Ryan Bridge: The climate change message from the Government

Don’t expect a handout.

That’s basically the message to homeowners hoping the Government will swoop in and buyout houses after the next big cyclone.

Watts is the climate Minister. He took a paper to cabinet. I had a read in the weekend.

They haven’t immediately turned the tap off to buyouts, but they’re making it pretty clear it won’t e long before they do.

How long? Doesn’t say, specifically. Just sometime in the medium to long term.

If you’re buying a house or land, you’re going to want to check flood zones very carefully.

After the Auckland floods - you know which parts of suburb are more prone to flooding. That’s, generally, where you don’t want to buy.

Mor you can and manage the risk and mitigate.

Council and government spent $2 billion on buyouts. That may not happen next time.

Guess how many homes are sitting in flood prone areas right now? Hundreds of thousands. They’re worth $180 billion.

It means insurance will be more expensive or non-existent for some areas and properties.

The government basically wants to take itself out of the risk equation.

Cause it’s cheaper for them. 

Buying out flood prone land distorts the market. If you know a buyout will happen, you’ll be less worried about flooding and pay more than you should for it

The scientists tell damage from cyclones and flooding will get more intense and frequent.

Consider this a warning from the government that it doesn’t want the same thing happening g to the state of its books. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't expect a handout. That's basically the message to homeowners
who are hoping the government will swoop in and buy
out houses after the next big cyclone, as they have
been doing to this point. Watts is the Climate Minister.
He took a paper to Cabinet. I had to read
of it at the weekend. They haven't immediately turned the
tap off to buyouts, but they're making it pretty clear

(00:20):
it won't be long before they do. How long does
it say specifically just sometime in the near future. If
you're buying a house or you're buying land, you're going
to want to check flood zones very carefully. Basically after
the Auckland floods, you know which parts of your suburb
are prone to flooding. You can see it, you saw it.
That's generally where you don't want to buy. You're going

(00:44):
to have to manage this risk. We are going to
have to manage this risk. Our insurers are going to
have to manage this risk and try and mitigate it.
The Council and the Government spent two billion on buyouts.
This is after the Auckland floods. That may not happen
next time. And guess how many homes are sitting in
flood prone areas right now in New Zealand, apparently, according
to the latest data, hundreds of thousands worth one hundred

(01:05):
and eighty billion dollars combined. It means insurance will be
more expensive or non existent for some areas and some properties.
The government basically wants to take itself out of the
risk equation, one because it's cheaper for them, two because
buying out flood prone land distorts the market. If you
know a buyout is going to happen, you'll be less

(01:27):
worried about flooding and pay more than you should for
the site. The scientists tell us that damage from cyclones
and floodings is only going to get more intense and frequent,
and you should basically consider this a warning from the government.
They don't want the same thing that's happening to the
properties happening to their books. For more from Early Edition

(01:49):
with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks it'd be
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