EQC chairman quits, admits mistakes were made

‘‘Mistakes have been made, customers have not always been supported as they should have been.’’

Sir Maarten Wevers – former EQC

chairman

Outgoing Earthquake Commission (EQC) chairman Sir Maarten Wevers has admitted the organisation failed to support customers and made mistakes while settling Canterbury earthquake insurance claims.

EQC Minister Megan Woods yesterday announced she had accepted Wevers’ resignation.

He resigned after Woods unveiled plans to appoint a ministerial adviser to EQC to provide her with direct advice on the settlement of the last 2600 claims.

It is the first major shake-up at EQC since Woods’ arrival as minister in charge. The new Government has announced sweeping proposals to expedite the settlement of remaining claims, such as an inquiry into EQC, an insurance disputes tribunal and a promise to fund some High Court cases to find precedent-setting rulings on issues.

EQC handled about 470,000 claims during Wevers’ tenure, with the 2600 remaining making up 0.6 per cent.

EQC has been dogged by shoddy repair work though – by the end of the 2015-16 financial year, it had 10,492 calls to investigate supposed defective repairs.

In a statement, Wevers said it was clear Woods had ‘‘no confidence’’ in the commission’s board or staff. ‘‘As chair, I take responsibility for that, and have stepped aside so that the minister can appoint someone whom she assesses will be able to do a better job,’’ he said.

‘‘Mistakes have been made, customers have not always been supported as they should have been, when they should have been, and it has taken a long time to reach the final stages of our response.

‘‘We apologise to each and every claimant to whom we have not delivered as we should have.’’

Asked what Wevers could have improved on during his time at EQC, Woods said she had wanted ‘‘fairer and swifter resolution’’ of earthquake claims.

There were no indications other board members or senior staffers would be tendering their resignations, she said.

Former EQC Minister Gerry Brownlee remained resolute in his defence of EQC. He thanked Wevers for his ‘‘service to the EQC, and also to the people of Canterbury’’.

‘‘It is disappointing that the minister responsible for the EQC does not have confidence in the team that has delivered such exceptional results thus far,’’ Brownlee said.

Michael Rodgers’ and Georgia Scott’s insurance nightmare began in March 2016, when a fire on the day they moved into their Heathcote Valley home revealed EQC’s repairs for the home’s previous owner were severely inadequate.

EQC acknowledged it got the repairs wrong, but having already paid the $100,000 legal cap, said any further payments were in the private insurer’s hands.

Following Wevers’ resignation, Scott said she was pleased to see Woods ‘‘step up and put some of her thoughts and work into practice’’.

‘‘When we met last week at the [EQC] protest, her and Jacinda [Ardern] said that they were definitely committed to making a difference and I think they proved that today,’’ Scott said.

‘‘They are serious about making a change and holding EQC to account, which is fantastic news for us homeowners.’’

Scott hoped more changes would be made to resolve the remaining unsettled claims

Ali Jones, a campaigner for earthquake claimants, said Wevers’ departure and the appointment of a ministerial adviser should serve as a warning.

‘‘It should send a shot across the bows of all of the EQC board members, all of the EQC senior staff and all of those same people at Southern Response,’’ Jones said.

‘‘I think it’s a pretty powerful indication of what the Government is prepared to do and support to get these claims resolved.’’

Wevers said having 2600 unsettled claims, out of more than

470,000 claims filed, was no comfort to the board, management and staff. Repairing more than

67,000 dwellings was unprecedented internationally, he added. ‘‘Every single claim is a concern to the board and to me personally.’’

It was with ‘‘great regret’’ that he would not be able to support EQC staff and management ‘‘over the last few steps on our journey together’’, he said.

‘‘I will be letting them down.’’

So long, Sir Maarten Wevers. The former chairman of the Earthquake Commission (EQC), who resigned yesterday, has not exactly been a high-profile figure in the city where some still use EQC as a four-letter word. Wevers’ last significant appearance in local media was to say that former EQC chief executive Ian Simpson had done an ‘‘outstanding’’ job after Simpson resigned in

2016. Many in Christchurch found that particularly hard to swallow.

When she was Labour spokesperson on Canterbury issues, Megan Woods made it clear that she also strongly disagreed. She said people were ‘‘incredibly frustrated by the mess at EQC’’ and that the minister, then Gerry Brownlee, needed to take responsibility. She wanted an independent inquiry.

Black marks against EQC at the time included thousands of botched home repairs, claim delays, a massive privacy breach and allegations of nepotism. It was embroiled in litigation. Wevers conceded that some of those criticisms were valid.

Swift action was inevitable once Woods replaced Brownlee as Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister and the Minister Responsible for the EQC in 2017. Within days she called for a royal commission.

When the end came for Wevers, it came on a significant anniversary. He phoned Woods on the evening of February

22 after conversations with the minister about ‘‘her displeasure with the performance of the Commission’’, as an EQC media statement put it. There was little choice: his phone call was his resignation.

It points to an impressive act of leadership by a focused local politician who has had plenty of time to figure out what has gone wrong with the Christchurch rebuild and the bureaucratic structures that have grown around it. Woods’ appointment of an independent ministerial adviser who reports directly to her speaks to a high level of impatience with the rate of EQC’s progress.

Seven years after the February 22 earthquake, there are still around 2600 unresolved Canterbury claims, which are largely re-repairs. Everyone knows someone whose claim dragged on and took a toll on their physical and mental health. Wevers noted in his resignation letter that although

2600 is actually less than 0.6 per cent of the more than

470,000 claims lodged, that is ‘‘no comfort to the board, management and staff of EQC’’.

Woods now expects EQC to deal swiftly with the unresolved claims and get people’s lives back on track. She said that to have around 2600 people ‘‘stuck in limbo’’ after seven years is unacceptable, and it is hard to disagree. While EQC staff have worked hard, they need ‘‘extra assistance’’.

Wevers apologised for EQC’s failures and slowness in the closing lines of his media statement. He admitted that ‘‘mistakes have been made, customers have not always been supported as they should have been, when they should have been, and it has taken a long time to reach the final stages of our response. We apologise to each and every claimant to whom we have not delivered as we should have.’’

Thousands of Cantabrians will welcome the apology, and the open acknowledgement of EQC’s mistakes and poor customer support, and will notice that it took strong political will to produce it.