Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launch today on the Mahia Peninsula has been scrubbed again, sadly. A power fault this time. Kaikoura residents and businesses are celebrating the re-opening of State Highway 1 north following a year of earthquake repairs. The coastal highway link between Picton and Christchurch was badly damaged during the November 2016 quake but will now re-open during the day from 7am. It will close at 8:30 each night so more repairs and assesments can be done. Kaikoura Top Ten Holiday Park co-owner Ed Nolan tells us what this means for his business and others in the town. The Prime Minister Jainda Ardern says the Government's new families package will reduce child poverty in the country by 48 per cent. We ask the panellists whether this is realistic or if there are other, more entrenched imprediments to lowering poverty in New Zealand. The panellists also discuss the state of the books, and discuss if they worry about national debt iincreasing, as the opposition has warned. The Prime Minister says wealthy New Zealanders can opt out of the Government's Winter Energy Payment, which will see those on a benefit, NZ Superannuation or a Veterans Pension get an extra boost due the winter season. Many are doubtful that will happen though. The panellists discuss why some wealthy people have missed out on tax cuts only to be able to reap the reward of this package. We also ask if they suspect this money will be used for heating purposes. The University of Otago has a new degree which brings science and art together, the BaSc. It aims to break down barriers between the two disciplines. Two students are graduating the degree this week. We talk to Eirenie Taua'i who has been studying Pacific Studies and Neuroscience. We aslk her what careers she is considering now and what it was like to study to very different courses. The families of those who died in the CTV building collapse in Christchurch's 2011 earthquake say they will continue to fight for justice. Police announced earlier this month they won't be prosecuting the engineers of the building after a three-year long investigation. The families met with police to ask and why say they aren't convinced all has been done. We ask panellist, barrister Jonathan Krebs, if other charges could and should be laid.
It's seven years today since Christchurch was rocked by the magnitude 6.3 earthquake. It killed 185 people, injured thousands more and led to whole suburbs and most of the central city being demolished. Seven years on, the rebuild is still underway and some residents are still struggling to get the repairs they want.
One of the heroes from the Christchurch earthquake gives his take on where the city is at today and what needs to be done.
The famous evangelist preacher, Billy Graham, has died age 99. Salvation is the topic of today's half-time discussion on The Panel. Julia Hartley Moore and James Nokise each have topics they want to talk about. One of the heroes from the Christchurch earthquake gives his take on where the city is at today and what needs to be done. Will beer-wine be a terrible idea or will it kick off? Worst. Olympian. Ever... with full stops between the words. That is a real Twitter-sryle putdown. It's alluding to Hungarian halfpipe skier Elizabeth Swaney. This year's New Zealander of the year will be announced at an award ceremony in Auckland tonight. It's between Mike King, Kristine Bartlett and Dr Siouxsie Wiles.
The much loved 'Dux de Lux' pub in Christchurch could be set to open its doors again in the next few years if enough money can be raised to restore it. The building was badly damaged by the earthquake in 2011 and a group looking to rebuild the pub say it could take around 12 million dollars to see it welcoming Cantabrians back. James Stewart of Gemelli Consulting had a yarn with Nathan Rarere about a couple of schemes to raise the money.
Forty law students in Christchurch are volunteering their time to help local residents take the Earthquake Commission to the High Court.
Insurance company, Tower, says it's started the year on a positive note despite bad weather and lingering complex claims from the Christchurch earthquakes.
Disaster teams in Papua New Guinea are still struggling to reach parts of the country hit hard by Monday's 7-point-5 earthquake: the Tongan branch of aid agency Live and Learn is still busy helping people patch up their homes two weeks on from the battering dished out by Cyclone Gita: Oceania leaders of the Anglican church gathering in Fiji will be looking at better preparing their people for natural disasters at a fono this week in Suva attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury; Pacific people call for more influence on global issues that affect the region's rapidly changing climate; a mould problem in Australia's refugee detention centre on Nauru posed a serious health threat.
A lawyer who is suing Southern Response on behalf of earthquake claimants says he was intimidated by private investigators for another government agency in 2013. Southern Response is in charge of settling the outstanding quake claims of former AMI customers in Christchurch, but is now under investigation by the public sector watchdog, the State Services Commission. The Commission is looking at whether standards of integrity and conduct for state servants have been breached in its hiring of security company, Thompson and Clark. Southern Response says it hired the firm in 2014 to assess the level of risk some customers posed to staff. Lawyer Grant Shand tells Guyon Espiner he's waiting to see the results of the inquiry.
The bill to fix botched EQC repairs from the Canterbury earthquakes has hit $270 million - four times what the previous Government predicted just two years ago. The Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission, Megan Woods, has asked Treasury to urgently crunch some figures to give the Government an idea of its future liability, with many experts warning thousands more homes may be affected. The former Canterbury Rebuild Minister Gerry Brownlee, who was in the job for six years until a year ago, speaks to Guyon Espiner.
It could be up to 18 months before 660 Christchurch homeowners know who will pay for earthquake damage repairs with a $1 billion price tag. The bill to fix houses in Christchurch that weren't repaired properly the first time round, or have suffered more damage in aftershocks, is climbing - and the government can't say who's liable. The problem is the homes have new owners who can't claim on theri insurance because the damage pre-dates them owning the home. Earlier Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods told us the previous National government put no plan in place, and the current government is being left to pick up the pieces. Former Christchurch earthquake recovery minister Gerry Brownlee disputes the issue.
Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods says it could take 18 months to decide who is liable for the repairs for 660 home-owners caught in legal limbo. They've bought homes where they thought all the earthquake damage had been repaired - and now find more problems have emerged. Ms Woods told us it's not clear who is liable for these repairs - and it could take as long as 18 months to resolve that basic liability issue. EQC's chief executive Sid Miller has already apologised. He tells Susie Ferguson it's an issue he's been aware of in the year he has been with EQC.
The loss of her home in an earthquake then the loss of her daughter - for New Zealander Linda Collins, one loss shook her physical foundations; the other shook her very being.
Told by Denise O'Connell
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Linda Collins has a BA in English from Massey University and is a copyeditor on the political desk of The Straits Times in Singapore, where her much-loved daughter, Victoria, took her life four years ago aged 17. Linda, husband Malcolm McLeod and Victoria were living in Singapore when the 2011 earthquake struck Christchurch, wrecking the house they owned there. Amid insurer and builder delays, the replacement house was only finally completed three years after Victoria’s death. Linda’s memoir, Loss Adjustment, is her first foray into writing a book, although she is copyeditor of the Lee Kuan Yew international best-seller, Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, and used to write for The Expat Files column in Singapore’s Sunday Times. Earlier this year, she was shortlisted for publisher Hachette’s mentorship programme, based on the submission of her Not Ash chapter from Loss Adjustment. Poetry is a new passion, meanwhile, and she is studying it at La Salle College of the Arts, Singapore. The photo is from her work pass.
A law which prevents charges being laid over the collapse of Christchurch's CTV buildin gin the 2011 earthquake could be repealled soon.
The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took a detour on the way to meeting with Joko Widodo to accept a petition against oil exploration. A law which prevents charges being laid over the collapse of Christchurch's CTV buildin gin the 2011 earthquake could be repealled soon. The president of the Crime Prevention Group Sunny Kaushal updates what if anything has improved for shop owners in the face of violent robberies. Eight million tonnes of plastic goes into the world's oceans each year. Is New Zealand phasing out supermarket bags worth the effort?
Christchurch people who have had to battle insurance companies over the repair or rebuild of earthquake damaged homes are welcoming the Labour party's idea of an earthquake court to settle disputes.
A Christchurch man has begun a hunger strike over an earthquake insurance claim. Fonterra changes its policy and promises to pay bills more promptly.
Earthquake demolition work in Christchurch has made way for an urban farm that is equipping young people with life and work skills.
People who've bought houses in Canterbury since the September 2010 earthquake and are still battling with insurance companies over repairs, have been told that if they want to take the matter to court, today is their last chance. Earthquake claims specialist Lisa Taylor from the law firm Anthony Harper joins us.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, says the Government's got the price 'about right' for land it's bought for Christchurch's refurbished central business district.
Christchurch looks set for a radical re-drawing of boundaries in six of its seven electorates to take account of its shifting population since the earthquakes.
Professor of Timber Design at the University of Canterbury, who is playing a key role in the international resurgence in the use of timber for large-scale buildings.
After six years leading Christchurch, three of them since the first Canterbury earthquake, Bob Parker is packing up his office and hanging up the Mayoral chains today.
The Earthquake Commission has just two days to settle all of the Canterbury earthquake claims worth less than 15-thousand-dollars.
The Labour Party says its crushing victory in the Christchurch East by-election is an indictment of the National Government's poor response to the earthquakes.
The Christchurch City councillor in charge of council housing says he accepts trenchant criticism from the Earthquake Recovery Minister that the council has been woeful in fixing its quake-damaged housing stock.
An Assistant Police Commissioner may have to give evidence in Kim Dotcom's compensation case and the Government accepts almost all the recommedations made by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
A group of frustrated Christchurch homeowners is vowing to keep holding their insurer accountable after making limited progress with outstanding claims for earthquake damage.
The Earthquake Commission has completed ground tests in Canterbury.
Children not even born when the city was devastated by the 2011 earthquake are showing signs of quake-related stress. A Christchurch-based clinical psychologist Catherine Gallagher says the children are living with the ongoing impact of the quakes.
