Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill

I rise to take a short call on the schedule to the Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill. Members might be interested to note that the Government Administration Committee had to strike out the legal description in the schedule of the property being leased, because it omitted approximately half the land covered by the museum. If it had remained it would have been slightly embarrassing for us, given all the work that had been done. But it is an indication that the bill came into the House on 12 June 2003, had its first reading and referral to the Government Administration Committee on 25 June 2003, and here we are today, 3 September 2003, about to finish it off; that mistake is what happens when things are rushed.

My having said that, it would have been most interesting if we had got rid of the old lease, as my colleague Mr Jones has just said, and had given the trust board a lease for the tar-sealed part outside the actual museum building, which is currently used as a roadway and car-park, but no lease for the building! It was one of those interesting little bits that lawyers find most amusing, as Mr Jones has just indicated. It just goes to show that when we are drafting these things, no matter how carefully they are done by the most skilled people with the most interest in them, accidents do happen.

This was an accident that, fortunately, was found out before it was committed to an Act of Parliament, which would have been hugely embarrassing not only for all the people involved, the trust board and the Department of Internal Affairs, but also for the select committee and this House. That is all I wish to say on that particular matter, other than that accidents do happen, and fortunately one did not happen in this case.

Schedule agreed to.

Bill reported with amendment.

Third Reading