The Star: September 21, 2017

16 Thursday September 21 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
ELECTION COUNTDOWN
Christchurch political heavyweights Garry Moore, Tracey McLellan,
Sam MacDonald, Roger Bridge, Nicky Wagner and Megan Woods give
their opinions on the election and the way forward for New Zealand
(pages 16,17,19,20, 24). On page 23 Mayor Lianne Dalziel chimes in with her view
Let us start dreaming again
Garry Moore
is a former
Christchurch
mayor and
Labour Party
life member
IT’S TIME for a change.
Remember our individual
struggles getting EQC to treat us
seriously? At one stage, I reckoned
that if EQC came back to
our place often enough we would
end up owing them money.
The faults they found in our
place labelled “pre-existing” was
unbelievable. We stood there
defenceless, feeling like a criminal
trying to rip them off. We
succeeded against EQC when we
hired an expensive professional
adviser who proved what we had
been saying all along was true.
We all have tales of friends, or
neighbours, who have suffered
dreadfully at the hands of EQC,
and insurance companies. Some
died before they were reimbursed.
That’s not fair. That’s not
a decent society.
That’s why I want a Royal
Commission into EQC. I don’t
want to see my friends and relatives
in Wellington repeating our
experience when it’s their turn
for a quake.
We have the most convoluted
planning structures here. They
were imposed on us.
Now we need to say how we
want to run things ourselves,
with our own structures, accountable
to Christchurch, not to
Wellington. Of implementing the
ideas of all ages and all cultures;
of having fun as we plan again.
Remember ‘Share an Idea’? Let’s
do that again with all the big
challenges.
Let’s get all of our suburbs fully
restored and future-proofed. Like
using the red zone to plan for our
gradual retreat from the coast
over the next 80 years, assisting
our successors when they face
the inevitable results of global
warming.
Imagine Christchurch as an international
beacon for the world
in 21 st -century planning.
Let us start dreaming again.
Remember when we were
called the People’s Republic of
Christchurch and we loved it?
We saw ourselves as different.
We had pride in our city and we
accepted we did things our way.
Let’s do it again.
Let’s dream of cleaning up our
rivers. Of constructing small,
affordable, homes throughout
our city. Of enhancing our parks
and expanding our libraries. Of
planning, jointly with Ngai Tahu,
carefully all the major issues
in front of us. Together. Not in
secret.
Of growing the number of
small businesses and having our
own immigration policy and
encouraging thousands of young
families from around the globe
to move here to use our seaport,
our airport and our dataport, all
of which we own as a community,
to trade with the world. To
be a city rich in diversity.
Imagine a city where our
kids thrive because they are
well-housed, well-fed and welleducated.
Attracting families to
Christchurch because it isn’t just
hi-tech; but because of its fundamental
commitment to people.
That’s why I’m voting Labour
this election.
Labour’s key election
Here’s a snapshot of
Labour’s key policies:
Water
The introduction of a royalty
on freshwater of about 2c per
1000-litres for commercial users.
The revenue would be spent on
cleaning up waterways. It will
set stricter national standards on
freshwater quality, and within
five years would exclude all intensively
farmed livestock from
waterways.
Immigration
Cut net immigration numbers
by abut 20-30,000 annually,
including partly reducing the
number of international
students studying low-level
courses. A stricter labour market
test would also be introduced
so Kiwis are hired before those
from overseas.
Affordable Housing
Aims to build 100,000 homes
costing between $300,000-
$600,000 in 10 years – half in
Auckland. Foreigners living
abroad would be banned from
buying existing homes.
Health
It will cut GP fees by $10 a
visit, as well as $8 GP visits
for community services card
holders. Increase resources for
frontline health workers making
it easier for those with mental
health issues to get help. In the
first 100 days, Labour says it will
initiate a review of mental health
and addiction services.
Education
Offer three years of free
post-school education in either
tertiary education, training or
apprenticeships, available from
2025. Schools that stopped asking
for “voluntary” donations
would be paid $150 per pupil.
The charter or partnership
school model and National
Standards would be abolished
and NCEA would be reviewed,
while school operations funding
would be increased.
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A better deAl
for future
generAtions
i’m campaigning on:
• Drug reform
• Replacing 1080 poison with
Opposum farming
• Increased job opportunities
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