NZ POLITICS DAILY: Can the Christchurch rebuild be a politics-free zone?

The National Government wants the rebuild of Christchurch to be a ‘politics free zone’, but this wish is highly unlikely to occur. Major decisions over resources and the way we construct our society are always going to be fraught with major differences and divisions. And that’s how it should be – it’s healthy to have alternatives and differences debated and struggled over. However National won’t be welcoming headlines such as TVNZ’s Anger in Chch red zone over buyout offers.

To contain this debate, the forces of the political right are going to have to focus their arguments strongly. David Farrar obliges with his blog post response to the anger in Christchurch – see: Red zone unease – in which he makes the Government’s ‘take it or leave it’ argument to those unhappy with what he sees as a very generous response from the Government.

One person has left a reply on the blog post that is worth highlighting – ‘m@tt’ says ‘That’s not the point at all. The majority of these people have insurance for their homes which they expected would give like for like replacement in the event of loss of their home. The technicalities around land damage vs house damage make no different to the actual real world outcome for those people.

Not many people are going to get a like for like replacement using the just the government offer, they are going to have to downsize or take on debt. For those that are elderly, and that’s a fair chunk of these people, they simply are not going to be able to get raise finance to cover the shortfall and in many cases, where we are talking 1 and 2 bedroom units for the elderly in these areas, downsizing is not an option’.

What is being dealt with in Christchurch is a major market-based failure and problem. Although theoretically everyone should just be dealing with their insurance companies, the reality is the insurance companies can’t cope and land is not insured.

The fact that the Government has intervened at all clearly shows the limits of market-based solutions in the face of a disaster on this scale.

Therefore the government is offering an option to allow people to get on with their lives. But under this ‘solution’ residents face losing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. And although people are saying that the GVs have gone down, in a sense that is irrelevant because people are understandably viewing it as a simple insurance situation.

They had a house and some land, which they were not trying to sell. They did all the right things and had full insurance and now they just want the equivalent to what they had. So it seems unfair to say that market based valuations will be a fair solution when the market isn’t working at all. What’s more, the earthquake was so massive that it has pushed values for replacement land and housing up, making National’s ‘solution’ a rather problematic one. National needs to be reminded that most people believe that we have governments and collective responsibility so people can feel protected from these bolts from the blue.

Margaret Mutu will be relieved to have others coming to her defence – today the Maori Party has expressed sympathy with her anti-immigration views by also pointing to the problem of ‘English-speaking people’ coming to New Zealand. Co-leader Pita Sharples is reported as saying that ‘Maori need to have a more active role in immigration…. and as the tangata whenua “should be involved in who comes here”’ – see: TV3’s Pita Sharples on Maori and immigration.

It seems the Maori Party want to have a ‘Maori leadership committee’ established to provide consultation to immigration officials. Mutu’s right to freedom of expression is also put strongly by an ex-academic from her University, but she will not exactly welcome the rest of the critique in Mooting Mutu.

Other items worth checking out today are: Imperator Fish’s Problems with Police, David Farrar’s iPredict and Minor Parties, Cactus Kate’s The Psychology Of The Polls, and perhaps James Meager’s Vote Chat 2011 – now available for your posthumous viewing pleasure.

Bryce Edwards, NZPD Editor (bryce.edwards@otago.ac.nz)

Today’s content:

Urewera terror raids

Ian Steward (Stuff): Urewera terror raid case a 'house of cards'

Danya Levy and Kate Chapman (Dom Post): No apology likely over terror raids

TVNZ: Police apology for Urewera raids ruled out

Danya Levy (Stuff): Apology, compo over Urewera raids unlikely: Key

Jared Savage and Jamie Morton (NZH): Apology to Urewera accused unlikely - Key

Jared Savage and Jamie Morton (NZH): Iti: Madness to go ahead with trial

TVNZ: Urewera couple confident case will fall apart

Felix Marwick and Laura Heathcote (Newstalk ZB): Tuhoe unfairly smeared - Maori Party