Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill

I move, That the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill be now read a second time.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Hon SIMON WATTS: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, it is a real pleasure to rise for the second reading—

Hon Nicola Grigg: Hard-working MP!

Hon SIMON WATTS: —thank you very much—of the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill. As you all remember—because this is one of the most important bills—during my first reading of this bill, I said that I was incredibly grateful, and I remain so, that the bill enjoyed the support of every party in this House. I am pleased that the Governance and Administration Committee—an excellent committee; very, very able committee—has recommended unanimously to pass this bill into law, and I hope that members will support it today.

The bill, while small—only a few pages long—concerns a rather unsuspecting corner of my electorate of the North Shore. However, for my community, this bill represents an opportunity for growth, revitalisation, and a new future for a much-loved community asset—the Takapuna Boating Club Bayswater clubhouse has been in a sorry state for a long time. The primary reason is that the legislation governing the site is highly restrictive and doesn’t allow it to produce any revenue required to maintain itself. The building’s original purpose has largely been overtaken; the boating club has newer, more fit for purpose facilities. All of these are different to the original purpose as a public bath house; that may have been common in the law when it was passed in 1923 but, of course, sadly, is a little bit rare in 2025.

The bill before the House proposes to loosen those restrictions, allowing more use of the premises while keeping the site’s core purpose for community good. The committee spent some time defining community purposes and I acknowledge, again, the committee and their work on this matter. They made a number of minor changes to clarify the meaning; the bill is about balance.

No one in my North Shore community or in this House, I would argue, would not want to see this site being able to serve the community. In any changes to legislation, we must always consider that, and at the same time we should also be conscious of why we are here. We shouldn’t allow a repeat of the past and have too tight restrictions which, while well intended back in 1923, will mean that a future MP for the North Shore will have to do this again in a few decades. The balance has been struck well.

Cameron Brewer: It could still be you.

Hon SIMON WATTS: It could still be me, that is true Mr Cameron, but one doesn’t want to tempt fate in the future.

As I said, Mr Speaker, and I know you’re enjoying this, the balance has been struck well. It is not too onerous that the site cannot be used, but strict enough to ensure that the community can be assured that it will always serve the public good. The committee also considered restrictions on what revenue could be used and used for. Once again, this is about balance. The committee’s changes to the bill make the original intent more transparent regarding using any revenue, and that is very sensible.

When the bill was first introduced last year, it became very clear that this story is hardly unique. Sadly, many communities across this House, of which we all represent, see a number of their local treasures sitting unused, and I’m sure many are subject to similarly restrictive legislation that inhibits their full potential. Well, this bill gives you all hope. There is a pathway through to get those local treasures back into the community good that they should be, through a local bill, and I look forward to seeing more of these come to the House in due course.

Given that, it was good for the committee to have a look at whether there were any other ways that a bespoke local bill could make this change—i.e., is there a way that we can do all of these changes in one go across New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs has provided some advice and, ironically, that advice was one of the first things that I saw as the Minister of Local Government, having taken up that responsibility only three or so weeks ago. The committee members can speak to that process, but the committee decided a local bill was the most appropriate way to proceed at this point.

I hope that this bill starts a conversation about other sites around New Zealand like it. I hope the Bayswater clubhouse will be an example of a community working together to get better use from a community asset that would otherwise go unused. This bill involved the work of the boating club, the council, local press, and parliamentarians. Similarly, work would benefit many places, and I hope it does happen.

Six submissions were received and three were presented orally to the committee, including the Auckland Council and the Takapuna Boating Club. That’s not unsurprising given that submitting a local bill already requires consultation before the bill can be tabled in the House. The community has had several opportunities to make their voices heard, and I also presented in person to the select committee as the member in charge of this bill—

Cameron Brewer: That was very good.

Hon Nicola Grigg: Hard-working MP.

Hon SIMON WATTS: And I acknowledge the members again.

Hon Nicola Grigg: Re-elect Simon Watts.

Cameron Brewer: High “Wattage”.

Hon SIMON WATTS: Thank you. I want to thank members of the Governance and Administration Committee and those who submitted on this bill. I’d also like to thank, once again, all of those that have made this bill possible, especially the Takapuna Boating Club’s Commodore James Jordan, also the late Ralph Roberts, and former club president Barry Ward. I’d also like to acknowledge Ray Welson, who also played a significant role in this process.

It is very rare for a member to take a bill through this House, and a local bill at that, which is so closely and exclusively related to their function as a local member of Parliament. It has been a pleasure shepherding this bill on its journey so far, and of course I do hope that we will all soon be able to celebrate the passing into law of this bill. While I’m taking this bill as the MP for the North Shore, this will benefit all of Auckland.

What happens to the site now will be up to the boating club and our community. The last time we debated the bill, a cafe was discussed—perhaps a function venue, perhaps an ice cream parlour [Interruption] The ice cream parlour seems to be very popular. Or, potentially, any other purpose, but we will see. For the first time in many years, there’s hope for the future of the Bayswater clubhouse. As the local MP and a proud resident of the North Shore, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to this site.

With that, all that remains is for me to commend this bill to the House. I hope all members will continue to support it. Thank you.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

It’s always good when we have bills that are non-controversial and that are supported across the House. I’m standing on behalf of Labour to support the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill.

I acknowledge the member for North Shore, Simon Watts. He made many acknowledgments; I want to acknowledge that I have two colleagues that live on the North Shore too: Camilla Belich and Shanan Halbert. As I said, this is non-controversial. All of the detail has been traversed adequately by the previous speaker and the person who brought the local bill to the House, the Hon Simon Watts.

After this bill, we will be discussing a much more contentious bill, which is the criminalising wage theft bill, and we would really like to be able to move on to that quickly. With that, we support this bill and commend it to the House.

Kia ora. While we are acknowledging Takapuna connections, my dear colleague Kahurangi Carter’s father was the Mayor of Takapuna for some many years and grew up in that neck of the woods. This is the bill where we stand up and support the restoration of old buildings, as is appropriate. Assisting that restoration of the Takapuna Boating Club building and the Bayswater clubhouse—we certainly support that mission, we support the means to achieving that mission, and we do support the bill.

I want to note a couple of quick fun facts, acknowledging that the club has already spent $600,000 to restore the roof and the foundations, but they need about 10 times that to do the full restoration. One of the fun facts was that this building was originally on the shore in Panmure and was dismantled and carried by the boaties around the water and reassembled. Quite an impressive history. We’d be very glad to see this beautiful old building restored and we do wish the Takapuna Boating Club all the best with that effort and commend the member for bringing the bill and we commend your success in it. Thank you.

The ACT Party will support this bill. In fact, I commend the Minister, on behalf of the ACT Party—Minister Simon Watts, the MP for North Shore—for proposing to legalise the sale and supply of ice creams from the Takapuna Boating Club. I’m sure my colleagues in the Green Party would support that, as well.

One of the things that this bill has thrown up is how many anachronistic pieces of legislation we have on the book that stop New Zealanders from transforming their lives, from becoming more productive, and from actually doing the things that their communities want them to do. It’s a great pleasure to support this bill, the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill, which will allow part of the land, any buildings or improvements on it, to be used for commercial purposes. This is intended to enable the club to secure commercial income to fund restoration and maintenance of the boating club building on the site.

I am sure, as a dinghy sailor myself and a yachtie for many years, that places like this, where people can continue to learn to sail, learn safety skills on the water, and maybe enjoy a little bit of hospitality with their friends and family afterwards, will remain a part of New Zealand’s culture, and certainly a part of the Takapuna lifestyle. The ACT Party commends this bill. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

First of all, I just want to congratulate the member the Hon Simon Watts, or the Minister—in both of those roles—for this bill here. I rise as a member of the Governance and Administration Committee that considered this bill. It’s a very, very specific bill, as we’ve heard. It’s specifically focused on one building on the Takapuna—or Bayswater—waterfront.

We all know that owning buildings is actually quite expensive. It’s particularly expensive if you’re a club, and particularly if you’re a club which relies on the income that comes from members. This is an old building, it’s a big building, and it’s a heritage-listed building—all of those—and it’s a waterfront building, all of which adds to the challenge of maintaining a building like this.

What this bill does is simply remove the 1923 prohibition—1923 prohibition—a 102-year-old prohibition on commercial activities being operated out of that building. What that does is it allows the club to be able to get some revenue to be able to look after the building, which that building clearly needs. Also, I might say that from personal experience of running a club, it will give the opportunity of bringing more life to that area as well, so I think it’s a win-win-win opportunity.

I just want to pick up one thing that Steve Abel talked about. New Zealand First is a very, very strong supporter of heritage, and this building has a really interesting history, because it started life in about the 1880s as a tannery on the shores of the Tāmaki River in Panmure. At the time the club had just been formed, just after World War I in 1920, it was actually—that’s the Takapuna Boating Club—a successor to the Bayswater Boating Club, which was formed in 1914 and lasted until 1917; obviously it was discontinued during the war.

They set up this club in 1920. Within three years, not only did they manage to get an Act of Parliament to allow them to use the site but they also managed to acquire this tannery building from Panmure, deconstructed it—all volunteers as I understand it—put it on a barge, took it around the corner—apparently it was a three-day journey—to Bayswater, put it all back together again, and then had it operating by the summer of 1923. That is a club which had energy, enthusiasm, and creativity, and I think it sets a standard. Apparently, the building is made out of heart kauri, so it’s pretty impressive as well.

As I said, it’s a heritage-listed building. In its heyday, it was used for dancing, boxing, library, school events, ladies’ mornings, roller skating, and of course boat storage, and it also had a sort of swimming area in front of it. It’s a building which tells a lot of stories. I think the great thing about this is that not only do we help the boating club here but we help this building, this piece of heritage in Auckland, to have another life and to be able to continue in that life. Apparently, the building’s got good bones, but it’s clearly in poor repair externally, and so this bill will help it significantly.

I just want to finish off with a couple of questions that we considered during the Governance and Administration process. One was where the money from the commercial activity would go. The first thing is that it needs to go to the building—to repairing the building, to maintaining the building, and to keeping it going for another 100 years and more, I hope. Secondly, the flexibility there is for the needs of the boating club, which doesn’t just operate from this site but in fact most of its operation is on the other side of the Takapuna isthmus, so it needs to go to the needs of the boating club and the great work that it does in the North Shore community.

Finally, there was a bit of discussion about what community purposes were, because should the boating club ever fold, it will go to the Auckland Council. Then the question will become: what community purposes could the Auckland Council use it for? To be fair, it’s very, very broad—and we did have some discussion about whether it should be broad or whether it should be slightly narrower.

This is a good day for the boating club. It’s a good day for Auckland. It’s a good day for this grand old lady—for another hundred years and more to go. I wish the club and the community well in restoring that building, and I hope that this bill helps this building to have a very, very long life in the future. I commend this bill to the House.

This is a five-minute split call. Are you making a call?

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: Tēnā koe e te Pīka.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): I call Takutai Tarsh Kemp.

Tēnā tātou e te Whare. Well, as a member of Parliament for Tāmaki Makaurau, I rise to address the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill. Te Pāti Māori has consistently advocated for the principle of community before profit, and we recognise the intent of this bill to enable Takapuna Boating Club to generate revenue for the restoration and maintenance of this historic clubhouse.

This initiative aims to preserve a community asset, ensuring its continued use for public benefit. However, during the first reading of this bill, my colleague Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke emphasised the importance of understanding the land’s history and ensuring that mana whenua are actively consulted. She stated, “Te Pāti Māori wishes to hear from mana whenua on this matter raised in the bill, both individually and collectively, where mana whenua deem it appropriate to do so.” Despite assurances from Auckland Council about upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles, there has been a lack of transparency regarding consultation with mana whenua. The council has not disclosed who they have engaged with in this process. This omission raises concerns about the authenticity of the consultation and whether the voices of those with ancestral ties to this land have been generally heard.

Te Pāti Māori firmly believes that any decisions affecting land with historical significance to Māori must involve meaningful engagement with mana whenua. Such consultation ensures that the development aligns with the values, traditions, and aspirations of the indigenous communities connected to this land. Therefore, while we support the preservation of community assets and acknowledge the benefits this bill seeks to provide, we issue a clear warning: if Te Pāti Māori is not assured that comprehensive and genuine consultation with mana whenua has not taken place, we will oppose this bill at its third reading. Our support is contingent upon respecting and upholding the rights of mana whenua in all legislation processes.

We too had discussion around the whenua around if there was any consultation. We also questioned who owned the land before 1923. What we want to see is that we want to make sure that Māori have been consulted. Kia ora. Tēnā tātou.

Thank you. It’s an absolute privilege to rise today to speak on behalf of the Takapuna Borough. My whakapapa, in fact, is that my grandfather was the Mayor of Takapuna City for 21 years. His name was Fred Thomas and he would be—

Hon Simon Watts: Oh, Fred Thomas Park!

KAHURANGI CARTER: Exactly. And he would be behind this bill. It is a real honour to speak about him here in the House today. He gave his life in service of the people of the North Shore, which it is called these days—North Shore City, not Takapuna City. I remember stories about when he was a councillor and people would call up and say, “A tree has fallen down” or “There’s rubbish in the waterways”. He’d get his nine kids packed up and go down and sort it out themselves, and I think that that’s something that we can all take with us: getting our hands dirty and making sure that we’re out there in community. That’s what this here is all about.

We know that we support active lifestyles, and boating is one of those amazing things that Kiwis just love to do. When you’re on the North Shore, the sea is surrounding us and it’s such a joy to see kids out on the water learning those navigation skills and having fun out in nature, which you know us greenies just love.

Now, I do want to talk about another amazing navigator from a long line of amazing chiefs, Patuone. If you just head a little bit down from Bayswater, the chief Patuone—who you may have seen his picture in one of the Lindauer paintings—is buried just down the road in Devonport, and I wanted to honour him in response to my colleague Takutai Kemp’s kōrero about the importance of honouring the mana whenua and making sure that we are living in true partnership with the mana whenua o tēnei takiwā, of the North Shore, and honouring Patuone, a great chief who was buried there and came from a long line of navigators. This boating club is about that next generation of navigators and making sure that they have a home.

We stand in support of this bill today. It is a good day for navigators, for boaties, and for the North Shore. Thank you very much.

It’s a pleasure to rise and contribute to this debate today. I’d like to quote a famous North Shore local, “The North Shore, what a great place to live.” And it is a great day for the North Shore. I am a proud representative of the Northcote electorate, and it is a great day for everybody in the North Shore who wants to see this building restored and continue to contribute to our communities on the North Shore.

I’d like to acknowledge my friend and colleague Minister Simon Watts for shepherding this bill here. As you can see, he is also a very proud advocate for the North Shore. It’s not only a great place to live, work, and play, but it’s also a great place for sports. That’s what brings us here today: to restore a building on the North Shore that contributes so much to our sporting communities. I’d also like to pay acknowledgments to Commodore James Jordan, the Auckland Council, Caroline Williams from Stuff, and all those who have contributed to the mahi to get this bill to where we’re at today, which is the second reading.

The purpose of this bill is to allow commercial activities to be used in order to help raise the funds that are necessary to restore the building to its former glory. We’ve heard the rough sums of money that will be required to do that. This bill has been through a select committee process, through the Governance and Administration Committee. It received a huge amount of submissions—six! But, no, seriously, the submissions that were received were all supportive of the bill, and there were only two small changes that came out.

One was around changing the meaning of community purposes to ensure that the building is used for true community purposes. In fact, it just inserted a new section. The second is just clarifying the restrictions on what the money can be used for, and I think members of the community want to make sure that all funds raised go into the benefit of the organisation.

It is a great day for the North Shore. Thank you to my colleagues on the Governance and Administration Committee. Let’s get on with it now. It’s over to the good people in the boating club to raise the funds that are needed, to get on and actually contract the work to happen. I look forward to visiting as a member of the public. I look forward to seeing the building in a very restored fashion as I drive down the highway. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker, and thank you very much for the opportunity today to speak to this simple piece of legislation, the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill.

I won’t take up too much time this afternoon, because I think that this is a simple change. For those of us who live on Auckland’s North Shore in Te Raki Paewhenua, we’re privileged and blessed to have a number of local community facilities in our area. For a number of years, I led one of our local community facilities—the Birkdale Beach Haven Community Project—so I understand the complexities of this piece of legislation and the restrictions that it actually places on enabling the local organisation to generate revenue in order to reinvest in the facilities and make them available for our local community.

Without further ado, can I acknowledge the member and Minister based in the North Shore, Simon Watts, for the mahi he has done on this piece of legislation. Great work from him supporting the North Shore. It’s good to see some outcomes happening for our local community. I look forward to heading over and enjoying good coffee over in Takapuna Beach. I wish the rowing club well. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, I’ve been referring to this as the “Takapuna ice cream bill”, because that’s effectively what we’re doing, and it sounds very simple but there’s actually a few details I’d like to cover on this—

Hon Chris Penk: Give us the scoop!

TIM COSTLEY: Look, I’m an orange choc chip guy if you’re asking, Chris Penk. What we’re doing is a simple change to allow them to conduct some commercial purposes like the honourable Minister Simon Watts said. I’m in favour of the ice cream option; raise a bit of money to help with the restoration.

Let’s just rewind the clock a little bit and remind ourselves how we got here. Of course, the Takapuna Boating Club goes back to the start of the last century, before this building was built. It started with a race for the grand sum of £2, and the club officially formed in February 1914 after that, and the Bayswater Boating Club came to be.

Now, although the Act that we are amending here goes back to 1923—to correct some of the dates that were stated earlier—the land was actually acquired by the club from Auckland Council for a nominal sum in 1926, but the deed and the title was issued in 1927. There are a few confusing dates but, effectively, we’re going back about 100 years; 100 years of history that we are just tweaking today.

The issue is that currently the club can only charge minimal rental to tenants who use the building currently and, as we’ve heard, it’s in a bit of a state of disrepair. The money that they’re getting from their tenants does not cover the upkeep for the building, hence the desire from them to have some more commercial activities conducted so that they can raise more monies for the restoration. If you’ve seen the artist’s impression of what the restored Bayswater Clubhouse looks like, it’s quite a grand building. It looks fine; it will be a great—well, it’s not an addition because it’s there, but it’ll be a great upgrade on that little bit of the waterfront.

Now, I should point out that even if this bill goes through, that doesn’t mean it all happens overnight. There is some work for the board of the club to do to confirm their initial discussions, particularly around establishing—and I’ll use their words here—“a Bayswater restoration committee, or some similar title, to further explore the proposal and maybe look at a Bayswater Restoration Community Trust.” Of course, they’ll have to engage with council and with the local community, and I know they’re eager to do that.

While we’re here, I would like to acknowledge those members of the club that have been so involved. Can I acknowledge James Jordan, the previous Commodore; Ralph Roberts and Penny Roberts, both the current club patron and the former patron; Barry Ward, the club president; Ray Welson, a former board member; but in particular can I acknowledge Wendy Baker, the club commodore, well done to you, ma’am; and to Darren Moore, the vice commodore. They have advocated strongly for their community, well supported by their local MP and the Minister who is seeing this bill through, the Hon Simon Watts. He, of course, was eager to be the very first to come and present to the Governance and Administration Committee, which he did in great form.

I’ve also had other Auckland local MPs, Cam Brewer, in particular—I just want to acknowledge Dan Bidois—very vocal. I mean, they’re always jumping up in caucus meetings to advocate for the issues that matter in Auckland but they’ve been very keen to see this bill go through. I want to acknowledge the work that they did in support of this, as well.

We’ve heard also, in the select committee, from members of the public. I want to particularly acknowledge Anna Muir, Claire Bodle, David Hopkins, and Gus Stewart, who all took the time to take part in their democracy and their Parliament and to submit to the Governance and Administration Committee on this bill, alongside the Takapuna Boating Club, and Auckland Council, and of course Minister Watts as well. I would like to just refer to some of the submissions we heard because I think it’s important to give this a community voice. I’m quoting here from Claire Bodle: “What was once a beautiful building [an] asset to the community has not been adequately maintained and is now more of an eyesore.” This bill, she says, gives the opportunity to upgrade, to give the maintenance that it needs, again, as she says, for the community to again benefit from this space.

If I can also just quote Gus Stewart, who wrote to the select committee as a member of the local Bayswater community to fully support and applaud this bill, he gave a small suggestion of an improvement—section 5(3)(b)—to make it clear that money used under the lease can be used for improvements to the building and the land, not just the maintenance of them. That is something that we considered and have made some small adjustments to the bill.

As we’ve heard already, one of the big discussions was around the use of the term “community purposes”. When we look at the bill, it says when they receive money now for the commercial purposes, it can be used for maintenance of the land, maintenance of buildings on the land, and community purposes. There was a lot of discussion about community purposes and whether it was too broad. There was an argument from some that maybe this is a little too broad. I don’t take that argument. I think we actually need to be a nation—a Government—that gives clear intent, that gives the scope and then trusts good people to do good things.

Hon Chris Penk: Ice cream shops.

TIM COSTLEY: Well, it’s more than just an ice cream shop, Chris Penk, and another strong advocate for Auckland, we have there. I don’t see a situation where this money ends up getting used to improve roads down in Papakura. This is clearly about the community first and foremost restoring this once glorious building and ensuring there’s something for all the community to enjoy.

We have to trust them that if we get to the point—and I hope we do—that there is money left over, that they are empowered and trusted to make good decisions for this. I refer to the policy intent from the boating club themselves, and I’ll quote that. They said they “want to ensure that the proceeds of any lease or commercial arrangement are used towards the upkeep and maintenance of the land and buildings on it”—as we just heard, and that’s a good thing—“and for any surplus proceeds to be able to be used towards the club’s broader community-based activities.” This includes, and they give some examples, things like using funds towards community water sports programmes for local children.

Now, why wouldn’t we want to trust good local people, good salt of the earth Kiwis to go out there and do great things for their community? Maybe it’s a water safety programme; maybe it’s getting young kids who wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise into water sports. I just was at the rural games with Tim van de Molen and Erica on Friday, alongside one of our great Olympic medallists from Paris. What an inspiration to young Kiwis and the Kiwi kids that we were hanging out with that day, and why wouldn’t we want to encourage more people into it? If we get to the point that there is excess money left over, I think that’s a great way to use these funds.

It’s very clear that, in the hypothetical situation which Mr Foster covered before, where the property was to change hands back to Auckland Council, this would then be covered by the Local Government Act 2002, and it has a statutory role and purpose that would restrict the spending to be wholly used or principally for the benefit of its district. It can’t go outside the scope of that. There are suitable safeguards and protections in place, and I think it makes a lot of sense that actually we leave this broad enough that the boating club and the local community can get on with doing what they do well and, first of all, fix the building and, second of all, go on and support their community and do some great stuff in it.

Finally, can I just take a moment to acknowledge the fact that as a local bill, there has been some discussion—we heard it referred to just before—about the fact that this is an Act of Parliament, effectively, to allow Takapuna Boating Club to sell an ice cream to kids on a hot day. Now, that sounds comical, and we all have a joke about our favourite flavour of ice cream, and that’s OK, but it does seem crazy that we use up Parliament’s time to do such a thing. One of the questions we asked in select committee was: is there another way that this bill could be done so that it didn’t in the future have to come back through Parliament?

I think of the McLean Trust Institute (Trust Variation) Bill—one of my favourites. In that bill, we were able to add a provision so that this would no longer have to be an Act of Parliament to change it. Maybe in the future there will be some situation which we can’t foresee now, which will necessitate another Act of Parliament to change it, to go from ice creams to hot dogs; I’m not sure. There might be some other purpose that we haven’t been able to foresee, so we asked the question: is there a way that we could rewrite this bill, that we could tweak it, that we could change it, that we could improve it so that we wouldn’t have to keep coming back to Parliament if another change was required in the future?

We did try and we did press officials over this, but, ultimately, I’m satisfied with the answer we were given, which was that for us to do that would take more work and be more involved than what it might take in the unlikely event that there has to be another change in the future; that actually, by doing things like leaving “community purposes” pretty broad, we’re reducing the chance that we’d have to come back in the future, even if the land was to change hands, even if something dramatic was to happen to the boating club. I think this has been well considered.

So, with that in mind, with ensuring we’ve stuck to the boating club’s policy intent and the great submissions, I commend this bill to the House.

A five-minute split call—Camilla Belich.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I can assure the House I won’t be using the full five minutes, because this is a very simple bill. I was lucky enough to speak at the first reading on this bill and I set out at length the reasons why I continue to support this bill. I’m now lucky enough to be the chair of the Governance and Administration Committee, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to participate in the discussion on this, but I’m well aware of the issues surrounding local bills.

I wanted to acknowledge, in closing, the North Shore Ward councillors Chris Darby and Richard Hills, who put the motion to Auckland Council in order to support this piece of legislation coming through. I want to acknowledge those two hard-working local councillors and commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Hey, I’m very pleased to take my first call on this bill, the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill. I didn’t have the opportunity to speak on the first reading, but I’m very happy to be here for the second reading.

From looking at this and from what I’ve heard from around the House, this is a very pragmatic bill. It’s got a sensible approach to deal with an anomaly, and I just happened to search the premises on my phone—I have not actually seen it physically myself—and when I did search it, the headline that came up straight away was “Million-dollar dumps”. That says to me that they’ve troubles here with the building that’s been sitting there for years and years and years, not being able to earn the revenue to be able to do the necessary work that’s needed to maintain it. Looking at the pictures, though, it does look like a very grand building—a huge building, in fact. I can’t quite see how an ice cream parlour can fill the whole building, but maybe it is actually part of the building.

Maybe I can also acknowledge Fred Thomas, our member across the way there, the former mayor of this place here. It’s great to hear some of the history that comes from some of these places where these local bills come from itself. The Hon Simon Watts, the person that’s actually sponsored or brought this bill to the House and taken it through—it’s great to hear from him at the beginning of this particular reading itself.

As previous members have said, this is a bill of common sense. It’s a bill that fixes a situation where, dare I say, there must be many buildings around New Zealand that have similar situations. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see more of these types of local bills before us before the end of this term to fix these particular areas that the community wants—it’s strongly supported by the community.

I acknowledge the Governance and Administration Committee that did its work there, ably led by Rachel Boyack, who is the chair of the committee that actually dealt with the particular bill. With that, I commend the bill to the House.

Thank you. I just found out that my friend in the Green Party had a relative who was the Mayor of Takapuna. In fact, my great grandfather was the Mayor of Takapuna too. When I drive down to this—actually, his name was Jack Guiniven, and he was for 21 years the mayor—there is a street on the way to this Bayswater place. I know that that history is really important to me and I know it is to other people. This bill will make sure that that history continues. I commend the bill to the House.

As a North Shore MP—part North Shore MP, part West Auckland—I would just remind Dan Bidois, that I would probably like some of the Upper Harbour territory, but for the time being, Greenhithe Bay, Bayview, Unsworth Heights, Tōtara Vale, Wairau Valley, and parts of Glenfield belong to Upper Harbour.

Dan Bidois: For now.

CAMERON BREWER: For now. But despite the campaigning already under way, it’s great to be able to acknowledge my good friend Dan Bidois, MP for Northcote, across the way here, and of course the sponsor of this local bill, the Hon Simon Watts.

I spent some time with the Hon Simon Watts last week. I turned up to the Milford Bowling Club to an attendance of 80 locals, and I thought, “Wow, this is the biggest crowd I’ve ever attracted.” I thought, “I’ve got to text mum about this.” “Look at all these cars, all these little Morris Minors and Suzuki Swifts out the front”—I was thinking, “This is good; a good, youthful crowd!” Then I realised that they weren’t there for me; the invitation actually had Nancy Lu on it. My office in the electorate of Upper Harbour, in Hobsonville, is now sending out: “Business After Five in Hobsonville with the Hon Chris Penk, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing. Hosted by Nancy Lu.”—and “Cameron Brewer will also be in attendance” is in small print. That is the power of Nancy Lu on the North Shore!

I want to again acknowledge Simon Watts for his shepherding and the work that he’s done through the Governance and Administration Committee. I also want to acknowledge all those officials at Auckland Council that Zoomed in at different times—they, effectively, wrote the amendments that are needed to enable some commercial activity here. There’s a lot of talk about orange chocolate chip ice cream, but this is beyond our realm, because this would be more to do with the district licensing authority and the local boards’ policies on alcohol. I kind of see, Mr Costley, dare I say, maybe not just an orange chocolate chip ice cream, but maybe—maybe—it could be a place where one can share a very, very, very low alcohol drink over a very nice meal, looking over the fabulous Waitematā Harbour.

For those that are just tuning in on Parliament TV and on Truth Radio, when you go over the Auckland Harbour Bridge—the one that the Labour Party were going to spend $56 billion replacing—

Dan Bidois: They did spend it.

CAMERON BREWER: They spent probably that much just looking at it.

Shanan Halbert: How’s your plan going?

CAMERON BREWER: Anyway, over the Harbour Bridge—Shanan Halbert, just to take you back—and once you land on the North Shore, you peer out at the borough of Birkenhead, the home of Dan Bidois. You look over to the right there, and it’s that big two- or three-storey kauri weatherboard boathouse that’s under the auspices of the Takapuna Boating Club in Bayswater. Of course, it sits on Sir Peter Blake Parade. That, of course, is named Sir Peter Blake Parade because that’s where the late, great Sir Peter Blake grew up with his family and his parents. You can see that Bayswater Marina is going to be a fabulous setting, and I want to commend those members of the Takapuna Boating Club that have put their shoulders into the grind here to back this restoration project.

It will be a major restoration project. Steve Abel from the Green Party said much money has already been spent on roof replacement and foundations. It’s a multimillion-dollar refurbishment, and this enables that commercial element in the club, while protecting, as Dan Bidois has eloquently articulated, that as a primarily community facility, a not-for-profit facility, in perpetuity for the good people of the North Shore and those that they let across the bridge. And I understand they don’t let everyone across the bridge. Sometimes when I’m coming across the Greenhithe Bridge from West Auckland, I have to kind of be issued with a visa as well.

I just want to again, for those that have tuned in, just reflect, in my closing remarks, on what this actually means and where this has come from, for those that are trying to make sense of it.

Hon Chris Penk: Including you!

CAMERON BREWER: Including some of my colleagues, says the Hon Chris Penk—see my hearing’s better—

Hon Chris Penk: I said “you”.

CAMERON BREWER: The post—oh, he said I’m trying to make sense of it too. Look, we can cite some amendments in the legislation if you want. See, once a lawyer, always a lawyer!

A quirk of archaic legislation means MPs will decide whether to increase the supply of caffeine on Auckland’s North Shore. The Takapuna Boating Club has long held ambitions to rent out part of its clubrooms, at the end of the peninsula in Bayswater, to a cafe—don’t know if it’s licensed or not; we won’t interfere with that. However, a law from the 1920s—and we’ve got members across the House on the back row of the Opposition who were there, who debated the third reading back then—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): I hope you’re not forgetting where the current Speaker sits.

CAMERON BREWER: Mr Speaker, I was pointing over vaguely to Willie Jackson and Damien O’Connor—where they normally sit; just in that area.

Anyway, a law from the 1920s—that some were privy to—specifically states that the land and building may only be used, and only be used, for the purpose of swimming, boating, and any similar community purpose. We’ve been talking about dances and the likes of that, and I know—

Dan Bidois: Ice cream.

CAMERON BREWER: Ice cream—there’s a lot of talk about ice cream. When that little boy grows up, you’re going to get even more talk about ice cream, Dan Bidois. It’s going to ruin your carpet, and your car as well, Dan, and your car. That car is history. That’ll take more refurbishment than the Bayswater Boating Club, I can tell you.

Anyway, the Bayswater Boating Club is not allowed—Mr Speaker, this is as I close, and I suspect the Hon Chris Penk will ask for an extension of time. The Bayswater Boating Club is not allowed to be used, as has been well canvassed, for commercial gain due to an Act that was passed a hundred years ago. Once the hub of the community, it now stands battered. The land where the heritage building—and Andy Foster took us through its heritage status—was gifted through an Act of Parliament in 1923.

There are very few places on the Waitematā Harbour where you can actually sit across and look directly on the water. It will be a competitor to the marine centre in Catalina Bay, in Hobsonville Point, which is under construction and will be a fabulous facility for the good people of Upper Harbour—the marine centre at Hobsonville Point with the jetty that’s being constructed. So this will be a great amenity not just for the good of the North Shore—they may think it’s just for the people of the North Shore. No! This is going to drag people from all around the place. Everyone must go. Isn’t it fantastic, the Hon Louise Upston? Check the Hansard, the numbers—the numbers—of how many businesses are on board with the “Everyone Must Go” campaign. And I’ll tell you what, they’ll be going to the Bayswater boathouse for a cup of coffee, a chocolate chip ice cream, or dare I say an alcohol-free Heineken zero.

For the North Shore, this is a proud moment. I want to acknowledge some of my old mates on the North Shore, like former Mayor of North Shore City George Wood, the honourable George Wood. I also want to acknowledge Ann Hartley, a late colleague of many of ours who passed away recently, who was also a mayor of the North Shore—North Shore City in those early days—and then of course she was on the inaugural council. We acknowledge Ann and all the advocacy that she’s done. And we acknowledge all those that have enjoyed the Bayswater clubhouse over many, many years. A good friend of mine Jan Franklin, and her husband Steven—Jan was recalling the dances they used to go to in the 1950s at the Bayswater clubhouse.

It is a great honour to be asked—in fact, a lot of my colleagues demanded I speak on this. Demanded! Hence we’ve got a full House tonight—Parliament TV always ruins my speeches because they pan out and no one’s there. But I commend the second reading of this local bill. I congratulate all those that are involved in this massive restoration project. It’s a great project for Auckland. It’s a great day for New Zealand. Thank you.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Name changed to Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Amendment Bill.

This bill is set down for committee stage next sitting day—and Mr Penk comes closer to his vanilla ice cream.