Cosgrove Clayton: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Cosgrove Clayton: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:674;Page:20224] 
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
: 
 We acknowledge in these estimates of course that the department Mr Brownlee heads as Minister the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority is only some months old. Therefore it presents some difficulties for us in attempting if you will to measure its performance. 
Just for a moment and given that we are almost at the 12-month anniversary of the September quake I will review some of the issues that have arisen. I shall be generous to the Government from the kick-off and say that I think most Cantabrians would acknowledge that the initial Government response following the September quake was pretty good. We have to acknowledge that. Resources were put into play and the volunteer community and the Government agencies to a large extent I think exceeded expectations in many cases. 
Indeed if we come forward directly to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority I know that my colleagues in Canterbury and all my colleagues on this side of the Chamber supported the Minister’s appointment of Roger Sutton as the chief executive. Indeed I think it is fair to say that had we been in the seats across the aisle we probably would have looked to appoint Mr Sutton too. I have not seen certainly in my days here universal support for a Government or even a local government appointment in the way there was and is for Mr Sutton. We all wish him well. I do not think that any commentator politician or anyone else criticised the appointment. 
That being said the acid test is about the performance of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority given firstly that its Minister Mr Brownlee has wartime powers. He has more extensive powers probably than any Minister has had in the history of our Parliament in terms of legislative capacity. Secondly there is a $5.5 billion budget that this Parliament has provided that Minister and thirdly that Minister has the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority his own dedicated department. So to quote the Minister’s words and as he is fond of saying we look forward to him “getting on with it” because some critical issues are now facing our community. 
There have been questions raised about home heating but I will leave it to my colleague Brendon Burns to touch on that. There have been delays as we have moved through winter—it has been a pretty cold winter especially last week. 
There are some substantive issues of basic human relations in terms of the quality of communication that people have received. I have to say that leaks had come out before the big announcement was made when the sort of Nuremburg-type rally was held as the zoning was announced some months ago. The media had that information days before and a sort of uncontrolled leak materialised out of nowhere that shocked people. They were shocked even in my patch where the council was days away from breaking ground and where morale was high. Spirits were high but 2 days before Mr Brownlee’s announcement many of the people of Kairaki Beach were literally sitting with their insurers with new plans confirming them for their new houses. They assumed there may well have been a delay but they had not had any advice—and that included the Mayor of Waimakariri and the chief executive of the Waimakariri District Council—apart from an hour or so beforehand that their community would effectively be toast. Those are basic things I think on which the Minister needs to shape up. I am sure his department with Roger Sutton at the helm a person who has demonstrated openness and transparency will shape up and that may well change. 
The difficulty and concern we have is that now Mr Sutton is under the thumb the constraints of the Public Service and that was evident when he came to Kairaki Beach. He was asked whether he would provide the geotechnical information to those local people who were distraught. He answered that yes he would and that he saw no reason why he should not. But over subsequent weeks and days that has been wound back. Now we know of course that that information will not be provided until all the other zoning in Canterbury is confirmed in approximately—I do not know—6 months whenever the never-never. 
So the acid test for the performance of this department and the acid test by which the people of Canterbury will judge Mr Brownlee his Government and the department is on two promises that were made and were made repeatedly. The first was made after the September quake and I commend the Prime Minister for it. He said that he would put a stake in the ground and he said that no one in Canterbury would be worse off as a result of that quake. Mr Brownlee confirmed that before the select committee some weeks ago. He confirmed that. It is Mr Brownlee who including up until I think 15 June has repeatedly said that his priority is that equity will be preserved by those property owners. Those are the two acid tests as we move forward to unravelling and getting the details about the offer document that the Government is yet to provide to those people in the red zone. People have quoted them back to me time and time again even at those public meetings where Ms Wilkinson—