Dalziel Lianne: Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Dalziel Lianne: Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
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Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Chairman for the opportunity to contribute further to the debate. I will refer back to the international experience. I talked in an earlier contribution to the Committee stage about the Hurricane Katrina story. I want the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery to listen because the story is extremely relevant to why we are talking about the essential nature of getting the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Bill right. There has been international literature on Hurricane Katrina but this story comes from Massey University. We have in New Zealand one of the world experts in this particular field. In fact he is in Christchurch on Monday and he is addressing a seminar on recovery which I certainly have signed up for and I hope others in this Chamber do so too. The first thing he talked about was the issue of who defines the character of recovery. He said that pre-event politics frames the recovery process and I want to come back to that because people have said some pretty harsh things about this side of the Chamber. Yes we do take them personally but they will not stand in the way of making this work. 
The second issue in respect of the New Orleans story was this—and I want to make this point very very clearly. The relationship between local states and the Federal Government meant chaotic planning and that is what this bill is designed to address. It is designed to ensure that there is not chaotic planning. 
The third thing was that in New Orleans vulnerable populations were marginalised from the recovery process and I will not let vulnerable communities that I was elected to represent be marginalised in this recovery process regardless of what the bill says. The expert talked about domination by urban elites and corporate interests and experts from outside the city and region. Finally and most important he said that pre-event vulnerabilities were re-entrenched in a post Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. We must not let that happen. 
Members of this Government have stood in this Chamber and accused me and my colleagues of playing politics with this legislation. Well I want to read to the Committee an email that I sent to John Key and every member of the Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee on Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and then I will table it. When I sent this email I did so behind the scenes. There was no intention other than to get the Government to focus on what mattered to my constituents. I sent it on 1 March 1 week after the 22 February earthquake. It stated: “TVNZ  
Close Up 
 ran a story tonight about a Tale of Two Cities - the east west divide is real and it has major implications for our city. I live in Bexley which means I have a very personal and emotional link to what I’m about to say. I have tried to strip this email of that influence and share with you what I know about the people I’ve been privileged to represent for 10 years now.” I will not read out the entire detail but I want people to know that what I raised with the Government was the fact that “tolerance levels are lower than they were before because people felt they had been overlooked after the first earthquake. This has implications for law and order and also for mental health.” 
Secondly there was fear that people are vulnerable to the criminal element after dark. I asked for some night curfews around areas that had no electricity. This request was supported by the local police but was not listened to. The other fear was about more serious earthquakes and about the tsunami risk for offshore quakes. I wanted answers that I could share with the people I have the privilege to represent. 
On the issue of health I spoke to the people at the tactical medical centre that was set up by the Queensland mobile army surgical hospital unit. I said: “The problem is that we are treating ourselves as a First World city when the east is experiencing Third World conditions …”. That is what I was told by the doctor who was running the unit and who had very special expertise to bring to the table because he had been to disasters in Australia and all around the world. 
I went on to talk about access to services and about how difficult it was to spend a cash grant when all the supermarkets and petrol stations are closed. I then talked about Portaloos but I will not talk about Portaloos here because I am still very upset that the powers that be would not listen to the concerns that were raised genuinely privately and behind closed doors over and over again until finally I had to speak out on behalf of those who elected me to do so. 
I went on to talk about the resources of people who live in the badly affected areas and who do not have the resources that are available to me. I am talking about things like a steady income mortgage-free living and having family on the other side of town. I could have gone over to my sister’s place and had a shower at any time over the 16 days that my house was without electricity but I did not do that because we were being told to stay off the roads for non-urgent purposes. Besides I was a Girl Guide and I know how to keep myself clean and smelling OK even though I did not have access to a shower for that period of time. 
Some of the people I represent—not all of them—have no savings. This is not a rich versus poor divide between east Christchurch and west Christchurch either. We have some beautiful houses that have been smashed up on the riverside on the Bexley wetlands looking out over Horseshoe Lake Reserve. So it is not a case of east versus west and rich versus poor; it is just east versus west in terms of where the earthquake did its damage. But a lot of people did not have 3 days’ worth of food in the cupboard they did not have 20 litre water containers they did not have transistor radios with batteries and they did not have torches that were working. 
I went on to talk about engineering and Variation 48 but I will not go into that again because the council has not listened to me and I know that the Government is getting Tonkin and Taylor to work up some realistic solutions there. I am grateful for that and I want to place on record my admiration for Tonkin and Taylor and the fantastic work that it is doing. It is working so hard on behalf of our constituents. 
Finally I talked about recovery. Everything I have read about recovery post 4 September relates largely to the disappointing efforts after the establishment of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission which was believed by the city council and the Minister to absolve the council from its Civil Defence Emergency Management responsibilities. Post the 4 September earthquake international best practice kicked in with four task groups established—economic environment social environment built environment and natural environment. Most of these structures fell apart after the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission was established. I had ridiculous emails from the city council saying that the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission was better because it had seven task groups as opposed to four. The truth is that we need to engage with the communities of the east and with the central business district and we have to set aside politics. Politicians should not be the face of recovery. We need someone in charge. I have taken out the rest of the email because it gave some indication as to who I thought should be in charge and it is not fair to that individual for me to say so. So I have taken that person’s name out of the email before I table it. 
The reason I wanted to put that on the record is that we have worked tirelessly on this side of the Chamber to engage with the Government to engage with the council to engage with our communities and to represent them. In my maiden speech to Parliament I said that I wanted to be the face of the people who could not be seen and the voice of the people who could not be heard. I never realised for 1 minute that that would have some meaning after an event such as this but it does have meaning for me because that is the job that we have all been doing. Clayton Cosgrove Ruth Dyson Brendon Burns Jim Anderton and I have worked so hard as constituency MPs elected by our constituents to represent them and I really resent the fact that we are being criticised by people who have not been elected to represent constituencies in the way that we have. 
I know that the Hon Gerry Brownlee has been affected and I know that his constituents have been affected as well and he has taken up those concerns as a genuinely elected representative of those people as has Amy Adams on the other side of the Chamber. Amy Adams has also been personally affected and I think we have to acknowledge the fact that we are all personally affected in some way shape or form and that there is work that we need to do and we need to do it together. 
The Prime Minister told the Leader of the Opposition that I had been emotionally affected by the earthquake. Well I would like to know who was not emotionally affected by the earthquake. The emotional effect might be real but I tell members that it has not stopped my utmost commitment and driven desire to make sure that this legislation works for the people who elected me to represent them and to be their voice and I will continue to do so 
I know that the Minister is upset with some of the things that have been said but all I am asking is for him to please set those aside for the sake of making sure that we get this right. That is all I really want to say in this debate. I seek leave to table the email. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Leave is sought to table the papers the member outlined in her speech. Is anyone opposed to that course of action? There is no objection. Leave is granted. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.