Chadwick Steve: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill — In Committee 
Chadwick Steve: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:10004] 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 I will take a different angle in Part 2 of this “Democratic Outrage Bill”. The Minister in the chair the Minister for the Environment knows this story very well. I will relate it to clause 13 of the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill “Amendment of terms of reference for commissioners” which states that the power to amend the terms of reference at any time is a ministerial power. 
I refer the Minister and others in the Chamber to a different approach that was taken by Labour in 2002 with regard to the quality of water in Rotorua’s lakes. At that time the then Minister for the Environment Marian Hobbs could have done the same thing. She could have brought in the “Rotorua (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill” but she did not. We had dysfunction between the regional council which was the equivalent of Environment Canterbury— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Who was the Minister for the Environment who crunched the money? 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK 
: —well the member must hang on a minute as I am getting to that—and the local body. All the non-governmental organisations were concerned that the water of Lake Rotorua and our other 14 lakes in the Rotorua area was being degraded. A delegation made up of the chair of the regional council the then Mayor of Rotorua Grahame Hall and a representative of the local iwi Anaru Rangiheuea came to see Minister Marian Hobbs and the Minister told those people to get their act together. She told them to get a water plan and come back to central government and if she did not see improvements then she would act. 
I agree with this Minister for the Environment that the Minister has the power at any time in Government to bring in legislation but this legislation is a democratic outrage. Thank goodness Labour did not go that way. What did we do? Minister Marian Hobbs set up terms of reference on how a steering group would proceed to clean up Rotorua’s lakes and we knew then that it was a 20-year journey. It is not a quick fix. This commission will not be able to fix up Canterbury’s water overnight. I think it is appalling that councillors will not be democratically elected at the local elections this year; Canterbury will have to wait until 2013. It is an insult to democratically elected councillors. 
In 2002 we set up a water quality group for Rotorua’s lakes. It was chaired by the mayor. It was not easy but he took leadership at that time. He worked as one of the three legs of the stool with the regional council and with iwi as the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Group. They all sat at the table and at that time we fixed up the ownership of Rotorua’s lakes. Issues keep on cropping up that give us concern about our lakes’ water quality and I have suggested to the mayor that he should bring in Nick Smith to fix it. But now I would tell him not to do that as Nick Smith might say that it is not being fixed up fast enough and that the Government will appoint commissioners. The Government might go trigger-happy over democracy. Instead of working through the issue in a long-term sustainable water quality improvement plan it might change all those democratically elected representatives put in commissioners and think that that will fix it. 
With regard to clause 13 the terms of reference are not even public knowledge. I think that the provision in clause 13 is an absolute outrage. The clause states that the terms of reference will be published. They should be worked out by all those who are contributing and who will fix the problem over time. We have our water quality group in Rotorua. It represents the elected representatives who have the expertise in certain matters as is stipulated in clause 14. They understand organisational change. I have heard the Minister in the chair the Hon Nick Smith state that Labour did zip about water quality improvement in this country. I do not accept that. We worked for 7 years to bring in $70 million to fix up our lakes. The Minister can say at any time that that money from the Crown will stop if the water quality group does not achieve an outcome of improved water quality and I think that is a very powerful tool. 
I say to members of the Rotorua group to bring in the Minister if they are arguing about the lake levels or resource consent processes. I tell them to bring in the Minister as he has the power to do something about the allocation of funding and he will do something. However this bill is an outrage.