Lianne Dalziel

The Government has to stop toying with the feelings of Christchurch residents and take a good look at the way it is handling their distress, Labour's Christchurch Earthquake recovery spokesperson Lianne Dalziel says.

"These people have been facing uncertainty for months. They are now facing the reality of having to decide their future, and for many of them it is pretty unpalatable.

"The Minister is on record as mocking the well-established principles of recovery, which require communication, community engagement, resilience building and above all leadership," Lianne Dalziel said.

"It is of enormous concern that he says he is re-writing international best practice on a day to day basis.

"International best practice is based on the evidence distilled from success and failure - are we putting Christchurch's recovery in the hands of a Minister who thinks community engagement involves sitting around in groups singing Kumbaya?

"Red-zoned residents are being criticised for being ungrateful by those who have no idea no depth of understanding of the reality of the Government's offer.

"This may suit the Government in terms of their spin - which characterises the offer as 'extremely fair' - but it doesn't enable people to get on with their lives with anything like what they had before.

"For those who are fighting their land zoning, the Government's failure to engage with communities means that decisions are being made without the benefit of local knowledge.

"Digging tonnes of silt out of their properties for the third time has left residents with little confidence in the quality of the decision-making.

"Anyone who speaks out about these matters is shot down by the government's media machine.

"We need to deal with these issues openly and if it means someone has to say 'the Emperor has no clothes', so be it. The red zone offer and the land zoning decisions have left affected communities feeling that this Government isn't listening.

"Christchurch's recovery requires transparency and accountability, and that means meeting international best practice," Lianne Dalziel said.