Dyson Ruth: Environment Canterbury (Democracy Restoration) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dyson Ruth: Environment Canterbury (Democracy Restoration) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 04 April 2012. Volume:679;Page:1705. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Labour—Port Hills) 
: 
 I move  
That the Environment Canterbury (Democracy Restoration) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate the Local Government and Environment Committee to consider this bill. Can I begin by acknowledging my former parliamentary colleague Brendon Burns who at the time of the lodging of this bill in the ballot was the member of Parliament for Christchurch Central. He came second in the last election to Nicky Wagner and so I have the privilege of taking this bill over and it is now in my name. But I have to acknowledge Brendon not just for the work he did on this bill but for the work he did on many issues in Canterbury and indeed around the country.  
A lot of members of the House will know that sometimes when the nights are getting long and the debates are starting to get a bit short we have a bit of fun over titles of bills. We make up interesting titles for bills that we do not agree with and use our 5 minutes or 10 minutes of speaking time for that. Some people might read this title Environment Canterbury (Democracy Restoration) Amendment Bill and ask whether that is made up because surely there must be democracy in Canterbury and there could not be a need for democracy restoration in one of the finest provinces in the country.  
Let me explain to the House that in March of 2010 the then Minister for the Environment the Hon Nick Smith took away the right of Cantabrians to vote for our regional council. It was an extraordinary move supported by National Party members of Parliament from Canterbury. In that debate we lost our right to vote. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: They made a balls-up. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Dr Paul Hutchison says they made a balls-up. Well of course there has never ever been a single local authority in the whole history of New Zealand anywhere in the country that has not made a mistake or has not gone fast enough or has not been of the political flavour of the Government of the day. But they do not get scrapped because what we treasure more than anything in New Zealand is our right to vote. If we end up not getting the person we voted for we say: “Well bother darn blast but that’s democracy.” It is sort of the downside of democracy that you do not get who you want but it is a treasured part of a democratic process.  
Our right to vote for our own councillors was taken away because Nick Smith had been implored by the member of Parliament for Rangitata the Hon Jo Goodhew and by the member of Parliament for somewhere south of that Jacqui Dean aided and abetted by our mayor I regret to say Bob Parker and the current member of Parliament for Christchurch Central Nicky Wagner who all conspired to say: “Let’s get rid of this lot.”  
In my view it was about more than just frustration with the council; it was about who controlled access to our water and who controlled the rights to consenting for irrigation. That is the biggest issue in Canterbury. We have the issue of water like no other region has and Environment Canterbury was concerned about it and was putting in place a water management strategy that would have given our control of water back and taken it out of the hands of irresponsible irrigators. That has all gone now in the main other than through the Canterbury Water Management Strategy which the Environment Canterbury councillors and then chief executive started before they were sacked.  
This is a pretty straightforward bill. It just says like it or lump it democracy is the best thing to have and we should not throw it out lightly. 
Su’a William Sio 
: People have died for it. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: People have died for it quite literally. Thank goodness they have not had to in New Zealand. Thank goodness we have always had better respect for democracy. I think it is about time. We have had a good period now—2 years—with commissioners appointed by the Government. This bill by the way is not a criticism of any of them individually. I cannot be bothered with that sort of debate. I have got respect for some of them; I do not agree with others. That is not the point. The issue is not whether we like people or not it is not whether we are politically on side with them it is not whether they will do the bidding of the Prime Minister or the Minister for the Environment and let irrigation consents be granted inappropriately or whether they will be the lapdog of the local member of Parliament. It is whether we as Cantabrians have a right to vote for what we see as our elected representative. It does not seem like a very big ask to me.  
Just while I am on the topic of commissioners we did have a bit of entertainment in that Wyatt Creech former National Cabinet Minister and highly respected person in his own right had done the review of Environment Canterbury and Nick Smith came into the House and quoted it in all sorts of bizarre ways—sorry misquoted it actually. Wyatt Creech was put in the most humiliating position of having his statements apparently read out. The Minister would open the document and say: “Look what Wyatt Creech just said.” and when you read it Wyatt Creech had not said that at all. He did not say anything like that. Poor old Hon Wyatt Creech had his name sullied in the House by Nick Smith.  
The next thing we heard was that the Rt Hon Jenny Shipley former Prime Minister and leader of the National Party was going to be one of the appointed commissioners. That would have been a significant conflict given her role in Genesis Energy. But after that was in the paper and after a few weeks of speculation the right honourable former Prime Minister was forced to say: “Well actually I can’t take up that job; it would be a bit of a bother.” So there was quite a lot of controversy with Nick Smith misrepresenting what Wyatt Creech had said in his review of Environment Canterbury and then Jenny Shipley being touted. It was widely known certainly in Canterbury and Wellington circles that her name had gone forward to the top of the list to be an Environment Canterbury commissioner and then it did not come to pass.  
I also want to acknowledge the people who were councillors who were elected councillors at the time of their dismissal. In my view they did a fine job in a very highly politically charged arena. There was a lot of political tension within Environment Canterbury. That is what you get when you vote for people who do not agree with each other.  
I think we have a fair bit of that in this House and I have not noticed many Ministers coming to this House and saying that we argue a lot in Parliament we do not often reach agreement therefore we should sack Parliament. But that is actually what they did. There was a lot of tension within Environment Canterbury but in my view all the sacked councillors have behaved with a lot of dignity and respect for the institution. They have not gone around saying that they did a good job and they want their jobs back. They have said that they were doing their best there were tensions and it was difficult. They said that they could not reach agreement all the time and there was a lot of infighting but that actually they were elected to do their jobs. The Canterbury Water Management Strategy— 
Jacqui Dean 
: Couldn’t get a water plan. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: —is a good document. I think the member should be very careful mentioning water given how much she thinks it is dangerous and given the fact that she wrote to the Hon Jim Anderton when he was a Minister and said: “Please do something about this dangerous substance which I have been told is so common in New Zealand.” and that substance turned out to be water—a very risky subject. I watched the Minister table that member’s letter in the House and I think I will go down to the Table Office soon and retrieve it so that I can re-table it because it is a new session of Parliament. 
Jacqui Dean 
: Focused on what’s important as usual. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I guess from the interjections opposite we are getting an indication that this bill may not be supported which I think is very disappointing because as I said at the beginning what we are asking for is something that every other New Zealander would expect as a matter of right and that is our right to vote for our regional councillors whether we get the person we want in the end or not.  
I am having a current battle with the Environment Canterbury commissioners. I take the opportunity to place on record that I think their decision to not allow Cantabrians to have existing use rights to put in log burners is a mistake. It is dumb. It is wrong. Actually I think the elected councillors would have done the same thing and I would have been arguing with them. So this is not about any current or past battle or any future battle I might have with the commissioners or in fact with our elected councillors. This is about a fundamental point of democracy that has been stolen from us in Canterbury in a way that has never been seen before in New Zealand’s proud history of supporting participation and supporting rights. It is our region it is our water and it is our vote. All we are asking is for that vote to be given back to us.