Connell Brian: Resource Management (Waitaki Catchment) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Connell Brian: Resource Management (Waitaki Catchment) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15407] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 I would also like to address some of the issues under Part 4 that the Minister for the Environment has just discussed but I cannot do that without putting into context some of the comments the Hon Jim Sutton made when he took a call on this part. Let us be very clear that Jim Sutton took a call last week and affirmed—whether or not it was his opinion—that one cumec of water was more valuable to the national good if it were used for electricity generation than if it were used for irrigation. That demonstrates the Minister’s ignorance and it is why he should not be the Minister of Agriculture. All the studies I have seen and I am sure the Minister in the chair has seen show very clearly that one cumec of water if used for irrigation generates about five times the return achieved if it is used for electricity generation. That is a very clearly established fact. 
The Minister for the Environment then spoke about my colleague Mr Ardern and his apparent lack of understanding of this part. That is not correct. If there is any confusion it is because a very late Supplementary Order Paper was introduced. When Project Aqua was off the agenda the Minister essentially lost interest in this bill. She found herself in a position where she may in fact have acted illegally by calling in all those consents because there was no national good in her doing that. So what happened in effect was that Part 4 was completely gutted. The Minister essentially said that she had no interest in it any longer and that she would put a line through all those components and put all the responsibility back on to the regional council without the Government taking any responsibility at all. 
The regional council has reacted to that. There is some argument which I support that if the regional council has not done its job then a mechanism should be put in place to make sure that that does happen. I have to say and it is no secret that I think Environment Canterbury is the worst-performing regional council in the country but I say to the Minister that we should fix the problem not treat the symptom. Putting in place this type of legislation does not address that issue. If we have a look at clause 55 for example which deals with the Official Information Act as amended we see it now makes reference to a “Panel of Commissioners for the Waitaki Catchment”. Environment Canterbury wrote to all members of Parliament I assume—because I have picked it up—“The commissioner panel appears to have the status of a local authority but the bill”—and section 55 is referenced—“applies the Official Information Act to the panel rather than to the appropriate Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act. I think it raises a very good point. 
Hon Marian Hobbs 
: It’s been deleted. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I say to the Minister that I know it has been deleted now but that was because the council drew it to her attention not because she or her advisers thought it was a good idea. That type of thing really concerns me. Some of the other clauses that the Minister has been calling out will be deleted—and I agree with her—raise other questions. Clause 42 “Comparative consideration of applications” will be deleted as will clauses 46(1) and 46(5) which essentially deal with costs. The question now is how somebody or who will pay for the cost of any comparative analysis. I can tell members without fear of contradiction that the cost will be paid by not the Government but by the ratepayers of the Environment Canterbury region. That is the damage this bill will do now. 
The Minister has lost interest in the bill. She will sit in the chair shake her head and say that this bill had nothing to do with fast-tracking Project Aqua and that it was all about water allocation across the Waitaki region. If that is her answer why then is the Minister not doing the same on the other main rivers across Canterbury like the Rakaia Waimakariri or Rangitata rivers? Why is the Minister not intervening and putting in place some legislation around them?