The Government has published its long term policy statement on land transport funding. This includes the range of future likely expenditure.

Now it is worth recalling that the land transport fund is funded pretty much 100% by motorists through petrol tax and road user charges. Motorists fund not just the roads for themselves, but also a significant proportion of public transport and cycle and walking ways. That’s fine, as there are benefits to motorists in having fewer people driving – but’s remember that they are the funders. So what the expenditure ranges for the next three years. I’m going to take the midpoints of the ranges

1. Improve state highways $3.75 billion
2. Maintain state highways $1.58 billion
3. Maintain local roads $1.49 billion
4. Public transport $1.03 billion
5. Road policing $915 million
6. Improve local roads $593 million
7. Regional improvements $225 million
8. Investment management $171 million
9. Road safety promotion $103 million
10. Walking/Cycling $75 million

There’s also an additional $220 million for Auckland transport, which is being treated as a loan.

I’ve often said that you need spending on both roads and public transport. The problem is some extremists who are against any new roads anywhere because basically they hate cars.

The good thing with this level of transparency, is that political parties promising to spend more on public transport, have to now point to where they will spend less (or say they will increase petrol tax). Would Labour and the Greens reduce maintenance for state highways or local roads to pay for more trains? Hopefully they will put out detailed policies showing how they would allocate the funds available, so people can judge on which mix they most agree with.

Murawai Dream, Murawai Beach, New Zealand

Heading out to Murawai I had quite a different idea in my mind for the type of photograph I was going to take. However after shooting a few options which were a little average I started to notice the amazing cloud formations and the amazing light the setting sun was having on them.

I quickly relocated to a vantage point high on the cliffs and  set to work capturing this image which I love.

Click on the image for a larger view of this photograph.

Cheers

Richard [richardhume.com]

YouTube: Timeless – A Panoramic Journey

Stuff reports:

Other incidents included a 25-year-old Australian man being arrested for urinating on a shop window and into his own mouth. He was charged with offensive behaviour.

One has to be seriously intoxicated to think that this is a good idea!

On a technical front, I suspect that is quite difficult to do. You would need to have quite a strong flow, point upwards, have good aim, calculate the angle just right for the rebound and also allow for the effect of gravity.

The Herald reports:

Labour has issued its clearest sign so far that it will mount its own tactical voting strategy in the Epsom electorate by encouraging its voters to give their electorate vote to National’s candidate, Paul Goldsmith, to try to edge out Act.

Labour candidate Michael Wood has produced a pamphlet that encourages voters to give their party vote to Labour, but does not carry a similar encouragement to vote for Mr Wood as electorate MP. Instead, it urges them to “vote to end the Act Party rort in Epsom” – effectively a code to vote for Mr Goldsmith in the strong National seat.

MMP is designed to give voters two votes. It is no surprise voters will vote tactically in a way to maximise the chance of their party making it into Government.

Labour tactically voted in Coromandel in 1999. Greens tactically voted in Ohariu, West Coast and Auckland Central where their candidates urged a tactical vote for the respective Labour candidates. And in Epsom they tactically vote to try to keep ACT out.

I’ve got no problem with that, but the hypocrisy of denouncing tactical voting as a dirty deal, yet advocating it yourself is, as always, more hypocrisy.

I thought it would be interesting to look at who has been selected as new candidates by political parties in seats they currently hold. The selections are:

National

1. Bay of Plenty – Todd Muller, former Fonterra Group Director, Apata Chief Executive and Zespri General Manager
2. Clutha-Southland – Todd Barclay, former ministerial staffer and Corporate Affairs Manager for Philip Morris
3. Hunua – Andrew Bayly, charted accountant, merchant banker, company chair, former British Parachute regiment, dragged a sled to the South Pole
4. Invercargill – Sarah Dowie, lawyer, former DOC manager, deputy chair of a conservation trust
5. Kaikoura – Stuart Smith, wine grower, former Chair NZ Winegrowers, Chair of an irrigation scheme
6. Napier – Wayne Walford, CEO HB Chamber of Commerce and previously Waikato Chamber of Commerce
7. Taranaki-King County – Barbara Kuriger, farmer, 2012 Dairy Woman of the Year, Director of DairyNZ
8. Waimakariri – Matthew Doocey, Canterbury DHB Manager, Healthcare manager
9. Wairarapa – Alastair Scott, wine maker, Chairman of a cage free egg farm, Irrigation trustee, Transpower director, charity trustee
10. Whangarei – Shane Reti, medical practitioner, Harkness Fellowship to Harvard, Northland DHB member

Labour

1. Kelston – Carmel Sepuloni, CEO of a Pacific NGO supporting diabled and elderly, forrmer teacher
2. Manukau East – Jenny Salesa, policy analyst, Chair of a Tongan Youth Trust

Maori Party

1. Tamaki Makaurau – Rangi McLean, winner NZ Maori Business Award, public health adviser,
2. Te Tai Hauauru – Chris McKenzie, former ministerial staffer, treaty negotiator, education manager, teacher

ACT

1. Epsom – David Seymour, former think tank staffer, ministerial staffer

The 10 new National Electorate MPs (if they retain the seats) are a good variety of business, health, law, conservation and agriculture in my opinion.

The Herald reports:

A wealthy Auckland businessman, whose links to the National Party led to a minister’s resignation, also made a secret $15,000 donation to the Labour Party – and hosted a Cabinet minister at a lavish dinner in China.

The Labour Party has previously accused the Government of “cash for access” deals with Donghua Liu, who received citizenship after lobbying from National minister Maurice Williamson and whose hotel was later opened by Prime Minister John Key.

But the Herald can reveal Liu, 53, also paid $15,000 at a Labour Party auction in 2007 for a book signed by Helen Clark, the Prime Minister at the time, according to a party source.

The source said Liu also hosted Rick Barker, the then Internal Affairs Minister, at a dinner in his hometown of Chongqing.

Mr Barker, who is now a regional councillor in Hawkes Bay, confirmed he was a guest at the dinner and also visited Liu’s cement company while on holiday in China.

But he said he was not aware Liu was a Labour donor and he was not in China on official business as a minister.

“I went to China to catch up with some friends of mine, see some sights … and I made a side trip to Chongqing – I had not been to the city before.

“I was in the city a short time. Mr Liu showed me his business and that night, I attended a dinner which seemed to be a dinner he had put on for all his staff.”

However, Mr Barker could not remember how he came to be invited to visit Liu in Chongqing.

He said it was “probable” he also had dinner with Liu in New Zealand.

“I am trying to recall events of over seven years ago, so it’s a little challenging. But it can’t have been a regular event, because if it was I would recall that. In fact my contact with Liu fell away quite quickly.”

Political donations made at fundraising auctions or dinners are not recorded individually, but the total amount raised is declared.

That statement is not correct.

If a donation at an auction or dinner is larger than the disclosure threshold it must be declared with the identity of the individual who made it.

The disclosure limit in 2007 was $10,000. Liu donated $15,000 to Labour. The party should have declared him as a donor.

Also the article says the total amount raised at the dinner was declared? Where? In Labour’s 2007 return the only donors listed are:

• MPs
• three law firms on behalf of anonymous donors
• four corporates
• Chhour Lim Nam for $25,000
• Steven Wong for $19,000

So was the $15,000 part of the last two?

National declared its donation from Donghua Liu, which is the correct thing to do. The transparency of revealing significant donors allows the scrutiny which has occurred. However once again Labour is exposed as concealing the names of its donors.

Why did they not disclose Liu as a donor in 2007? The threshold was $10,000.

Pete George blogs that Clinton Dearlove is standing in Te Tai Tokerau as an independent against Hone Harawira. Dearlove was Mana’s candidate in 2011 in te Tai Tonga.

I can’t recall if we’ve ever had a candidate from one election then stand against their own leader the following election. It suggests not all is well in Mana.

This should help Davis, as Dearlove will take votes off Harawira, if anyone.

Oliver Hartwich writes on the impact of Britain on the world:

There is something that is undoubtedly special about Britain. It is not just a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic. It is not just another mid-sized northern hemisphere country. In many ways, Britain has been, and still is, much more than that.

Other countries may also lay claim to some socio-political developments or scientific inventions, but none other could boast to have started modernity with the same justification.

It was Britain in which monarchs first had to respect the rights of the people and of parliament. Magna Carta and the Glorious Revolution paved the way towards liberal parliamentary democracy. Britain was the birthplace of the Enlightenment, which was a prerequisite of scientific discovery in the age of invention, the industrial revolution and the development of economic thinking.

The Common Law, developed since the Norman invasion, had become an important tool in the promotion of a commercial society. The protection of property rights and freedom of contract were at the heart of this British version of law.

Taken together, the UK made the modern world, it dominated it until around the time of the Great War, and it still wields incredible soft power to the present day. Britain’s greatness is not just a historic feature. It still makes Britain a special country today, not least because of the spread of the English language.

For example, ask yourself where the world gets its news from, and a large part of the answer would be from the BBC, the Financial Times and The Economist.

Other countries may produce better cars, more efficient machinery and certainly more palatable wine than but few others would be better at selling their ideas, culture and beliefs to the world. 

The world would be a very different and far worse place today, if it were not for Britain. And there are not many other countries you can say that about.

So true.

From Buzzfeed.

Readers will recall that after the illegal spending by most parliamentary parties in 2005, all parties repaid the taxpayer except NZ First who did not repay the $158,000 identified by the Auditor-General as illegal.

NZ First said they would donate the $158,000 to charity, but almost every charity turned their donations down on the grounds it was money owed to the taxpayers.

Finally Winston said most of it had been donated to the Susan Couch Trust.  Couch was the poor woman almost killed at the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA by William Bell.

The curious thing with the trust is that two of the four trustees were Winston’s lawyers, and the trust deed didn’t say it was specifically for Susan Couch – it was just named after her.

So what has happened to the trust. Well the charity register gives us some details.

The transactions have been:

1. $86,593 donated in 2009
2. $53 donated in 2010
3. $1,151 given to Susan Couch in 2010
4. $2,859 donated in 2011
5. $907 given to Susan Couch in 2011 and $710 to a L Stephenson
6. $600 donated in 2012
7. $968 donated to Susan Couch in 2012

So good to see some money is going to Susan Couch, but still several questions.

1. Where did NZ First donate the other $72,000 – if anywhere
2. Why does the Trust not earn any interest on the principal?
3. Why is it paying out only 1% or so of capital?
4. Why have the accounts for 31 March 2013 not been filed, as required to by law

Stuff reports:

The former Supreme Court judge leading the Glenn Inquiry wants to electronically tag men on domestic violence protection orders so an alarm sounds if they approach the family home.

Bill Wilson, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s release of the inquiry’s People’s Report, also wants a complete reform of the Family Court and is calling on a cross-party commitment to an overhaul of the family violence system. …

But Wilson says the patterns he has seen have led him to come up with preliminary ideas of his own.

An electronic tagging system for domestic-violence offenders could be introduced.

“We’ve had a number of tragic incidents in recent times where a former partner and children who were meant to be protected by court order have been killed by the man against whom the order was made. That’s an appalling situation.

“The reality is a man who is minded to attack his former partner and children will not be deterred by a piece of paper. If we can avoid one more situation [like this] then it would be justified.”

Sadly protection orders mean nothing to some offenders.

I would not support electronic tags for most cases, but where someone is the subject of a protection order and they have been convicted of either domestic violence previously or of breaching a protection order – then I think an electronic tag may save lives and be justified.

Police Minister Anne Tolley said GPS tracking was used for high-risk and child sex offenders, but had been widened to a small number of domestic violence offenders, and the Government was considering ways to expand that number.

Justice Minister Judith Collins said the Government had increased the maximum penalty for breaching a protection order from two years jail to three, more breaches were being prosecuted and further strengthening of laws around domestic violence was planned.

The Government was also considering a scheme modelled on a British law change called Clare’s Law, which allows police to disclose violence convictions to a new partner.

All sounds good.

Rodney Hide writes:

I used to think politics was all about achieving good government. That proved invariably disappointing. These days, politics is no longer my responsibility. I’m happy if it just proves interesting.

That’s why I am for the Internet-Mana Party. They’re the best entertainment in years. If they were a parody they would be too improbable to be believed.

Maori nationalist Hone Harawira calls Pakeha the rudest of names and the wrong colour to date his daughter. But he’s jumped into bed with whiter-than-white Kim Dotcom.

Harawira trumpets Mana and His People but that’s not stopping him using his electorate to coat-tail Dotcom’s party into Parliament. His price? $3 million.

It’s easy to accuse Harawira of hypocrisy but he has a ready reply: it’s a lot of money. At $3m his double standard is good and high.

Laila Harre wasn’t elected leader of the Internet Party. She was hired. She’s been selected and paid for by Dotcom. The former coffee picker for the Sandinistas is New Zealand’s first corporate-hire political leader.

That’s a nice line. If you pay her enough, she’ll lead your political party for you.

She also believes Dotcom is funding her to help the poor and downtrodden with 1970s socialism. It’s nothing to do with his extradition to face criminal charges. The left don’t talk about truth. Rather, it’s the narrative. Harre is the only person buying her narrative.

I wonder if deep down they really believe their bullshit and think Dotcom’s $4 million donation is nothing to do with his extradition case.

She also believes Dotcom is funding her to help the poor and downtrodden with 1970s socialism. It’s nothing to do with his extradition to face criminal charges. The left don’t talk about truth. Rather, it’s the narrative. Harre is the only person buying her narrative.

Can you imagine the chaos. A Labour/Green/NZ First/Mana/Internet Government who only got there because of Dotcom’s money.  The Judge decides he should be extradited. He’ll be calling everyone from the PM to the Minister of Justice demanding they not extradite him or else.

A guest post by Paul Lindsay at Alpine Lakes:

Alpine Lakes is building its first house featuring cross-laminated timber floor and roof structure.  Cross laminated timber panels are made out of timber glued together in layers that are at right angles to each other, like a giant panel of plywood except it each layer is made out of timber planks rather than veneers.  They are available with a visual grade if the timber will be visible or standard grade if that side of a panel will not be seen.

The panels replace the traditional floor joists and rafters, allowing the building to be closed in very quickly.  The floor was installed on Friday the 13^th of June in about two hours, ready for framing to be put up.  The ceiling panels will also be installed very quickly this week.  There is also a time saving at the end of the project since the panels require much less preparation than a conventional plasterboard ceiling.

The costs of construction have begun to increase dramatically in the last two or three years, with labour costs and compliance becoming a larger part of the overall build cost.  One answer to this is to pre-fabricate building elements off site.  Although this will mean the cost of materials is higher, it also reduces the cost of labour on site and there is an overall reduction in the build cost.  The cross laminated timber allows for a time saving of at least two weeks, saving money on labour and construction finance.

The house will be handed over after it has been lined, ready for the owner to decorate it and install the kitchen.  Delivering a short form house to a handyman who will do the work that does not need a licensed building practitioner is another means for people to save on building costs.

The timber panels were manufactured by XLam NZ Ltd www.xlam.co.nz.  Alpine Lakes Ltd provide building kitsets and a custom plan service in the Wellington and Manawatu regions.  They can also arrange for a builder to build the kitset to completion or to a stage where the owner to take over.  They will be writing a weblog about the build so that interested readers can follow the progress at www.alpinelakes.co.nz.  

For more information contact Paul Lindsay on (06) 364 0301.

The Herald reports:

The mother of MP Brendan Horan protested against changes to her will in a recorded statement in which she questioned what had happened.

Olwen Horan’s lawyer also raised concerns about the changes by a new law firm which happened two months before she died.

The Weekend Herald has found the changes were instigated by the MP’s half-brother, recently discharged bankrupt Peter Horan.

He and another half-brother, sickness beneficiary Mana Ormsby, discovered before Mrs Horan’s death that she had no money left from a decade-old lottery win they believed they had a claim to.

The changes included a $150,000 payment to Peter Horan which had not appeared in her earlier wills.

It also included the clause seeking an investigation into spending from Olwen Horan’s account by two other siblings, Brendan Horan and Marilyn Bleackley.

The revelation ended Brendan Horan’s political career with NZ First. A police investigation is currently under way into the spending although the trust executor’s inquiry found “no evidence which would enable me to found a claim against Brendan”.

This is highly relevant information.

I was one of those who said that the original allegations did not cast Horan in a favourable light. But this further information casts it in a very different light.

Peters booted Horan from the NZ First caucus without a semblance of natural justice. There was no vote or even discussion in caucus. Peters just announced it by fiat. Horan was never allowed a hearing where he could put his side of the story.

It is no wonder he is so aggrieved by Peters. The hypocrisy is great as Peters once took National to court alleging a lack of natural justice in the decision to now allow him to stand for Tauranga again. Consistency is not his strong point.

The Herald editorial:

No fewer than 14 National MPs are retiring at the coming election, plus a couple from other parties. While the turnover is refreshing for public life, it carries a cost if every departee gives a valedictory address.

That cost became apparent this week when the Prime Minister remarked that the loss of John Banks’ vote would not make much difference to the Government’s remaining legislation because valedictories would take up much of the time left in this term of Parliament. Really?

They’re a factor, but a minor one. Valedictories are generally 15 minutes so 14 valedictories is a total of three and a half hours.

But if so many are leaving that their valedictories may take up sittings over several days, it is time to ask whether all deserve one. Few voters could name many of those retiring this year. Many are leaving because they have not been able to make much impact and accept that they should give others a chance. More credit to them, but valedictory time should be reserved for those who have made their mark and will be missed.

A pretty appalling snobbery.

No not all retiring MPs are high profile Ministers. But MPs who work to improve laws on select committees, who help develop policy, who represents the interest of their electorates are an invaluable part of Parliament, and the suggestion that some of them shouldn’t be allowed a 15 minute valedictory is nasty, mean-spirited and s form of snobbery

The Herald reports:

Iran has reportedly sent its Revolutionary Guard forces to fight al-Qaeda-inspired militants who are sweeping across Iraq.

The Wall Street Journal and the Times reported that two battalions of the Quds Forces, the elite overseas branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, that have long operated in Iraq, have come to the aid of the Shia-dominated Government.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Government last night remained in paralysis, unable to form a coherent response after militants blitzed and captured entire chunks of the nation’s Sunni heartland this week, including major cities, towns, military and police bases as Iraqi forces melted away or fled.

What’s that old saying – my enemy’s enemy is my friend. So true.

The new reality is the biggest threat to Iraq’s stability since the United States’ withdrawal at the end of 2011, and it has pushed the nation closer to a precipice that would partition it into Sunni, Shia and Kurdish zones.

That may not be the worst outcome – three separate countries. Can the Shia and Sunni sects live together now? Kurds are already autonomous. But actual separate countries could also be destabilising as Turkey would not want a Kurdistan as neigbours.

The Herald reports:

Team New Zealand’s plea for poverty is wearing thin with the Government.

With their bridging finance fast running out Grant Dalton yesterday reiterated the team’s dire financial position, warning without an immediate cash injection from the Government the syndicate would be “gone by the end of the month”.

“If we go, there ain’t no coming back. The start-up price of a team from scratch is so astronomical that it will never happen in this country.”

Sadly, I say if the team folds, then the team folds.

I recall the glory days of the America’s Cup. The excitement when Australia won it. The excitement when NZ challenged and lost, and lost again. And then that magical day when we won it and the country celebrated more than when the All Blacks win. And the successful defence also.

There can be both an economic and social benefit in having the Government assist syndicates to compete in major sporting contests. I’m not someone who says support in the past has been wrong.

But the glory days of the Cup are behind us. It doesn’t excite, inspire and unite as it once did. And most of all the latest rules from Oracle have screwed the scrum – it isn’t a fair contest.

Taxpayers have already put in $5 million. That is more than enough. If the syndicate can’t survive without more cash from taxpayers, then so be it. It would be sad, but the worry is that the more we put in, the the more we would feel obliged to keep putting in – throwing good money after bad.

But Team NZ’s rather precarious position has been met with a shrug from the Minister of Economic Development, Steven Joyce. While sympathetic to the team’s plight, Joyce believes if sponsors aren’t yet willing to take the risk, then neither should the taxpayer.

Good.

He indicated the Government would consider giving a further $2 million.

“My view is if the sponsors are going to join in then at least put some money on the table now so we all know there are committed commercial sponsors for an America’s Cup challenge,” he said.

“Taxpayers have already put $5 million on the table, we’re prepared to give more but this cannot be a government-funded challenge. This must be a private sector-funded challenge.”

Why not a loan, if it is bridging finance?

I suspect the new rules by Oracle will make it hard to get private sponsors. If so, then we won’t be there but we can cheer on Australia. If Australia win, then we can look to challenge them the time after in a fair ccontest.

Idiot/Savant blogs:

With Iraq turning into a mess again, and the US refusing to rule anything out while pointedly saying it can always count on Australia, people in New Zealand are asking the obvious question: if the US starts another war, will our politicians join it?

John Key hasn’t spoken up yet. As for David Cunliffe, he’s just been asked about it by Newstalk ZB’s Felix Marwick. His response is pure mush:

Cunliffe on troops to Iraq: “would depend on the circumstances when request made. Won’t hypothesize what answer wd be w/out having specific facts.

a difficult decision and would rely on the position taken by the United Nations and our partners. Can’t rule anything in or out.”

And there you have it: David Cunliffe ain’t no Helen Clark. If you want New Zealand to stay out of America’s stupid wars, you’ll need to vote for someone else.

Update: And meanwhile, John Key says the chances of his government contributing to any intervention are “remote”. Its a sad day when Labour looks more warmongering than National.

Labour seem to struggling with clear quick decisions. It took a week or so to declare they would not force a by-election in Epsom – a decision the leader could have made instantly as it was obvious the public would hate a party that caused a million dollar by-election that wouldn’t even see an MP elected before Parliament was dissolved.

Likewise, should have been easy to say something along the lines John Key said – which is that the chances of NZ contributing ot military action in Iraq are incredibly small – especially considering any intervention is likely to be air strikes, and thanks to Labour we don’t have an airforce capable of striking anything!

UPDATE:

Cunliffe has obviously been got to, and is now saying definitely not. I have no problem with his latter statement, but what people will note is it is entirely different to his first statement which was it would depend on the circumstances.

The latest in the alphabet from the NZ Initiative:

From an engineering perspective at least, a good case could be made to use silver for all electric wiring. Silver just makes more sense than, say, copper, steel or aluminium. That is because silver’s specific electrical resistance is the lowest of all metals.

Why we do not use silver for overhead power lines has a lot to do with economics and the role that prices play.

To most non-economists, prices are just what we pay for the goods and services we buy. To economists, however, prices are much more than that. To them, prices are a marvel, a work of art – or a little less poetically, a very condensed piece of information.

Think about it this way: if the last coffee crop was bad, or if suddenly millions of Chinese developed a craze for double espressos after every meal, the resulting global shortage of coffee beans would not result in rationing. Nor would it require a central planner to tell people to drink more tea instead. What it would do, however, is increase the price of coffee so that coffee drinkers would adjust their consumption accordingly.

Prices bring together everything we know about the supply and demand of any given good. In this way, they help us to decide what to use resources for.

This, then, explains why we do not use silver for all electrical wiring. It is a rare metal with many other potential uses (such as jewellery, in medicine, or in optics). The high price of silver is therefore guiding it towards its highest value use, leaving the job of conducting electricity to other, slightly less suited but much cheaper metals.

In an economy without a functioning price system, we would not be able to make such decisions. We simply would not know which good could be used for what without resorting to trial and error, planning, rationing and waste.

Prices are absolutely crucial for the functioning of the economy. They bring order into a chaotic world of countless goods, services, uses, consumers, suppliers and intermediaries. Without prices, nothing could coordinate all of these.

Politicians play with the price system at their peril. Yet there are minimum wage laws, rent controls, price controls and other ways of distorting prices. Usually introduced with best intentions, these measures prevent markets from working properly.

The price for such interference will be paid by all of us. But that is a price not worth paying.

Next week is quantitative easing, which should be amusing.

The Dom Post reports:

Conservation Minister Nick Smith has confirmed the Kapiti Island visitor fee and tourism structure is being reviewed in the wake of plummeting visitor numbers.

The review follows a sharp decline in visitor numbers since fees were increased in February last year from about $190 to $300 for a family of four.

Smith said the Conservation Department was reviewing fees, and ways of attracting more visitors, while protecting the pest-free nature reserve.

The fees were increased to help pay for improvements on the island, including upgrading the sewerage system and visitor kiosk, and providing flushing toilets.

But figures show only 283 people visited the island in January this year, compared with 1569 in January 2013.

They got greedy and hiked the fee too high, and the end result is fewer visitors and less income.

I’d love to go to Kapiti Island, as has not been there since I was a kid. But $95 is too high a cost.

Stuff reports:

The Government’s contribution to the rebuild of Christchurch was likely to end up as high as $20 billion, Prime Minister John Key says.

Key said the Government’s commitment to the reconstruction could increase by $5b, and that Christchurch people had turned a corner following the difficult times brought about from the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.

”We’ve put about $15b of taxpayers money into the rebuild, but it will probably end up being the best part of $20b over time,” Key said.

Yet a small minority claim that isn’t enough. I’m not sure any OECD Government has ever spent more on a natural disaster, as a proportion of GDP.