The Star: March 14, 2019
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>March</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
Big Bargain<br />
Book<br />
Sale<br />
Friday 22 <strong>March</strong><br />
9am–7pm<br />
Saturday 23 <strong>March</strong><br />
9am–4pm<br />
Pioneer Recreation<br />
and Sport Centre<br />
75 Lyttelton Street<br />
Spreydon<br />
24<br />
Mayor responds to water saga<br />
Mayor Lianne Dalziel<br />
has been under fire<br />
since it was revealed<br />
her husband Rob<br />
Davidson’s legal firm<br />
is representing the<br />
controversial Chinese<br />
water bottling<br />
company Cloud<br />
Ocean Water. Ms<br />
Dalziel explains her<br />
position in her weekly<br />
column for <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
THIS WEEK there have<br />
been issues raised about my<br />
husband’s law firm providing<br />
employment relations advice<br />
and support for Cloud<br />
Ocean and whether that has<br />
compromised my ability to<br />
make impartial decisions in<br />
regard to water bottling.<br />
Firstly I would like to make<br />
it clear that at no stage have I<br />
been lobbied by my husband<br />
or any other member of his<br />
firm on anything to do with<br />
Cloud Ocean.<br />
As you may recall, I wrote<br />
my February 7 column in <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Star</strong> on my support for the<br />
Aotearoa Water Action case<br />
against the resource consent<br />
granted to Cloud Ocean by<br />
Environment Canterbury.<br />
I have been repeatedly<br />
news online at www.star.kiwi<br />
outspoken about my<br />
opposition and my position<br />
remains unchanged.<br />
Am I involved in any<br />
decisions about Cloud<br />
Ocean’s water bottling plant<br />
or water take?<br />
No, those issues are dealt<br />
with at an organisational level<br />
rather than a political one.<br />
Building consent decisions<br />
Mayor<br />
Lianne Dalziel<br />
CONFLICT: Mayor Lianne Dalziel responds to<br />
concerns over her husband Rob Davidson’s legal firm<br />
representing Cloud Ocean Water.<br />
are made by regulatory staff<br />
of the city council and elected<br />
members cannot influence<br />
those decisions.<br />
Resource consent decisions<br />
for water take are made by<br />
ECan under the Resource<br />
Management Act and in<br />
accordance with the Land and<br />
Water Regional Plan.<br />
When the issue of the<br />
resource consent application<br />
came before the city council<br />
as a staff submission to<br />
ECan, I voted to strengthen<br />
our opposition to it and was<br />
shocked when the decision<br />
was made not to notify the<br />
application.<br />
How did you manage the<br />
apparent conflict of interest?<br />
I didn’t know my husband’s<br />
law firm was acting for Cloud<br />
Ocean last year when I voted<br />
with the city council to oppose<br />
the application.<br />
I became aware earlier this<br />
year that they were acting for<br />
the company.<br />
However, as it was only in<br />
the field of industrial relations,<br />
I did not initially see it as a<br />
conflict.<br />
But I now feel that there<br />
is a conflict, and agree that<br />
I should have managed it by<br />
disclosing it to colleagues at<br />
the time a decision was in<br />
front of council.<br />
Now that I’m aware that an<br />
inappropriate offer for political<br />
lobbying was included in a<br />
proposal sent by Davidson<br />
Legal to Cloud Ocean, I am<br />
recusing myself from any<br />
decision that comes to council<br />
associated with the company.<br />
Sadly that includes the<br />
Aotearoa Water Action case,<br />
which I still support.<br />
BRODIE<br />
& FITZY<br />
SWITCH IT UP<br />
WEEKDAYS 6 – 9AM<br />
97.7<br />
thehits.co.nz
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