Woods after EQC inquiry

The new Christchurch rebuild minister is determined to see a royal commission of inquiry into defective Earthquake Commission (EQC) repairs.

Megan Woods was named as the greater Christchurch regeneration minister and the minister responsible for EQC yesterday.

She said that she ‘‘absolutely’’ wanted to push for the a royal commission of inquiry.

Her EQC minister predecessor, National’s Gerry Brownlee, said the natural disaster insurer reached ‘‘tens of thousands’’ of successful conclusions with homeowners, while homeowners locked in lengthy battles with the organisation say an inquiry is needed.

By the end of the 2015-16 financial year, EQC had fielded 10,492 calls to investigate supposed defective repairs.

In March, Parliament’s finance and expenditure select committee rejected a petition seeking an inquiry, but Woods was still determined to see a review happen.

‘‘We remain convinced that we can never go through this again – it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when another part of the country goes through something such as we’ve been through in Christchurch,’’ she said. ‘‘We simply must learn the lessons.’’

Yesterday, Brownlee said noone at any point had claimed that ‘‘everything EQC did was perfect’’.

Brownlee said a royal commission was an ‘‘extremely highlevel investigation’’.

‘‘Yes, there are some lingering cases and, more importantly, there are some cases where there was a second look at work … all that does is reinforce the fact that it is a body that hasn’t cut and run, that remains there for all New Zealanders.’’