John Key redefines the word 'fair'

CBD business owners and bare landowners in Christchurch have been let down by John Key after he personally defended the decision to acquire their land for just half of the rating valuation, says Labour’s Earthquake Recovery spokesperson Lianne Dalziel.

“After the earthquake John Key promised residential red-zone property owners that no-one would be worse off and the offer of the 2007 rating valuation for their properties was ‘extremely fair’.”

“But today he defended a decision to leave business and bare land owners in the lurch by only offering to acquire their land for the cost of half the RV.

“He also defended the decision the Government’s offers to buy out central city property owners, which will leave some with less than half the value of the land, with the threat of compulsory acquisition and funds held up for at least another 12 months.

“John Key stood by these decisions without a thought for the impact that this is having particularly on small to medium sized business owners, who cannot absorb the financial hit.

They are pleading for help, as one who has written to me says:

“[We] cannot afford to sell at this price, and we can't afford not to. If we do not agree to the offer there will be a compulsory acquisition and we won't see a payment from the Crown for maybe up to 2 years. During this time we would still have to pay the mortgage on the land, and rates, and we would not have funds available to buy another property to operate our businesses from. It is an impossible situation for us.”

Lianne Dalziel says: “If John Key thinks that’s fair, then he has a different definition for the word fair than everyone else.

“It isn’t fair. It’s a betrayal of his promise to the people of Christchurch.”