Insurance companies, much like homeowners faced with hefty bills refurbishing rental properties based on a “discredited” methamphetamine test, deserve compensation, say campaigners.

On September 20, Housing New Zealand issued its meth report that highlighted a range of “poor outcomes for tenants and families.” It apologised and announced it will compensate all tenants kicked-out of their homes because of the meth-testing fiasco.

Now, campaign group Stop the War on Tenancies spokesman Mike Butler has stated that both owners and insurers, who have paid out tens of thousands for each property to be “decontaminated,” should also be compensated.

“This is regulatory failure,” Butler claims. “No-one in government asked the simple questions of how a substance, if smoked in a property, be so toxic to warrant evicting tenants, tearing out gib linings, dumping carpets, stoves, electrical fittings, and placing warnings on property titles.”

Butler quoted a toxicologist, who confirmed in 2016 that the benchmark for testing for meth was 24 times lower than “the lowest level that you could plausibly have a health risk.” He also pointed to the Prime Minister’s chief science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman’s meth report, which suggests that there is no evidence third-hand exposure causes adverse health effects.

Blaming another administration is no help for out-of-pocket owners and insurers, Butler added.