Fenton Darien: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 26 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8205. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I have been listening to the debate on the Committee stage of the this bill the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Amendment Bill over the last few days—and for a few minutes tonight—and I have been moved to take a call. The reason I have been moved to take a call is that I come from Auckland and I obviously have some—[ 
Interruption 
] I am sorry; I apologise for that. But I know that in Auckland people would be rioting in the streets right now if this kind of provision was being put forward. I know we had Rodney Hide’s little adventure with the amalgamation of Auckland and there was quite a lot of rioting at local level. But at the same time what I think has happened here from what I can see from a distance is that the people of Canterbury are being taken advantage of. The earthquake has become an excuse for ditching democracy. 
I have to say that I am deeply disappointed in the new Minister the Hon Chris Tremain. Chris Tremain and I came into Parliament together and I had high hopes for the integrity of that Minister— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Order! 
DARIEN FENTON 
: However to be fair Mr Chair I do think he has been handed something that no incoming Minister of Local Government would want to have to deal with. He has certainly been handed the short straw particularly given the promises of previous Ministers such as the Hon Nick Smith who promised in 2010 that whatever the circumstances the next regional council elections in Canterbury would take place no later than the elections scheduled for late 2013. I would like to hear from the Minister who is now in the chair the Minister for Primary Industries what the explanation is for the delay. Has he been back and spoken to the former Minister and said: “You made that promise.”? How does he justify taking away the right of the people of Canterbury to choose the people who lead them particularly in the circumstances of Christchurch? We have seen dreadful earthquakes in Christchurch and we have seen the people of Canterbury trying to bring themselves together and having to put up with the imposition and the arrogance we are seeing from Wellington about the Christchurch rebuild. People who say anything opposing the Government’s will about the Christchurch rebuild actually get criticised. They are told that they are carping and being a bit of a nuisance—a bit of a nuisance. 
I think that is what this bill is about actually. The people of Canterbury are seen as a nuisance. They are seen as a nuisance and that is what this bill is about. It is about a bunch of people in Canterbury who are a nuisance to the Government and who have been completely disregarded. So those people who are a nuisance do not deserve the right to vote in the people who will represent them! 
This year as my colleague Su’a William Sio pointed out we will be having local body elections up and down the country. We will be having them in Auckland. We are going to have a fantastic election in Auckland. We are looking forward to that. People will be coming together and talking about what it is that they want for their city. They will be talking about what it is they want for their region. They will be talking about the issues that are important to them and they will be making democratic decisions and deciding whom they are going to vote for but what this bill does is deny those rights to the people of Canterbury. It is another broken promise—another broken promise—that we have seen from John Key’s Government. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: An outright lie. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: In fact it is an outright lie as my colleague says. Of course as we know John Key should have listened when the Hon Nick Smith made that promise. However how many promises have we heard? How many promises have we heard from this Government? How many promises have been broken? 
I was also moved to speak on this bill because I heard that there were 95 submissions on this bill and of those 90 were opposed.