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Source: Fraser Jeffery -
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The Government will now pay for a lawyer to help the families of earthquake victims, six months after Christchurch's fatal shake.
A day after three Cabinet ministers met representatives of the Quake Families group, Prime Minister John Key announced that an extra lawyer dedicated to the families' interests would be added to two counsel assisting the royal commission into building failures in Christchurch.
Key conceded yesterday that the Government had given ground and compromised, while Labour called it a "backflip".
The move has drawn a mixed reaction and it is unclear if it will allay the concerns of all families.
The high-profile Quake Families group of 50 grieving family members of earthquake victims, which has been pushing the Government to pay for its Christchurch-based legal team, will discuss the matter tonight.
Quake Families group co-chairman Brian Kennedy, whose wife, Faye, worked at The Clinic on the fourth floor of the collapsed Canterbury Television (CTV) building, praised the Government for moving quickly but said he preferred to be represented by the group's lawyers.
"We would like an answer [as to] why they don't really want to appoint the team we have," he said. "He's [Key] probably trying to look at a compromise, but if dollars don't matter, what's the point?"
Fendalton's Geoff Brien, whose wife, Pam, died in the CTV building, said it was marvellous the Government had come to the party, adding: "And so they bloody should."
Brien - who is not formally aligned with Quake Families - said the Government "jumped at" providing legal assistance to the families of Pike River mine tragedy victims.
"If you go mining it's a dangerous job, you get well paid for it," he said. "When 181 people go to work, go about their business or go to see professional people, you don't expect them to come home dead."
The Government's concession followed a month of pressure on the Government, and Key in particular - who had given personal assurances to the families of victims soon after the quake that the Government would help them "as best we can".
Ten days ago, Key said the Government did not believe appointing an independent lawyer would "add a lot of value" and it was "not a question of cash".
Key said yesterday the move was not an admission that the Government had erred in its original plan.
"In the final analysis, the families felt a little vulnerable and they have a high degree of anxiety. We obviously have great sympathy for their position ... as a gesture of goodwill we've decided to appoint another counsel."
Labour's earthquake recovery spokesman, Waimakariri MP Clayton Cosgrove, said it was up to the families whether they accepted the Government "backflip".
"It's not enough for the Government, in [Attorney-General Chris] Finlayson and Mr Key, to say `This is what you need' - the families themselves must determine that and be confident in that."
He did not understand the Government's reluctance to appoint "totally independent counsel" for the families.
No appointment date had been set for the extra lawyer, a spokesman for Finlayson said.
