CERA Powers
July 25th, 2012 at 4:00 pm by David FarrarStuff reports:
The High Court has ruled Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee ‘‘stepped outside the legal limits’’ of his earthquake powers in rearranging Canterbury housing boundaries.
In the first legal challenge to Brownlee’s special powers his Canterbury land zoning decisions have been set aside by the High Court.
In a decision released today, Justice Chisholm ordered a judicial review of the process Brownlee took. He also set aside the land zoning changes Brownlee made.
At a High Court hearing in Christchurch early this month Independent Fisheries, several Canterbury property developers and supermarket giant Progressive sought to overturn Brownlee’s post-quake redrawing of housing boundaries.
He stopped short of giving Brownlee directions for reviewing the development potential of appellants’ land saying the court’s jurisdiction was on the scope of Brownlee’s powers, not the outcome.
To me this indicates that while the Government was given wide powers to speed up the reconstruction of Christchurch, the powers are not as vast as people said they were. The fact the High Court was able to over-turn them is proof of that.
But meanwhile the Greens use this to claim:
Sage said the Green Party had called for the extensive ministerial powers contained in the Act to expire after nine months, once the emergency period was over.
One can debate the extent of the powers, but for the Greens to claim there is no need for any special powers at all is sheer madness. They would have Christchurch CBD sitting empty for two decades, no doubt. It must frustrate Labour that the Greens get away with saying such daft stuff, and no one holds them to account for it.
Tags: CERA, Gerry Brownlee
July 25th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
You quote the Greens saying that they were in favour of time-limited emergency powers, and immediately follow this up by claiming that the Greens “claim there is no need for any special powers at all”.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
simonway,
Perhaps you might like to try re-reading that. Sage did not say the Green supported emergency powers, what she said is that they wanted the powers they had been granted under the Act [which the Greens did not support] to be time-limited.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:26 pm
Poor Gerry. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. And that opportunist Lianne Dalziel waiting to capitalise. It makes me sick when we should be full of admiration for the way this colossal disaster has been handled..
Vote:It is a pity politics gets in the way as Christchurch showed by its huge National vote (and personal vote for Gerry) that they know where their true friends are.
July 25th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Time limited powers give the incentive to act faster, not take 20 years to rebuild a CBD.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
I’m still waiting for the Greens to be held to account on most of their policies, statements etc like the two main parties are. Sadly, I am not holding my breath
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
The Greens opposed the specific implementation of emergency powers in the earthquake recovery acts. They also supported a nine-month time limit on those powers that were granted. Saying that they “claim there is no need for any special powers at all” is simply a blatant lie. That the Greens proposed an amendment to the act granting emergency powers that would limit those powers to nine months does not mean that they opposed the existence of any such powers. David is lying in this blog post.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
9 months have passed. The Greens wanted a 9 month time limit. The Greens claim there is no need for any special powers to currently be in place. Note the word used was “is” not “was”.
It’s almost harder not to understand than to understand, but apparently not for some.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Once the penny drops simonway, will you apologise for calling someone a liar when the problem was just that you can’t read?
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
I think it’s DPF acting for National in an attempt to distract people from the FACT that a Judge has clearly found that Gerry Brownlee exceeded the limits of the very extensive powers he was granted. The Greens were not the only people to suggest that Emergency Powers need to be carefully scrutinised and not last forever. If my memory serves me correctly I think DPF and others on Kiwiblog expressed similar thoughts at the time these powers were granted to cope with the Earthquake Recovery. The High Court did not as you say DPF “overturn them” as the judge has not directed a change to any of the decisions made at the time he “stepped over the limits”. Odd.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Yes Jinky… its just another distraction from the real issue – Brownlee overstepped the mark!
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
And the breathless media trundles out more worthless utterings from the Gweens.
Who cares? They won’t be governing any time soon, so why should I care what opinion comes from the lips of a list MP who didn’t even stand in a contestable electorate seat? Who will the media turn to next? Someone from Mana? The dope smokers? Pffttt…
Further proof (if it was needed) that our media is still firmly plugged in the bottom of the pit.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 5:42 pm
I wonder if Brownlee was rewarded by any constituents for redrawing the boundaries…or received any pre-election donations from satisfied customers.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
” They would have Christchurch CBD sitting empty for two decades, no doubt.”
And the rest of “Aotearoa”, for that matter…..
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
“Brownlee also denied developers access to the courts on the matter, a ‘serious error’ which deprived the applicants of a private right, Justice Chisholm said.”
Hmmm why would Brownlee deny developers access to the courts? So much for the Tories believing in individual rights.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
@ ross69 – do you mean in the way that Clayton Cosgrove was rewarded by a wealthy businessman?
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Shows how ridiculous the media is. As I understood it, Gerry could change any law he liked at a whim even if it had absolutely nothing to do with earthquake recovery.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Hmmm, so Brownlee breaks the rules and that’s a good thing because it shows that he doesn’t have unlimited authority.
That’s some pretty impressive spin there, DPF!
For good measure, throw in an opportunity to have a dig at the Greens to get the usual lapdogs yapping, and the job is done. Nicely played, sir!
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
> do you mean in the way that Clayton Cosgrove was rewarded by a wealthy businessman?
Yeah exactly, though there is one subtle difference. Cosgrove didn’t change any boundaries. Being an Opposition MP he doesn’t have the power that Brownlee has, but you already knew that.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Brownlee, not a smart man.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
I’ll take criticisms of excessive use of power from anyone other than a Green. Their ambitions for control over my life are well known.
Vote:July 25th, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Bully Brownlee acting outside the law will come as no surprise to those in the insurance industry, where (reliable) word has it he put pressure to have his claims pushed to the top of the pile and processed ahead of others (like, you know, those who had no house anymore).
Vote:July 26th, 2012 at 1:21 am
@bc. I agree, well played indeed.
@zapper. It’s a good plan, when calling out someones reading skills, not to make up stuff they never said, “lair” for example.
Vote:July 26th, 2012 at 2:49 am
Eugenie Sage is a mill stone around our neck, we want to be rid of her, she fucked up Ecan Selwyn electorate,
Vote:mad spinster, she fucks up everywhere she goes.
July 26th, 2012 at 7:48 am
Rubbernecker, that is a straight out lie.
Vote:I know for a fact that Gerry has been at pains not to push his own personal insurance issues and that his stance is costing him a fortune.
July 26th, 2012 at 10:58 am
@Concentrate. Are you confused or just stupid?
I never said simonway called him a “lair”, I said he called him a “liar” which he did. Are you suggesting that saying someone is lying isn’t calling them a liar? Is that seriously all you’ve got?
Vote:July 26th, 2012 at 11:29 am
Plays well into Jim Anderson’s hand for Mayoralty.
Vote:He will sort Jerry out.
As for the GreenAgainst Party they have no real credibilty except with the Media.
Labour – well- they are being pissed against all the time by being continually upstaged by the GreenAgainst Party.
Wish Labour could become a real Opposition.