as the gateway to our tourist destinations and as an export centre for our agricultural production. It gives us the certainty that we can and we will rebuild. It gives us the certainty that we can rebuild knowing that the Government is standing right beside us and right behind us. It is very interesting to note that the Opposition MPs from Christchurch have spoken about everything in the Budget but none of them has talked about the fantastic support for Christchurch and Canterbury. Perhaps that is too positive a story.  
On top of the $5.5 billion that was specifically allocated for the rebuild in last year’s Budget—and about $2.4 billion has already been spent—Budget 2012 has increased the funding. It increased the funding particularly for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority by $115 million to make sure that it can oversee that reconstruction and to make sure that that money is spent well. The Budget also added another $13 million for the community for NGOs to lead initiatives to support Cantabrians. There is a debate about what the total cost of damage in Christchurch and Canterbury will be. It is estimated at somewhere between $20 billion and $30 billion. So whatever you think there is absolutely no doubt that it is the largest the most complex and the most difficult project in New Zealand’s history. But we are making real progress. It is our job to fix and to repair the destroyed homes the damaged businesses the public buildings and the infrastructure and that job is well on the way.  
Of course earthquakes damage land and destroy buildings and so the most difficult job we have had to start with is to understand the geotechnical processes under the city of Christchurch and Canterbury. It is to look at the zoning for the very worst damaged lands. That has been a particularly difficult time for residents whose land is damaged trying to figure out where their future lies. There are still nearly 2000 people on the Port Hills in the white zone who do not know what their zoning will be. However all the zoning on the residential flat land of Christchurch is complete so everyone except those in the white zone is able to think about moving on and think about creating a new future for themselves and many have. Owners of 7256 properties with the worst damage are eligible for Crown purchase offers and to date 6162 owners have been sent offers. About half those owners have settled and that has allowed them to move on and to restart. Every day I talk to people who have found new homes who have moved into new communities and many of them are very happy. In fact some of them are ecstatic. We have paid out about $600 million pre-insurance to those red zone residents and expect to do that again in the next few months. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Who’s “we”? 
NICKY WAGNER 
: The Government has spent out. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: The insurance companies. 
NICKY WAGNER 
: No the Government has spent $600 million pre - insurance repayments and then $600 million will come again in the next few months.  
There is lots of work happening in Christchurch. In fact that has been a silver lining for many families. Engineers workmen and tradespeople are everywhere. The Earthquake Commission has repaired over 15500 homes and another 35000 homes are in the process. The Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team has completed $165 million worth of infrastructure repairs and it is completing about $40 million worth every month going forward which will finally end up with about $820 million. Right now it has been working on the pipes and the drains under the city. It has examined assessed and cleaned over 1000 kilometres of pipes and it has repaired 20 kilometres of them.  
Of course buildings have to come down before we can rebuild and we are getting very good at demolition in Christchurch. There are about 1000 buildings in the central city that have to come down. Close to 800 have been demolished with another 200 on the way. I actually live in the centre of the city. I go to bed hearing the demolition and I wake up in the morning hearing the demolition but I have to say it is a good feeling to see those broken buildings gone and to realise that we are beginning to rebuild. Things are popping up all over the city. I have got a new house over the road from where I live. My office was a rebuild since September. There are new shopping centres there is a new supermarket about to open Briscoes has got a new centre and there is a new hotel. There are about 26 major buildings being built in Christchurch at the moment.  
However there is no doubt it has been an extremely tough time both physically and mentally for the people of Christchurch so the health and well-being of Cantabrians has been a really important part of the Government’s earthquake response. Extra funding and resources for the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development made sure that we could have a rapid response going right back to September and right through 2011 and the extra money for health in this Budget will also help. Although the health facilities in Christchurch are working amazingly well it has been really difficult for everyone. I would like to pay tribute to the doctors and the nurses and the health professionals who are working under very difficult circumstances to keep our system running and it is still fragile. In fact I think most of the people in Christchurch are a little bit fragile at the moment so Budget 2012 has confirmed an excess of $2.8 million for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority’s community well-being team.  
In education we have an opportunity to look at new ways to deliver to our young people and it is good to see the increase in Vote Education and our commitment to getting a great education to five out of five young New Zealanders. It was an absolute credit to our schools to our teachers and to our parents that Christchurch students improved their response in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement last year despite all the disruption of the earthquake. Christchurch’s results were 6 percent higher than the national average and its students did better in 2011 than in 2010. So it just goes to show that when you focus on education and you have a quality input you can get a quality output.  
One of the silver linings of the earthquake is that young people can see many good jobs ahead of them in the rebuild. We have created 4500 new training positions in construction but all types of skilled workers are in demand. We need accountants we need lawyers and managers and we need everybody who can support the rebuild and our communities.  
The productivity of Christchurch is essential to the long-term economic health of our country and our future is looking good. Our economy is operating well record amounts of exports are going through our port unemployment is down and many businesses are not only recovering but flourishing. I would like to thank the Government for its support of my city in this Budget and I believe that Christchurch is looking forward to a very bright future. Thank you.