Dalziel Lianne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDalziel Lianne: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11725. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East)to theMinister for Building and Construction: When was the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment first made aware of the September IANZ report which warned the Christchurch City Council that “Continued accreditation beyond May 2013 will depend on a satisfactory outcome of that assessment” and when was he advised of the content of the report?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation)on behalf of theMinister for Building and Construction: The ministry received the report in mid-October 2012. It was a regular accreditation assessment done biannually on all 69 building consent authorities. Nearly all these reports recommend some corrective actions. A follow-up assessment was done in May this year to check that the corrective actions had been taken. They had not and a final 1-month warning was given then. Minister Williamson was advised of this on 6 June Minister Brownlee was advised on 7 June and the matter was raised as an oral item at Cabinet on 10 June.Hon Lianne Dalziel: So is the Minister saying that his officials did not provide him with any briefing on a report that contains 17 corrective action requests and warned that continued accreditation beyond May 2013 will depend on a satisfactory outcome of the assessment and that the 17 corrective action requests had to be completed by February this year?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I note that the accreditation system that is run by International Accreditation New Zealand has been running since 2007. The Christchurch City Council received unsatisfactory reports in its biannual reports for that period—Hon Annette King: Always trying to blame someone else.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: No the point I want to make Annette King is this—Hon Annette King: It’s 5 long years—5 long years.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Just listen for a moment; you will learn something. When those reports were done all of the councils—all 69 of them—had corrective actions recommended. What the member is suggesting is that every time any corrective action is required Ministers would have to be advised. That has never been the practice under the previous Government or this one.Hon Lianne Dalziel: Did he receive reports from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment in relation to the extensive work it was undertaking to assist the council to meet its requirements to maintain accreditation prior to 30 May; if so did he pass these on to the Minister in charge of the recovery or did he not actually read them?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Christchurch City Council building consent department has I am advised by the ministry had difficulties in terms of its accreditation since 2007. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and its predecessor the Department of Building and Housing have been meeting weekly with that council for more than a year on these issues. Both Minister Brownlee and Minister Williamsonwere aware of the support that the ministry was providing to the city council as those issues became more acute with the extra workload flowing from the earthquake.Hon Lianne Dalziel: Has he read the report of May and September—because it is quite clear in both of those reports that in fact the Christchurch City Council did not go through its regular assessment in 2010 because we had an earthquake and in 2011 it was put off for a year because the Government passed an Order in Council to enable the accreditation to stay in place for another year. The first assessment by International Accreditation New Zealand that it had was in September 2012. Has the Minister read the report?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I am not Minister Williamson to be able to answer to what degree all those reports have been read. But I would note again that of the 30 councils or building consent authorities that are reviewed each year all of them have reports and all of them have recommended corrective actions. The part I find so ironic about the member’s question is that all last year she was criticising the Government for daring to interfere in the council and is now on her feet saying that my colleague Mr Brownlee did not interfere nearly enough.Hon Lianne Dalziel: Can he confirm that the report on the review of the Christchurch City Council building consenting system which will be released by the Christchurch City Council today identifies that one of the reasons that crisis point was reached was information to senior management about the need for corrective actions and/or the seriousness of the Christchurch City Council situation was not accurate or was not read or was not followed up on; and is that why everything has gone wrong in terms of the relationship between the council and the Government—nobody is reading any of the reports?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The ministry has been working with the Christchurch City Council trying to provide support to improve their building consent system. What it had noted in its reports to Ministers is that there has been a lack of buy-in by the leadership within the Christchurch City Council to the sorts of changes that were needed in its building consents system. That is why the Government has been providing support. Again I find it ironic and I welcome today the fact that the council has agreed to the appointment of a Crown manager although I note that members opposite opposed the legislation that would enable the appointment of a Crown manager.Hon Lianne Dalziel: I seek leave to table the report on the review of the Christchurch City Council building consenting system by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? It can be tabled. There was no objection.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.