There is no guarantee the cost of Southern Response & EQC botch-ups won't cost the taxpayer more than a billion dollars.
Finance and EQC Minister Grant Robertson says with the combined cost of the fix-it fund for quake houses onsold with substandard repair work and the recent precedent setting court ruling against Southern Response, taxpayers are looking at "a lot of money".
But Mr Robertson can't give an exact figure or any guarantee it won't top out at more than a billion dollars.
The Minister declined to be interviewed on Checkpoint. So RNZ political reporter Jo Moir grabbed a few minutes with him as he headed to the debating chamber - to talk about both Southern Response and the EQC onsold test case that was settled on Thursday.
