The Human Rights Commission presented its submission on the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill to the Local Government and Environment Committee yesterday. The Commission says there is no good reason to extend the present legislation and that the ability of Canterbury residents to participate in decision making will continue to be undermined. The Commission is also concerned at how the Government will justify whether it has discharged its duty to the New Zealanders who paid a high price in global conflicts to defend their democratic rights.
In 2010, the original ECan Act was introduced and passed under urgency in one day. Environment Canterbury’s democratically elected councillors were dismissed and replaced with government appointed Commissioners who were due to complete their terms in 2013. Canterbury residents were also no longer allowed to access the Environment Court to appeal water conservation orders and regional planning decisions. Minister Nick Smith was also given ‘special powers’ to suspend the operation of specific provisions of the Resource Management Act. The cabinet paper accompanying the original Act stated that these measures should only be temporary as they constrained the right to public participation. It was also quite explicit that the intent was to return to a democratically elected Council as soon as the Commissioners’ task was completed.
The Bill will extend the Act’s governance arrangements and special water management decision making powers until 2016. In the first cabinet paper on the amendment Bill, Minister of the Environment, David Carter, and Amy Adams, the Minister of Local Government, stated that any option except a return to a fully elected Council would limit the democratic rights of residents of Canterbury compared to the rest of the country. They and the ECAN Commissioners suggested a ‘hybrid’ governance model incorporating partly elected and partly appointed Commissioners, which would eventually lead to a fully locally elected governance body, but this has not been adopted.
The Commission believes that the Bill is undemocratic and runs contrary to New Zealand’s human rights obligations under a number of international treaties. As stated in the submission: ‘Transparency and empowerment are essential to genuine participation. There must be an opportunity for citizens to be able to influence decisions, particularly those that are likely to have an impact on their lives. This “ability to be heard” is a significant way of combating the notion that decisions are predetermined.’
Click here to read the Commission’s full submission
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