90 seconds at 9 am with BNZ

90 seconds at 9 am with BNZ: Govt launches NZ$15 mln wages fund; Dow, NZ$ down on European fears; Gillard wins...just

8th Sep 10, 8:59am by Bernard Hickey

Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news the government has set up a NZ$15 million wages fund for small businesses in Canterbury who have been hit by the quake.

Small businesses without insurance can apply for up to NZ$350 per week per employee for up to 20 employees. The scheme lasts for four weeks. See more detail here.

Meanwhile, the Dow fell 107 points overnight as fears about Europe's financial crisis re-emerged. The reduction in global risk appetites helped push the New Zealand dollar lower too.

The WSJ reported concerns that the European bank stress tests were not as stressful as many had first thought and PIMCO's, the world's biggest bond fund manager, said it believed Greece would default on its government debt.

In Australia, Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard has clung to power with the support of two independent MPS.

The Australian dollar immediately fell 0.8 USc to 91.1 USc on fears of renewed uncertainty, given the fragility of Gillard's coalition and the potential for another election soon.

The Australian stock market fell immediately on fears the Greens, who are now in the governing coalition, might push for a tougher mining tax.

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31 Comments

by Wolly | 8th Sep 10, 9:11am 1283893864

New elections across the ditch within 6 months.

The real middle east war yet to kick off..... http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article22491.html

by Nicholas Arrand | 8th Sep 10, 9:54am 1283896451

Another welcome and incisive update, Chris_J. Good to see you appear to be keeping your spirits up in what you report as a sombre situation.

by Bernard Hickey | 8th Sep 10, 11:34am 1283902482

Chris_J

Many thanks again for the detail and insight.

cheers

Bernard

by Kunst | 8th Sep 10, 12:04pm 1283904299

Thanks Chris- good to read competent comments.

Hopefully the new buildings especially in the heart of Chch are well planned and designed, so they fit into an overall harmonious, attractive architecture style of the “Garden City”.

by Wolly | 8th Sep 10, 9:53am 1283896420

Is it not logical to assume the CCcouncil will be forced to refuse all applications to rebuild on what has proved to be unstable and dangerous ground....and how much of the city must now fall into that zone....and where will the rebuilding take place....It must be assumed this new fault line could remain active for hundreds of years.

How many will take the insurance and leave?.....quite a few I would say. The city may well not get the rebuilding activity first thought to be probable. I suspect a good number will move down to South Canterbury.

by Nicholas Arrand | 8th Sep 10, 9:58am 1283896733

My stepson rang in from his work at Rick Armstrongs. Even a resilient young 19 y.o. is starting to feel the pressure of the uncertainty of 'when' is the next one. The Diamond Harbour one was disturbing, even for him.

by Kunst | 8th Sep 10, 1:28pm 1283909298

An hour ago we said goodbye to a couple from Chch, who stayed in our apartment, but couldn’t stand the frustration of the situation in Chch anymore. Living near the airport the stress of the reminder of the first earthquake became too much. They are now driving up to Blenheim visiting his brother.

To provide some relieve for Christchurch people my wife and I decide to rent our 2 apartments for $ 60.-p/n and the smaller for $ 50.-p/n for the next 3 weeks. So, in case you need a good break, relaxation and a peaceful sleep, please have a look under www.goldart.co.nz

by Sam | 8th Sep 10, 10:00am 1283896849

There is heaps of land out west of the city that is not sand or swamp. They need to get busy on freeing up that land for residential and forget about thier BS invisible red line and trying to get us to be all cool all to move into the inner city. Damn glad I never moved out of the suburbs into one of those inner city quake-bait traps!

by stateless | 8th Sep 10, 1:16pm 1283908611

It may be cheaper to lay new infrastructure (water, waste, etc) to "better" land, than to repair old infrastructure.

Some tough choices.

by Vanderlei Luxemburgo | 8th Sep 10, 10:40am 1283899221

As an outsider who happened to be in Chc for the weekend i've been impressed by the resolve of the cantabrians. On the plus side, a lot of old shitty building are gone, on the downside, the scale of the damage is hard to get your head around.

A big quake takes minutes, the aftershocks take days or weeks, the rebuilding will take years, and the memories will last decades. They have to keep an eye on the opportunities this presents in terms of rebuilding plant and infrastructure and probably even be prepared to make some big calls.

by andyh | 8th Sep 10, 11:11am 1283901109

'old shitty buildings' ?

Hmmmm I am not sure CChurch residents would think kindly of you for that statement - it is the large number of older building which gives the city its 'feel' - in contrast to the ghastly homogenous strip mall that characterises so much of new development in other NZ towns.

by powerdownkiwi | 8th Sep 10, 11:27am 1283902060

Agreed. The real talent is found in those who can recreate/rebuild the look/style/feel, but to modern specs.

rather than

"Monuments in mirror glass

To cities on the make

Gloss".

by Vanderlei Luxemburgo | 8th Sep 10, 11:40am 1283902841

Ok andy that might have been a bit blunt but you get my drift right?

Canty is no different to a lot of nz where we have old building with lots of probs (including draughty ponsonby villas etc) .

I lived in s.korea for a while, and some (not all) koreans would say they were happy about the korean war because it gave them a chance to rebuild in such a way as to be able to succeed in the 21st century, even though at the time it was not exactly a holiday.

ps did anybody see the hilarious peice by Libertarianz asking the govt not to give cantabrians any money? ideology over reality eh?

by Rob of the North | 8th Sep 10, 11:40am 1283902854

anybody got any thoughts on the ramifications for the NZ property market, if there is an exodus from ChCh of residents with demolished homes etc?

by stateless | 8th Sep 10, 1:23pm 1283908993

What will mortgage holder do if they can't sell their "now vacant" land? They would need to sell their land in order to pay of any mortgage and they may be left with no choice but to rebuild in order to realise full value of the asset.

If land values have dropped - due to local infrastructure damage and/or less demand - there might be even further problems.

by The Man's Back | 8th Sep 10, 4:53pm 1283921591

Poster at 4:49 p.m. is not the real THe Man. Lame imposter. When is BH going to fix this mickey mouse web site?

by Bernard Hickey | 8th Sep 10, 5:39pm 1283924396

We moved to registered comments only from this Sunday.

A reminder to all unregistered comments to use the box on the right to register to comment.

cheers

Bernard

by Wolly | 8th Sep 10, 11:45am 1283903112

Likely as not Rob they will opt to stay in Canterbury but further south. Look for prices to rise all the way down to Timaru. Maybe NZR could do some work on whether they could run commuter specials. High speed rail mainland style...40kph!

by Vanderlei Luxemburgo | 8th Sep 10, 11:48am 1283903332

are there many farms damaged? ie big centre-pivot irrigated farms that are no longer flat or stable?

by Casual Observer | 8th Sep 10, 12:41pm 1283906490

Federated Farmers reported: Physical inspection by elected members and Field officers is revealing substantial damage to shelter belts and to fences. There is also a major issue with pastures with movement of between one and three metres on some properties and cracks of up to a metre wide and several metres deep.

MAF estimates 3-400 farms are affected with 100-150 seriously affected. One of the problems for farmers is the shifting/contamination of underground water systems. In some cases farm wells are now dry. Also there appears to be sediment in some water. Irrigators would not usually be deployed yet, though there may be exceptions.

Fed Farmers are collating a database of rural people able to offer accommodation to Christchurch urbanites.

Fonterra has donated $1million to the Mayoral Relief Fund and has asked that some of it be tagged for rural communities.

by Wolly | 8th Sep 10, 11:58am 1283903889

Christchurch will soon have its replica chimney tops just like wgtn!...and there is scope for a business chance here...fake facades Ltd. You can have brick..or stone...or go for the colonial look with pit sawn lumber. Most of wgtn has no idea their heritage wooden pile is topped with fakes. A bit like the Beehive when you think about it.

Even scope for gargoyles....think of all those Labour pollys...!

by Elley | 8th Sep 10, 2:29pm 1283912986

Thanks for the laugh :)

by Elley | 8th Sep 10, 4:46pm 1283921184

Ruru, glad you could organise this, at least you'll have some peace of mind on that side of things. My husband expected the building of the company he is a consultant for to be damaged as well. They're in Tuam St and it's an old building but it turned out to be business as usual for them on Monday. Still I'm very glad that he's working from our home office, wouldn't want him to be in Chch and away from me and the kids, especially with having to go over the Waimak bridge to get there.

Time out, yep, just had some. Played the piano for a while, it's therapeutic for me. I'd been a bit worried about it falling over (200kgs, I don't think a few nails in the Gib board to hold it would do the trick) so had been avoiding it but can't see myself keeping away from it for weeks.

by Gareth Vaughan | 8th Sep 10, 3:43pm 1283917394

FYI, earthquake related Force Majeure at the Port of Lyttelton

http://www.nzx.com/markets/NZSX/LPC/announcements/4108298/Solid-Energy-…

by Wolly | 8th Sep 10, 4:09pm 1283918940

What about the owners of property wrecks, come the next rates demand!

by Rob of the North | 8th Sep 10, 4:19pm 1283919596

i s'pose The Man or whoever those ChCh PI's were ,will start crowing about how smart they were buying rentals in ChCh of late?

by Number 6 | 8th Sep 10, 4:28pm 1283920113

His comments have been noticably absent of recent days. Frankly, I hope he's okay. It's all very well to lose on an investment. But this is not a nice way to do it. After all, he is one of our ' interest.co.nz community'.

by The Man's Back | 8th Sep 10, 4:50pm 1283921413

Poster at 4:27 p.m. is not the real The Man. Lame imposter. That is why I don't come here much any more.

by Rich PI Troll | 8th Sep 10, 5:18pm 1283923091

I agree The Man!

It's great to see you back here again!

You are the only person with a clue on this website.

In my opinion the government will free up restricted and wasted crown land in Canterbury and rebuild much of Christchurch there.

Every one knows that property prices are on the way up again and the earthquake just makes price rises even more likely!

by I Am The Man | 8th Sep 10, 5:02pm 1283922138

Yes I agree it's very frustrating when people pretend to be me.

by Rob of the North | 8th Sep 10, 5:14pm 1283922862

ha ha ha...hell knoweth no fury like The Man scorned ?!