A huge taxpayer-backed financial guarantee is among the options being considered to break the insurance industry deadlock which is delaying the rebuilding of Christchurch, Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.
Mr Brownlee has spent the past few days in Europe meeting the large international reinsurance companies that provide financial backing for the private-sector insurers active in the Christchurch and wider New Zealand market.
He and a delegation of officials have been providing them with geotechnical information about the land in Christchurch and working to assure them new building codes mean they do not face an inordinate risk by covering New Zealand homes.
Mr Brownlee left for Europe last week as Labour leader Phil Goff called on his Government to investigate whether it should become "the insurer of last resort" to start the repair and rebuilding of Christchurch homes, which he said had "stalled" because of the unavailability or high cost of insurance for those houses.
Asked whether the Government would consider that, Mr Brownlee told The New Zealand Herald, "We haven't closed off any review of a number of options."
Speaking from Monte Carlo yesterday after addressing the "Rendez Vous de Septembre" - an annual conference for reinsurers - Mr Brownlee said: "We wouldn't be inactive if it was the difference between the recovery getting under way and nothing happening."
However, the "best option" was for the reinsurers to fully enter the market again and the Government "would be very cautious about entering a market like that".
Mr Brownlee was reported to have told the conference he was "firmly in the camp of having the private market participate" in insuring Christchurch, and a bigger government role was a "slippery slope".
However, he also said: "Even the most extreme right-winger would look for quick solutions".
Mr Goff said Mr Brownlee's comments were "`interesting, particularly if seen in conjunction with what Chris Ryan, of the Insurance Council, has been saying, that New Zealanders may not be able to buy insurance cover for earthquakes in future".
"Is Brownlee softening us up to say actually his trip has failed? He's assured us in the past that the insurers won't leave town."
Mr Brownlee said the reinsurers were still offering cover to the local insurance companies but the issue remained one of price.
