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RNZ News
5 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Slip hits Porirua houses like 'freight train through lounge'
The slip came down on to properties on Acheron Road. Photo: RNZ/Lauren Crimp The owner of a Porirua property struck by a slip says it sounded like a freight train crashing through his family home, and the land nearly smashed through their baby's room. Fire and Emergency crews were called to the slip on Acheron Road in the suburb of Paremata on Sunday morning after a section of the hillside came down with heavy rain hammering already sodden ground. Two townhouses in a block of eight have been deemed unsafe to live in for now. Dan Isaac and his wife Penny were lying in bed about 7.15am when the land behind their home fell away. "We just heard a big rumbling, like a freight train coming through the lounge, followed by a big crash and obviously it was the bank behind our property coming down ... pretty terrifying, to be honest," Isaac said. "It was not the greatest way to start a Sunday, that's for sure." The slip stopped just above their 9-month-old Olivia's room at the back of the house, with shrubbery poking over the balcony outside and mud spilling down on to it. The slip came down on to properties on Acheron Road. Photo: RNZ/Lauren Crimp In the dark, and with rain hammering down, the Isaacs and their neighbours, Katy and Callum Hartle, leapt to action. "Basically we just grabbed the kids and the cat and quickly packed a bag and evacuated the whole property," Isaac said. "There's eight properties townhouses in this property... [we] just woke everyone up and just said there's been a slip, and we need to get out." The Hartles were up with their kids - two-year-old Patrick and 5-month-old Charlotte - when they too heard the rumble. "We came out, both the boys [Callum and Dan] went out to have a look, and then they noticed that it had all come down, and we realised how serious it was," Katy Hartle said. "The first thing was to tell the neighbours and then start packing." Porirua City Council commissioned engineers to assess the townhouses. They found six were safe but the Isaacs and the Hartles were told they could not stay at home. Isaac said shrubbery had landed on the roof, and the retaining wall had done a good job of holding everything else back from their home, but engineers were worried about the bank's stability. Both families who are not allowed to go home are staying with friends and family. Photo: RNZ/Lauren Crimp The Isaacs are bunking with friends in Titahi Bay, and the Hartles are with family in Levin. "We're really in limbo, I guess," Isaac said. "I know that miracles don't happen overnight, but ... it's obviously pretty stressful for both of our families being dislodged from our our homes, so [we're] hoping that all the money that we pay for insurance and rates all sort of falls into place and people do their jobs diligently enough and fast enough for some results to start to happen." The bottom half of the bank is on their private property, and homeowners on Walker Avenue own the top half of the bank, where the slip came from. The families did not know how long it would take for a call to be made on the safety of the homes, and then how the slip would be dealt with. "We've been told it's been put in the urgent basket, but [the insurance assessor] wasn't too keen on giving us any specifics," Isaac said. Porirua City Council's building assurance manager Leonie McPhail said the council had not issued a 'dangerous notice' under the Building Act but based on the engineers' advice, they asked the owners to leave their homes for now. "The property owners are pursuing additional assessment and guidance from their own insurance companies and have agreed to keep Council informed," McPhail said. "Council officers will monitor the slip face periodically over the next two weeks or after significant rainfall to see if any changes are observed." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Labour's finance spokesperson gives few details about party's fiscal policy targets
Barbara Edmonds made a post-Budget speech at a Porirua Chamber of Commerce event. File picture. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds says she still has not read the Greens' alternative Budget, while defending a scarcity of fiscal policies of her own. Edmonds made the comments after a post-Budget speech to an audience of about 20 people at a Porirua Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday morning, where she savaged the coalition's plan as a "direct assault" on New Zealand values. During a question-and-answer session at the Supply Room restaurant in Paremata, Edmonds was asked for her views on the Greens' fiscal plan - unveiled a fortnight ago - which included significant new taxes and spending. "No disrespect to my friends in the Greens, but I didn't read their Budget," Edmonds said. "At least they had a plan. I just didn't read their plan." Speaking to reporters afterwards, Edmonds said she would "maybe" get round to reading it after finishing going through the more than 2000 pages of the government's Budget. "I will get to it when I get to it," she said. "I'm one person. My focus has been this government's Budget." Asked for her high-level view on the Greens' proposals based on media coverage, Edmonds observed there was a lot of tax and social spending. "Whether it's balanced or not?... maybe ask me that question after I've read it." Labour leader Chris Hipkins made similar remarks immediately after the Greens released their plan, but later described it as a "huge spend-up" and "unrealistic". Edmonds' speech on Tuesday gave a scathing appraisal of the coalition's Budget: "Make no mistake about it, this will be remembered as the Budget that cut women's pay . "Cutting women's pay to make the Budget add up was a deliberate decision by Nicola Willis... when you take money that has been set aside for future pay rises and put it into something else that is a cut. Plain and simple." She said the Budget was a "direct assault" on New Zealand values: "We're the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Fighting for equality is in our national DNA. Turning our backs on equal pay is not who we are as Kiwis." Though Edmonds opened her speech by saying she would preview the different choices Labour would have made in the Budget, she gave little detail beyond high-level promises to invest in jobs, health, and homes. "That's how we will build a better future." Quizzed by reporters on a variety of policy proposals, Edmonds repeatedly deferred to the party's yet-to-be-released fiscal plan. She declined to clearly state Labour's position on its preferred debt cap or surplus target, nor whether it would maintain the coalition's Investment Boost tax incentive. Edmonds said she was comfortable with the amount of policy Labour had released thus far and said it would all be "carefully considered". "We will have policy announcements, as Chippy has said, towards the end of the year... but actually, we have this Budget to work through... we've got next Budget to work through... and then we will come out with our fiscal plan. "I know you're eager, and I know you want to find the new hook, but today I was talking about the government's Budget, so you'll just have to wait." When in opposition, the National Party also came under pressure over a lack of policy detail less than a year out from the 2023 election. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
