A new TV documentary about the leaky homes disaster reveals the carnage exacted on Kiwi owners. Barney McDonald talks to campaigner and host John Gray.
Picture our parliament building: solid, imposing, stately. Now imagine it oozing filthy water through cracks and chips in the brick and mortar, with mould creating a patchwork of discolouration across its arcane surface. Now add to that mental - and altogether unlikely - image the crusading figure of Aucklander John
Gray wrapping the tableau in police crime scene tape.
Wouldn't that make a compelling critique on the ridiculous and heart-wrenching reality of the leaky buildings syndrome currently blighting New Zealand, and the Government's role in the travesty?
Admittedly, Michael Moore beat Gray to the stunt by wrapping Wall Street headquarters, and a few brokers, in such tape at the conclusion of his contentious film about the recent American financial crisis, Capitalism: A Love Story.
Although Gray and the team behind new one-hour TV documentary A Rotten Shame did consider following in the entertaining footsteps of Moore, they chose simply to front up to politicians at Parliament to demand answers, eschewing show-pony tactics to make their point.
"Well, yeah, what you don't see in the doco is us being ordered off Parliament grounds, so that was a bit unfortunate," laughs a mildly indignant Gray. "Our initial approach to the doco was to be a little like Michael Moore. I thought, 'Well, it could be a bit of fun while also telling the more serious story that needs to be aired'."
Like Moore, Gray is an Everyman citizen who decided to front a documentary because of his own experiences dealing with the subject. In Gray's case, he discovered his Auckland townhouse leaked after trying to install a vent in a wall. He was confronted by a building that was rotting insidiously from the outside in, just seven years after being built.
It was 2002 and what followed was a protracted legal battle, which Gray won, but also an epiphany that he had to do everything within his power to help and support other Kiwis in the same leaky boat.
He has since set up the Home Owners and Buyers Association (Hobanz) to fight the good fight, along the way amassing a skyscraper of facts, figures and first-hand accounts of the extent of the carnage on health and wealth thanks to shoddy building regulations, practices and materials.
"The fact that John had a leaky home makes him instantly credible. Plus, when you listen to him on screen you believe and trust him," insists A Rotten Shame director John Hagen. "The film is a journey of discovery. John knows a lot about leaky homes but we were all discovering new things along the way, like we must be on to a big story if we're getting threatening letters from lawyers before the programme is even fully edited."
Gray credits his fulltime job as an airline pilot for instilling in him a sense of the responsibilities organisations need to take on behalf of the consumer, a philosophical and practical understanding designed to ensure the best outcome for all involved, from company to staff and the public.
As a commercial pilot for more than 30 years and an employee of Air New Zealand for 22 years, he has embraced the industry's commitment to safety and service as an ideal benchmark to which the building industry should aspire.
"I guess why I'm so passionate about this cause is that my daily job is about delivering people safely from A to B," explains Gray. "Our commitment to safety and their welfare is huge. We spend a great deal of money making sure we don't get that wrong. I love my flying job because it's in an environment where standards are paramount."
As a result of his job, Gray's time is stretched as thin as the patience of many of the individuals, couples and families desperately awaiting judgments or pay-outs on their leaky home. Gray is now devoted to short-haul international flights to spend more time at Hobanz and a modicum of down time with wife Lorraine and sons Taylor, 8, and Marcus, 6.
In fact, with shooting completed before Christchurch's September earthquake, surely Gray has settled back into a normal family life? Not so, insists producer Rachel Stace.
"I think it's taken a huge personal toll on him," she says. "He doesn't really have a life he can call his own. The man deserves a knighthood. He's already been nominated for New Zealander of the Year."
Hagen concurs. "John is a bloody good guy. It's impossible not to admire him. His passion and sincerity are real. He's a genuine Kiwi hero."
Gray is a little more circumspect about the dilemma he continues to face trying to juggle work, family and his crusade. His approach to the problem mirrors his respect for the airline industry, though he does concede that his family has missed out the most.
"It is an issue," he admits. "This is a hobby gone crazy. And I only do it because I care about the housing futures of all New Zealanders, and the health of our children to come. This is a really important issue. That's what keeps me going because otherwise I would have given up a very long time ago since it's had a huge impact on me and my family."
Gray's grasp of the multitude of complex issues surrounding leaky houses, plus his sensitivity to the painful experiences of those whose houses are no longer their castles, marks him as perfect fodder for a political career (minus the sensitivity).
At an advance screening of A Rotten Shame attended by crew, Hobanz folk and a number of victims, he shakes hands and exchanges pleasantries like a United Nations envoy and introduces the documentary to the audience with the ease of a seasoned speaker in Parliament (plus the sensitivity).
But politics is not on Gray's agenda. He knows his happy place, preferring to agitate for progress through Hobanz rather than dance with the devil.
"I'm not wanting to get into the political arena because we think we can create political movement that empowers our citizens to make change," he says. "Not political change, but change around standards and empowering consumers to make good choices because they have a responsibility to themselves to do so. Then they can drive standards back into the building industry and demand more of it.
"We're saying we'll leave it to the legislators and lawmakers to make laws and regulations but it's a waste of effort trying to change the way they think."
This doesn't mean Gray hasn't rubbed shoulders with politicians. One of the defining moments in the documentary is an on-the-fly interview Gray wrenched from PM John Key that concludes with an ill-conceived comment from the Prime Minister about solving some leaky homes claims by getting people off benefits.
It caused ripples of mirth and incredulity from the special screening, in large part because it shows even the country's leader is struggling to grasp the enormity of the problem.
"It was most unfortunate that we had to resort to standing him up in that way," concedes Gray. "And in fairness to him it's a complex subject and as a Prime Minister he's not expected to know the minutiae of every topic that the Government is dealing with. But it probably was a low point for me in terms of how the Government is trying to sell its financial assistance package and not really understanding the difficulties that poses."
Now picture Gray wrapping the Prime Minister in crime scene tape, bearing in mind it's hard to dance around the issues if he's bound by the truth.
A Rotten Shame plays on TV One, Wednesday at 9.30pm.
