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A suggestion local and regional councils should deal with the fall-out from climate change, rather than the Government, has been labelled "absurd" by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull.

Dave Cull

Mr Cull was responding to an RNZ story in which Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright said climate change was creating "a slowly unfolding red zone".

She suggested an EQC-style agency needed to be set up to deal with the effects of climate change on homeowners.

But Environment Minister Nick Smith said such compensation would encourage poor decision-making by home buyers.

He told RNZ such a system could make people take on high-risk homes in areas where they could be affected by climate change, because they would know the Government would bail them out, insure or compensate them.

Dr Smith said local and regional government would be mostly responsible for climate-change issues.

In August, the Dunedin City Council called on the Government to help respond to the threat groundwater and sea-level changes posed in South Dunedin.

Councillors voted to "immediately engage" the Government over the threat the changes posed and support for urban renewal initiatives in the area.

The motion was put forward by Crs David Benson-Pope and Aaron Hawkins after Dr Wright said earlier this year South Dunedin presented the "most troubling example" of high groundwater levels in the country.

Asked to respond to the comments, Mr Cull said Dr Smith’s comments were "a bit absurd".

"He seems to have come up with the answers before we know what all the questions are."

It was simplistic to suggest compensation was the answer, when urban renewal or drainage might be needed instead.

But if the effects were widespread, it was clear local government could not handle the issue on its own, any more than Christchurch did after the earthquake.

Mr Cull said the issue was not one in which the council would "go to Government and baldly say ‘just give us the money’.

"We don’t know what we need and what we need it for."

Cr Benson-Pope, a former Labour minister for the environment, said the Government’s response would be different if South Dunedin was a low-lying wealthy area of National voters.

The Government had been "woefully dragging its feet" at every level on climate change.

"This is an issue we all have to face up to."

Cr Hawkins said for Dr Smith to suggest people would put themselves at high levels of risk because they could rely on compensation was "laughable", especially considering what Christchurch had endured with the EQC.

Dr Wright was correct the impacts of climate change had the potential to be equivalent in scale to earthquakes, especially for low-lying communities up and down the country.

"It’s an issue of national significance for our economic and social wellbeing, and any government with an eye on the longer-term picture would be taking this more seriously."

david.loughrey@odt.co.nz