Dean Jacqui: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Dean Jacqui: Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9963] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 Here is one good reason for the Government to intervene in this positive way with the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill and that is that the review group found a significant gap characterised as “enormous and unprecedented” between what needs to be done in Canterbury to appropriately manage water and Environment Canterbury’s ability to do so. That came directly from the Creech report. 
I also want to thank—and I know this has been said before but it think it bears saying again—the previous Minister for the Environment Trevor Mallard who had these wise words in support of what the current Government is doing. He said “Everyone knew there was a problem here.” I shall say that again for the benefit of members opposite who seem to be in denial except for their colleague Trevor Mallard when he was the Minister for the Environment. He said: “Everyone knew there was a problem here.” It was quite late in the term and at a time when there was not the ability to put a group to do what Wyatt Creech has effectively done. I thank Mr Mallard for his endorsement of that. We will deal with the results and this is a Government that is dealing with the results. 
The failure of Environment Canterbury is also Labour’s failure. Let us not make any bones about that. In the 9 years of the previous Labour Government I ask members how many national policy statements and national environmental standards it produced. It was none—a big fat zero. There were absolutely none. I say to Mr Burns and Mr Parker that New Zealand needs national policy statements but we should not look to Labour to develop them. Labour will not do that. It had 9 years to release a national policy statement on water quality and I ask where it is. It is up to the National Government to face up to the problems and deal with them. 
This bill gives the development of a water plan for Canterbury the very highest priority. Environment Canterbury has been making decisions on water consents in a policy vacuum and that has resulted in policy development on the hoof and at the expense of applicants. I can say from experience and from talking to many applicants for water consents that they have been expensive litigious and extremely difficult. Many applicants have said to me that they lodge a consent with Environment Canterbury then go back home to the farm and wait for the bills to come in. They do not necessarily see any action but they certainly see the paperwork. 
There has been a total lack of determination by Environment Canterbury to tackle the allocation issues in the Waitaki catchment. There is a huge backlog of consent applications and renewals going right back to the time of Project Aqua. I take my hat off to former councillor June Slee who was practically a lone voice in Environment Canterbury when she was calling for it to come to grips with its responsibilities. 
This is a bill that looks to fix the problems we have now and set a good policy framework for water management for Canterbury in the future. This is something the National Government has faced up to which Labour failed utterly at.