Cut & thrust: Leaks a water torture for Hawkins

By FRANCESCA MOLD

The leaky homes crisis may not end the career of Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins, but it has clearly left the whiff of incompetence wafting around his office.

The minister has struggled to front-foot the issue since day one.

He has suffered slow torture at the hands of the Opposition and media as the details of who knew what about the problem and when have slowly leaked out into the public arena.

His failure to take control of the politically damaging issue resulted in the decision to remove him from fronting it altogether.

Troubleshooting Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen had to step in to lead a team of senior ministers that was given the task of coming up with a solution for the crisis by last month.

Responsibility for the Building Industry Authority - the Government's adviser on building standards - will be handed over to the Minister for Economic Development, Jim Anderton.

And Mr Hawkins played no role in the passing of legislation yesterday to set up a mediation and adjudication service for affected homeowners.

The botched handling of the crisis is not all his fault. He has been badly let down by his officials.

It was clear that the Building Industry Authority had been working behind the scenes to keep the issue out of the public eye, fearful of the damage it would do to the industry and themselves.

They failed to alert their minister to the potential timebomb, even when he attended a meeting a month after they had discussed a possible ministerial inquiry.

And in the eyes of this Government, which has built a reputation for deft handling of politically charged issues, that is likely to be a fatal mistake.

Heads will roll.

Mr Hawkins looked as if he was about to burst a blood vessel yesterday when he was forced to appear at yet another press conference explaining why he had not known what his own officials were up to.

He furiously repeated his claim that the BIA had failed to alert him to the leaky homes problem until April, despite Opposition suggestions that he knew about it up to a year before that.

Mr Hawkins said papers referred to by National leader Bill English in Parliament yesterday had been released almost two weeks ago.

He said there was absolutely no evidence in the documents to suggest that he had known about the crisis and had attempted to cover it up.

But the furore yesterday did spook him into issuing an ultimatum to the BIA requiring it to respond within 24 hours to a "please explain" letter that he had sent three weeks ago.

He was clearly angry that the authority had not reacted quickly to his demand for an explanation.

The explanation arrived just a couple of hours after the ultimatum.

Too late. The damage had already been done.

Once again, it had taken another bout of political embarrassment in the House to stir Mr Hawkins into action.

* If you have information about leaking buildings,
email the Herald or fax (09) 373-6421.

Herald feature: Leaky buildings

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