Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. I'm pleased to take a call on the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2). Can I just acknowledge and thank the Minister Nanaia Mahuta for her opening remarks tonight on this bill.I want to make a contribution on Part 1 clause 21A in particular replacement clause 56 which talks about the Principal objective of council-controlled organisations". Briefly clause 56 talks about "(1) The principal objective of [the council] is to—(a) achieve the objectives of its shareholders both commercial and non-commercial as specified in the statement of intent; and (b) be a good employer; and (c) exhibit a sense of social and environmental responsibility by having regard to the interests of the community in which it operates and by endeavouring to accommodate or encourage those interests when able to do so;".I am so thankful this bill is coming to the House. I am thankful that the Minister has seen the wisdom to empower our councils particularly in relation to this clause around council-controlled organisations (CCOs) because it is about empowering councils. We understand we have commercial arms of councils but where you saw in very recent times—and as the local MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti we too had an issue called the Ruataniwha Dam which obviously one of our CCOs in Hawke's Bay was doing something that the community had no way of pulling them in and being accountable to the ratepayers. So I draw the committee's conclusion and commend the Minister for addressing the role of CCOs and returning the power and accountability back to the council and particularly to the ratepayers.So in this particular clause 56 I'm pleased—and maybe at a time that the Minister wants to make a call—around the introduction of clause 56(1)(c) that talks about like I said "exhibit a sense of social and environmental responsibility" not just purely commercial. In my example around the Ruataniwha Dam we spent $20 million of ratepayers' money and we never saw anything of it. So this is an example where we had a big local issue and yet the ratepayers in Hawke's Bay and their views were encountered in the pursuit of a dam that environmentally was challenging the environment but it was also not delivering the commercial returns.So I am pleased that we've got a part—Part 1 clause 21A replacement clause 56(1)(c)—that actually reintroduces not just the roles of CCOs but also talks about their responsibility in addition to commercial returns both to social and environmental considerations.So when the Minister's able to take a call on specifically the role of CCOs it would be interesting to hear from her what submitters said on this particular bill or I guess the rationale that caused the Minister to drill a lot deeper into the role of CCOs than what we had previously in the Act because our real-life example the example I gave was quite polarising in the community that I come from which is the Greater Hawke's Bay region in that again time and time again communities wanted answers but the CCO adopted a cannot be touched are not responsible are not accountable—and I am referencing that as a pure example to back up the Minister's addressing this in this particular new section 56(1) inserted by clause 21A. So it is about the CCOs. I commend the Minister in trying to make that really tidy around their role ensuring the accountability rests with the council and ultimately the ratepayers but more importantly introduces the social environmental and cultural consideration of council-controlled organisations which previously did not exist.And so I do want to commend the Minister and when she has the time to expand on the move in which she's addressing this. Thank you."