Thank you for inviting me to speak. I am giving my valedictory next week and squeezing 23 years into 15 minutes is challenging. This is an opportunity to say something about two aspects of my time in Parliament – one relating to finance service providers – the other the insurance impact of the earthquakes.
 
The collapse of the finance companies at the time that I was Minister of Commerce will always haunt me. People lost vast sums of money that they had no idea was at so much risk. I remember one commentator saying it would have been better that there was no regulation of the finance sector so that people would know it was all up to them. Inadequate regulation he said was better than none.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to your AGM, especially on the occasion of the 3rd anniversary of what I call our collective wake-up call here in Christchurch, something that began for me a journey of discovery that has caused me to fundamentally re-evaulate my life.
 
Wind back three years. We were at the beginning of a hotly contested council election. The incumbent was being challenged by a long-serving Member of Parliament, who many of us had persuaded to run in order to change the culture of the council.

Today I am launching a campaign to take back our city and reclaim our democratic voice. I have an ambitious goal.  I want Christchurch to be the clean, green, safe, smart city that we envisioned during the Share an Idea public engagement campaign.
 
Two years ago, the Christchurch City Council was the "unanimous overall winner" of the Co-creation Award for that campaign. These awards recognise and celebrate the most original and successful co-creation initiatives.