Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill

I move, That the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

It’s a pleasure to rise for the start of the third reading of this local bill. It is a small and discrete bill, as members have commented previously, but it relates to a discrete piece of land that is currently situated—there’s no suggestion that it will move in the near future—on the corner of Park Road and Fitzherbert Avenue in Palmerston North, colloquially known as the Huia Street Reserve.

This bill is a local bill, and those who are joining us at 9 a.m. this morning are probably thinking, “What is happening? Parliament is spending its time talking about Palmerston North.”, and what better way could the Parliament be spending its time than to regale about people’s experiences and opportunities in Palmerston North? This bill is a local bill and it’s one that is a rarity. It’s one that is promoted by the local council, and as the MP for Palmerston North it’s my first local bill to go through Parliament. It is promoted by the Palmerston North City Council, and as the local member I am its sponsor.

In terms of the passage of this bill, it was introduced in November of last year. It has gone through all stages and has landed at the third reading this morning. It’s interesting to note that colleagues have taken the opportunity all around the House to talk about their experiences and their connection to the mighty Manawatū, and, for some, even the mighty Rangitīkei as well. Some members are not quite clear whether Palmerston North sits within the Manawatū District or the Rangitīkei District, but I’m sure Mr McKelvie will clear that up if he makes a contribution.

Even though this bill was introduced in November last year, it has been in train for quite some time—well over two years—and I recall, as the former Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North prior to coming to this place, that it was always on the agenda. It was always something that was discussed out in the community, and so this bill will come as no surprise to the people of Palmerston North.

What I would say is that this particular piece of land is not unfamiliar to the Parliament. If we look back at Hansard we see there have been parts of this land that have already been subject to the parliamentary process. Parts of the land have, effectively, been carved off and given to Palmerston North Girls’ High School for development. But also, previously, one of my predecessors—the Hon Steve Maharey—had bought this bill to the Parliament, but it was withdrawn because the level of support was not guaranteed by the community and by the council. I’m delighted that what the Parliament has in front of it at the bill’s third reading is evidence from the community but also from the council that informed the decision-making process of the select committee that those concerns that were expressed some 15 years ago, or thereabouts, are no longer concerns that the select committee has. Therefore, the Parliament can have some confidence, I would suggest, in passing this piece of legislation.

I would note, though, that even though some of these contributions have been identified as part of the parliamentary process up to this point, none the less it is important to place this on the record for the benefit of those who at some stage in the future might look back at what Parliament was doing this particular morning, so they can reflect on some of the contributions that have been made. The meat in terms of this bill lies in clause 5, which is the amending of section 3 of the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act 1966. Clause 5 does the changeover from what was three Acts—this piece of land was subject to three Acts. It will now basically smooth the process, and while the Act itself won’t compel the council to sell the land, it certainly gives them the option to do so if they wish to do that.

I want to acknowledge the Palmerston North City Council for their diligence. There is a process that those who have shepherded a local bill through the Parliament will be familiar with. It’s one that I was not familiar with prior to coming to this place. But there is an appendix to the Standing Orders that outlines a fairly prescriptive process that local authorities must go through before a local bill is introduced, and that is a process that is certified by the Clerk of the House to ensure that there is compliance. So I also want to acknowledge the diligence of the Palmerston North City Council for the work they’ve done in preparing that.

I also want to reflect on the contributions some colleagues have made about the extra effort the Palmerston North City Council had gone to. Even though the select committee was not able to undertake a site visit as such, the approach of the council was second to none in the sense of providing drone footage, providing an opportunity to hear commentary on what was happening around the place, and I do know that some members have visited Palmerston North and passed the site since then. I want to acknowledge our mayor, Grant Smith, in Palmerston North and also David Murphy, Desiree Harvey, and Nicholas Jessen for the work they’ve done in preparing that.

I also acknowledge my other local parliamentarians—Ian McKelvie, who is the MP for Rangitīkei—and Palmerston North City Council. Part of that land—not the Huia Street Reserve—falls within his electorate, as is the case for the Rt Hon Adrian Rurawhe, the Speaker, whose Palmerston North constituency falls within as well.

I do want to briefly comment on the land itself and more specifically around the nature of the land that is adjacent or nearby. Some of the submitters have expressed a view that if the council was to develop this land for medium or high density housing, as it may choose to do in the future, or not, then it puts at risk the opportunity to have access to green space. When we step back and have a look at the existing green portfolio near that land, I can rattle off quite a list. It is adjacent to Victoria Esplanade, which itself is a gem in our city and our region. There are botanical gardens, the Dugald MacKenzie Rose Garden, He Ara Kotahi, the shared pathway that connects the Rangitīkei electorate to the Palmerston North electorate, Mr McKelvie, but there are other opportunities around Ongley Park, Wallace Park, Fitzherbert Park, Manawaroa Park, our riverside walkway, and of course, the Square, and Te Marae o Hine, the Courtyard of the Daughter of Peace, is in very close proximity, as members will be aware, to this particular site.

💬 Marja Lubeck: I am now.

Well, thank you, Ms Lubeck. There have been a number of suggestions throughout this process that if the land is going to be sold, why do we need an Act of Parliament to allow that. Why is the House spending time talking about this legislation? The answer to that is very clear. The legislative provision exists for us to do this, but also there is no other way in which the council, if it chooses to develop and sell the land, can do so. There is a legislative prohibition based on the current standing of the law, and so this bill will allow the council to do that. I will point out, however, that this still will be subject to a full council consultative process.

The Parliament, in passing this legislation this morning—which I’m hopeful it will do—will not necessarily guarantee that the council will go on and develop the land. When I think about the fact that we have elections in our local communities in October, for Palmerston North City Council we already have two new members, Debi Marshall-Lobb and Roly Fitzgerald, who have been elected to the Māori ward, but we also have three other councillors who are standing down, including the deputy mayor Aleisha Rutherford, and the chair of finance and audit Susan Baty, and one other. So already, in a council of 16, nearly one-third will be new. So this not predetermining a particular course of action, but it is giving the empowerment or enabling the council to embark upon a process of community consultation if at some stage in the future it desires to do that. The decision-making principles that will inform that process are no different to the ones that councils are expected to abide by and fall into line with, I guess, with any other form of consultation, and that would certainly be an expectation that I would have.

In my concluding comments this morning can I just acknowledge that the work of the select committee has been fantastic. I know that they’ve got up close and personal with this particular bill.

💬 Angie Warren-Clark: Palmy!

Go Palmy. And, also, the fact that they have returned a report as part of this process that effectively recommends that the bill be passed with no amendments, and at all stages that has been a unanimous view of members. I’m hopeful that that will continue through its passage this morning. The timing effect is that once this bill receives Royal assent, it will become law the day after that, so the council has some certainty around that. It has been a fulsome process and one that I have been very pleased to be a part of, and I commend this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Well, Madam Speaker—[Clears throat] Excuse me—it’s a bit early in the morning for me. It’s a pleasure to take a call on this local bill, and, interestingly, local bills are historically usually—or generally, I suppose—uncontentious in this Parliament. That hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent years, but this one certainly is, and following my fellow Manawatū MP Tangi Utikere, it really gives me the opportunity to talk about everything but the bill, because he did such a good job of summing up what the bill was all about that I’ll only damage what he’s talked about.

As he said, this bill has been around for a long time. This piece of land has been sitting in Palmerston North for quite some years now, for nearly 20 years doing absolutely nothing, and it’s actually a bit of an eyesore. It’s in a very pretty part of Palmerston North, but also a part of Palmerston North that’s strongly recreational. Just as the previous speaker said, there’s a new bridge connecting the Rangitīkei to the Palmerston North electorate, and it’s amazingly well used as well. I would have thought, at the time, that it should be taking cars as well as feet, but it only takes feet and bikes. But it is a great asset and it adds to the recreational assets in that part of Palmerston North, and I think it reinforces the fact that this piece of land would never serve again as recreational—I think it’s highly unlikely to ever serve again as a recreational reserve, or even to be used for recreational purposes. It is in a part of Palmerston North that’s well-connected and it would make an excellent housing reserve or any other use we or the city council want to put it to.

As Tangi Utikere said, the city council did a great job of bringing this to the Parliament, and I did sit on the Environment Committee and I thought the select committee also did a pretty good job of reviewing it. Ironically, the select committee didn’t go to Palmerston North, and I was thinking about that as the previous speaker was speaking. Of course, Air New Zealand’s canned their flights to Palmerston North, so there’s no way the select committee could get there unless it went by car. So maybe Air New Zealand might like to reinstate those flights to Palmerston North. It was a very useful service interestingly, because it didn’t actually go to Palmerston North; it went to Hamilton, but it stopped in Palmerston North, and it was really quite a good service for us, and you’d have to hope that Air New Zealand might one day reinstate that.

I want to go back in history a bit. I was once a mayor myself, and now I’m getting out of this place, I can safely say that I stood on the basis of getting rid of the Manawatū District, and I was always quite keen to amalgamate the Manawatū District and Palmerston North City. The reason is that everything that surrounds Palmerston North relies on Palmerston North for almost everything it does, and this is not an uncommon occurrence. It happens in provincial New Zealand often, really, where we’ve got separate territorial authorities but we’ve got one of them providing all the recreational assets, all the entertainment assets, and pretty much, I guess, all the essential services, and yet the other authorities adjacent to them have great difficulty contributing to what goes on in those areas—and when I say that they have difficulty, they have difficulty coming to an arrangement which is suitable for both the territorial authorities from a funding perspective.

So it is an interesting challenge for a city like Palmerston North, surrounded by, particularly in this case, the Manawatū District. But it also supplies services into Levin, and even—although I could get in trouble with a Whanganui person—to some extent, into Whanganui. So it really is the capital of our part of the world and, as such, it provides many, many services, and to have the opportunity to control their own destiny, I suppose, in many ways is important.

The other thing that’s interesting about this is it’s often in local areas we find pieces of land like this that are controlled by Acts of Parliament. It’s very common with racecourses, and with A and P showgrounds—both of those are controlled by Acts of Parliament, actually—and I’ve been in my time, or for part of it at least, involved with two or three different Acts that have come to the House wanting to deal to local issues. One of them was the Manawatū A and P showgrounds in Palmerston North. They were subject to an Act of Parliament. That Act had to come to Parliament to enable that to be disbanded and sold to the city council.

So we have some very odd things in our little patches, I suppose you’d say, that for reasons of history become very complex and, therefore, have to be unwound. It takes a bit of the time of this Parliament to unwind those things. I guess it’s a cost, but none the less it’s how it is, and it’s probably how it should be.

The other thing, of course, about the control of reserves in New Zealand is that local areas or communities only get the benefit, generally, of about half of the asset if it’s ever sold, because of the various Acts of Parliament that control that, so the State, effectively, takes 50 percent of most of our reserves when and if they’re sold. So you consequently get the stalling of progress, to some extent, because local councils aren’t particularly interested in winding up reserves and things like that that are no longer necessary—they’re a part of history, but they’re no longer necessary—and then using them for other things, because in the course of doing that, they give the State 50 percent of the money which is generated locally. So I suppose I’ve always thought that that was unjust and an odd thing to have to do, but none the less it’s the way our laws are.

I don’t think I’m going to talk for ever because, as I said, Tangi Utikere did a great job of describing the bill and what it does. Like him, I congratulate both the select committee and the Palmerston North City Council for the way they brought this to Parliament and got it through pretty slickly, really. So that’s probably my lot, I think.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity to talk on the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill. As we’ve heard, it’s a local bill, and that means that it’s the council that has to bring it to their member of Parliament, which, of course, is the wonderful Tangi Utikere. He knows the council pretty well because he used to be the Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North so I’m sure he very much enjoyed working with council to make sure that all of the compliance checks that he discussed, set out in the Standing Orders, I believe—to bring this here. He was a member of the Environment Committee when this bill started its life with us as the select committee. Unfortunately, he’s left us now, but he did come back and make sure that the bill was ushered through in the best way possible—so thank you for that, Mr Utikere.

Now we’ve heard a bit about how the select committee didn’t visit the site. This was a time where it’s been difficult to travel and the previous members talked about a lack of aeroplanes. When I Google-Mapped the site it did say that it was an hour, 49-minute drive, so perhaps the lack of aeroplane wasn’t the reason that we did not manage a site visit; it may have had more to do with COVID restrictions during some of the time that we were considering the bill. However, the member for Palmerston North has made sure that a lot of his colleagues have come to visit Palmerston North, so I can assure anybody who’s listening to this speech that I have had the privilege of visiting Palmerston North at least twice this term already—a wonderful place to visit. I’m sure I’ll be there again. And when I was there, I did drive past this site because it is an easy site to drive past in terms of it’s on one of the main roads, and I’ll talk about that—

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: Didn’t stop.

At the time, I was busy—

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: It was a drive-by.

—there’s an assertion being made that I didn’t stop at the site. That is true, I have not stopped at the site. But should I be back in Palmerston North I absolutely will make sure to do that.

The site that we’re talking about is 1.6 hectares and it’s currently a recreation reserve and it is bounded by two fairly major roads: one in particular that you do drive down if you’re visiting Palmerston North. If you don’t know Palmerston North well, you drive down it, and it’s a few blocks into town, which is why you’d probably be driving past it. And then on the other side it is quite close to the river as well. We didn’t have a site visit but we did get this amazing video that all of the select committee watched. It was drone footage from every possible angle that you could look at the site so I feel as if I have visited the site. I can tell you that on this corner site there are some tennis courts, and you can see some car parking and things going on, on the site. And there are indeed easements for parking and vehicle access to the area. There is some grass. Ian McKelvie said that it was a bit of an eyesore. I think that’s unkind, but there is grass and there are trees. There are some indigenous trees, but also some exotic trees that we heard about in submissions. It’s also close to a high school, it’s close to the parks that Tangi Utikere referred to. There’s a playcentre and a scout hall nearby.

So this is the piece of land. It’s been part of a much bigger piece of land that’s been subject to legislation since 1876. There’s been various different pieces of legislation to deal with the reserves in the mighty Palmerston North. And I should say that I am a bit of a fan of Palmerston North, because that is where my parents met. So thank you to Palmerston North.

The land is currently held under the Palmerston North Reserves Act 1922, and that Act provides for leasing of the land, that’s at section 4, building and making streets, at section 7, leasing for sports, at section 8, and also some housing. That housing is supposed to be workers’ housing. But what this 1922 Act doesn’t have is an enablement to sell or divest this recreation reserve. And so the Reserves Act 1977 applies and that looks under Land Act 1948 and some quite complicated processes within those things.

But there is more legislation about Palmerston North and the reserves. So there is the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act 1966 and under this Act, land is able to be sold if the land is subject to the Act. “Empowering” is an important word in that legislation because it does allow this enablement, and obviously enablement is something that the Labour Government is very interested in. It was great to see the bipartisan support last year for the resource management enabling housing and other matters bill, as it was. So we want to enable things where it’s appropriate.

The bill that is before us today, amends this 1966 empowering Act to make it applicable to the 1.6032 hectare area that we’ve heard described in the past three speeches. How it does that is it amends section 3 of the 1966 Act. I’ll just make sure I’ve got the right Act here—I do. So that Act at section 3 “Lands vested in the Council” says, “The lands described in Schedule 1 and Schedule 4 are hereby vested in the Council” and it goes on to say that this Act applies to those lands. What the bill before us does is insert “and [Schedule] 5” and then Schedule 5 describes the land, the 1.6 hectares. So it’s a very short bill.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: Read it out.

I’ve been asked to read out the bill, but I’m sure somebody will take that opportunity soon. I’ve got some other things that I want to say about this very short but very important bill about the wonderful Palmerston North, represented so well by its local MP.

What this change means, by incorporating the land in the 1966 Act, is that it is possible for the council to decide to sell that land, because that is what the 1966 Act does. There’s a process set out in section 4A(3) of that 1966 Act that requires some public hearings. But also, if the council is to decide to sell any land then of course the Local Government Act 2002 provisions, Part 6 around consultation—and if it’s a significant asset, other processes apply as well.

So we might ask: why would the council want to sell the land? And they might not. This gives them an opportunity. It gives them an opportunity to explore housing and potential housing development. We’ve heard that this is a good location for housing. There’s lots of other green protected space near it. It’s good proximity to town, right next to a high school. So it’s a great central location.

But again, that can’t happen immediately—any housing on this site—because there’s still resource management processes that would need to happen and amendments, I think, to the district plan to allow for that housing. So, of course, that would all be public processes that the community would be able to be involved in should the council decide that they do want to go ahead with some sort of housing and to be able to sell that housing.

We’ve heard from the member from Palmerston North that, in fact, the council is going to go through some change at this election that will be happening next month—because it’s September now. So it’s totally up to the council about what they might want to do. But of course, housing is very important to both local and national politicians.

So I would like to briefly thank the staff from the Department of Conservation that we had working with us on this and, of course, all of the select committee staff as well. Really, it’s a great example of a local MP working with their council to provide for the needs of the local community. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I commend the bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My friend and colleague Ian McKelvie has given a very good analysis of this bill at its third reading. I’ve had an opportunity to speak in the first reading, second reading, during the committee of the whole House, and at the Environment Committee on this bill, so there’s not much more to say. But I think that the point Ian McKelvie raised about legacy legislation that dates back in some cases to the 1800s is an issue that this House will actually have to address at some point, not just for matters relating to Palmerston North but for a whole range of other bespoke pieces of legacy legislation that were passed by our predecessors decades and decades ago and that now are no longer suitable or fit for purpose. Then the only mechanism available to address those matters is redress by amending legislation through this House, and that raises questions about the efficiency of doing so.

But I want to congratulate the member who has been sponsoring this bill, the Palmerston North MP Tangi Utikere. He’s managed the process thoroughly and he’s been successful working with the council and the select committee and the Parliament in a way that his predecessors have not been able to be successful. So kudos to both the Palmerston North City Council and to Tangi Utikere for their stewardship of this piece of legislation.

It’s a common-sense, sensible little piece of legislation. There’s nothing contentious about it. But the only point that I would make in summary is that it does, I think, highlight a larger issue that confronts the House with historic legacy legislation, bespoke pieces of legislation, that apply to councils, district councils, reserves, and racecourses, as Ian McKelvie indicated. There are a lot of those pieces of legislation, and I think that at some point this House maybe needs to consider some kind of streamlined methodology for addressing those issues. We on this side of this House are pleased to support the legislation.

Mōrena, Madam Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call on the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill. May I just begin by congratulating my colleague Tangi Utikere on his stewardship of this important bill through the House. As he has mentioned, it is unusual to have local and private bills come through the House, but they are a very useful way for our councils and for local organisations to bring important legislation through so that they can achieve their objectives.

I’ve had the opportunity to take a few calls on this bill; in fact, I’ve asked to take calls on this bill. Why is that? The reason is that I had the pleasure of growing up in Palmerston North. I moved there at the age of nine years old. Funnily enough, people often ask me where I am from and where I grew up.

💬 Hon Scott Simpson: Where did your parents meet?

I can tell you, my parents met here in Wellington at Victoria University. They both had travelled to the Pacific, actually, with Volunteer Service Abroad. So that’s how they met. Great question.

I was born in Timaru and had the pleasure of moving around the motu with my father who was working in senior health roles, becoming the chief executive of Palmerston North Hospital, and I think he opened a few buildings there. So we’re a hospital-building family, my family—

💬 Tangi Utikere: And it continues.

Yes, and it continues: Nelson will be next. So, having said that, I moved there when I was nine, and moved away when I was 18. Interestingly, actually, Nelson, where I’m pleased to be the local MP, is the place I’ve actually lived the longest. So I very much am very proud to be a Nelson local and for Nelson to be my home town, but I call Palmerston North my second home town, because my parents and most of my siblings still reside in Palmerston North—although, quite a few of them have moved just to the outskirts of Palmerston North and they’re now in Mr McKelvie’s electorate. So we have many family connections around this particular bill and with members of this House.

What the bill does is it allows the council to go through a process and then consider and then potentially sell or divest the land. I think that’s an important point to make: that it doesn’t automatically mean that the sale or the divestment of the land will happen; the council still does have to go through a consultative process with its community to make that decision, and that’s a good thing.

Other speakers this morning and in previous readings have talked about the amenity value of where this piece of housing sits—well, potential piece of housing sits; I’ll just clarify that. People have mentioned that it’s close to local schools, including my high school, Palmerston North Girls’ High School. I used to cycle down Huia Street, which is just a small little street. If I was running late for school that would be the way we would try and avoid getting a detention. But there was a particular teacher there—anyone from Palmerston North, listening in, will remember Mrs Farrelly—Mrs Farrelly waiting at the little piece of Huia Street. One morning, she caught me coming in late, trying to avoid getting picked up, and I ended up in detention at lunchtime.

So it’s an excellent piece of land, in my opinion, for housing, because it has excellent amenity value; it would score very highly. It’s right next to the botanical gardens, the Lido swimming pool; and, as Mr Utikere mentioned, the Victoria Esplanade Gardens. I’ll just note from Tripadvisor that someone a few years ago said, “These luxurious gardens really are a gem and sometimes underrated by the locals and missed by visitors.” So I’m just putting on the record—anyone doing their research on where to visit in Palmerston North, I’ve had friends who’ve been married there; it’s a beautiful place—I encourage people to visit the esplanade gardens. There’s also, nearby, a miniature train loved by my nephews and nieces and secretly loved by my brothers and sisters, who I think sometimes take their children on the train not so much for their children’s enjoyment but for their own.

💬 Hon Member: Is it free?

Oh, look, I’d need to—

💬 Tangi Utikere: No, but it’s cheap.

Yeah, Mr Utikere says “cheap”. I’m not sure if it’s quite a dollar, as Kieran McAnulty’s train is in the Wairarapa, but it’s certainly not an expensive outing.

Also, Huia Street is very close to the Manawatū River and Fitzherbert Park, where I have many recollections of doing athletics on rainy days, which was never a particularly fun experience. And, as others have mentioned, there is a bridge leading across to the Rangitīkei River, which I actually haven’t had the opportunity to use yet; so next time I’m home, I’ll make a point of doing that.

Mr Utikere also mentioned the Square. I’d forgotten, in previous speeches, the importance of the Square to Palmerston North. When I was a teenager and when we had nothing to do, what we would do is drive around and around the Square. It used to annoy the local police no end. Boy racers, of which I was not one—just saying—but I may have had a couple of friends that were, drove around and around the Square. The police would do a very good job of driving around and around the Square so slowly that they would annoy those drivers wanting to go very, very fast.

As I said, this piece of land has very high amenity value. It’s also very close to public transport. It’s within walking distance to the local mall, the plaza, where I had my first job, at Christmas, dressing up as an elf, wrapping Christmas presents. It was a fantastic job at the Palmerston North plaza. So people living in any housing that may be built on this reserve will be able to walk to The Plaza to do their shopping.

In previous readings, there’ve been comments made by many speakers about the care we need to take around removing reserve land off the books of a council, either through sale or divestment. We do need to take care. Some have noted that we don’t need any process, we should just allow councils just to do that off their own steam; others have said we shouldn’t potentially do it at all. My view—and, I think, where the bill strikes the right balance—is being very pragmatic about saying, yep, the council has determined they would like to be able to do this, they’ve brought it to Parliament where it’s been scrutinised, and then to do that, they would still need to go through a robust consultation process. So I think it’s really struck the right balance. It’s not making the council able to do just sell the land willy-nilly; there still has to be a process to go through in order to consider it for housing.

People have mentioned, today and in previous speeches, that a similar version of this bill was brought to the House in previous years and it was ultimately withdrawn. One of the reasons why it was withdrawn was there had been a lack of consultation. So there was concern from the community that meant when it did come through to the House, it probably didn’t have enough of that backing from local people to bring it here.

I spoke to my stepfather after the first reading because he actually held a role that Tangi Utikere held, he was the Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North City Council when this bill came forward the first time. I happened, actually, after the first reading, to head back to my second home of Palmerston North, and my stepfather was very pleased to hear that it had come back before the House; he had been quite frustrated about the process. It has been a piece of land that has been underutilised that is a perfect piece of land, in my view, for there to be housing. So I do just want to acknowledge my stepfather, John Hornblow, who worked on this a while ago now. He will be very pleased to see this bill pass its third reading today.

On that note, I just want to congratulate, again, my colleague, the excellent MP for Palmerston North, who I’ve known since we were at intermediate school at Ross Intermediate, and thank him for his work on this bill; thank the select committee for their work; thank the officials who put in their time; thank all the submitters who took the time to submit on the bill; and, most importantly, thank Palmerston North City Council for their work on bringing this bill to the House. I know that they will, once it has passed its third reading, go through the appropriate process. It will be important for them to ensure there’s good consultation with the community, including local iwi Rangitāne; I just want to acknowledge them and their role in this part of the motu. I know that if housing is developed there, it will make a real difference for families and people in Palmerston North who need good quality, affordable housing. That is what our objective is as a Government. So I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Thank you. I’m very pleased to take a short call on the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill, and, like others, congratulate Tangi Utikere on getting this bill through and the work that he has done—as the Hon Scott Simpson mentioned—in providing really strong liaison and connection between the city council and the Environment Committee.

It is only 1.6 hectares of land, this Huia Street Reserve, on the corner of Park Road and Fitzherbert Avenue. It is a prominent intersection close to the central city and just over five blocks from the Square. I have walked past it, I admired the trees on it, and I know that there has been some concern in Palmerston North about the land being sold. But, as others have mentioned, because this bill brings the 1.6 hectares under the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act, it then enables the council to make any decision about the use of the land. If it wants to sell it, it can, after a proper process and a formal resolution before the council.

It is unusual for the Green Party to support the loss of public reserve land, because this land was set aside in 1876. That’s almost 150 years ago. The fact that the land was set aside as reserve then has provided options for the council, and for us, today. We can’t envisage how Palmerston North will develop—the demands for recreation, the way work evolves, the way housing options evolve 150 to 200 years hence—so public reserve land always provides options. I would be concerned by the Hon Scott Simpson’s proposals that there be some streamlined legislation which fixes all of these little bits of reserve land, because that potentially reduces the options.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Hon Eugenie Sage. Order!

The previous speaker Rachel Boyack referred to amenity values. Green spaces in our cities and towns are enormously important in providing areas of natural space, areas of open space, places to recreate, places to rest to the eyes. They absorb stormwater, they help reduce the demands on our stormwater system—

Tāmati Coffey: Point of order, Madam Speaker. Can the speaker hear us?

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): No, she cannot, unfortunately, because the earphones are not—

Tāmati Coffey: Are not on—of course. I was going to suggest that we gave her some time to be able to put her headphones on, but I understand the situation here. It’s a bit of a catch-22.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Yes.

[Missing audio]—abundant opportunities for recreation close by and the quite considerable green space close by and the central location of this site and its suitability for housing because of its connectivity to Massey University, and the girls’ high school close by. So it is suitable for housing. But it is also a key decision that the council will make in consultation with the community about whether it wishes to sell it.

We do want, in the changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA), this whole issue of urban quality dealt with very carefully, because the decisions we make now can influence how cities and towns and rural areas develop 150, 200 years hence. We want to ensure that we do protect options. But this 1.6 hectares hasn’t been used, and if the council decides to sell it in future, then the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act does require that any proceeds from the sale are used to acquire new reserves or are used to develop future reserves. So it is ensuring that any funds are used to protect those recreational values that people have enjoyed in the past on the tennis courts and their use of this reserve.

So it’s a bill that the Green Party is supporting, but do note that we do want to see in the wider RMA changes an ability for plans and councils, in their decisions, to recognise the really important areas of open space and trees and the other qualities that give a city liveability, pleasantness, and amenity values. This small area may be better used as housing, but that is certainly not a precedent for other areas of reserve being converted into buildings. But we do support this bill. Kia ora.

Kia ora. Before I call the next speaker, can I just remind every member that if we are to connect online remotely by computers, it is important to actually put the headphones on so that we can communicate with you.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker, and thank you that I am able to rise to add to the contribution for this local bill. I also want to acknowledge and congratulate Tangi Utikere, the MP for Palmerston North, and also in his previous role, and I acknowledge the extensive work that he would have done in terms of the previous former role.

As we’ve heard from other submitters before the House, this land, this bill of the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill, is land that is surplus to requirements. The Palmerston North City Council have advised the complexities and as to why this matter has been brought to the Environment Committee and before the House. To enable the council to proceed with looking at its district plan of that area—probably post - local government elections 2022—it requires this bill to pass that amendment and for an option of the land to be put up for sale.

Previously, I was able to and had the opportunity with other members to put forward a contribution in the first reading. I was also able to learn a bit more because, not able to do a site visit, I’ve had to rely on Google and IT for specifications and the characteristic of this land. So as part of my research, I saw online that it is a prime location. I would have to describe it as one of those pieces of land that has had a huge use in past history, because what we do know is that in the last century, it was the Wellington Reserves Act 1876 and the amendment Act of 1877, and it’s governed by the Reserves Act 1977.

In my former life as a locally elected council member, right across the motu there are a number of pieces of land that when the public or the council don’t have further use for it, it actually becomes quite unloved and it becomes an eyesore and then it becomes, actually, a tug of war with the public and community groups and the council.

The issues that it presents is that if it becomes unloved—the eyesore part of it—it’s quite sad, and for this piece of land to be in a prime location, it’s actually important, with Kiwis right across Aotearoa requiring accommodation. It then goes back to the council—what are you going to actually do in terms of investment? So as part of the process and understanding how it fits into current legislation and the non-ability of the council to sell the land, it makes it really difficult in terms of planning requirements.

The position of my contribution is when you don’t have the mechanism, when you don’t have the Act that doesn’t allow the council to realise its plans, it actually becomes quite difficult and really hard for the elected members because you’re stuck between—sorry for the phrase—a rock and a hard place. What is important, though, is that it’s in a prime location. It’s in a location—from what I saw on Google—that could actually be developed.

One of the requirements post this process is that in planning requirements, as typology of housing is going upwards, councils and communities want really good options for housing close to amenities, and—I understand and I saw that part of the urban sprawl time—we have to move forward. This bill will enable that.

So I do want to congratulate and thank the Palmerston North City Council, who have submitted this before the Environment Committee. I wasn’t a member of the Environment Committee, but I do understand that because of the way Aotearoa is moving forward, Kiwis need accessibility to housing, and the Palmerston North City Council would have viewed that and required the legal tools, and then to go back and allow, through its processes, the normal steps, particularly around consultation.

I would like to thank the submitters. I understand that those who were for probably had a strong intent to have good housing options that are close to amenities, recreation reserves, shopping centres, and the like, and they want options that are affordable, which is what this Government supports.

I also want to point out that I wasn’t a member of the Environment Committee, but I am really pleased that I’m part of the process at this point in time, and just for the residents who aren’t supporting the bill, one of the things with local government elections and local councils is it’s really important for local councils to help the residents and businesses and the youth understand why they make decisions and how they make decisions. I think to empower the Palmerston North City Council, it requires this bill, and, as many of my colleagues know, local councils are really focused on making planning decisions around infrastructure, around community facilities, and around assets like stormwater.

But one of the things that residents always want is they want to understand: how do they get involved and who is going to listen to them through that particular process—specifically if they’re not happy. So part of the consultation process that Palmerston North City Council will undertake is post this process, as the bill goes through the House and is supported, and I thank the colleagues on that side of the House. It’s really understanding that local authority’s framework.

So I haven’t visited the site, but I’m very pleased that a number of my colleagues have clearly spelt out how valuable this land is and also the close proximity that it has, in terms of the information about its location, and the attractiveness of this land.

The bill in its current form is pretty straightforward, as we’ve heard in other contributions, and it’s also been nearly two years—since November 2020, I understand—when the council put forward their option of the Huia Street Reserve. What is important is, as we work across the motu and as we build our communities, we want our communities to be resilient. We want to look after our old people, we want to look after our young people, and we want to be in part of the community that, actually, is not an eyesore.

This legislation provision is needed. It is the first step in the process, and I’m very pleased to hear that the Environment Committee agreed unanimously. Then, when the bill is passed, it goes back to Palmerston North City Council and I think that they really have to look at this and really understand what the communities, both for and against, are requiring for their community through the consultative process.

My last point is just that COVID has really challenged all of us across the motu. We have seen those who can afford and those who cannot afford housing. So as part of the empowering of the council, this bill, when it goes through the House, the members of that community can be empowered in terms of the council really wanting to listen—so not pre-empting—but that it allows the mechanism to be there as the bill is passed, and then the next steps, post - local government elections 2022.

I just want to conclude by thanking the members of the Environment Committee. I also thank the submitters, and say thank you to the officials that enabled this work and especially my colleague the MP Tangi Utikere for his work. I commend this bill to the House.

ACT will support this bill because it removes a regulatory barrier to using land more efficiently. Now, imagine if the Labour Government spent as much time giving their emotional support to other ways to slash red tape and to get rid of regulation that stops people from using their land how they want to. But that’s not what they’re doing. That’s not what the resource management reform will deliver. That’s not what tax reform is needed. But what we’re hearing is that Palmerston North City Council needs this bill so they can change the way they use their land, and the ACT Party supports that. What we’d also support is getting on with the remainder of the House’s businesses, on this members’ day, rather than wasting time waxing lyrical about how much you all love Palmerston North. I’m a big fan of Palmy in the Manawatū, Massey University, centre of excellence for agricultural economics and environmental science—love Palmy, just want them to get on with it. We’d love Labour to get on with members’ day. ACT supports this bill.

I call on Angie Warren-Clark. The next call is a split call—five minutes.

Oh, Madam Speaker. I didn’t understand that I was on a split call. However, that’s fine. I will just do five minutes.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): My apologies. The split call is the next call.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. First and foremost, I’d just like to acknowledge the very short speech from the member who’s just resumed his seat, Simon Court. Sounds like he had a really sore throat, so I’m hoping that you are well, Mr Court.

I want to stand and make a contribution to this bill, and I am quite delighted. I really enjoy sitting in select committee where we are all in agreement and we work our best to make a good bill even better. In this case, we didn’t need to do much—in fact, we didn’t make any changes to the bill, but we certainly completely covered the issue, I believe.

So the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill—look, we’ve heard from the other members in the House about what this bill does. I would like to first and foremost acknowledge Tangi Utikere, the member for Palmerston North, who is the sponsor of this local bill and—as we have heard—previously the Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North. So he has a full and thorough understanding of this bill.

Nevertheless, I do want to also make the point that this is a local bill. So he has brought this bill as the member, but it is not his piece of legislation that he brings to the House. An important distinction, I believe, that needs to be reiterated.

So Palmerston North, Papaioea, Palmy, is the topic that we are talking about today. I Googled, “What is special about Palmerston North?” because I did admit in the second debate that I had only visited once and had attended the Fitzroy Tavern, which is no longer there. So what is special about Palmerston North, besides the very good member, of course?

The catch phrase is, “Palmerston North has what it takes to exercise body and mind.” So I thought, “Well, that sounds very cool, and in fact there is a whole pile of really exciting things that you can do in Palmerston North,” which I won’t traverse. Nevertheless, I would just like to point out that point number six of the 10 things was the food and the cafe lifestyle. So that was a bit more of me than the activities.

So what does this bill do? I think it’s important to talk about what this bill does. Currently, as we know, there is certain land held under the Palmerston North Reserves Act 1922, the former Act, and land under this Act cannot be sold. The council wishes to be able to sell this land for development if it becomes surplus to council requirements. This bill provides the mechanism for this by amending the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act 1966, which is the principal Act.

Look, this bill has six clauses, and clause 4 and clause 5 are the most relevant. In fact, clause 4 tells us the purpose: to be able to sell. Clause 5: the effect of the amendment is that the land described in Schedule 5 is vested in the council and it is no longer subject to the provisions of the former Act, which is the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act 1966.

It is 1.6 hectares of land. Known, as we have heard, as the Huia Street Reserve, located on the corner of Fitzherbert Ave and Park Road in Palmerston North. There are four parcels of land: lots 1 to 4. Lots 3 and 4, and a bit of lot 2—just a bit of lot 2—are leased to a tennis club on a 10-year lease with another 10-year right of renewal.

So the community has been talking about this piece of land for quite some time. For many years, in fact, we have heard about the legislation that was attempted to be brought through in 2007, which didn’t pass. We have heard, also, about the drone footage that we’ve seen of the site, and we also heard from a number of submitters. We had 29 submissions and eight oral submitters speak to us.

I think the important thing there was, we were lucky to have drone footage because people were quite confused as to where this land was and what the areas were. I think it was important that—and I’m not sure how it works—so we’ve put it into Hansard that there is drone footage, but I’m not sure how that actually gets transcribed or put or whether, in fact, there is in any way that technology and Hansard can reflect where we’re talking about. I suspect we don’t quite have that capability and it will have to be the legal description of the lots added in there.

So we did have the drone footage; it is really clear that this is quite a useful piece of land. It is covered as a reserve and I acknowledge the Hon Eugenie Sage’s contribution where she talked about, you know, making sure that reserve land doesn’t just disappear and the point being made that there will be, if this land is sold, some opportunities to go back to a recreational purpose for the sale of this land.

I want to just talk a little bit about the history of Palmerston North for a moment. In 1866—

💬 Hon Member: Must you?

The members across the other side are suddenly very interested; I’m pleased to see that. In 1866, Palmerston North was founded, but—sorry, I should say Palmerston was founded. Fascinating fact for you all here in the House today, because I know you’re fascinated about this: in 1873, the word “North” was inserted. That is because we have a Palmerston in the South Island, and it is incredibly important—[Interruption]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): Order! Order! I’d just ask the members on my left to listen very carefully to this. This is very important.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. So the word “North” was inserted. Fascinating quip. In fact, I won’t tell you about the time when we first had an exchange in Ōkaihau, where I grew up.

💬 Hon Member: You just did.

OK, I will then. Well, we had the new dial-tone phones instead of the ring phones, and we rang Palmerston instead of Palmerston North and spoke to someone for quite some time and then realised it was the wrong person. Anyway—I know that was a funny story. I digress. Right, back to Palmerston North. In 1930, Palmerston North became a city. I think that that’s quite interesting, given that I’ve not visited this place and perhaps I should. We have—well, besides the pub, of course.

So I’d just also like to note there is a little bit of controversy around Palmerston North and the term “Palmy”. Now, some of you here will know that Palmerston North is known as “Palmy”, and in fact there is a huge controversy about this. So, in fact, the local council has said that their long-term plan is the Palmy 2021-31 long-term plan, and people are up in arms about that, and rightly so.

So back to the bill. Quite clearly, we have an election coming up for councillors in the city. This bill simply enables the possibility of sale for this land. It’s important that people in Palmerston North go to vote, to make their wishes clear around this so the elected members will make this decision going forward. It’s incredibly important that people pay attention to this matter if they think it needs to be addressed. And with that, I commend the bill to the House.

I call Stuart Smith. I understand it’s a five-minute call.

💬 Hon Members: Awww!

Well, I’ll deal with that disappointment afterwards. But it is the first day of spring and this is the Southern Hemisphere’s equivalent of the month of the mad March hares, and we have seen quite a bit of it in the House this morning. I have to say, it’s very odd that the Government would have an extended sitting and then seek to pad out every speech as long as possible. It seems very odd.

But I do want to acknowledge Tangi Utikere, who is responsible for this bill. I hadn’t been on the Environment Committee much at all, and I managed to have a chat with him last night about the features of the bill. I think he covered it very well in his speech, but I will note some alarming trends that were coming from the other Labour speakers. There must be a few jobs going in the Palmerston North i-SITE. We’ve heard everything that’s going on in Palmerston North. I think a few people are looking at the polls and thinking, “I’d better get a job lined up for next year.” I think that’s pretty clear.

But, actually, the most interesting thing that has come up during this debate is—well, highlighted for me, anyway—that the hybrid House has come to an end. We should not be using that any more. It was a debacle in that speech, and I think we have to realise in New Zealand that the rest of the world has moved on. We’re one of the few places in the world where we have to wear masks, and I think it’s about time that the Government grew up and changed their mind on this. With that, I commend the bill to the House.

Just before I call Anahila Kanongata‘a-Suisuiki, I’ll just remind you. I know there’s only a short time to go in this debate, and I know the bill’s a very brief bill. I know it’s very difficult to stretch it to 10 minutes, but please keep as close to the bill as you can. Thank you.

Kia ora e te Mana Whakawā. It is always a privilege and an honour to stand and make a contribution in this House. I would like to acknowledge the member Tangi Utikere for bringing the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill to the House.

Mr Speaker, I know you’ve said that we need to keep to the bill, but I just want to acknowledge that in the weekend I attended The Big Sing, which is 24 of the best choirs in New Zealand. It’s called The Big Sing—choral choirs—and it relates to Palmerston North because out of the 24 choirs, the OK Chorale, which has been going for 24 years, the Palmerston North Boys’ High School choir, won silver. But not just that; they were chosen as the best ambassadors out of those 24 choirs in New Zealand. So that goes to show the upbringing of the people of Palmerston North, and I want to acknowledge the musical director, Graeme Young, who has been a director for the last 25 years. I hope to attend on 27 October their big finale in Palmerston North—no guarantees that I will attend. But, anyway, I just thought that it needed to be shared in the House that out of the 24 choirs, Palmerston North were the ambassadors who were chosen by the events directors because they were well behaved on and off the stage.

Anyway, back to the bill. So what does this bill do? Well, currently the Huia Street Reserve is part of three Acts, which are the Wellington Reserves Act of 1876 and the amended Act of 1877, the Palmerston North Reserves Act of 1922, and the Reserves Act of 1977. What this bill does is it removes the Huia Street land from under the above three Acts and it will instead be held under the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Act of 1966.

I know that members have referred to Palmerston North being founded in the 1800s, but prior to that the local iwi, one of many—actually, the tangata whenua of that land, we were advised, is the local iwi Rangitāne o Manawatū. So at the Environment Committee we had asked if there are other settlements in play in case this land comes under them, and what we were informed is that, currently, there are no current settlements where this land, Huia Street—well, there’s no current settlements. However, in 2016 the Rangitāne iwi had settled, and what I am told by the member Tangi Utikere, who’s passionate about Palmerston North, and by yourself, Mr Speaker, is that Rangitāne o Manawatū actually has a good relationship in the local area. Members have alluded, as I did in my previous contributions, to the Square—it’s about the “Daughter of Peace”, about the Square in Palmerston North. So we can learn a thing or two about local relationships with local iwi in Palmerston North that provides a positive relationship.

We’ve heard that housing is a problem and not enough was built by past Governments—

💬 Simon Watts: Ah, that’s not true—that’s not true.

ANAHILA KANONGATA‘A-SUISUIKI: But what we are—not enough were built by past Governments. So the proposal for this land on this site is that it may look at medium-density building where families—like I’ve noted before about those brilliant ambassadors from Palmerston North Boys’ High School, that if they should decide to reside in Palmerston North, the homes that will be built on the Huia Street Reserve will be there for them, should they choose to remain in Palmerston North, unlike some of our members who have left and gone to Nelson.

I just I want to acknowledge you, Mr Speaker, and Tangi Utikere for being good ambassadors for Palmerston North. You’ve come to this place and you’ve shown that it is a place that you’re passionate about, and some of us could use your passion as an example for how we should demonstrate our behaviour to the areas which we belong to.

Last but not least, I want to take this opportunity again to congratulate Palmerston North Boys’ High OK Chorale for their ambassadorship at The Big Sing in Christchurch in the weekend. On that note, I commend this bill to the House. Mālō ’aupito.

I rise as the member of Parliament for North Shore and as a member of the National Party to talk on the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill. I support this bill.

That was a lightning-fast contribution just then; I wasn’t prepared for it. But you know what? We’ve had enough of a warm-up this morning about the Palmerston North bill that I feel as though lots of ground has been covered, and I feel as though we fully understand the reasons why this bill has come to the House. I just wanted to point out that, actually, many places around the country—many of our own cities and towns that we come from—have got our own version of the Huia Street Reserve. We’ve all got that place that’s been sitting on the corner, on the intersection, that, actually, hasn’t been developed and the council have talked about turning into housing, and that some members of the community have said, “No, no, leave it as it is.”. But this is really important, because it builds on the work that’s happened in Palmerston North in regards to housing development.

I want to just touch on a visit that we paid to the Palmerston North electorate where, actually, we got to Papaioea Place. It’s right that I say “Papaioea”, because today is the start of Māori Language Month, and for those people who don’t know, Te Papaioea is actually the Māori name for Palmerston North, and it’s the name that they gave to the development there, and it was a council initiative, but, again, passionate about wanting to create housing opportunities. They cleared a section of land which used to have a small number of council houses on there. They cleared that, and they made way for the most colourful housing development that you’ve ever seen—small little box houses which are warm, safe, dry accommodation for the people who live inside those places. Two bedrooms at the most in many of them—but, actually, building a real community in there, and it is a much better and more efficient use of the land than previously they had there.

The Huia Street Reserve is going to be one of those places too, where, in due time, the council has signalled that after it gets handed back to them, they’ll go through a consultation process and the intention is to be able to use it for housing. So I encourage them in their journey to be able to create more housing for our communities to be able to continue down that line.

On that same trip as well, we went to Te Ahu a Tūranga, which is the joint project that’s happening to be able to, you know, create a better option for the Manawatū Gorge. It’s been fraught over many years, the accessibility in that place, and with the recent weather events that we’ve had in Nelson and the Far North, actually, we know that we need better transport solutions as well. In a nutshell, I’d like to say that Palmerston North is cracking along really nicely, and supported, obviously, by a really passionate council who are passionate about housing as well, so we share their aspirations on that front.

At the committee of the whole House stage, there were a few issues raised, and one of those issues was why is Parliament even spending its time on this. And while it might seem quite an obvious question to outsiders, actually, what we know inside the political system that we operate in is that this was a piece of legislation, and when it becomes legislation it needs to be corrected, fixed, amended by the House. This isn’t something that can just happen, you know, by the stroke of a pen in a ministerial office; it actually needs the consent of the House to be able to progress. So we haven’t been able to achieve it by the stroke of a pen from the Minister for Land Information, which was suggested in the committee of the whole House stage, and that’s why we’re spending our time on it, albeit, hopefully, not that much time; I understand I’m the last speaker on this one, the third reading.

I want to acknowledge all the existing leases around the Huia Street Reserve as well. You’ve got the high school that’s there and also the tennis club, and the tennis club have their own existing lease. There was some concern about how any kind of development on that site would impact adversely on the tennis club. We heard from them, and we were able to give them reassurance through the process that, actually, their lease wouldn’t be affected and we’d be able to preserve their access, despite what was going on with the changes to the Huia Street Reserve.

It is part of an important process that we go through this, because as many people said earlier, actually, the doing away with the reserve came from submissions—people were concerned that we were losing green spaces. And it’s really important when we have these conversations to note that we were really concerned with that, because we do need green spaces. If we’re going to have medium-density developments around the country in our different towns and cities, we absolutely need access to that. It’s something that London cottoned on to way back when. They knew that if they were going to have their two-storeyed houses, their brick wall-to-wall houses, they would absolutely need green spaces in that, so they created commons for local communities to be able to access those green spaces so they could go, they could have a break, they could enjoy the freedom and the breathability of a bit of open air. So we were concerned about. We had conversations about where the nearest green spaces were, and there’s quite a lot around in the nearby area, in the nearby community, for families to be able to go and use, for families that may eventually end up living on the Huia Street development—not too far if they want to go for a walk to a green space to throw a ball with the kids, to take the dogs for a walk, that kind of stuff that we want good developments to be able to do.

So we were satisfied with that. We were also satisfied with the mana whenua situation as well. We wanted to make sure that we were doing a good job in running this by the local iwi: Rangitāne have their settlement and were made aware of this bill that was coming before us, but on top of that there was some concern that maybe there were other iwi that may have had interests in this bill as well. So we had to do a fair bit of due diligence with the likes of Te Arawhiti, who came in and gave us some advice on that process. It wasn’t easy, but we had to trudge back through the history books and the maps to be able to find documentation about what the Huia Street Reserve looked like back in the day, and whether or not there was going to be some kind of adverse impact for iwi in the area. We landed on a position—and this was endorsed by the local member—that Rangitāne were indeed the right party to be consulting with. They had been made aware of this bill and what this bill looked to do, and we were satisfied through the process that it was the right thing to do to be able to move on. Having consulted with mana whenua, having consulted with the local community about green spaces, having consulted with the local tennis club about the impact that that was going to have for them, we as a committee were really satisfied that this was a really positive thing to do.

The insight that the member Tangi Utikere brings to this conversation as the local member for Palmerston North was incredibly important. There’s nothing like a good bit of local knowledge, and I want to thank the member for bringing that local knowledge to the committee to be able to help us make those kinds of decisions.

This is the kind of bill that’s going to ensure that he holds the seat of Palmerston North for a very long time for the Labour Party, because what he’s doing is he’s signalling that he understands the local issues, he understands the need for housing in the city, and we need to make sure that, actually, he as the local member, who’s in touch with his community, is able to get their support, and he will absolutely get their support through this piece of legislation.

I just want to finish off by saying that we did have some video footage—we weren’t, because of our COVID rules, able to make the trip to Palmerston North to be able to see the reserve. So for that I feel a little bit less of a person, but, you know what? We were shown very delicately edited videos, drone footage, of the reserve. We looked at maps. We trawled over different opinions and conversations with officials about what the reserve section looked like, and we were satisfied that, actually, it was the right thing to do, despite not being there to see it with our own eyes.

So this is a great piece of legislation. I thank the Labour member for Palmerston North. I look forward to him holding the seat for a very, very, very long time, and I commend this bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.