NZ Government to make money "off people's misery"

It looks as if the government is looking to make a profit off the backs of the victims of the Christchurch earthquake

Demand for return of any red-zone property profit

A campaigner for quake-hit homeowners, Mike Coleman, is demanding the Government return any profits it makes from insurance payouts on houses bought in Christchurch's red zone.

Radio NZ,

6 August, 2012

Many owners lost money when they sold their homes to the Government at their 2007 rateable value - after it refused to consider their market value.

The Government is having its properties independently valued in order to try and get the best possible payout from insurers.

The Earthquake Recovery Authority says owners who handed over all insurance claims to the Government will not be informed of the valuations.

It says the payouts may be bigger than but are more likely to be less than the purchase price.

Reverend Coleman says it's deplorable the Government might make money off people's misery, and the authority should have considered the market value of properties right from the start.

"Thousands of people have lost their equity in their homes," Reverend Coleman says, "so if the Government now finds out that they're going to make more money off these red-zone homes than they paid out, they should be paying that back to the red-zone homeowner.

"This is the most disgraceful, outrageous government I've ever seen in my life."