Pursuant to section 12 of the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010, the Minister of Finance, the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, and the Minister for the Environment give notice of their provision of the Terms of Reference to the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission.
Terms of Reference
Purpose
1. This document sets out the proposed Terms of Reference for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission.
Background
2. A major earthquake occurred in Canterbury on
4 September 2010. Significant damage resulted in
states of emergency being declared in three territorial authority areas. The Canterbury areas of Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri were all significantly impacted.
3. Existing legislation may impose requirements on individuals, councils, and organisations that could hamper the emergency response and recovery and divert resources away from recovery efforts.
4. In order to ensure that existing legislation does not unnecessarily hamper efforts and that the Government has adequate statutory power to assist with the response to and recovery from the Canterbury earthquake, on
15 September 2010 the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 ("the Act") came into force. This Act established the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission ("the Commission"). The Act provides for Orders in Council to be made to grant an exemption from, or modify, or extend any provision of any enactment.
5. The overall recovery from the earthquake is being led
by Canterbury local authorities in accordance with established procedures for the recovery under the
Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002.
The Commission will undertake its role within
this framework and work in accordance with the Government’s National Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan1.
6. These Terms of Reference are required by the Act and must specify the role of the Commission, the secretariat services to be provided, and be consistent with the purpose of the Act. Where there is any inconsistency between the Act and these Terms of Reference, the Act will prevail.
Amendment to Terms of Reference
7. The Terms of Reference can be amended at any time by the responsible Ministers2 and if the Terms of Reference are amended, the commissioners will be notified as soon as practicable after the amendment.
8. These Terms of Reference and any amendments to them will be published in the New Zealand Gazette.
Membership and Appointment of the Commission
9. The Act establishes the Commission with the following seven commissioners:
- The mayor of the Christchurch City Council;
- the mayor of the Selwyn District Council;
- the mayor of the Waimakariri District Council; and
- four Government appointed persons with relevant expertise or appropriate skills, one of whom must be an Environment Canterbury commissioner (or if there is no such person the chair of the Canterbury Regional Council).
10. The appointed persons will be appointed in writing
by the responsible Ministers. The chairperson will be appointed by the responsible Ministers in writing, and must be one of the appointed commissioners (other than the Environment Canterbury commissioner or the chairperson of the Canterbury Regional Council as
the case may be). The deputy chairperson will also be appointed by the responsible Ministers in writing and must be one of the appointed commissioners.
11. The term for the appointed commissioners will commence on the day, and be for the term, stated in their letter of appointment from the responsible Ministers.
12. The term of office of an appointed commissioner will expire when the commissioner vacates office or on the date specified in the commissioner’s letter of appointment (which must be on a date no later than 1 April 2012), whichever occurs first.
13. An appointed commissioner vacates office if he or she
is removed by written notice given by the responsible Ministers, or resigns by written notice to the
responsible Ministers.
14. The responsible Ministers may in their complete discretion remove an appointed commissioner by written notice at any time and may appoint a replacement commissioner in accordance with the terms of the Act.
15. Should a commissioner that is an elected representative or an Environment Canterbury commissioner be unable to attend a meeting, an alternate is required in their absence. The alternates for the elected representatives must be an elected member.
16. The required quorum for the Commission is five involving two of the three mayors and three of the
four appointed commissioners.
17. The commissioners will meet where and when required and as directed by the chairperson of the Commission.
Role of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission
18. The Government’s overarching goals for the recovery process are to:
- maintain confidence nationally and internationally in Canterbury as a place to invest and do business;
- minimise hardship for those who have suffered losses or damage as a result of the earthquake;
- ensure efforts to support the recovery effort are credible, work effectively and are supported by robust and transparent processes and systems;
- ensure actions are affordable now and in the future
for the Canterbury community and New Zealand taxpayers; and use existing policies and systems to the extent possible; and
- maintain the confidence of the people and organisations of Canterbury in the management of
the recovery process.
19. The Commission, in performing its functions, should:
- take into account the Government’s overarching goals as outlined above;
- provide strategic oversight of the recovery effort, in particular in those areas that lie across current roles and jurisdictions of local authorities and government agencies;
- facilitate a process to set priorities and act as a clearing house to ensure good information flows between local authorities, government agencies and key stakeholders, and ensure they are all aware of the full scope of activities supporting the recovery effort;
- advise on what support (including technical support) is necessary to ensure effective and co-ordinated decision making at a national, regional and local level;
- identify impediments to the recovery process and advise on how they might be overcome (including a co-ordinated approach to Orders in Council); and
- keep Ministers and local authorities informed of overall progress on the recovery effort and escalate issues that are unable to be resolved at a local level.
20. The Commission must operate alongside the work undertaken by Canterbury local authorities in accordance with Civil Defence Emergency Management procedures for the recovery, to ensure the efficient and effective management of the earthquake recovery in Canterbury.
21. The Commission will provide a central contact point between central and local government in the management of the response to and recovery from
the Canterbury earthquake.
22. The Commission will provide advice, on request or on its own initiative, to:
(a) the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and the relevant Minister3 in relation to Orders in Council that may be required for the purpose of
the Act. Without limiting the scope of this, the Commission’s role is to advise on legislative amendments to enable the relaxation or suspension of statutory requirements that:
(i) may divert resources away from the effort to efficiently respond to the damage caused by the earthquake or minimise further damage;
(ii) may not be reasonably capable of being complied with, or complied with fully, owing
to the circumstances resulting from the earthquake; or
(iii) may facilitate the response and recovery to the earthquake; or
(iv) may facilitate the gathering of information about any structure or infrastructure affected by the earthquake that is relevant to understanding how to minimise the damage caused by future earthquakes.
(b) the responsible Ministers in relation to how resources may be prioritised and funding allocated for the response to and recovery from the Canterbury earthquake.
23. The Commission may seek advice from the secretariat, government agencies, local authorities and external advisors to inform the Commission’s advice to Ministers.
24. The Commission is a mechanism for central government to secure advice but this does not preclude central government seeking advice or taking action on its own accord.
25. This role does not replace contact or relationships between individual local authorities and relevant government agencies where Ministerial input or intervention is not required.
Support to the Commission
26. A support group, funded by the Government, will be formed and resourced to support the Commission.
27. A secretariat that will be hosted by the Ministry of Economic Development (in Christchurch), and may include secondees from government agencies and relevant local authorities, will be established. The work programme for the secretariat is yet to be fully scoped.
28. The work of the secretariat could include: