Christchurch Earthquake bulletin edition 59

The Labour Party's Christchurch electorate MPs, Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central) have started a regular bulletin to keep people in their electorates and media informed about what is happening at grass roots level.

CLAYTON COSGROVE: Yesterday I held a productive meeting with the Insurance Council and representatives of AMI and IAG on concerns Christchurch residents have at signing off their insurance claims. I am increasingly concerned that the understandable reluctance of residents to sign off on claims is slowing the recovery and adding to the stress of people who are already under enormous pressure. I wrote to Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee months ago asking him to provide access to independent advice, but he has stubbornly shown no interest. Yesterday's meeting was productive and helpful, but the proof will be in the pudding. Both AMI and IAG have agreed to re-visit specific clauses in their individual contracts to see whether they can be justified. We will be very interested in analysing the outcome of this. They have also agreed that if they decided their contracts should be worded differently that they will go back to clients who have signed and offer them a new document. The Insurance Council has also agreed to contact other insurers to see if they can find potential issues in their contracts as well. By and large I was pleased with the meeting. The last thing we want is for claimants to lose trust in insurance companies. That will just slow the recovery process down. I accept that the so-called one-page contracts companies have been offering claimants were designed to streamline and speed up the process. The motivation is good, but we just have to ensure that stressed people are not disadvantaged. The fact remains that this situation would not have eventuated if Gerry Brownlee had heeded the call for independent advice six months ago. On another issue, which is not nearly so positive, Gerry Brownlee has now called off two cross-party briefings that were scheduled for this week. He now says the next briefing won't be until next Tuesday. That's not acceptable; we have constituents demanding information, and we can't give it to them. All we can do is send them back to the bureaucrats, putting more pressure on CERA that it could do without. The first cross-party briefing he cancelled was scheduled for Tuesday night in Wellington. Obviously, as everyone was in Christchurch after Monday's quakes, the meeting couldn't be held in wellington, but it could have been held down here. Mr Brownlee said we would hold a meeting today instead, but he's cancelled that as well. The only information we can pass on to constituents is what we glean from media reports. That's hardly satisfactory. Mr Brownlee seems to have plenty of time to brief the media, but no time to brief cross-party MPs. Our constituents deserve to be able to get official information from us, but Mr Brownlee is preventing that occurring. I have written him an official letter of protest today, telling him we want a meeting this week. On the vexed question of land, Christchurch people must be given a timeline, and they must also be presented with a range of options when National finally decides they can be given some information. They must not simply be told --- this is what is going to happen, take it or leave it.

RUTH DYSON: St John responded to 55 emergency incidents overnight on Monday I felt physically sick to discover that three of those incidents were older Cantabrians suffering severe hyperthermia. Time and time again my colleagues and I have raised the issue of access to appropriate heating. Before now it has been the threat of winter which has concerned us, but with winter upon us and thousands of Cantabrians without power after the most recent round of aftershocks the plight of the elderly is under the microscope. The reality that people are so cold they need to be admitted to hospital needs to be urgently addressed. I know that our communities are working hard to locate people who they know are living alone or who are elderly, but the government also needs to recognise and address this hardship. People are so busy focusing on the day to day that many are still not aware that assistance is available. Anyone needing assistance with their winter heating should visit the Red Cross website or contact my office. The Red Cross Commission has extended their winter assistance grant to those over 65 as well as households where there are children under five years old. These grants can go a significant way towards subsidising winter heating. Visit http://www.redcrosseqgrants.org.nz for more information. Conditions can be manageable for 24 hours but basic services like hot meals and heating are essential. I spent yesterday and will spend today visiting local community hubs. Volunteers in Heathcote, Waltham, Sumner and Redcliffs are out delivering food parcels to those who cannot easily access supermarkets. This is a service which informally started in Lyttelton after February's quake. The improvement in people's wellbeing was such that the service continued and has now been taken up across the electorate. Lyttelton was really a beacon of hope in this area and the service makes a real difference.

LIANNE DALZIEL: John Key said yesterday his Government had a 'clear picture' of the suburbs which will need to be abandoned in Christchurch but his refusal to share this information is adding to the stress and anguish people are experiencing. Key said he understood circumstances were frustrating but that he wanted to 'get it right' as 'it is not only the land but what happens next' which lies in the balance. While the sentiment is valid, Key entirely misses the point. What happens with the land next is very much secondary to the facts as they stand. If the picture is as clear as he is making out, residents have the right to know. John Key obviously isn't aware of the impact his uncertainty is having on residents of the affected suburbs. Clarity has been called for since September, since February, and while we now know that the remediation plans agreed to then are no longer possible, there must be an end in sight. We need to know what has happened to the land and what engineered solutions are possible and economic. John Key is clearly indicating that the Government knows the answer to these questions, but is not prepared to tell those who are affected nor indicate a timeline. People can be trusted to interpret the information at hand properly. This is about basic respect and recognition of the stage at which information becomes of use to the public. National is letting us down on both fronts. Key's refusal to honestly engage with us is delaying the process of recovery. Giving an indication of the future of individual suburbs will allow people to move on psychologically even if they cannot yet move on physically. Withholding this information while the compensation package is sorted out may have been an option, but now John Key has announced thousands will have to leave their homes it is apparent the Government has a fair idea of who will be affected. Yesterday's visit and comments by John Key have added yet another unnecessary layer of uncertainty. People deserve access to the information that dictates their futures.

BRENDON BURNS: Frustrations are mounting in the hard-hit suburbs of Christchurch Central. Yesterday I visited St Albans, Shirley, parts of the inner city, and revisited Richmond and Avonside, where I held an open-air meeting organised by local residents. Some of them are at their wits' end with the continued delays to information about the future of their land. I share their frustrations. While Minister Brownlee is saying it is blindly obvious what land will be abandoned, people remain desperate for details. It is time for the Government to tell us what areas cannot be rebuilt. People deserve to know what is happening with their land. The absence of information is the worst possible situation. I cannot deny that Monday's aftershocks have tipped the balance for some people. Homes in Avonside remain without water and many haven't had sewage connections since February. Silt remains a huge issue across many parts of my electorate. In Emmett St in Shirley, resigned householders were back out again barrowing the silt. One of them alerted me to a damaged neighbour's HCNZ house where the bricks are falling away from the corner. HCNZ has assured me it will be urgently inspected. I have today on behalf of the IConIC group I chair sought from CERA a list of the 147 inner city buildings damaged or further damaged in Monday's quakes. There are plans to urgently demolish perhaps 100 of them. What I want to know is how many heritage buildings are on the list. While some of them will certainly need to come down for safety's sake, some assurance is sought that all is being done to keep as much as possible, including facades where buildings do have to be demolished. I will be out in my caravan today and able to meet with constituents at the corner of North Parade and Medway St between 3-4pm.

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