Masterton Trust Lands Bill

I move, That the Masterton Trust Lands Bill be now read a second time. The Masterton Trust Lands Bill is very important for Masterton in my electorate of the Wairarapa. It has a number of key points that I would like to point out. As well, I would like to reflect on the report back from the Local Government and Environment Committee.

The Masterton Trust Lands Trust is a body corporate that holds certain land for educational and public utility purposes in the trust district. The purposes of this bill are twofold: the consolidation, amendment, and modernisation of the laws relating to the trust’s lands; and the repeal of the Masterton Trust Lands Act of 1966.

The people of Masterton really do need this bill, because the current language and best business practice should be on the basis of the work of the trust and because the current governing legislation, the Masterton Trust Lands Act, is outdated and hamstrings the actions of the trust. This bill requires the electors and members of the trust to live within the trust district; it abolishes a redundant distinction between scholarship land and general trust land; it gives the trust more powers for the disposal and leasing of land, investment, and borrowing; and it modernises accounting practices.

The background is as follows. The Masterton Trust Lands Trust was established in 1889. Its origins date back to the formation in the 1850s of a settlement upon the principle of a small farm association, and the setting apart of that tithe of land for public purposes and for the service of the settlement. The trust is a body corporate that holds certain lands, primarily for the promotion and assistance of matters beneficial to the community in the trust district, which include, but are not limited to, educational purposes. The purposes specified include: assisting educational establishments and educational activities in the trust district; assisting libraries in the trust district; the promotion, advancement, or encouragement in, or for, the trust district of education, science, literature, art, and other cultural purposes; and physical welfare.

Over many, many years, the trust has, as I have outlined, made a major contribution to the foundation of the town and district in the Masterton area. The Local Government and Environment Committee was under considerable duress with other legislation when this bill came before it in May 2002. I congratulate that committee, led by Jeanette Fitzsimons, on the relatively speedy—considering its workload—return to the House of this bill. The committee has suggested a number of amendments in its report back, and I support them wholeheartedly. They take a common-sense approach and bring the bill more into line with legislation such as the Local Government Act. It will allow for more public accountability with regard to the role of the Auditor-General as far as the public accounts of the business of the trust are concerned. The bill is compliant with modern business practice, and everything in it is accountable to that practice.

Without further ado, I thank those in the House who have supported this bill to date. I continue to look forward to the support of members. Apparently, there was no controversy during the select committee stage, and since all parties are represented on that committee, I take that as an indication that there may well be continued support.

I take a brief call to say that the National Party will be supporting the Masterton Trust Lands Bill through its second and third readings, and to say that this bill was supported by former member Wyatt Creech. If Wyatt Creech says the bill is good enough to support, then it is good enough to support. My understanding is that local people raised one or two issues at meetings of the Local Government and Environment Committee. The committee took their points of view and added them into the bill, which improved the legislation. The purpose of the bill is to modernise the trust. That is what the supporters and proponents of the bill require, and it needs to proceed.

I will take a short call on the Masterton Trust Lands Bill, because it will pass through the House quite quickly. I want to thank the member for Wairarapa, Georgina Beyer, for her explanation of the purpose of the bill. Historically, this trust has performed well from its inception on April 24 1872, and it has always worked for the advantage of the Wairarapa and the Masterton district. When changes have been needed, it has made them. One of the current changes is the extension of the boundaries, and that was discussed in the Local Government and Environment Committee.

My fellow MP Jim Peters, who sits on that committee, asked me to speak on the bill because of my involvement in the Wairarapa. The trust members are well qualified and have been around a long, long time. They include Dr Owen Prior, who was elected in 1974. He is very well known throughout the Masterton district and is involved in a lot of other community activities. Mr Gary Daniels and Mr Sadler are another two members. They are only three out of the 10 board members, all of whom are well qualified to be on the board of the trust.

I want to mention how well the trust performs. It performs very well for the community, considering it is not part of the local district council. It is probably one of the few trusts throughout Aotearoa New Zealand that performs well for its local people. Currently, it owns the Gull Petroleum building and the Woolworths building in Chapel Street. Cafe Char Char and 403 Queen Street are also owned by the trust. The trust is very well heeled, and its financial and asset backing has proved to be a substantial provider of grants in the Masterton district. It also has involvement in the Repco NZ building, which has just been completed, and the Universal College of Learning. It has purchased the building that belonged to Artel Industries, which closed down. It has been involved in Wakefield Radiology, which is an exciting development for the district, and it also owns the Radio House retail building. The most significant building it has involvement in, and that has just completed, is Aratoi. The trust’s contribution to the museum building was $1.3 million, which is a huge amount of money for a local trust to supply. I will touch on some of the grants. The Wairarapa Cultural Trust received $280,000; the building bursary, $13,500; and post-graduate study awards—a key thing for our young people today—$12,600.

The Masterton District Library and Wairarapa Archive, which is another resource for local people, got $10,000. Hiona Intermediate School, which has been struggling with regard to education, was also awarded $10,000. Makoura College received $20,000 for its Teen Parent Unit—a unit that provides real community activity, taking on young teenagers who have difficulty with the life skills they need to enable them to get on.

The select committee touched on the auditor’s responsibility. The Auditor-General has appointed L H Desborough of Audit New Zealand to undertake the audit. He was to assess the judgments made by the board of trustees in the preparation of financial statements, and whether the accounting policies were appropriate to the circumstances of the Masterton Trust Lands Trust, and whether they were consistently applied and adequately disclosed, which is important for an organisation as big as this one, in terms of its assets.

I want to talk briefly about the grants. Eighty grants have been handed out to the local community. The trust provides a lot for the Māori community.

I just want to touch on a few of these: Hadlow Preparatory School, te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Wairarapa, Makoura College, which I have already mentioned, the Masterton District Brass Band, the Masterton fire service, Masterton schools, Te Kohanga Reo O Ngāti Hamua, Solway College, Sport Wairarapa, te reo language programmes—and Māori members should listen to what I said there: not television programmes—and teaching women to make tukutuku panels. I must say that it was a struggle to get money for that. I know that the whānau was involved, and here it is, this trust, which has been going for 130 years, has provided it with a grant of $500. But $500 is something that such an organisation would never be able to get from some other place. No doubt, it has applied for funding from all around the place, and it got it from this trust. There is the balloon festival, the skating rink, the Takitimu ki Wairarapa kapa haka festival, and the Wairarapa Forest and Bird Society. In my short reply on this bill, I wish it all the best and thank the member for Wairarapa for bringing it to the House.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading