Earthquake regulations: ACT vindicated after nine years and many billions wasted

ACT Leader David Seymour welcomes Minister Chris Penk fixing a big expensive mistake. Nine years after ACT stood alone against the 2016 law, today shows why New Zealand needs the ACT Party, and the Regulatory Standards Bill to boot.

“ACT was right then, and we’re right now," says Mr Seymour. “I voted 1 against 120 to oppose this law. Nine years and billions of wasted dollars later, reason and logic are back, just in time to stop billions more that would be wasted if the earthquake law continued.

“The Earthquake-prone Buildings law was a costly triumph of emotion over logic. By wasting billions, the Government of the day actually cost lives. Every dollar wasted on bad policy takes away from fighting evils like cancer and car crashes – we can be sure that the Earthquake laws cost Kiwi lives.

“When I spoke in Parliament against the law in March 2016, I said:

‘If we were making empathic public policy, we would be highly focused on ensuring that the amount of money spent and the resources that go into earthquake strengthening are commensurate with the price that we are prepared to pay to avoid and mitigate other risks. And yet, in Auckland we will be spending money on earthquake strengthening when the risks that we face by being in those buildings are hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of times lower than the risks we face every day in the course of riding bikes, driving cars, and flying planes. GNS Science … suggested that in Auckland this legislation might reduce deaths over 10,000 years by three lives.’

“Reality has proven ACT right. Empty buildings on provincial city streets. Huge bills for building owners, including the Government. Builders and materials that could have built new buildings got tied up fixing old ones. Owners were caught between heritage laws preventing demolition and strengthening works they couldn’t afford. It’s all added up to a poorer New Zealand, for next-to-no safety benefit. Fixing this expensive SNAFU will save New Zealanders $8 billion.

“Exempting most low-risk buildings balances risk and cost. It restores rationality and shows real empathy because, as I said in 2016, when you make public policy, real empathy needs efficiency.

“Instead of setting aside millions of dollars for strengthening works, building owners can invest in new developments, and they can have the confidence to maintain their buildings properly, knowing that they won’t have to be torn down in the coming decades.

“Today’s triumph of reason and logic over emotion and populism gives hope. It shows Kiwis can solve many more problems to boot, all we need is courage.”