Prime Minister John Key warned the Crown could simply walk away.
"The Government would say actually we are being pretty generous on an uninsured piece of land; we are paying you out 50 per cent,'' he said.
"One option is the Government says: 'Thanks very much, it's been a lot of fun. If you don't want to take the offer, that's where it's at'."
"[I]t's been a lot of fun". That's what John Key thinks of the struggle of Christchurch earthquake victims.
Its just another reminder that this is a heartless government, without compassion or any sense of fairness. Normally their victims are beneficiaries and the poor. But here they're victimising their own base. And hopefully those words - "it's been a lot of fun" - will come back to haunt them in 2014.