EQC LEAK LEADS TO PUBLIC OUTCRIES

A former contractor for the New Zealand Earthquake Commission (EQC) was the unintended recipient of a confidential email containing details of the EQC's budgeting plans, leading to accusations and counter-accusations of fraud and blackmail, as well as the intervention of prime minister John Key. Bryan Staples, from Brisbane in Australia, works as a loss adjuster, and now runs a company that helped EQC claimants fight for payouts. For six months from September 2010 he worked for EQC processing claims, but since finally parting company with the EQC in February he has been a vocal critic of the organization. The Friday before last he was erroneously sent an Excel spreadsheet by an EQC claims process manager containing private details of more than 83,000 claimants. One column of that spreadsheet showed EQC's estimated cost of repairs on each claim. Mr Staples asserts that EQC owes him NZD700,000 ($589,000) for work that the EQC says he did without being asked. Mr Staples claims that the details in the Excel file prove it. Mr Staples cites one case where EQC estimated that a repair would cost NZD59,000, but he got the job done for NZD52,000. However, Mr Staples claims that EQC paid him only NZD30,000 and told him that he would have to chase the homeowner for the rest. He told Fairfax NZ News that "EQC's role should never have been to compete with insurance companies doing assessments. EQC should have captured the high moral ground early and taken a stance defending the rights of Cantabrians against the multi-national insurance agents. All EQC had to do was set up a cheque writing service and deal only with insurance companies". New Zealand prime minister John Key said that the error by EQC, plus a second mistake where a spreadsheet containing 2,200 names and details of claim amounts was sent to another claimant, were the result of human error rather than systemic failure. He said that the EQC was operating under a great sense of urgency and that in such cases there was always a trade-off between speed and efficiency. Earthquake minister Gerry Brownlee responded to the unfortunate sequence of events by freezing the EQC's IT systems. He has now announced a resumption of the claims settlement system and systems that permit the EQC to pay contractors. But staff still cannot email customers, although they can receive emails. This means that claims processing and claims payments are being delayed. Mr Brownlee said that the EQC was "identifying how best to manage the large spreadsheets required to document their work programme; and they're working with professional third parties such as private insurers and contractors on how to ensure EQC data is transferred in a manner that protects privacy".