Uproar at Clyde high dam bill procedure

Press, 25 September 1982, Page 1

Uproar at Clyde high dam bill procedure

Parliamentary reporter Labour Party representatives walked out of a Lands and Agriculture Select Com-, mittee which was examining aspects of the Clyde dam empowering legislation yesterday morning, There was uproar after the committee moved into its deliberation stages. The Labour Party members protested against the move because they were not satisfied with details in a Lands and Survey Department report being considered by the committee. A second report, from the Minister of Works and Development, Mr Friedlander, was before the committee, but had not been discussed when Mr lan McLean (Nat, Tarawera) moved the committee begin its deliberations. Mr D. F. Caygill (Lab, St Albans, and Shadow Minister for Energy) said the Labour Party members asked for advice to be sought from the Speaker, Sir Richard Harrison. This was "ignored" and so they walked out. They did not take part in the cfause-by-clause vote on the bill. The select committee which heard submissions on the bill this week finished its work at midnight on Thursday. The bill still had to be

referred to the Lands and Agriculture Select Committee because the land to be flooded was Crown land. The -lands committee was called together at 8 a.m. yesterday, but it had to complete its task before 9.30 a.m. when Parliament sat. Unlike the special committee on the bill, it did not have the leave of Parliament to meet during sitting hours. The committee had to finish with the bill before 9.30 a.m. if the Government hoped to have its report on the bill tabled yesterday. The timing of the legislation, which will grant water rights for the high dam at Clyde, has become crucial because contract agreements between the Government and private contractors will expire on September 30. Later in' the morning, Parliament took urgency so that the select committee’s report could be debated. The committee ruled that the Clutha ■ Development (Clyde Dam) Empowering Bill should not be amended. Mr Caygill asked the Speaker for a ruling on whether the committee’s chairman, Mr H. N. Austin, was in order to accept a motion to move into deliberation when aspects of the committee’s work had not been finished. The Lands and Survey Department report which spoke

of negotiations with lessees of Crown land to be flooded when the dam was built was found to be incorrect. Negotiations with nine lessees had not been finished, and in one case had not even been started, Mr Caygill said. The committee had .not had time to discuss the other report from Mr Friedlander. However,. the Speaker ruled that the motion to move into deliberation was proper if it was voted by a majority of the committee. Mr Caygill then moved that the bill be referred back to the select committee for further study, and a noisy two-hour debate followed. "The consideration the bill received before the committee this morning was wholly inadequate,” he said. "It proceeded in a machine-gun fashion.” The committee which considered the submissions on the bill, had sat for 24 .hours out of the last 60. The hours of sitting were' "extraordinary.” All of that time except for the final few minutes were spent hearing witnesses and departmental officials. “In the final few minutes of that 24 hours the Government showed what a sham the whole procedure was." he said. The Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, said that the com-

mittee had had 60 submissions on the bill, which was "surprisingly few” ; for an issue as controversial as the Clyde dam. The Ministry of . Energyhad provided the committee, with evidence to show that there would be an electricity Shortage in the 1990 s if the dam were not 1 built. -New Zealand would lose opportunities for jobs and for industry if electricity were not available. The advice given to the committee was the best available. Mr D. F. Quigley (Nat., Rangioraj.said the assertion that the committee procedure had been unusual was "arrant nonsense." The two local authorities in the Otago region supported the Clyde dam proposal because they knew it would be best for the interests of the people in their area. Without the second aluminium smelter, present forecasts indicated an extra 11,000 GWh would be needed in the next 15 years. This was a smaller increase than had taken place in the last 15 years. After a series of divisions. Parliament voted by 34 votes to 30 to table the report of the select committee. The Clyde dam bill will come up on Tuesday for a second reading. Submissions, page ”2