Walking through the wrong door is the least of Gerry’s problems

Written By: - Date published: 4:51 pm, July 29th, 2014 - 12 comments
Categories: christchurch earthquake, election 2014, Gerry Brownlee, housing, national - Tags:

It’s not been a good week for Gerry. First he walked through the wrong door and caused a major security issue at Christchurch airport, and offered to resign to the PM – and offer that a number of commentators said the PM should have accepted. Perhaps more importantly, the people of Ilam agree. Now, he’s have trouble with basic maths. In response to a story about the slow rate of the rebuild, Brownlee said this:

It was estimated that 1500 new homes were needed in Christchurch City between 2012 and 2016

He used this to try and say that the rebuild was actually ahead of schedule. This was an act of sophistry totally removed from reality. A Press article from March puts the number of houses being demolished in the residential red zone at 8000. That doesn’t include houses that are uninhabitable in other suburbs, which takes the total number of houses that have gone out of the market due to the quakes to somewhere between 11,000 and 12,000. Gerry’s figure of 1500 would mean that only about 1/8th of the houses lost in the quakes need to be replaced. How he could get to that figure is a mystery.

Throughout the last few years Brownlee has consistently denied that there is a housing crisis, despite almost every sign pointing to one. Just this morning, the Press reported that the average rent in Christchurch is just $20 a week less than in Auckland – an increase of 13% in the last year alone. Yet those who live in Auckland and pay Auckland rents also earn significantly more on average than people down here. But Brownlee – who is of course a landlord himself – has said that the market will sort out rents in the city. Well, the market has had 3 and half years to sort itself out, and it has led to rents getting to the point where they are really hurting our must vulnerable people. It’s time to admit that the market can’t solve this crisis.

James Macbeth Dann, Labour's Ilam candidate

James Macbeth Dann, Labour’s Ilam candidate

What we need in Christchurch is more houses, now. Affordable, well-designed, well-insulated houses. Lots of them. This is why Labour’s Kiwibuild scheme will roll out 10,000 houses in Christchurch in the first 4 years. People have waited too long for the invisible hand. Labour believes that the government has a strong role to play in alleviating the considerable stresses in the Christchurch housing market. Not only do National deny that there is a housing crisis in Christchurch, they have left the rebuild in the hands of a man who demonstrated at the airport last Thursday a level of arrogance that suggests he is completely out of touch with the people he is meant to be representing. While the PM may have chosen not to accept his resignation, the people of Ilam don’t have to: they have the chance to show Gerry the exit door on the 20th of September by voting Labour and voting for James Macbeth Dann.

12 comments on “Walking through the wrong door is the least of Gerry’s problems ”

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  1. Clemgeopin 1
    29 July 2014 at 5:33 pm

    Not only does Jerry Brownlee need to be shown the exit door on Sept 20, this whole pro wealthy dodgy discredited shoddy National/Key government needs to be shown the exit too. I most certainly will.

  2. vto 2
    29 July 2014 at 6:56 pm

    No its ok, the free market will provide.

    The free market always provides for a demand in our society. That’s what we are told. Especially by the likes of gosman, srylands, farrar, key, joyce.

    So why didn’t this free market government let the free market provide for property owners in the CBD? Why have they let the free market provide only for east chch?

    something doesn’t add up …

    • Puddleglum 2.1
      29 July 2014 at 7:24 pm

      “So why didn’t this free market government let the free market provide for property owners in the CBD? Why have they let the free market provide only for east chch?”

      I think you know the answer.

      For this government it is a truism that we cannot possibly let the already privileged business people fail (even if it means destroying the property rights of other business people) as that would be a disaster for all of us.

      We can, however, let individuals, families and communities fail because they do nothing other than live off the trickling bounty provided by the country’s Atlases. No disaster in their failing.

      The irony is that the Atlases are the ones who need to be pampered and supported for all of our sakes. Everyone else has to carry their own worlds on their own shoulders – or simply get crushed under the weight.

      Of course it’s nonsense.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1
        29 July 2014 at 8:00 pm

        +11111

      • Tracey 2.1.2
        30 July 2014 at 10:02 am

        yup.

        people trusted the “market” when they saw those Ads by insurance companies and decided to insure with one that promised no hassles and to put them first (etc etc)… see how that has worked out!D

    • Richard@Down South 2.2
      29 July 2014 at 8:07 pm

      Because the free market is perfectly happy to have 15 people in a house, with a rent of $2000 a week…

      • vto 2.2.1
        29 July 2014 at 8:15 pm

        Not quite Richard…

        The half of the free market that is the demand side is not happy to have 15 people in a house at all.
        The demand side wants 2.5 people per house.

        So where is the supply side to meet it?

        … and so the fairytale comes to an end and the golden carriage turns back into the pumpkin it has always been ….

  3. disturbed 3
    29 July 2014 at 7:04 pm

    Use the mongrel teamkey mobsters words.
    “It doesn’t stack up.”

    Then the thick heads might get the message probably after the cow flew over the moon!

  4. Stuart Munro 4
    29 July 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Key sent ‘one of the boys’ to do a man’s job. No safe Gnat seats in Christchurch now.

  5. ropata 5
    29 July 2014 at 9:21 pm

    There is no depression in New Zealand;
    there is no cowshit on our farms,
    There is no depression in New Zealand;
    we can all keep perfectly calm,

    Everybody’s talking about Rock Star Key;
    everybody’s talking about a Rugby Team,
    And we’re as safe as safe can be,
    there’s no unrest in this country
    We have no earthquake damage,
    we have no CBD,
    we have no ECAN,
    we have no environment, environment, no, no

    There is no depression in New Zealand;
    there are no teeth in our heads
    There is no depression in New Zealand;
    we sleep in a well made bed

    Oh but everybody’s talking about Rock Star Key,
    yes everybody’s talking about a Rugby Team,
    But we’re as safe as safe can be,
    there’s no unrest in this country
    We have no deficit,
    we have no poverty,
    we have no 3rd world disease;
    we have no equality, equality, no, no

    There is no depression in New Zealand;
    there is no cowshit on our farms,
    There is no depression in New Zealand;
    oh we can all keep perfectly calm,
    perfectly calm,
    perfectly calm,
    perfectly calm,
    perfectly calm…

    (Updated from the 1981 hit)
    http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/there-is-no-depression-in-new-zealand-1981

  6. Tracey 6
    30 July 2014 at 10:03 am

    Do you ever wonder just how many buried bodies Brownlee knows where to find?

  7. Brendon Harre 7
    30 July 2014 at 5:22 pm

    The two signs that the housing market in Christchurch has lost its way is the size of rents and the fact you cannot build a house for less than half a million dollars and one hour travel to central Christchurch.

    This is highly dysfunctional as explained by alain bertaud who is speaking around the country this week.

    If kiwi build + new transport infrastructure means good family homes can be built for 3-4 hundred thousand dollars that are only 30 min from central Christchurch then the city becomes a lot more functional.

    There are various new town possibilities that would achieve this.

    I hope Labour is considering this.