Brownlee Gerry: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Brownlee Gerry: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:674;Page:20230] 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery) 
: 
 I will make a few brief comments in response to those who have spoken already. Occasionally in this Chamber we hear outstanding speeches delivered by members and I congratulate Aaron Gilmore on his contribution this evening. I note that it will be something that is referred to in  
Hansard 
 for years to come. It was very very insightful and incredibly accurate. 
The difficulties that Canterbury has experienced over the last 12 months have been considerable; there is no doubt about that. I do not know any people living in the greater Christchurch area at the moment who are not making some change or concession in their lives towards getting the communities they live in back in operation whether it is in the way they travel around the city conduct their work activities in the city or have to make alternative arrangements for their children to get to sport and other things; we could go on and on. An enormous amount of extra effort is being made by many many people to get things going. 
Earlier this year after the 22 February event we established the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. It was a follow-on from the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission which had much lesser powers and which was set up after the September event. In setting up the new Government department the Public Service in New Zealand was very much to the fore and was showing itself to be the best that it is. I congratulate John Ombler on his initial work in setting up the authority and reaffirm the comments made in this Chamber about the delight we have in Roger Sutton taking on the chief executive role for that organisation. I should mention the names of other people—there are many of them—who are working very very hard in a very very focused and collaborative way with all of the districts—Selwyn Waimakariri and Christchurch—to get a good result in the long term. 
I will also mention the Order in Council process and the wartime powers that Mr Cosgrove regularly suggests that I hold. Those powers are very very muted by the processes that we have in place not the least of which are those relating to Orders in Council. I acknowledge the work that the Opposition parties are doing in collaboration with Government parties to make sure that that process works well. 
There are a couple of things I will cover in the brief few minutes I have left. Firstly we think the offer made to the 5000 households so far which would see them being given the option of leaving those properties at their 2007 valuation is a fair one. There is no question about that. If we look at all of the valuation data for real estate sales etc. over a period we see that that offer stacks up very very well. 
On the issue of temporary accommodation an announcement is imminent which is of an addition effectively to the arrangements that have been put in place so far. I need to make it clear that only about 80 families so far have accessed that additional accommodation support because the private insurers have stepped up in the first instance to make sure that people get those entitlements. 
On the issue of emergency heating I can tell members that under the winter heating programme there has so far been over 9000 installations of heat devices in houses in the greater Christchurch areas of Selwyn Waimakariri and Christchurch—over 9000. The bulk of that has been of heat pumps with a smaller number of pellet fires and wood burners. The programme continues but when we have put that much heating in and it is on an emergency basis there will naturally be a time when it starts to slow down. 
I think there are good things we can look forward to in Canterbury because there has been no significant depopulation and no outright collapse of our local economy. Our Paymark data and electricity usage confirm both of those things which I think points to a community that wants to recover and that has a very strong will to get things back to being as good as they can be and better. 
When it comes to those heritage buildings all I can say is that if there is an ongoing economic value in those buildings as well as heritage value the owners of those buildings are bound to recognise that and find a solution for their continued survival. One of the things we must make sure of in the future is that both our residences and our places of work are safe and that our commercial and industrial activities are conducted in safe buildings. 
Vote agreed to.