Cosgrove Clayton: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCosgrove Clayton: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19060. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour):One of the ways you measure recovery is by looking at the number of people who are settling claims. I will concede one thing in Nicky Wagner’s speech—although after that speech I have to say I have got a bit of sympathy for Gerry Brownlee having to work with her—which is that the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team is going well. I think the team is quite an outstanding example of community engagement and communication despite the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority’s intransigence. I think it is a good example and it is a pity that the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery did not follow the same pattern with his own department.Mr Brownlee is fond of making statements and he has claimed from time to time of course that—in fact I will read his quote—“Only a small fraction of outstanding claims are in dispute and there are a range of appropriate channels to deal with complex or disputed insurance claims.” Well one of them is the court and we propose—and we will implement it when in Government—an earthquake court. It will be a division of the District Court—a lean mean fighting machine to get claims through. Mr Brownlee’s response to that was to say basically that he believed that “lawyers would have a field day at taxpayers’ expense.” That is what he said. The point I would make to Mr Brownlee is: what about the insurers having a field day at the claimants’ expense which has been going on for 4 years?If the insurance industry which he is very fond of sucks up to and puts his arms round is doing such a great job then why is it that only 44 percent—44 percent—of claims are settled? That is on the authority’s own website. There are 10000 outstanding claims and the census tells us that there are two and a half people per household on average so that is equivalent to the size of Timaru—25000 families and households in dispute. They have still not settled their claims with those wonderful people from the insurance industry nearly 4 years down the track so we say it is time to do something about it.What we should not keep hearing from this Government is how well these guys are doing because every insurance company in this country has let down its claimants. Every insurance company in this country is in breach of its contract because insurance policies say that claims should be settled in a reasonable time—not 1 year later; not 4 years later. Mr Brownlee’s answer is that his department says it is all OK there is no problem there is a bit of an advisory service here and if you have got enough money over and above all the other things that you are grappling with you can toddle off to court. He also says of course that most claims do not get to court. Well that is true because people cannot afford to go to court and in another 2 years’ time the Limitation Act says that if they are still in dispute with the insurer they then lose all their rights if they have not lodged a court case. So Mr Brownlee does not connect the dots. He says that very few cases end up in court—that is correct—but they do not end up in court because people cannot afford the means to get there.So what is their alternative? Oh a bit of disputes resolution a bit of mediation—sit there and wait 4 years later. We say that we will set up the Earthquake Court. The Crown will hit the bill and then pass it on to the Earthquake Commission and the insurance industry. There will be compensation payments to the claimants if the insurance companies delay. Mr Brownlee I am sure will get up and say: “Oh we don’t need more lawyers. We need more plumbers we need more sparkies we need more carpenters working on these houses.” He is right but the only way you will get more plumbers and sparkies and carpenters is if the people have the money from their insurance claim and the Earthquake Commission to then rebuild or build their houses and employ those sparkies and carpenters and plumbers.If they cannot get the money out of the Earthquake Commission and they cannot get the money out of their insurance company and they cannot afford to go to court on their own volition—and under our policy it will not cost them a dime—then how on earth does this Minister expect people to get ahead? What are the other appropriate avenues for people as he says to actually get ahead get their claims sorted and get it done and dusted? The truth is that there are none Mr Brownlee—there are none.All we hear from this Minister is that his officials—the Earthquake Commission officials—and the insurance industry are working tirelessly as he said on 31 August last year to get these claims settled. Well here is the problem: 44 percent—that is it. There are 10000 outstanding big claims not to mention some of the other ones. Then we have the privacy breaches the obfuscation by the Earthquake Commission the lack of information and the inconsistent information and people still languish. So I say to Mr Brownlee let us hear your solution for the person who has no money whom the advisory service cannot do a lot for who cannot go to court and who has nowhere to go—