Brownlee Gerry: Urgent Debates — Schools Canterbury—Proposed Closures and Mergers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Brownlee Gerry: Urgent Debates — Schools Canterbury—Proposed Closures and Mergers 
[Sitting date: 18 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5298. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery) 
: 
 I want to start by acknowledging the mover of this motion Catherine Delahunty. I thought she really did do a good job of indicating firstly that this was a serious problem that had to be dealt with that there were emotions that needed to be considered in all of this and that there was no particular easy way of going about it but also that there were perhaps some things that could be done better as we progress through the consultation period. I think that as a discussion topic for this House a debate in this House is perfectly appropriate and I thank her for the tone of her contribution. 
There has been nothing particularly easy about the last 2 years of dealing with the fallout from the earthquake events in Canterbury. There is no particular decision that has come naturally and simply. Every one of them has required a great deal of consideration and a great deal of thought about the best interests of the people who are most affected. I want to say to some of the other speakers who have spoken this afternoon specifically about cases they are familiar with such as the Maori immersion schools having to come together that none of that is something that we want to do. It is something that has been put upon us by the circumstance and has to be considered. That is part of this process today. 
Ms Martin from the New Zealand First Party made a number of interesting comments. Firstly she said that there was too much information prepared but not enough consultation. Well I do not know how you have consultation without significant amounts of information being given to people. Further to that I do not know how the Government was supposed to talk to 500 individuals so 250 principals and 250 chairs of boards and then all of the people who support them the staff of all those schools and the people who as the member said give up their time to voluntarily be on boards and get them all together—thousands of them in fact—to give them a message which she then said should have been delivered one on one. 
 This is a difficult difficult process. No one is denying that and I am grateful that all other members have acknowledged that. I do want to say though to people who are listening that there is no part of the city that is immune from the considerations that have had to be put forward in this process. In my own electorate in the north-west there are three schools that face the possibility of being closed. Those schools are in relatively close proximity to each other and there are numerous schools around and about. It simply indicates that the demographic in Christchurch has shifted quite significantly. The growth patterns for the city have changed and have moved and it would be plain irresponsible to go around saying to every school “Look we’re going to come along and fix everything up and then take a longer period of time to sort all this out.” The one thing that people in Canterbury appreciate most is decisions. They do not like indecision and the only way that we could get to a decision point in this was to put it all on the table for that wide consideration. 
I have to say that I am utterly disgusted at some of the cynical manipulation of what I think is genuine anxiety for what our opponents particularly in the Labour Party perceive as being to their political advantage. There is no—no—winning in getting alongside people who are deeply distressed and telling them that they do not have to deal with the problem that is in front of them that they should not have to deal with the problem or that if only there was someone else running things the problem would not be there in the first place. That is not true and I have got to say that we have been through land decisions where we have had the same rhetoric blown out from Mr Cosgrove all about “I’m here for my local community. I’m an advocate. I won’t be deterred.” All that does is reinforce the angst anguish and hurt that people are having to suffer. It is disgraceful and it is time it stopped because this country has never ever dealt with a problem as big as this. It is very easy for the rest of New Zealand to think that it has been 2 years and it should have gone away but for goodness’ sake this is a huge problem. We are tackling it in as smooth a way as is possible. Yes there will be some people who do not like the way we are handling it. That is what it is all about. 
But what I can say in this case is that 173 schools out of 215 got the green light the other day to go ahead repair and get on with things. That is overwhelmingly positive. It would not have been right to say to those other schools—schools that know they have lost roll know they have got declining demographics in their area and know they have children today in classrooms that are well below the code should there be an earthquake in close proximity to those schools—that everything is OK we are going to fix it and there will be no change. Change was inevitable from the moment the earthquake struck— 
Denis O’Rourke 
: Everybody knows that. 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: —in September. What we are seeing is this crazy sort of acknowledgment: “Yes we know there was going to be change but on the other hand we don’t want it we don’t like it and it doesn’t have to happen.” That is plain irresponsible. 
This is a billion-dollar investment by the Government in the revitalisation of schooling in Canterbury. You cannot—no one can—make the case that the Government is walking away or cutting corners when you have got such a huge upfront statement about the investment that is available for those schools. 
 I want to make a comment too about Ouruhia Model School. I thought the chairman of the board there took a very very sensible stance in saying: “Well we’ve got a 12-week consultation programme. We are going to go into it and we are going to fight our case.” I do not like that word “fight” because I think it is a proper discussion that we need to have. Yes there has been the loss of a whole population—900 houses in Brooklands where the children who go to that school largely came from are no longer going to be there. Yes there will be shifts further west in the city and that may have an effect on Ouruhia Model School but we do want to talk to them. 
I think one of the things that is most annoying about this is that some of those who are politically opposed to what we are doing and how we are doing it are making a big noise about: “It could have been done better and if it was only us it would have been better.” They are even going so far as to say “If it was only us we probably would not have done this anyway.” which is a total denial of reality. That denies the fact that this is a proper process where there will be consultation and there will be discussion. I have to say that I am very very convinced that the people who are affected here will engage in that process properly because the experience in Christchurch proves just that. 
We have had the dreadful news given to 7795 households that they can no longer live on the properties that they built and called home. Of those as the dates have come up for people to have to make a decision about one of the Government’s offers the overwhelming numbers of people have made that decision because they simply know that it is in their best interests. What I would say is that— 
Denis O’Rourke 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I fail to see how what the Minister is talking about now in terms of compensation for homeowners— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Order! That is not a point of order. The member cannot enter the debate by a point of order. 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: The point of it is simply that of the first 3000 households which I agree with the member over there had no choice because of the condition of their land there was only one who took until the last day to make that decision. It will be like that with the schooling issue. It will be like that with the schooling issue. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: Do you know why? Because they didn’t have an offer from their insurance company. 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: What we are getting across the House right now is that denial once again that there really is a problem here. There is the idea that somehow there has been a misleading of people about all of this. This is not right. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: I thought you were better than this. 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: The member says she thought I was better than this. I have to say to that member that she is letting her communities down by cynically manipulating their emotions. It is a disgrace. It is time it stopped.