National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill

I just want to add a short contribution to what I said before that brief interruption. I just wanted to finally say that for the local community it is really important that we follow good process as closely as possible, and it has been discussed by a number of members that the process around this bill is not ideal but has become necessary due to various circumstances, which have been well rehearsed.

I just want to say that through engagement from Opposition parties, and support of the Government, and assistance to the Government, we have been able to strengthen the process and to ensure that those Orders in Council are perhaps the least desirable process by which the Government will progress the matter of the Memorial Park and the construction work that has to go on around it. The introduction of the review panel meeting more regularly, the extended consideration of Orders in Council in the event that those are required, and the explicit reference in the legislation to make it clear that Orders in Council are the very last resort, those things possibly may have been introduced by the Government without support from the Opposition, but they were ideas that were generated by the Opposition, and I think they are in the bill because of the constructive way in which parties across the House have worked together to build the most robust and sensible process in legislation around this that is possible. That is one of the valuable parts of Opposition parties engaging in a constructive way around legislation like this.

Just in closing, it is pleasing to see that this legislation will be progressed. It will certainly make the veteran community very happy. I am sure it will make all New Zealanders very happy to see that the Memorial Park will be built in time for that centenary of the Anzac Day landings.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair, me tātau e wānanga nei i tēnei o ngā pire hei whakanui te āhuatanga o te hunga kua haere ki tāwāhi. Kai te pīrangi au ki te whakatakoto i ētahi kōrero mō Te Pāti Māori, ka mutu, mō te Supplementary Order Paper 131, i whakatakotohia ki mua i te aroaro o te Minita i tēnei rā. Tuatahi, me kī, kai te tautoko ake i te hiahia, te tūmanako kia tū tēnei o ngā Whare hei tohu mō te hunga i haere ki tāwāhi, kāre he raruraru, kāre he mānukanuka mō tērā o ngā take. Kai te āhua rongo ake i ngā āwangawanga ā wētahi mō te tere o tana haere, me te kore whai, me kī, te huarahi e tika ana ēngari, nā runga i te āhuatanga o te kaupapa nei, ehara i te mea, he nui ngā raruraru o tērā.

Ko te tino pūtake o taku tū, he kōrero mō te wāhi ki a mātou mō te Supplementary Order Paper, arā, kia hangaia tētahi wāhanga hōu, ko tērā wāhanga ko te 3A. He aha tōna pūtake? He whakauru kōrero e pā ana ki te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko te tikanga o ngā kōrero e pēnei ana: “All persons exercising functions and powers under this Act must take into account the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi)”. Me kī, kei te whai tēnei wāhanga o te ture i ēnei kupu kōrero tonu, i ērā i roto i te Resource Management Act 1991. Me kī, i tangohia mai ai tērā wāhanga o te Resource Management Act, ka mētia atu ki tēnei pire nō reira, ēhara i te mea kai te noho taupatupatu ngā kupu. Kāo. E ōrite ana ngā korero, e rite tonu ana ngā kōrero o roto i te Resource Management Act me tēnei o ngā kaupapa.

He aha te take o tērā? Me kī, kia whai wāhi te ao Māori i roto i ngā nekeneke whakahaere, mē kī, o tēnei o ngā kaupapa. Kua tae mai wētahi kōrero, me kī, o te hunga kāinga, o te mana whenua o tēnei kāinga, tēnei tā Grant Robertson e kōrero nei, kai te hiahia rātou ki te whai wāhi i roto i ngā kōrero e pā ana ki te wāhi nei; kā tahi. Ka rua, e hia kē nei ngā momo iwi, ngā iwi kaua ko te tangata whenua engari ko ngā iwi kua eke mai ki roto o Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara. Kai te pīrangi rātou kia whai wāhi i roto i tēnei o ngā kaupapa anō hoki. Nō reira, mā tēnei o ngā kupu kōrero ka whai wāhi, tuatahi, ko te mana whenua, tuarua, me kī, ko ngā iwi kua haere mai ki te Whare i Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara.

Ka toru, nāku i whakapā atu mātou ki te Port Nicholson Settlement Trust me te Wellington Tenths Trust ahakoa, kai raro rātou, tētahi wāhanga, me kī, o te Port Nicholson Trust i te raruraru, hoi anō, waiho tērā ki te taha. I tōna mutunga mai, kua kī mai ngā rōpū e rua nei, arā, ngā rūnanga, me kī, e rua nei, kia tautoko Te Pāti Māori i tēnei huarahi, arā, te whakatakoto i ētahi kupu tautoko, ko te noho a ngā iwi kāinga ki roto i ngā nekeneke o tēnei pire. Ēhara i te mea, he nui te Supplementary Order Paper, he pakupaku noa iho. He ruarua noa iho ngā kupu ēngari, ko tōna tūturutanga inā kē, te nui o te āhuatanga o ngā kupu nei. Kua kite atu tātou i tēnei rārangi kōrero i roto i wētahi atu pire, ā, ka mutu, he aha tōna pūtake tuatahi? He whakanui i te āhuatanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi i roto i ngā ture o te motu, ka tahi, i tōna tūturutanga, ko tērā o ngā hiahia o ngā mana whenua, o ngā iwi Māori, kia whai wāhi i roto i ngā korero, i roto i ngā whakahaere, i roto i ngā whakaritenga e pā ana, me kī, i tēnei wā tonu nei, ki tēnei o ngā wāhi, ki tēnei o ngā Whare ki Pukeāhua, ka rua.

Nō reira, koi nei te whānui, te whāroa o te Supplementary Order Paper me te tūmanako ia, ka tautoko mai ngā taha o te Whare i tēnei o ngā huarahi. Ēhara i te mea he uaua, he māmā noa iho tōna pūtake ēngari, inā kē ngā whāinga ka puta menā ka tāpirihia atu tēnei Supplementary Order Paper ki te whānuitanga o tēnei pire. Koi nei te īnoi atu ki te Whare kia āta aro mai ki tēnei o ngā kaupapa, ka mutu, ki te Minita tonu, tērā pea, ka whai wāhi a ia ki te tautoko i tēnei o ngā wāhanga. Nō reira, huri noa kia ora tātau.

[Greetings, Mr Chair, and to us debating this bill that honours those who went overseas. I want to outline some views that the Māori Party has on this bill and about the Supplementary Order Paper 131 that was submitted to the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage today. Firstly, we support the wishes and hopes of the House on the parliamentary complex that this stand as a memorial, shall we say, for those who fought and fell overseas. We have no problems or concerns with that issue. We are hearing concerns from some about how fast the bill is moving and not, shall we say, following due process, but it is not as though there are many problems with that.

The main reason for rising to take the call was to put forth our position on the Supplementary Order Paper, and to have a new 3A section created for it. What would it be for? To have a statement about the Treaty of Waitangi included in it. The wording will go like this: “All persons exercising functions and powers under this Act must take into account the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi)”. This makes it consistent with the actual wording in the Resource Management Act 1991. In fact, it was taken directly from that section of the Resource Management Act to include here. Therefore, there is no conflict in the wording—none. They are the exact words in the Resource Management Act and this one of the Acts.

Why is that? Let us say, so that Māoridom can participate in the mechanisms of this one of the Acts. Word has come to me from locals, from local tribes, like what Grant Robertson states, that they want to participate in the consultations relating to this place; that is the first one. The second is that there are several other ethnic groups and tribes, quite apart from the home people, who have settled in Wellington over the years. They too would like an opportunity to participate in this Act as well. Therefore, it is by this statement that the local tribe and other tribes or ethnic groups who have come to the House in Wellington be able to participate.

The third point is that I have been in contact with the Port Nicholson Settlement Trust and Wellington Tenths Trust on behalf of our party. Despite the problems among them, namely the Port Nicholson Trust part—but we will leave that situation there. At the end of it all, these two entities have endorsed the move by the Māori Party to include references to the Treaty of Waitangi in this bill to ensure local tribes’ involvement. It is not as though the Supplementary Order Paper is a huge one; it is quite a small one really. There are only a few words involved, however the depth and significance of these words are immense. We have seen these words in other bills, but in the end, what is its first priority? In the first instance it is to magnify the Treaty of Waitangi in the laws of the country and to authenticate it. Secondly, it is to satisfy the wishes of local tribes and Māoridom to participate in discussions and arrangements, let us say, in the first instance about this place and this House of Pukeāhua.

So that is the extent and long-standing nature of this Supplementary Order Paper. The hope is that all sides of the House support it. It is not as though it is a difficult thing to consider; furthermore, there are numerous benefits that would accrue should this Supplementary Order Paper be added to the broader part of this bill. This, then, is the plea to the House that it really take due note of this bill, and finally, to the Minister, that he finds favour with this of the provisions. So to us throughout, thank you.]

I want to take just a brief call to finish my contribution in the Committee stage of the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill, because we are taking this as one question. I just want to note one area that I did not mention in my previous couple of calls, and that is that there are extensive schedules to this bill. It is important to note what they do and what they involve, and it picks up some of what Te Ururoa Flavell just mentioned. A number of different organisations and people are drawn into how this park will develop through the schedules, and that includes the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust and the wider Taranaki Whānui, because they are a landowner within this park. So I just want to make the point for the member that within the schedules there are a number of places in which they have a role in the development of the park.

One of the more curious matters that arose during the select committee process was around the maps that are in schedule 10 of the bill. I just want to note for the record that although these maps are indicative of what will happen, they are not, of course, exactly to the exact centimetre, in terms of scale, of what will happen.

One thing I want to note about these maps is that this is the place in which local Wellingtonians will discover that over the next couple of years they are to face significant change and disruption in their movement around the city. Annette King’s constituents, as they come in from Rongotai to the bright lights of Wellington Central and come round the corner from Sussex Street behind the Basin Reserve, will discover that they will now be driving a little further before veering left and heading up towards Aro Valley and so on. This will be disruptive. There needs to be an intensive community engagement programme to ensure that not only the residents of the Mount Cook area but also the residents of wider Wellington and those who visit Wellington will be aware of this.

I know that the officials and Mr Finlayson are working on that engagement programme. I just urge that it is as open as possible, and that it uses all the new technology that is available to ensure that people are kept involved and kept informed with those changes and disruptions, because they will be significant, and they will last for some time. Mt Cook School, which Mr Finlayson and others have been working closely with, is aware of these changes, because State Highway 1 will now angle beside its back fence. We need to make sure that the school continues to be kept engaged and kept informed, and that any changes or improvements that are needed during this time are acknowledged.

In the schedules we have these plans. They are exciting, and they will deliver us this wonderful green space and National War Memorial Park, but we need to recognise that there will be significant disruption for Wellingtonians.

The last thing I want to say is just to give some credit to the Wellington City Council for its involvement and cooperation in this project. It is not only contributing a significant amount of money but also needing to work very closely with the New Zealand Transport Agency and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage in order to ensure that the law is upheld and the processes are done properly. We are very grateful for its contribution to this.

I will take just a brief call on the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill, as we are only 5 minutes away from the dinner break. I spoke in the House on this bill yesterday and on the merits of this park, and certainly New Zealand First is very supportive of this as the National War Memorial Park. However, today I would like to bring to the attention of the House an aspect that we also must not forget, and that is the welfare and the interests of our veterans.

It is all very well, as a nation, spending $12 million on this park, and it is a wonderful thing that we are doing to commemorate the many hundreds of thousands who have given of their lives for this country over the last century, but we still have a lot of veterans alive today in this country who are suffering and are in need of care from the State. Many are suffering from all sorts of ailments as a result of their service to the country, and in many cases they are in a perilous state. Many are getting very, very aged and frail. So although it is wonderful that the veterans are supportive and are very appreciative of the fact that this war memorial park is an honour to them in respect of the living and of those who have fallen on behalf of our country, I think it is also important at this time that we remember that we still have a duty of care to the many, many veterans who are still with us today. There are both old and young veterans who are in various states of ill health and have problems that are as a result of having gone overseas on behalf of their country, fighting in various theatres of war, and who now, as a result, have medical problems, ailments, and the like, as do their family members as well.

If I could say just one thing, it is that I hope all parties in this Chamber can also remember that we should not just be building monuments and parks; we should also be very much remembering those who are here today. I think that would be an even greater honour to those who have fallen. Those who have fallen would always want to ensure that their friends and comrades who are still living, but suffering as a result, are taken care of by this country. I implore and say to the Minister and the Government that, although there was a war pensions review 2 years ago by the Law Commission, there is still a lot of outstanding work to be done on that for the War Pensions Act review, and there is a lot of work to be done in terms of veterans’ affairs. I just hope that between all of us in this House, all MPs, we can get around this and get in behind what is a physical stone structure and also a green park, but at the same time put a lot of emphasis—

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch): I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.

Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

I am pleased to take a short call at the Committee stage of the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill. May I start by saying, as I believe my colleagues have at other stages of this bill, that the Green Party is strongly in support of the objective of a National War Memorial Park at Pukeahu, and that we share the desire, if it would be possible, for this to be completed in time for the Gallipoli centenary and Anzac Day 2015. We believe the proposed memorial park will provide New Zealanders and overseas visitors with a dedicated space in which to reflect on the loss and sacrifice of life in numerous armed conflicts, to pay respect to the dead, to contemplate the causes for which those conflicts were fought, and also, importantly, to consider the cause of peace and to reflect on how future armed conflicts may be avoided. It also would provide a haven of much-needed green space within the busy environs of the capital city.

However, we have found ourselves unable to continue to support the bill, despite some of the amendments made at the select committee, because of our fundamental concerns about the extraordinary powers granted by the legislation.

But I would like, at this point, to acknowledge the work of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee, which I sat in on for the duration of this bill. I think the first point to note about that select committee process is that it was an extremely constrained one and very challenging for the committee to do its work within the time frame, and, indeed, for the officials to do the work within the time frame allocated, and that is part of the concern that we have with this bill. But within those constraints I think the committee did work well, and I enjoyed my experience on the committee.

I am pleased to say that some of the amendments that the committee has made are minor improvements to the bill—for example, the adoption of changes recommended by the Regulations Review Committee, which somewhat improve the transparency and accountability of the Order in Council process by making sure that Ministers have to explore every other available option relevant before moving to making Orders in Council, and, indeed, to beef up and improve the community forum and improve the number of times that that community forum is delegated to meet.

So there are some changes the committee made that do improve the bill, but, unfortunately, the fundamental concerns that the Green Party has with the legislation remain, despite those changes, because not only does it remove and replace normal planning processes, which limits the ability for the public and key stakeholders to participate in decision making about the park, but also it grants the ability for the Crown to make wide-reaching changes by Order in Council without the usual parliamentary scrutiny. We in the Green Party are very concerned about the precedent that these powers set about the primacy of the rule of law in New Zealand. We heard at the committee a particularly interesting submission from the Legislation Advisory Committee, which expressed concern that if we put aside the rule of law in the case of this legislation, in order to expedite what is indeed a noble goal in the National War Memorial Park, it will become easier to put it aside again for future legislation. Indeed, we believe that that is what has already taken place with the fact that we have this legislation, this extraordinary legislation, in front of the House in the first place.

This legislation is based upon the provisions provided for in response to the Canterbury earthquake, which was a national emergency. We were told at the time that those provisions for Order in Council and those extraordinary powers granted to the executive by that legislation were necessary only because it was a response to a drastic national emergency and were so extraordinary that we need not be concerned about their use elsewhere. Yet here, not so very long after that, we have a piece of legislation effecting those same powers for what is absolutely not a national emergency. In fact, it has been foreseen for a very long time that we might want to commemorate the centenary of Gallipoli in some appropriate way in 2015, and indeed the plans for this particular memorial park have been in place for a long time. The urgency with which this legislation has been addressed was necessary only because of a decision to halt funding for the project—a long pause in its progress—and then a very rapid decision to advance with it after all. That is not good process.

The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 131 in the name of Te Ururoa Flavell to insert new clause 3A be agreed to.