Sage EugenieHon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. I'm very pleased as the Green Party spokesperson for Ōtautahi/Christchurch to speak on the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill. There has been a lot of legislation that this House has debated about Greater Christchurch about the Canterbury earthquakes and about the Hurunui/Kaikōura earthquakes as well.This bill is significant because it is bringing to an end the extraordinary powers that central government assumed after the quakes in Christchurch. I note as other speakers have that a lot of that legislation went through with the unanimous support from the Parliament but there was a feeling in Christchurch with the powers that Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) had of being alienated from decision making—decisions about the investment of millions of dollars being made without a public hearing process without the ability for people to see who was making the decisions: those being made by CERA behind closed doors.So this legislation is really significant because it is bringing those powers—particularly the section 71 powers in terms of the override of the Resource Management Act—to an end. As others have done I would like to acknowledge some people. I'm really pleased that the Mayor Gordon and Mayor Broughton from Waimakariri and Selwyn respectively and their councillors are here today. Picking up on the point that Matt Doocey made a lot of the response to the earthquake has been about Greater Christchurch not just the city because of course it did affect Waimakariri Kaiapoi in particular and because the first of the September quakes was Selwyn and that big Greendale fault and the impacts that that had.But I think where Regenerate and Ōtākaro—in terms of their planning for urban development and one of the reasons that they have been successful with the Greenprint goes back to actually all of the local authorities cooperating with the urban development strategy and the vision there for Greater Christchurch not just Christchurch City. So like Matt Doocey we'd like to see that strength of the wider city—Waimakariri and Selwyn as well—being a big part of how Christchurch City Council works and how Waimakariri District Council and Selwyn District Council continue to work. This legislation is significant because as Minister Woods noted there was provision in the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act in 2016 to make that transition from recovery to regeneration. We do acknowledge the Hon Gerry Brownlee because the original proposal in that bill was something that the Green Party had some concerns about and Minister Brownlee at the time was prepared to engage with Opposition parties and to have discussions about how that legislation was changed so that in the end at the third reading it did have the unanimous support of the Parliament. We'd also like to acknowledge the Hon Megan Woods and her work on the cathedral. Matt Doocey is saying that there are issues happening behind the scenes. In big projects like the Christ Church Cathedral there will be issues behind the scenes but Nicky Wagner achieved what was thought impossible at the time in getting agreement with the Church for the restoration of the cathedral at that heart of Cathedral Square. I'm really proud to speak in support of this bill and to support the work of the Hon Megan Woods and her leadership now under this Government on the recovery process. It is a very different city now and I'm really proud as a Christchurch citizen to see the developments around the urban centre and further out. Yes Mr Doocey some things like the convention centre will take longer than expected but the trajectory is going forward. I acknowledge—as the Hon Poto Williams did—the work of Regenerate Christchurch the leadership of Ivan Iafeta and Thérèse Arseneau because the planning process that Regenerate Christchurch implemented was very solidly based on the community. They did things differently in terms of running hui in school halls with a lot of visual material—a lot of maps—so that Christchurch residents could really see the potential of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor what sort of land uses could happen there and where the flood hazard zones were to really give a spatial picture of the potential of that corridor. So that was a very different and a visionary way of doing things. One of the other things that's been special about the earthquake recovery and regeneration has been the leadership and the co-governance effectively with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and the way in which we have much more of a Te Ao Māori perspective in our city of Ōtautahi than we had prior to the quakes. So even though this bill is seeing Regenerate Christchurch come to an end—those Draconian powers come to an end—I hope that the Christchurch City Council Waimakariri Environment Canterbury and Selwyn make sure that Ngāi Tahu is very closely involved in carrying on what was established post-earthquakes. The work that I'm also really proud of is the work that Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has done under the leadership of the Hon Megan Woods in working to consolidate titles in the city to provide the basis for planning for what happens on the land. In the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor there are 5500 titles which still need work in terms of amalgamating legal road with what was private land—those smaller house sites—so that there is secure title for future land use decisions. The bill provides for those powers that LINZ has had around title amalgamation to continue but there is the ability for an Order in Council to have those end more quickly. So there has been major progress with the global settlement with the extra $300 million to accelerate regeneration that the Government announced recently but this bill is quite significant because it is signalling that major transition back to local councils local democracies and having decisions made locally in Greater Christchurch. The Green Party is very pleased to support it and hopes it goes quickly through the Parliament to provide the people of Ōtautahi and the democratic institutions of Ōtautahi with the certainty that we need for the institutional arrangements that will make the decisions for the future working with central government. Kia ora.