On First Name Basis: Old Boys' Ties Emerge Between Minister David Parker and Crown Investigator John Hardie After CCC Housing Intensification Vote
This article explores the process of appointment of Crown investigator, John Hardie, and his ties to Minister for the Environment, David Parker.
When, in September 2022, the Christchurch City Council voted against notifying a plan change that would allow houses of up to 3 storeys and a height of 12 meters to be built on a section, it was a bold move.
Pictured: John Hardie speaking during a Council-run webinar in December 2022
No other council in New Zealand had taken this step, in opposition to Labour Government’s move to introduce “New Medium Density Residential Standards” across the country.
Wrote the Ministry for the Environment in the wake of the ‘no’ vote,
“On 20 September 2022, former Mayor, Hon Lianne Dalziel wrote to the Minister for the Environment, Hon David Parker, to advise that the Council is aware it is breaching its statutory obligations and to request that the Minister for the Environment work alongside”.
Pictured: Building work on Peverel Street in Riccarton.
The government’s reaction was unequivocal. Parker initiated an investigation into the council’s actions. The council had to notify or face having the matter taken out of its hands altogether.
Pictured (left): David Parker. Courtesy: Charles Chauvel (2011) per https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Ministry for the Environment officials made contact with the new mayor Mauger and the chief executive Dawn Baxendale. Part of that conversation included “the possibility of… an appointment of an appropriate person”.
And the form this took was by appointing long-time mediator and lawyer, and Christchurch local, John Hardie, as the Crown representative. His job was simple. Hardie’s goal was to ensure the council “remedied” the situation by notifying the plan change.
Pictured: Residents and politicians meet to discuss what qualifying matters to add to the new plan change.
The rest of the story is history. Hardie parachuted into the role and, on the day of the council vote in March this year, he pressured councillors and the mayor alike to vote ‘yes’.
Hardie’s determination was such that he sat and watched the council deliberate before it finally delivered the verdict: a ‘yes’ to the plan change.
But what wasn’t on show for all the public to see was John Hardie’s pathway to appointment in November 2022 and his friendship with Minister David Parker, a relationship that harks back to their shared boyhood in Dunedin.
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