Burns Brendon: Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Burns Brendon: Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13961] 
BRENDON BURNS (Labour—Christchurch Central) 
: 
 I acknowledge the comments of the Hon Nick Smith; the work of the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee; and the contributions of all the members of the House. We have got to the point where the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill is all but done and dusted. I have chosen to speak several times through the passage of this legislation today in what has been a most unusual and rare display of unity across this Parliament. 
As the MP for the most affected electorate—without wishing to diminish the scale of the impact in other electorates—I firstly wanted the chance to talk about the impact on parts of my electorate not just the Christchurch central business district but suburbs particularly Avonside and to a lesser extent St Albans. 
There was never much doubt that Labour would support this bill. We—and I think all members of this House—want to see a rapid reconstruction of the city of Christchurch and the wider region of Canterbury. But saying that I have felt today the need to voice some sense of unease about the legislation given the scale the scope and the sweeping powers it provides to the Government to the appointed Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission and to the mayors of the districts of Christchurch Selwyn and Waimakariri. 
In my mind—and I think in the minds of other members of the Opposition—is the fact that the last time we were dealing with Canterbury local body issues we were dealing with the abolition of Environment Canterbury. In effect the Government itself has recently been forced to acknowledge that at the very least it got offside on that issue with the Christchurch public and hence the taxpayer-funded pamphlets asking for people’s views on abolishing the regional council and water management issues. 
I therefore found it appropriate to challenge Gerry Brownlee in the chair through the Committee stage as the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery on a number of issues; other colleagues have done the same. This was after all our only chance as members of Parliament and as representatives of the wider public to ask the questions that needed to be asked. 
The bill is short on detail. Basically it gives the Government and the commission the powers to override legislation—for instance the Building Act—by issuing Orders in Council such as a regulation exempting repair and reconstruction work from the normal requirements to get a building consent. Of course that raises questions about how building work can be held to the sort of quality that we would expect the resource consent processes to require. We have to acknowledge that we are putting some considerable trust and faith in the details being worked through from the introduction of this legislation. 
Other questions we wanted answered were around what the processes would be for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission and councils to alert the public when they propose things such as the demolition of buildings. We have a particular concern for the infrastructure of the heritage of the Christchurch central business district. It makes our city unique and special. It gives it its defining character. Many many people in Canterbury are passionate to the nth degree about the heritage of our city and have deep concerns for the future of that heritage. I think everybody acknowledges that we have lost and will lose some buildings but there is some nervousness that this bill might facilitate a process that allows the knocking over of buildings that with a little bit of time and breath might survive or be reconstructed even if some extra expense was involved. More than that it might allow the construction of new tilt-slab rather uglier buildings to replace them. We would get to a situation where even remaining heritage buildings would be sitting cheek by jowl with rather clashing modern structures without any particular architectural value or merit. Those are the sorts of concerns we have had. 
I was pleased to see the amendment tabled at the eleventh hour and 49th minute by the Minister tonight which confirms that the commission will be covered by the Official Information Act. It is important that the public are provided with as wide a set of information as possible to know what is being proposed what is coming through in processes to Order in Council and what is on the council agenda in terms of particular buildings that may be subject to demolition orders or new rapid-fire reconstruction processes. It is truly important when we are asking the public of Canterbury to put their faith and trust in the processes that we as a Parliament are enshrining tonight for the public to know they will get the widest possible information about what will happen and whatever chance for input into those processes that can be given. 
The Minister noted that this will be a very flat structure for the commission and the councils to allow them to get things happening rapidly. He also acknowledged that one of the checks and balances will be that in most instances there will be approaches to Government for money towards rebuilding costs. That will be a check and balance on the potential for more inappropriate development. Let us hope that is the case. 
The Minister has assured the House that there are no tricky agendas behind this bill. Certainly a lot of good faith is being afforded by us as Labour MPs and other Opposition MPs in supporting this one-off legislation. It is extraordinary legislation as in my knowledge of Parliament it is almost without precedent in terms of its scale the breadth of support and the time frame in which it has passed through this House. The onus is now on the councils the Government and the commission—which is still to be appointed—to show that that faith has been well placed. With that caveat let us work on this together. Kia kaha.