Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill

I move, That the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

I’ve made it very clear that I’m committed to this transition back to local leadership in regeneration in Greater Christchurch and, for that reason, I am so pleased to be standing here in this House today for this third reading of the bill. Early repeal of the section 71 power and earlier disestablishment of Regenerate Christchurch are both key in returning regeneration matters to local leadership. They are important pou on our transition pathway to local leadership in my home, while the extension of a limited set of land powers to ensure there is a backstop, if required, for land title reconfiguration work in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor will help solidify Christchurch’s strong position from which to progress regeneration.

The bill illustrates the accumulation of a lot of hard work by central and local government politicians and officials. It has only been possible given the progress made on regeneration in recent years. I think, to many outsiders, these will sound like quite technical amendments. But for those who live in the areas of Greater Christchurch, they will see these as very important milestones. It is over a decade since the first of our earthquakes that we experienced in our region, and this is a very important occasion of returning back to a normality, where locals lead, where locals make the kinds of decisions that they do in other parts of the country.

I’d like to acknowledge, as we have this third reading of this important piece of legislation, the work of previous Ministers for Christchurch: the Hon Gerry Brownlee and the Hon Nicky Wagner. It was a long road after the 2011 earthquakes, but the dedication to the work and the vision shown has helped to get us to this point. I’d also like to acknowledge Christchurch’s and Canterbury’s local government leaders. The mayors and councillors of not only Christchurch City Council but of Environment Canterbury and Selwyn and Waimakariri Districts, and not forgetting the crucial role played by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu in the progress made across all of Greater Christchurch.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge every member of this House who has represented the Greater Christchurch region over this decade. There’s actually not many left in the House who were there at the time of the first of those earthquakes. The Hon Ruth Dyson, of course, who will be retiring from this House at the end of the year, is the only one left on our side who was there at the time. Of course, on the other side of the House, the Hon Gerry Brownlee, the Hon Nicky Wagner, and the Hon Amy Adams were all there at the time of those earthquakes, and it has been a long haul.

I want to make special mention of some colleagues who were there who have left. One who always springs to mind first to me is the Hon Jim Anderton and the work that he did representing people through that period in the early days after the earthquake. I, as the candidate for Wigram at the time, worked alongside Jim and saw the tireless work that he, like MPs right across Christchurch, did for the people that he represented. We’ve also had many other members who have left this House, one of whom has gone on to be the Mayor of Christchurch City, in the Hon Lianne Dalziel. But then, we also have those of us that have entered Parliament afterwards. I myself entered in that year, 2011. At the end of that year, Poto Williams came in, Matt Doocey came in, we’ve had a steady stream of new representatives of our region, and we’ve all played our part. And Duncan Webb has entered. I’d like to acknowledge all these people.

The early repeal of the provisions to be made through this bill is a clear sign of the success that all these people have made. The approval of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan and the signing of the global settlement agreement, both completed last year, signalled significant progress in reducing the Crown’s role in Christchurch. The approval of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan was also the final step in the biggest piece of work undertaken by Regenerate Christchurch. With this bill bringing about the early disestablishment of Regenerate Christchurch, I want to take the opportunity to also acknowledge the work it has undertaken in its four years of operation. Every project it undertook, reviewed, or contributed to has contributed to Christchurch being in its current position. So I’d like to thank all the board members and the staff who have contributed in all the ways they have to this work completed.

I note that there are still things to be done. Certainly, this bill does not signal that the Crown has finished its work, but it does show that local leadership is the best way forward on regeneration matters. I’d also like to note the organisations and members of the public who took the opportunity to make submissions on the bill and thank the chair and members of the Governance and Administration Committee for their consideration of this bill. The process is critical to ensuring the best outcomes are achieved through any piece of legislation. I appreciate that having to consider it within a truncated time frame and through the COVID-19 response restrictions complicated matters. However, getting this completed before the election was key to being able to give Christchurch that reassurance about the institutions and planning in place for regeneration in the longer term. None of this would have been possible without the committee completing its part of the process in good time and along multipartisan lines. So I thank all members of that committee. We are living in such uncertain times; being able to provide clarity of institutions and planning is highly valued. While the people in institutions of Greater Christchurch know resilience better than most, having lived through uncertainty, clarity is critical.

I know there is plenty more for us all, and for me, to get on with in Christchurch, but I do celebrate my home town. It is a wonderful city, and I think it has come a long way in the decade that we have been working towards this. I am proud and pleased to stand here and that this bill will provide the next steps towards the next steps in our journey and towards local leadership. I commend this bill to the House.

Any Act has its purpose, and this Act, the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act, had its purpose; it’s no exception. Passed in April 2016, the Act itself was trying to help resolve some long-term issues facing Christchurch after the earthquakes. The earthquakes happened a decade ago, they caused hugged damage to our Garden City, and after resolving some immediate issues, the long-term issues emerged—for example, in terms of land, some land was no longer deemed suitable for the purpose it had, and also it appeared that there was opportunity, basically, for development through amalgamation of titles or via amendments to originally zoned purposes. So, to do that, we would need some fast-track process, and the Act itself was supposed to do that and to achieve that particular purpose.

At the same time, of course, people would see some opportunities for urban renewal after the earthquakes. So, to do that, we would need some extraordinary measures to fast track the whole process. For that reason, it would need some alternative measures, or extraordinary measures, legislative or institutional arrangements, to make sure that this could happen. So the Act itself was trying to somehow help fast-track the process to rebuild Christchurch after the earthquakes. So the Act itself, the GCR Act, was trying to enable local and central government to deliver a focused and expedited regeneration process. Also it was a genuine cross-party effort in terms of designing the Act, and also it enjoyed cross-party support—what was unanimous support for this particular Act. So the Act itself did work well, to some extent, and, as I said earlier, there was the annual renewal process, and in 2017 it was noted that the Act worked reasonably well, it was fit for purpose, but gradually it became clear that the Act had started to become redundant, and that is why, in the 2019 review, it was noted that it was necessary to somehow simplify the coordination of agencies, and to do that we may need to somehow disestablish Regenerate Christchurch. So, basically, that is what we call—you know, the bill itself served some purposes but, as time goes on, of course, we would like to make some amendments.

Now, it was also noted that, while the Act itself makes some achievements, there was also some kind of reluctance in the local government, the Christchurch City Council, to work with central government in working on some plans. So, in the end, it is necessary for us to move ahead, to move on. Now, for this reason, I would thank all the officials for their work. I thank all the submitters and all committee members for their commitment. As the Hon Megan Woods mentioned, we did have committee meetings during the lockdown, and actually it was quite a long process, and also, in the end, we moved very fast to make sure that this bill could be reported to the House without going beyond the deadline. So also I would like to thank the committee staff for their efficient work, and also I thank other colleagues, like the Hon Gerry Brownlee, Nicky Wagner, and also Matt Doocey. They’re from Christchurch. They made their own contributions. So the committee all worked collaboratively. That’s why we say this bill itself really enjoys support from all parties, and also I would like to make sure that this bill itself will continue to be an example for cross-party work in various committees.

We made some amendments, as we mentioned earlier, that are largely to clarify the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor and also to add some transitional power to some sections. But, basically, we believed that these amendments have improved the bill itself. We do have some concerns regarding the bill, largely because implementation of the bill—we want to make sure that the taxpayers’ money is used wisely.

Sorry to interrupt the member, but the time has come for me to leave the Chair. This debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. The House is suspended until 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Sitting suspended from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. (Thursday)