Woods MeganGREATER CHRISTCHURCH REGENERATION AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration): I move That the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be reported back to the House by 2 June 2020 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1)(b) and (c).It is with real pride that I stand here today for the first reading of this bill. I was first elected to be a member of Parliament on 19 September 2010 about two weeks after the first—Hon Scott Simpson: To be a candidate surely?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Sorry; that is right—to be a candidate on 19 September 2010. What that meant is that for the whole time I have been a member of this House there have been extraordinary powers in place in my city of Christchurch. So it is a momentous occasion to be standing here today to be bringing forward a bill which actually is about a return to local leadership. I am proud of all the work that has been undertaken by so many on the recovery rebuild and regeneration of Greater Christchurch in the nine years since the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 and all the work that has been undertaken by so many people to get us to the point where we are today. We have seen some amazing innovations and new ways of looking at the world but I also do want to acknowledge that for many people this has been a difficult time. I myself have opposed some steps along the way as an Opposition member of Parliament and as the Opposition spokesperson. For many people they have lost so much particularly the places and spaces where they made their memories. I think that is something that we always have to remember. The recent commemoration of the ninth anniversary of the 22 February 2011 earthquake was another opportunity to pause and reflect on the devastating and tragic events of that day but also to look at the progress we have made over the last nine years. With the transition to local leadership well under way the timing is now right to return to ongoing business-as-usual regeneration responsibilities and to return those to local leadership. Since taking on the position of Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration I've been working hard to hasten the path back to local leadership and regeneration in Greater Christchurch. I would like to acknowledge the two other members who have served in this role as Minister in charge of getting things right after the earthquakes in Christchurch: the Hon Gerry Brownlee and the Hon Nicky Wagner. I made it clear when I became Minister that I was very open about my expectation that I believed I should be the last Minister fulfilling this role. This bill further illustrates the trajectory towards achieving this. Following the quakes intervention by the Crown was the only way to enable the required recovery but we're past the need for the Crown to have such wide-ranging and extraordinary powers and the structures and the people of Greater Christchurch are more than ready to take on more leadership of the regeneration of the communities. It's time to give them responsibility. Local decisions should be made at the local level and this bill goes some way to returning those decisions to those local institutions. The passing of the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act 2016 signalled the formal transition from recovery to regeneration. When I spoke at the first reading of that piece of legislation in October 2015 I made points about my belief in locals being up to the task of making decisions that was for the betterment of their province and their region. Over four years later I have seen the evidence to know this to be true. In contrast to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act that preceded it the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act introduced processes and structures to support the regeneration of Christchurch. It represented a change in the approach to Christchurch and a movement back towards more local leadership. I would like to acknowledge the then Minister the Hon Gerry Brownlee who did actually work collaboratively with members of the Opposition and local leaders in Christchurch to pull together a bill that could garner broad-based support. My view is that Christchurch local leaders are the ones best placed to make the decisions about their communities and for their communities without the need for intervention from the Crown. This means the need for bespoke extraordinary powers which require Ministers to make decisions on discrete local matters is almost at an end. We are past that stage. Crown officials notably at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Land Information New Zealand and Treasury have been working closely with the key stakeholders to progress the transition—in particular at the local level alongside Christchurch City Council and other leaders on the ground including Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and Waimakariri and Selwyn District Councils. As noted work undertaken over the last few years has seen significant strides made on regeneration and in particular we've seen over the last 12 months significant effort to complete a piece of work. These pieces of work have set the scene for further progress on the transition to local leadership and have included the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan which provides the greenprint for future use and redevelopment of the red zone land; the agreement of a global settlement which followed significant negotiations between the Crown and Christchurch City Council on ownership of key regeneration assets and matters as well as on institutional arrangements; and importantly in relation to this bill setting out a framework for how we transition Christchurch back to local leadership. There has of course been the revocation of the Canterbury Earthquake (Christchurch Replacement District Plan) Order early to return control of Christchurch's district planning processes to the council. In amongst all of this there has of course been significant progress made on the reinstatement of the cathedral and anchor projects including the convention centre Te Pae the Metro Sports Facility and the Canterbury Multi-Use Arena—or the stadium" as some people outside of Christchurch like to call it.The Act has also provided us with annual snapshots on its performance through the requirement for an annual review to be conducted. Much of what is proposed in the bill was identified in the last annual review of the Act completed in September 2019. This noted that a tipping point had been reached and that the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act is no longer required in its current form. It concluded that given the considerable progress on key regeneration milestones there is no longer a need for the legislation in its current form to support the progressive move towards local leadership in Greater Christchurch. The bill proposes amendments to the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act to revoke the section 71 power which provides for an expedited way to make changes to planning documents. It provides for the early disestablishment of Regenerate Christchurch which will reduce the number of institutions working on regeneration in Christchurch. It will extend certain land powers required for the reconfiguration of land titles in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor to ensure the Crown can undertake agreed work prior to transfer of that land back to council. It will also make other required changes to implement the three major changes I have just noted such as amendment to the regeneration plan process to account for the early disestablishment of Regenerate Christchurch and to remove the requirement for an annual review of the Act.Essentially this is about simplifying things to make the transition to local leadership seamless and efficient. It will simplify the organisations working on regeneration in Christchurch and remove the Crown's extraordinary powers under section 71 to make changes to planning documents. It is important here to acknowledge the institutions that have gotten us to this point. In particular I want to recognise the work of Regenerate Christchurch over the last four years. Its task has not been easy but the work it has done has enabled this next step and I thank them for this. Existing local organisations are now able to continue the momentum established for regeneration in Christchurch.I would like to conclude by saying it is with great pride that I stand here coming from a city that I think has made significant strides and we are now at a point where we can return to local leadership. Thank you Mr Speaker."