UPDATED 10.53AM: A petition calling for an inquiry into the defective earthquake repairs in Christchurch has been rejected.

Duncan Webb, a Labour candidate for Christchurch Central, presented the 3000-strong petition to the government, saying some 12,000 homes have already been confirmed to have had faulty repairs.

Insurers claim it could be as high as 60,000.

In response to the petition, the Finance and Expenditure Committee said it doesn't think the problem warrants an inquiry.

The committee said the number of repairs needing remediation under the Canterbury Home Repair Programme was in line with, or better than, rates for new builds in the wider building sector.

"The government doesn't want to get to the bottom of what's gone on here," Webb said in response to the rejection.

"It's a massive problem. We know there were twelve-thousand complaints about repairs...It's just not accurate to say this is within the margin of error, and it's only going to get bigger."