Wellington City Council (Te Aro Reclamation)Amendment Bill

I briefly want to state that National supports this bill. It is a very simple bill that provides for the Wellington City Council to be able to sell, lease, or dispose of land that has been reclaimed in Wellington City. It overrides an Act that was passed in 1879—a date almost as far back as the date giving rise to the recent 150th celebration of this Parliament.

National simply takes the view that councils should have the power to be able to use their land as they best see fit. It is not that we hold a view that the land should be sold or not sold, or leased or not leased, but simply that it is a favour of local democracy for the council to be able to dispose or use that land as it best sees fit.

The changes that have been made by the Local Government and Environment Committee are small. All we have said in respect of the amendments made during the select committee process was that any disposals or powers with regard to that land should be used in relation to the Local Government Act passed in 2002, so that there is some community consultation around that. Again, National supports the bill, and I simply commend that it be passed as quickly as possible so that Parliament can get on to other business.

I too, would like to rise in support of the comments made by the Hon Nick Smith in his support of the bill. It is pleasing to see that this particular council will be able to exercise its functions and duties. The council will probably have to, and has the ability to, undertake the special consultative process of a long-term council community plan, and I am sure that that will satisfy the democratic process and the right for the public to have a say in the disposal of that land, and that is just and proper.

I think it is timely that this is all happening before the foreshore and seabed legislation takes effect, so that this council has the opportunity to do what it can with regard to this land. As members will no doubt be aware, local authorities are excluded from the definition of specified freehold interest, and I think councils need to be very mindful of and careful about their relationship with the foreshore and seabed legislative provisions. So I say again that the bill is probably timely for the Wellington City Council, because the Minister of Conservation will provide redress but no compensation for any local authority land the Crown takes under clause 19 of the foreshore and seabed legislation. So this bill is timely and Wellington City Council can probably consider itself fortunate. I am sure there will be a number of councils looking very closely at the other piece of legislation. National is happy to support this bill into enactment.

I am pleased to say that the Local Government and Environment Committee has made some important changes to this bill, which will enable the Green Party to support it, and will give Wellingtonians a chance to have a say in how their city develops. As the bill was originally drafted it would have allowed the council to disregard all other law in the selling of this precious bit of land. I think we are all aware that it is a precious bit of land right next to Wellington’s civic square, across the road from Wellington’s wonderful waterfront. It is a little piece of land called the Jack Ilott Green. I was actually at the ceremony when we named it the Jack Ilott Green, not so very long ago, and here they are trying to get rid of it—a precious piece of green space in Wellington—so it can be built on, which is the councils’ intention.

As I say, the bill as it stood would have allowed the council to disregard all other law in selling this precious bit of land. It would have enabled the council to sell or lease this precious piece of land without reference to any other legislation in this country. Submitters to the select committee were extremely concerned that this would mean the council could sell the land and would not be subject to the provisions of the Local Government Act. Even the officials felt that the original bill gave the council powers that were far too broad. But with the passing of this bill, and with the amendments that have been made in the select committee, the council will be required to adhere to section 12 of the Local Government Act, which states that while council has the capacity to carry out or undertake an activity, it must exercise it in accordance with all other legislation in this country. That means, essentially, that council will be required to consult the community before it sells off this precious piece of land.

As I said, there has been significant concern in the community over the sale of this land. While it is not the role of central government to intervene and tell Wellington City Council what land it can or cannot sell, it is nevertheless our role to make sure that due process—the proper process—is followed in the sale of council assets. By amending this legislation we are ensuring that that will happen. I sincerely hope that a robust community consultation process will enable the community to have a say about what happens to this land, and that council will be required to look at all the options and not just dispose of it, because it is a loss of public space—precious green space. A new building would block views to the waterfront and also shadow the wonderful Wellington civic square. As I said in my original speech on this bill in the second reading, we were concerned when submitters to the select committee pointed out that this bill had not been passed by the Wellington City Council. The councillors themselves, other than some of those who were on a particular subcommittee, did not know that this bill was coming to the Parliament.

That does seem to us to be very odd. There did not seem to have been public consultation with Wellingtonians about what was being proposed—even just some little public notice to alert them that a bill was coming before Parliament. Fortunately some submitters found out about it by various means, and they did make submissions and alert the committee to their concerns, and therefore we were able to amend the original Act. Now the council will not be able to sell this land, while disregarding all other laws in the land. It will be required to abide by the Local Government Act, and it will be required to consult the community before it sells off the land. Thus it will take care of our major concerns on this bill, and we will be able to support it. As I said previously I think the sale of this land and the consultation about selling this land will be quite a significant issue in the election, because Wellingtonians are very, very concerned about the sale of any more precious green space in Wellington City.

As a Wellington-based MP I am happy to rise on behalf of the ACT party to speak in favour of this bill, and I am pleased that it is getting the support of the entire Committee. In fact, it is a case of the sooner the better, with this bill. It is terrible that the Wellington City Council has, in fact, been hamstrung by central government on an issue that is a local one, and it is quite right and proper that this bill should come before the House and be passed with a good deal of haste.

I note that some amendments have been made to the bill since its introduction, and Ms Kedgley has just spoken about the Local Government Act and the amendments that have been made in that regard. I think that the Wellington City Council has always been very good at consulting its constituents, and there will be change here, either with or without the amendments to the Local Government Act pertaining to this bill. I think that the council should be left to go about its business as it thinks fit, and selling this piece of land without having to go through hoops, as the original Act indicated that it should have to, is totally inappropriate. The council should be able to make its own decisions in a democratic process, which it has shown itself to be very good at. So I just want to take this short call to express ACT New Zealand’s support of this bill and its hasty passage through the Chamber.

I rise to take a short call on behalf of United Future to indicate our support for the passage of this bill. We believe that local government should be able to make decisions regarding its own affairs. The Local Government Act 2002 gave what was called “powers of general competence” to local councils, and this is in keeping with what was requested from us in this bill. The select committee has spent considerable time making sure that the interests of Wellington ratepayers and residents would be well taken into consideration throughout the process, and the amendments that have been mentioned, which mean that they will be subject to the conditions of the Local Government Act 2002, were entirely sensible.

The only regret I have is that this bill was passed to us on 14 May 2003 and it has taken a considerable amount of time to process what is a very small bill through the select committee. In part that is due to fact that our committee has had to devote an enormous amount of time to the “corngate” inquiry, and I look forward to the inquiry being concluded in a speedy manner so that we can get on to legislation such as this, which is often sent to us as a committee and which local authorities around the country are waiting upon. At least in this instance the Wellington City Council will very soon have the legislation it needs in order to get on with its affairs. We are happy to see it pass through this Chamber very quickly.

New Zealand First supports this legislation. We are only too happy to ensure that the people of Wellington, through their Wellington City Council, can administer their own affairs in their own way. We support the speedy passage of the bill through the Committee.

Clauses 1 to 4 agreed to.

Given the time that this bill has been going through the process, I seek leave for it to be given its third reading forthwith, with a shortened debate of just 5 minutes per party.

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Clem Simich): I am sorry, that is a matter for the House.

Bill reported without amendment.

Procedure