Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee has an advisory role. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is responsible for the overall governance of the NZCRS, reporting to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Terms of Reference

Members of the Advisory Committee

• Chair – a senior MBIE representative
• A senior Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake representative
• A legal representative nominated by the NZ Law Society
• The Chair of the Engineering Advisory Group
• A consumer representative from Consumer NZ

Latest meeting minutes - 25 November 2025

Meeting Administration

Conflicts of Interest

1. The Chair reminded members that the committee should not discuss issues of common law, and that the advisory committee is not the correct forum to debate differing litigation approaches to claims.
2. Emily Walton advised she would be steering away from detailed legal debates but would talk about general themes at a reasonably high level. Emily noted that issues raised could be taken offline and discussed in a different forum if necessary.

Actions

1. Actions from the previous meeting were reviewed and minutes taken as read.

Items

NZCRS Operational

NZCRS Quarterly Report

1. The Acting Head of AIR presented the NZCRS Quarter Three 2025 Operational Report, which had been circulated prior to the meeting. Key points included: 111 new cases registered during the reporting period. 
2. Registrations related to the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence remain the predominant source of new cases, with 40 cases still incoming per month first time since 2018 total cases fell below 500. For the Nelson/Tasman response there are currently 30 cases.
3. Workload per case manager now averages 60–65 cases, becoming more manageable.
4. Ongoing case reviews and audits show high levels of consistency across cases.
5. 52% of closed cases were resolved through additional services. (44 referrals via Community Law and 45 homeowners getting support via Pathways)
6. The NZCRS KPI shows a slight drop in the number of homeowners completing survey responses and NZCRS will focus on following up with homeowners to improve response rates. Current satisfaction rate is 78%.
7. Regional engagement has been strengthening by NZCRS working more closely with the Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) on stakeholder engagement activities.

Internal Dispute Resolution Service Update

1. A long-standing case was resolved through mediation in October. NZCRS remain very focused on utilising the IDRS with the process being an effective and cost-efficient alternative to Courts.
2. NZCRS reminded the Committee that the mediation service is available, encouraged participation by NHC and insurers, and confirmed that NZCRS arranges the mediators/determiners and provides the rooms at MBIE’s offices.
3. NZCRS is seeing increased challenges when it comes to the reopening of NHC claims for the Canterbury event. NHC confirmed it is continuing to consider every claim on its merits. This includes establishing the cause of the damage being claimed for and legal time limits – these are becoming increasing relevant for NHC to consider as the 15-year point of the recovery approaches. NZCRS is working to inform homeowners of what information they need to reopen claims. NHC also publishes guidance around this on the NHC website. Drainage issues remain prevalent, as do structural issues.
4. A large number of cases continue to be referred to Community Law around limitations queries and on sold cases with no insurer pathway.
5. NHC discussed the information they are producing for homeowners to better understand NHC cover, and the roles and responsibilities of NHC/Insurers, was landing in the right way. NZCRS confirmed that from its perspective the messaging was good but noted that NZCRS actively educates homeowners on the Landcover in particular, given the complexity around this.

Industry Updates

Homeowner Representatives

1. A small number of inquiries were received regarding loyalty pricing and changes to payment methods.
2. There is ongoing concern about price increases for insurance products. This remains a priority issue for monitoring and review.
3. The Consumer NZ team is currently analysing data from a recent survey - financial impact continues to be a major concern, ranked #4 overall. Full survey results and detailed data will be available by end of January 2026.
4. Starting to see that some people have no choice around provider given when they live, people are increasing excesses to save on premium.
5. Homeowner representative also let the committee know she had received a Winston Churchill scholarship to go oversees which will enable her to talk to reinsurers and look into other jurisdictions.

Legal Representative

1. Noted the work that NHC had done regarding the education material and that in her experience, people immediately after Cyclone Gabrielle didn’t know what to do - she attended a number of webinars to explain the claims process to people.
2. NHC also noted in response that it was always looking to continuously improve and cited available reports on its website.
3. Legal representative queried if NZCRS was involved in working with local government as a stakeholder following Gabrielle, including around land categorisation. NZCRS confirmed that it was outside of the scope of the service.
4. ICNZ noted that the NIWE weather events were the biggest events being managed under the new claims management model. ICNZ also noted that it and insurers also provided education on cover, and noted a good rhythm was being established at a local level following events where insurers could have staff on the ground.
5. Legal representative noted that she didn’t have a large amount of involvement with matters outside of Canterbury.
6. Increased due diligence by banks/insurers when owners are buying property more engineering and pre-sale reports requested, was discussed.
7. Expectation of increasing litigation against engineers, inspectors, vendors.
8. Noted that there are claims still out there that do require a dispute resolution process, outside of the Court.

Engineering Representative

1. 8 new referrals received; 10 cases completed.
2. Noted that the earthquake related case remains the largest basis for referrals given the nature of damage.
3. Engagement Letters are the largest revision since 2018.
4. Updated guidance for structural and geotechnical assessments has been completed.
5. Mock Wellington earthquake exercise highlighted response gaps and that there will be reports following the exercise that will likely be useful.
6. Confirmed that the Landslip Assessment Guidance has been published and is available on the website.

Review of Agenda

General Business

1. Overview of Emergency Management Bill reforms from Jeremy Hall, NEMA.
2. MBIE to circulate updated Conflict of Interest Management Plan for feedback from committee.
3. Lesson Learned Paper is delayed, to be circulated in next meeting.
4. Representative from MBIE’s Building Emergency Management to be invited to following committee meeting.
5. Circulate NZCRS learnings from the Otago weather event response to NZCRS Advisory Committee.

Meeting closed: 11:12am