​It is absolute thrill to welcome you here and thank you for coming this evening.

I have so many memories of the times that this decade of reflections has invoked that in some respects I had forgotten about.

For me, the memories always start with Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities – it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

The best times are reflected in the people I met – like Bruce – and the generosity that each of them showed to a Member of Parliament who had set herself on a journey of discovery in the wake of the disaster the recovery from the earthquakes came to represent.

Bruce was part of the very first presentation to community leaders after the September earthquakes – one of the councillors went and she gave me a copy of the slide deck.

This is where I learned about the hidden story – what was going on before the crisis began – because not understanding that could condemn us to re-embedding any dysfunction that pre-existed the event into what was built.

I have spoken many times about learning the lessons that history teaches us. We know we are condemned to repeat them if we don’t.
And as I have also said many times, we look back not to blame, but to understand. If we name, shame and blame then we risk not learning the lessons that will help others in the future.

I still believe that people don’t deliberately set out to ignore best practice – the trouble occurs when they convince themselves that something has no precedent, then how else to proceed but to make it up as we go.

This is an incredibly significant book about our disaster experience, because it engages a range of Critical Disaster Studies Perspectives.
I have read once over lightly. And I can’t wait to dig more deeply into each aspect.

From the opening chapter on the critical studies imperative through to the concluding reflections: making social choices in turbulent times, we are asked to reflect on the events that occurred, the order of priorities that were chosen and how decisions were made.

I was reflecting today on the announcement in Sept 2012 of the schools’ closures and mergers the government decided to impose on communities still struggling to come to terms with their earthquake damage. The reflections in here about the decision to prioritise the base-isolation of the Art Gallery over other more critical work caused me to think about those who fought the individual school decisions and won and those who fought equally hard and lost - from a socio-economic perspective – Redcliffs and Philipstown equally deserving but totally opposite results.

This book is an important contribution to the literature that will inform best practice for the future. I recall the despairing message given by one of the speakers at the International Speakers Series - an important component of the Councils extraordinary Share an Idea campaign - that the model imposed by central government was an example of worst practice.

I met Doug Ahlers from Harvard University and I know when he wrote that he – as did all the speakers who co-signed a letter to the PM – he was wanting to offer help to a city that each knew would struggle to recover under the model imposed by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act.

There is considerable reflection in this book about the importance of Share an Idea and the imposition of the Blueprint that followed. The most telling line was: 
“The Minister’s decision to jettison the plan is a dark spot that closed down opportunities for civil society to shape recovery outcomes”.
Learning lessons is an important part of our shared responsibility post-disaster. But most importantly we need to ensure that the lessons we learn from our experience are embedded into future practice, so we don’t make the same mistakes again and again.

We often learn more from the things we get wrong, as we do from the things we do well.

This is a timely book and will be of considerable interest to community members and academics alike.  A big congratulations to all the contributors and editors. This will be essential reading for those who want to commit to best practice and to engage the community every step of the way. And for every candidate in the coming elections.

I will end with this whakatauki: Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua - 'I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past' – that’s how we learn from what we have experienced. Thank you once more.

Slide one: Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa. And kia ora to you all.
I’m hoping to share with you some ideas about where to look for the opportunities that always come from crisis.
Slide two: The Greater Christchurch area is home to around half a million people and is New Zealand’s second largest city.
It is a low-lying coastal city with a large Peninsula, which means we have an extensive coastline exposed to sea level rise.
First settled by Māori, they knew their environment well. They could read the weather and the stars. They understood the rivers and the land.   The European settlers who came in the 19th century knew none of that.
Wetlands, which had been traditional food gathering areas, were drained for farming and ever-increasing urban development. The settlers “tamed” the environment or so they thought.
Slide three: On the 22 February 2011 the earthquake, which devastated our city, showed us just how vulnerable we were. 185 lives were lost; many more were injured. There was extensive damage to land, homes and businesses, as well as to the city’s infrastructure.
There are two aspects of our experience that I want to touch on.
Both relate to the opportunity to build back better – the first is in terms of the built environment, and the second is building community resilience to future challenges.
Slide four: After the earthquake, the City Council developed a draft recovery plan based on a community engagement simply called Share an Idea. This engaged the whole community in reimaging what the central city could be. Thousands participated. It was a remarkable exercise in co-creation.
And although the process was superseded by a government blueprint, there are great examples of when the design matched the expectations the community had set.
Slide five:
This is one of those, and shows what happens when we put people before cars. I chose these images because build back better doesn’t just mean seismic engineering – it is the opportunity to reimagine our sense of place by engaging with the people who live there.
A bleak pre-earthquake environment reimagined as a Riverside Market and a pedestrianised street, showing the best of what a partnership with the private sector can offer.
 
Slide six: The second issue relates to the opportunity the earthquake offered to build resilience to future challenges.
We experienced in a matter of seconds the impact of sea level rise predicted over 100 years as land levels dropped, in places, by more than a metre.
The earthquakes exposed poor planning processes, and along with the underlying nature of a city built on a swamp, led to an increased vulnerability to flooding.
One of my early decisions as Mayor was to establish a multi-disciplinary Mayoral Taskforce on Flooding, which provided us with a framework for making decisions on flood protection and mitigation works, including a voluntary buy-out scheme for the most vulnerable homes.
Slide seven: The government had already intervened after the earthquakes with a buy-out of around 7000 homes.  This cleared a 600-hectare area of low-lying land, adjacent to one of our rivers.
This has made us more resilient to flooding and also given us the opportunity to develop and plant wetland areas, protect biodiversity, manage stormwater and improve water quality.
Involving children and young people in community planting days and wetlands restoration has been a great way to develop an inter-generational commitment to our waterways.
The extensive community engagement the regeneration planning process involved, has helped us develop an approach to coastal hazard adaptation planning.
Slide eight: We are now working with 23 priority communities in coastal and low inland areas to develop a shared understanding of the science; and finding locally appropriate adaptation approaches that suit each community. 
The coastal panels are made up of community and Māori members, bringing local and traditional knowledge to the table, and they are supported by a specialist and technical advisory group.
Slide nine: My last slide references a quote, which many of you will know, “The wisdom of the community always exceeds the knowledge of the experts.” It was adopted by frustrated community groups after the earthquakes when no-one would listen to them.
However, after everything we have been through, I would now say: (click)
“The wisdom of the community when combined with the knowledge of the experts always exceeds what one can offer without the other”.
And that is why we have chosen the adaptation planning framework which, empowers Māori and our local communities together to plan for the future.
And we do so as this whakatauki says - Mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei – for us and our children after us.  Kia ora koutou katoa.

Acknowledge my fellow councillors Sara Templeton. Pauline Cotter, Mike Davidson, Anne Galloway,
ECan Chair Jenny Hughey and councillors
 
It is great to be here to reinforce our council’s commitment to working with the community, businesses and the Government to reduce our district’s greenhouse gas emissions.
 
We have a 2030 goal to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of the baseline we established in 2016/17.
 
As you know, the transportation sector is a key source of the district's emissions, estimated at over 50%. On-road petrol and diesel transportation make up 36% of our emissions.
 
So, it is not surprising that transportation is the key target for our emissions reduction planning.
 
We have already been doing a lot of work through encouraging mode shift through our investment in a network of major cycleways, and the connecting routes.
 
And we have invested in “Take Charge Christchurch”, which encourages the uptake of battery electric vehicles and charging infrastructure.
 
The two battery electric truck projects being launched today are the sort of collaboration we absolutely need to see. They both demonstrate commitment and innovation from a number of sector stakeholders.
 
I would like to congratulate the nine companies who have invested in these two projects for their leadership and collaboration as well as their financial investment.
 
I acknowledge and thank the Civil Construction and Maintenance Services Project companies - Citycare Property, Fulton Hogan, HEB Construction, Higgins Contractors and Isaac Construction.
 
And the four delivery companies in the Shopping District Battery Electric Truck Delivery Services Project - Bidfood, Hall’s, PBT Transport and Toll New Zealand.
 
I would also like to thank Northlands and Northlink Shopping Centres and Christchurch Airport for their involvement in the shopping district project.
 
And finally, I want to thank FUSO NZ, EECA, EROAD, Mercury NZ and the TR Group for your significant involvement and support.
 
This model of collaboration is how we will reach our emission reduction targets.
 
And now it is my absolute pleasure to officially launch the Civil Construction and Maintenance Services Project and the Shopping District Battery Electric Truck Delivery Services Project.
 
Well done and thank you once more.

Can I acknowledge:
Michael Feiner, Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy
Tobias Maletz – President Deutsch in Christchurch
Marie Osment – Vice President Deutsch in Christchurch
Matthew Nichols - Regional Manager, Ministry for Ethnic Communities
Special call out to Rachel Gould, from the Riverside Market

Thank you to the Deutsch in Christchurch for all you do to celebrate your culture and to share that with us at the at this German Mid-Winter Christmas event.

I have been to many events – The celebration of the piece of the Berlin wall, symbol of division - now a symbol of unity across the world.

Thank you Tobias and the team – amazing

Thank you to the whole team for today.

A mid-winter celebration of food and culture unites us, as does Christmas in Germany.

This afternoon I was to fly with SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. They have been coming here since I was first elected Mayor. It is a collaboration between NASA and the German Space Agency. The mission concludes with my mayoralty but I mention it because it represents the very best of science and co-operation. And that sense of unity is what today is all about.

Lastly I have a smidgeon of German blood running through my veins, thanks to my paternal grandmother’s forebears.

Schönes Wochenende, have a great weekend 

​Vielen Dank
 

Acknowledgements:
MP Dr Duncan Webb
Glenn Livingstone, Rata

Can I acknowledge Tūranga – this amazing place that enables events like this. The Canterbury Somali Association and the amazing artists – eight women with an age range from 20 to 70, who have created Gurigeena Our Home – Ō tātou Kāinga.  And also Janet Molyneaux, a wonderful artist and art teacher, who has nurtured the talent we see on display.

The story that sits in behind this extraordinary exhibition is why I wanted to be here today.

We have had a Somali Community in our city for over 30 years, as our Refugee Resettlement Service reached out to help the international effort to support people displaced by the civil war.  A significant number left after the earthquakes and we are seeing some return now, alongside the refugees we are again welcoming here.

This exhibition is a turning point for the community and has enabled these women to connect with the healing Power of art.

Gurigeena is our home – our home Somalia and our home Ōtautahi Christchurch.
​
This exhibition is a beautiful expression of home – our home together.
Congratulations! And now it is my pleasure to officially open Gurigeena Our Home – Ō tātou Kāinga.

Welcome to Ōtautahi Christchurch.

You will not believe how excited we are to be welcoming you here since the first time we hosted this event 14 years ago.

A lot has happened in those 14 years.

We have experienced more than our fair share of the challenges nature and life can throw at a city. But we have become known as a city defined by its response to those challenges rather than the crises we have had to confront.

And that’s why I can stand here and welcome you to a new and ever-evolving environment that embraces opportunity in a way we would not have done the last time you were here.

And that’s what makes this place special.

We have proved ourselves open to new ideas, new people and new ways of doing things – a place where anything is possible.

We have embraced our pre-European history in a way I would not have imagined even 14 years ago.

We have embedded that history into our natural and built landscape – from our world-class convention centre Te Pae to Turanga - our amazing new central city library designed by the people it was for – note the stairs and the hat tip to Harry Potter.

Victoria Square was once Market Square where local Maori traded with the early settlers – today Queen Victoria is flanked by Mana Motuhake, a new element that offers balance to the bicultural narrative of our city - a celebration and reflection of our shared cultural heritage - creating opportunities for understanding our past but more importantly our shared future.

Everywhere you look you can see the progress we have made as a city.
While you’re here at MEETINGS, you’ll hear the team talk about Finding. Your Space, and this couldn’t be easier in this city.

Take time to explore everything that is on your accommodation’s doorstep: the event venues, the open green spaces, the riverside restaurants, and bars. Everything you could need as a visitor, and a delegate, is conveniently close. Forget long bus rides or Ubers across big cities – here in Christchurch everything is within reach.

No doubt you came through Christchurch Airport on your way here. This international hub is of particular pride to our city. It is one of the most sustainable airports in the world with plans to become even more so.

Our venues are world-class, spacious and high-tech. We are confident in our business events offering, from hangars filled with vintage planes, to flexible convention centres catering to the smallest and biggest of events and here our Christchurch Town Hall – its restoration has brought back something that is truly special.

Pair these venues with high quality accommodation and a city centre filled with hospitality and visitor offerings – Christchurch just makes sense.

It gives me great confidence talking about the people here on the ground that can help you deliver your event. From the team at ChristchurchNZ, to the vast business network ready to support you, you will feel welcomed here.

So please, while you’re here – find your space, explore our venues, meet our people.

We are a city on the up and up and would love to host you.

​It’s who we are.
  

 Mā te pohewa mā te auaha hoki, ka whakapuaki ngā kura e huna ana.

With imagination and creativity a hidden jewel can be revealed.

This whakataukī refers to the Ngāi Tahu relationship with pounamu, a unique treasure of the South Island, Te Waipounamu.

And it is very relevant to tonight.

Boost Ōtautahi is an opportunity to grow the opportunities for hidden jewels to be revealed, building on our reputation as a place of experimentation and artistic risk taking.

Over the past decade or more we have seen what arts and creativity have made to healing, to entertaining, to challenging, and to enriching our city and communities.

We are seeing the results of mentoring programmes for screen, music and shortly for stage.

Boost Ōtautahi is an opportunity to diversify and increase investment in the arts.

New funding relationships for artists and arts organisations, and new donors and audiences are some of the outcomes we believe can come from this modest but important investment.

​As attendees at this Boosted Ōtautahi event you are also part of raising awareness of local creativity, you are champions and cheerleaders for our city and the arts.