Auckland's mayor is determined the council's $900 million payout to storm-hit homeowners won't set a precedent.
The money, along with a Government contribution, will help buy out homeowners suffering severe weather damage.
But Wayne Brown says rates shouldn't be used as insurance premiums and wants the Government to take full responsibility instead.
The message from 'Mr Fix-It' is clear: don't expect a cash job when the next weather bomb hits.
Instead, Mayor Brown wants a national scheme to deal with the fallout from events like Cyclone Gabrielle.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said it's on the table.
"That's not something we're going to rush through immediately. Obviously it needs to be done, but yes we will commit to there being a framework that can apply in future events," he told Newshub.
Auckland Council on Friday contributed $900 million to a $2 billion cost-share plan with the Government, to help prepare Tāmaki Makaurau for the next event and pay out those worst-hit by the last one.
Mayor Brown said the debt will take decades to pay off, so Newshub put his idea of a national scheme to National leader Christopher Luxon.
"I'm not clear on what's been said or what's been talked about there," he told Newshub.
Instead, Luxon made the familiar point that he's the man to mahi with the mayor.
"We are going to sit down with Mayor Brown and Auckland Council and make sure we build a really good Auckland City deal that actually deals with the challenges that Auckland has," he said.
But Newshub wasn't really asking about that, rather a broader problem stretching beyond the Bombays.
Ōtepoti/Dunedin City Council is asking for Crown cash to buy out flood-prone properties in its southern suburbs.
Newshub tried to ask Luxon for a general position on future Government buyouts, but he wasn't keen to stick around.
"OK, thanks so much, alright, see you," Luxon replied.
His counterpart, however, was keen.
"It's never clean-cut - you have to look at a whole range of issues, including insurance coverage," Hipkins told Newshub.
"We don't want the Government to basically become the default for people who aren't insured, because I think that would send all of the wrong messages and it would effectively penalise people who do the right thing by getting insurance," he added.
Meanwhile, the Nats' potential coalition partner, ACT leader David Seymour, is crystal clear.
He touts personal responsibility for private land.
"I think, in the long term, we need to be really clear that it's up to you to privately insure," Seymour said.
"And it's actually a more efficient way to do things because insurers have very good research and very good data on where the risk is and insurers will start to price what the risk for insuring something is."
That's not exactly music to the ears of those anxiously waiting for payouts, like Muriwai resident Maria Koppens.
"We do have concerns around the ACT policy on buyouts. It seems that they're not in favour of buyouts," she said.
"We really wouldn't want to have everything flip-flop next month, because we're on the track now that we could find a resolution hopefully for some people before Christmas. And we wouldn't want to see that reversed."
But, for now, it's buyouts for the worst hit. Just don't bank on it next time.
