Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill 
Second Reading 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 I move  
That the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. I firstly pay tribute to my colleague Colin King for making an excellent speech in his last contribution. He certainly saved my skin. I note that the Local Government and Environment Committee has advised against passing this bill due to the restructure of the councils in the Auckland region. It is not often that a bill such as this is enthusiastically and unanimously supported in Parliament in its first reading but due to a twist of circumstances is likely to be voted down today. 
Grant Robertson 
: No reflection on the member. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: There is no reflection whatsoever. The purpose of the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill is to amend the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 and the Museum of Transport and Technology Act 2000 to ensure that the levies for the museums are calculated only on the basis of the population of the Franklin District that is contained within the boundaries of the Auckland region and not that contained within the boundaries of the Waikato region. 
Undoubtedly this bill was initiated to right a wrong whereby people living in that area were inappropriately being given a double levy—firstly from the Auckland museums and secondly from Environment Waikato. In other words it was a double whammy. Those people are very fine people; they come from a wonderful part of New Zealand: Glen Murray Port Waikato Limestone Downs Onewhero and the Waikaretu Valley. They are all magnificent parts of our fine country and it is indeed right and proper that this anomaly is righted. 
It is also interesting to note that the Franklin District Council by land mass is two-thirds in the Waikato area but by population two-thirds live across the river in the Auckland area. 
The main provision of the bill amends both Acts by inserting a new definition of “district”. Clauses 5 and 7 insert into both Acts the following definition of “district”: “district in relation to the Franklin District Council excludes any part of the district of the Council that is not within the boundaries of the region of the Auckland Regional Council.” 
In terms of background as I said before this bill was to right an anomaly. I must emphasise that both of those two museums—the Museum of Transport and Technology and the Auckland War Memorial Museum—are iconic institutions and deserve support but those living in the Waikato part of the Franklin District were perhaps being unfairly treated. The computation of the levies is based on the population living in the Auckland region. 
In terms of the Auckland governance reforms the Local Government and Environment Committee considered that because they were going to happen anyway the bill would be put aside until it could be sorted out. In some ways it is a bit of a shame that the bill did not go straight through because as I said it was enthusiastically and unanimously embraced by this House. I think there were certainly a lot of unknowns about how long it would take to put the royal commission’s recommendations into law and as we all know the new Auckland Council will come into being on 1 November of this year. 
I remind the Opposition that it was really interesting when Phil Twyford and a team from Labour came to Pukekohe and pointed out that they supported splitting Franklin at the river as was recommended by the royal commission. 
The provisions in the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 2010 make the intent of this bill redundant because the Act repeals the definition of contributing authorities and replaces it with a definition of Auckland Council. This means that from 1 November the boards of the two museums may levy the Auckland Council only for 2011 and subsequent years. Those levies will be subject to maximum values calculated on the basis of capital value and population within the territory of the new Auckland Council. Local authorities and ratepayers outside the boundaries of account of the Auckland region cannot be liable for those levies. 
It is important to point out that the Franklin District Council acknowledges that the intent of the bill is met by the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act. However it had interpreted that the relevant provisions would come into effect on 1 July rather than 1 November. Therefore the Franklin District Council had not raised the necessary levies from properties within the Environment Waikato part of its district from 1 July this year. The council told the committee that as a result there will be a deficit of approximately $280000—about $198000 for the Auckland War Memorial Museum and $82000 for the Museum of Transport and Technology—once its assets are transferred to the new Auckland Council. In a convoluted sort of way that seems a little bit equitable because at least this year people in the Waikato part were not rated. However the rates have been taken out of a reserve fund that the Franklin District Council has and that will mean that its contribution at the wash-up of the new Auckland Council will be less than it would be otherwise. 
As I mentioned the Franklin District Council requested that the committee recommend that the bill be enacted with a retrospective commencement date and then repealed when the provision in the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act came into effect. The committee was advised that the Acts pertaining to the two museums required their boards to fix the amount to be levied against each of the contributing councils for the 2010-11 financial year by 30 April. So enacting the bill with a commencement date of 1 July would therefore not resolve the matter. The committee said furthermore that it was greatly concerned that this problem has arisen and that the ratepayers and the museums could be affected but that it did not believe it was Parliament’s role to resolve the issue. It also said that retrospective legislation of this kind in a local bill could set an undesirable precedent so therefore it recommended that the bill not be passed. 
This afternoon I spoke to Sally Davis the chief executive of the Franklin District Council and she expressed her concern that the residents of Franklin have not been treated well. I think a message for the new mayor and the council of the Auckland City is that they should ensure that the rural parts of the new Auckland super-city are promoted and not forgotten. I hope that message will be supported throughout this House because the rural parts of the new Auckland region mainly composing Franklin and Rodney are about 75 percent of the land mass of the new city but will have only two representatives on the new council of 21. So it is vital that the new council supports both Franklin and Rodney and the rural sector in terms of its action over the years ahead. So thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity to speak on this bill. It is appropriate that it be discharged. 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 I am sure that the good member for Hunua Dr Paul Hutchison has represented his electorate very ably in the issue of the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill but this issue has simply been superseded. It has been superseded by the decisions made by Rodney Hide which were really about fast tracking Auckland governance. He left the great fight that the member Paul Hutchison was fighting for the good people of Hunua in the slipstream. 
Moana Mackey 
: Collateral damage. 
Hon STEVE CHADWICK 
: A bit of collateral damage; he fought the good fight well. 
When we began the process of looking at Auckland governance we began it very moderately. It began in 2006 and everybody agreed with a memorandum of the mayors of Auckland that it was a very good idea to start looking at regionalisation and the prospect of a super-city. Labour actually initiated that process. It moved along at a moderate pace with the royal commission report until the findings of the royal commission report when this Government came into office and gave the whole power to organise and reorganise the Auckland super-city to a Minister in another party. What a shambles has ensued from that time! 
I pick up on a couple of points that the member for Hunua raised. The good people of Hamilton Rodney and Franklin all enjoy the amenities of the Museum of Transport and Technology and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. When we are looking at regionalisation of iconic institutions like the Auckland War Memorial Museum we do not want to be quite so parochial about who contributes to the long-term future of the Auckland Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology. 
It was Labour again that brought in the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill which we all supported; I was on the Local Government and Environment Committee. National supported the legislation only in the dying hours of the election campaign. Only then did it say that it was a great idea and it would be a vote loser if National did not support it so National decided that it was all in favour of it. It certainly was not in support of it right through the select committee process until the end. National decided that the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill was great and that it would keep afloat iconic institutions like the Auckland Art Gallery the Museum of Transport and Technology Coastguard Northern Region and some of the wonderful institutions of Auckland. What a great initiative that was too. For pure popular demand National decided that it would hop on board and support it. 
We are trying to encourage all regions of New Zealand to support these icons. There is a big anniversary coming up for the Auckland War Memorial Museum that I am sure all of New Zealand will enjoy. The 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War is not far away; the planning is all under way. 
The principle of this bill was about apportioning the amount of rates from Franklin that would have to be involved in the Auckland regional amenities legislation. It has simply been superseded and for that reason alone we are not passing this bill. 
It is interesting that I hear in the mayoralty campaigns in Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast saying that Wellington needs a regional amenities funding bill so we can work much more closely with all the outlying district councils. Those districts enjoy the benefits of some of the wonderful icons of Wellington like the International Festival of the Arts the opera and the Vector Wellington Orchestra which is under a great threat at the moment from Creative New Zealand’s reorganisation of funding lines. As a regional orchestra it is saying that it has no long-term certainty for funding at all. That is a Wellington issue. 
It is the same sort of issue that we heard in Auckland about the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra; I am sure the good member opposite has gone to enjoy the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. I am sure he does not see that it belongs only to the good people of Auckland; in fact people from the Bay of Plenty Rotorua Hamilton and Rodney all come into Auckland to enjoy these amenities and their benefits. A proportion of rates had to be fairly apportioned to the councils that came under that Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill. 
I think the process under the super-city restructure for the arts and for iconic institutions like the Auckland Museum has been really poorly managed by Rodney Hide in the Auckland super-city legislation. I have been to meet the staff of the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Auckland Art Gallery and they are saying that they are not really sure where they fit. They feel like third-tier organisations in the Auckland super-city and that they will actually come under an Auckland events centre. They are really worried about that generic management of great institutions like the Auckland War Memorial Museum. 
Rodney Hide certainly has not got right the Auckland super-city restructuring in terms of arts and valued institutions. There will be problems. In fact there may need to be legislation when the Auckland super-city restructuring all shakes down. What impact will it really have on the Auckland Museum and on the Museum of Transport and Technology? There may need to be legislative changes that people have not even anticipated. It is definitely a shambles up in Auckland at the moment for the arts community. That is simply because of the speed with which this Government was determined with Rodney Hide in charge to get a tick in the book and get this all implemented tickety-boo by this election. 
We would have taken a much longer and more measured approach to looking at what would be the effect of this change instead of this rapid and rather hasty implementation without people having a say. I have met people in Auckland who do not even understand what district they are in in the super-city. They do not even know which ward to vote for because they have not participated or been made aware until the billboards went up which part of Auckland they belong to. The consultation with the good people of Auckland has been simply shabby. 
Labour will be opposing this bill because we agree with the Local Government and Environment Committee that it has been superseded. All the efforts in the past that caused such stress to the people of Waikato Franklin and Hunua about whether they were in or out have been superseded. They had to sit and wait then get on the streets and have a petition signed by 10 percent of the electors of each of the regions—140000 from Auckland 40000 from Waikato and 6000 from Franklin were unsure about the boundaries. These are good voters. These constituents were totally confused about the boundaries in the super-city. Now those people do not need to worry any longer apparently because this bill is not going to happen. Those people will not have to contribute to the Auckland regional amenities fund. 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 I commend the member for Hunua Dr Paul Hutchison for the logic reason and structure that he took in his introductory speech on the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill. I contrast that with the irrelevance of the speech from the Labour list member Steve Chadwick. 
I wonder whether I can continue with the theme of my speech about Christ’s College and devote the next 5 minutes to the governance of Ruapehu College. Maybe in 5 minutes time I will have achieved my objective for the day in getting the name of my old school mentioned in  
Hansard 
 more often than that fine school in Canterbury. 
I seem to recall that I spoke in the first reading of this bill in favour of it being referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee. I now find myself speaking in support of the select committee’s recommendation that this bill not be passed because of the restructuring of governance in the wider Auckland area. 
The need for this bill came about in the first place because of two pieces of legislation the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 and the Museum of Transport and Technology Act 2000. They required the Franklin district to make a contribution on the basis of population to the running costs of both of those institutions. 
The select committee came to the view as I have said that this bill is no longer required. I note with interest and empathy Dr Hutchison’s very strong support for the area and his sense of representing his community in this House in the very best possible way. He has done that and all credit to him for it but it really is a simple matter: since this bill was introduced there has been a major restructuring of the governance of the Auckland region. 
I think the elections for the new council have started. I seem to recall that my ballot papers arrived on Monday. I will no doubt exercise my democratic right cast my vote and ensure that as many candidates as possible who identify with the left of politics in New Zealand do not get elected. I guess that was one of the great things about going to Ruapehu College—that the school was always represented in an electorate that returned a National member year after year after year. 
In conclusion I say that this bill will not be passed. There is no longer any necessity for it to be passed and I think it can now be dispatched reasonably quickly. Thank you. 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I want to pay tribute to the member for Hunua Dr Paul Hutchison who is coming to the end of a fine political career. He was highly regarded by the people in the Hunua district. The member for Hunua stood up—briefly—and articulated the fears and concerns of his constituents. He did it once then he was steamrollered by the National Party. Since then he has been very very quiet about how the people of Hunua feel about the super-city. This bill we are debating tonight the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill reflects the concerns and the fears that the people in that member’s electorate have about the way the National-ACT Government has shafted democracy in Auckland. 
If there is one man whom Dr Paul Hutchison has to blame for the impending finale of his political career it is Rodney Hide. Rodney Hide was set up by this Government to do its dirty work. It gave him the job of restructuring Auckland governance because it thought that he would be able to do this very dangerous high-risk job and he would attract all the political flack then when things got out of hand the Prime Minister would be able to shrug and say: “That’s just Rodney Hide not us.” But Rodney Hide’s credibility as the Minister of Local Government who is the Minister responsible for creating the Auckland super-city is so utterly tarnished and damaged not only because of what he has done to Auckland democracy but also because of a list of things as long as your arm that have destroyed the credibility of the Minister of Local Government. I am not going to detail that full list because I think the House and New Zealanders who are listening will know that he is the most damaged man in New Zealand politics. 
The consequence of the damage to Rodney Hide’s credibility has been that the Auckland reforms are completely tarnished in the eyes of Aucklanders and Rodney Hide’s political carcass is hanging around the neck of this Government. The people of Franklin—the people who asked for this bill to be brought to the House—regret it. They regret that they were dragged kicking and screaming by Rodney Hide into the Auckland super-city and the belated and rather modest attempts that Dr Paul Hutchison made to express their concerns did not make the slightest bit of difference. 
The people of Franklin like the people of Rodney and like the people right across the Auckland isthmus are disillusioned and disenchanted and there are plenty of reasons why. It is not just because they were roped into paying a certain amount every year through their rates for institutions like the Museum of Transport and Technology or the Auckland War Memorial Museum which is what this bill initially attempted to deal with; it is because they have lost their democratic voice in local government. Through the setting up of council-controlled organisations by the National-ACT Government 75 percent of local government has been corporatised. [ 
Interruption 
] The member Steven Joyce was responsible for insisting at Cabinet against the advice of Treasury and two other Government departments on corporatising transport and that is the very thing that the people of Franklin resent because it has been imposed on them. He insisted on having an undemocratic corporate model for the Transport Agency which is going to spend more than half the rates of the people of Franklin. What democratic say will they have over his corporate jack-up of a super-city? They will have very little say and that is why the people of Franklin are concerned. 
The other reason they are concerned is that they are worried they will lose their voice and that they will lose the identity of the region of Franklin in this super-city. They have good reason to be afraid because this ACT-National Government has taken away the powers of local communities. It has set up these toothless local boards which have no ability to make by-laws. Steven Joyce’s Transport Agency has the ability to make by-laws and it is run by a bunch of hand-picked corporate directors. For the people of Franklin their local board under this super-city will not even have the ability to make a by-law. They will have to get on their knees and beg the Auckland Council to make a by-law for the region of Franklin. Well how democratic is that? It is no wonder they are ticked off. 
What else are the people of Franklin concerned about? They like the majority of Aucklanders who have said this in recent opinion polls believe that their rates will go up because of the Rodney Hide - John Key super-city and we imagine that they would have good grounds for their concern about that. Rodney Hide has been going around town saying that the user charges will go down under his super-city. The cost of having one’s dog registered under the new Auckland Council will be $70. Well the people of Franklin currently pay $60 to have their dog registered. Rodney Hide is going around boasting that building inspectors will cost $110 an hour in the new Auckland super-city. Well I have news for members. In Franklin I say to Dr Hutchison people pay no more than $112 but it is often as low as $73 for a building inspector. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: It’s a great area. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: Well the member will have to go a long way to convince the people of Franklin that they are getting a good deal under the super-city. 
The other thing that the people of Franklin are concerned about is their water rates. Rodney Hide has gone around for the last couple of weeks saying that— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: We are a long way away from museums. 
PHIL TWYFORD 
: The people of Franklin are concerned about the costs that they will have to pay under the super-city which is what this bill originally set out to address. It was intended to address the costs that they would pay through their rates for being part of wider Auckland. We know that it is the policy of this Government and of Citizens and Ratepayers the National Party proxy in Auckland to roll out user-pays charges for waste water. That is what people are concerned about. They are worried that their waste-water charges will go through the roof and the people in Franklin are extremely concerned about that. 
We know that recent polls tell us that a solid 50 percent of Aucklanders do not want the super-city. They do not like it; they do not trust it. Well the last poll that was done in Franklin showed that 90 percent of people I say to Dr Hutchison do not want the super-city—90 percent. That is almost twice as much as the number of people in Auckland who do not want it. I think that the member for Hunua will have a very hard job explaining to his electors how he went into bat for them and represented their democratic interests when the next election comes around. 
The other issue that really grates on people in Franklin is not only the fact that the people on the Waikato side of the old boundary had to pay a share of the contribution to the museums but also those people care about their publicly owned assets like the Ports of Auckland and they care about vital infrastructure. This Government is obviously setting up those assets to be privatised and we saw that when the third super-city bill removed the democratic right that Aucklanders have to approve it in a referendum before the Ports of Auckland can be sold off. Well this Government legislated that right away because it does not care about people having the right to make a decision about whether their assets are privatised. That is why in the local body elections that are currently going on the people of Franklin are expressing their concern. They want to vote for candidates who will save the assets from privatisation and will not flog them off to overseas owners. 
We have recently seen the kind of shonky behind-the-scenes decision-making that Aucklanders and the people of Franklin have come to fear with this super-city. We have seen this Government putting in a new computer system for the Auckland super-city which is costing $62 million and which the Government did not put out to tender. This is exactly the kind of concern that the people of Franklin have about the way their rates are being spent. It is what motivated them to ask for this bill to be brought to the House and what do we see? We see shonky mates’ rates behaviour from the hand-picked mates of National who have been put in place to run the new Auckland Council. What did they do? They let a contract for computers for $62 million without putting it out for tender. I predict that this is the kind of behaviour we will see more of. It is exactly what the people of Franklin feared. All the way along it is not only the fact that the people of Franklin have been forced to pay for these museum levies but also the people of Franklin like the people of wider Auckland were never given a say on the super-city. They were never given any choice they were not listened to and they were treated with contempt by this Government. 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to join Dr Paul Hutchison in speaking to the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill. We have a situation where the bill has effectively been overtaken by events that have been led by this Government in combining a number of rather fractured and dysfunctional aspects of our major city Auckland. This bill was originally introduced on 13 August 2008. As we know in November 2008 New Zealand had an election. The people of New Zealand voted in a John Key - led National Government supported by the ACT Party and National also appreciates the support we get from the Maori Party. 
However I draw members’ attention to the fractious nature of libraries and museums. Even down at the Hurunui District Council we have problems with distance and the ratings of libraries and museums. At the last local body elections down there the people of Cheviot were particularly concerned about not having access to the library in Amberley. When we stop and think of those distances we realise they are rather short but that is the nature of funding. I think one can see that originally there was a lot of merit in bringing forward this bill. 
Dr Paul Hutchison a very good member took this bill up to ensure that those historical wrongs were put right. However with the speed and the agenda of this Government in working towards having the greater Auckland City go to the local body elections to choose one mayor and one council— 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: One plan. 
COLIN KING 
: —to have one agenda one plan is very important. I believe that the structure that will now affect the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology will be a better one. 
It is appropriate that the Franklin District Council wrote to the Local Government and Environment Committee and acknowledged that the bill was redundant in the sense that the events in Auckland had overtaken it. From my point of view the select committee’s recommendation is appropriate. National will vote that this bill does not proceed. On that basis I will say that the bill should not progress and I will sit down. 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 It is an honour to follow Colin King who had such an authoritative ending to his speech. Both sides of the House agree that the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill should not proceed. Obviously as the Local Government and Environment Committee noted the bill should not proceed because the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act has superseded it. It is important to reflect on the process by which that Act came into being while reflecting on this bill because we have to set the context. 
I think it is worth noting firstly the excellent work that the select committee did on the bill. Would it not have been good if all of the legislation regarding the change to Auckland governance had found its way to a select committee? Perhaps if that had happened the people of Auckland might have had a true opportunity to be listened to. What we have seen with the change in Auckland governance is the activities of one Minister Rodney Hide—the tail wagging the dog of the National Government. Now perhaps National members might be looking across at Rodney Hide who is the Minister responsible for the legislation that superseded this bill and asking whether they want to be associated with that man. Do they really want the public of New Zealand to think that Rodney Hide is leading the strategy for the National Government for our biggest city and for the biggest change in local government in New Zealand’s history certainly since the 1989 reforms? Do they really want the National Government to be led by Rodney Hide? He is a man whose credibility has been destroyed a man who has covered up the most despicable of acts and as a Minister he now has no credibility to be leading a process that this bill has now been superseded by. National members have to ask themselves that question. Rodney Hide has clearly got it wrong in Auckland and my colleague Phil Twyford has talked about that. 
Of course there was a need for change in Auckland governance. Of course there was a need to bring together the people of the Greater Auckland region in a way that would benefit transport and those issues that cut across different parts of the city. But the way that the National Government has put forward the reforms for Auckland governance has been unacceptable. It has overridden democracy. It has put in place people who will enforce the agenda of Rodney Hide and others in vitally important organisations. 
When I look at this bill which refers in particular to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology I wonder whether part of the $62 million computer system that the Auckland super-city is putting in place might one day find itself at the Museum of Transport and Technology. When people visit the museum and look at it they will say: “Gosh $62 million. That was a lot of money to spend on a computer system. It’s unbelievable that it didn’t go out to tender.” It is absolutely incredible that a project as important as that as important for Auckland and its future did not go out to tender. Once again that is an example of the way in which the process of the Auckland governance reforms which superseded this bill have been railroaded through have not been subject to due process and in fact are a black mark on this Government. The Government needs to reconsider whether it is appropriate that those reforms continue in this way. 
One of the interesting aspects of this bill is that it cuts to the question of regional amenities. Obviously the people of Auckland and the people of Franklin have had some difficulty ironing out exactly where the boundaries lie and that is the reason why this bill came forward. I speak here as a member representing the Wellington region to say that this issue is vexing many of the councils in this area. The Wellington City Council which oversees a number of excellent facilities in the region has been looking to other councils to ask if it can sustain these facilities without the support of people in the region. As we know the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology are visited by people from the Franklin area and they are visited by people from a number of other regions nearby. The question automatically arises: what should be done about that? 
The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act was passed and it enables the Auckland region to look at things on a regional basis. As a Wellington member of Parliament I am certainly well disposed to the idea of something similar to that happening in Wellington. Obviously in Wellington we have a great deal of important artistic and cultural institutions such as Te Papa the International Festival of the Arts the National Opera the Royal New Zealand Ballet the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra the New Zealand School of Dance and the New Zealand School of Music. These are all vitally important parts of our cultural infrastructure here in the Wellington region. We need them to be sustainable because quite frankly people in Wellington will look and say that now we have this very powerful entity in Auckland will we be able to continue to hold on to these regional amenities in the Wellington region? I think the answer is that obviously we want to hold on to them and we need to make sure that the whole region can look towards cooperating on that. I look forward to the end of the local body elections when we will find out who will be representing those Wellington councils. Certainly as a Wellington MP I will want to work with them on that. 
This bill has indeed been superseded by the process that has occurred in Auckland. From Labour’s point of view that process has not been acceptable. It has not been democratic. It has shown up the Government in a very poor light. The connection with ACT leader Rodney Hide in this regard is something that the people of Franklin I am sure will remember and the people of Auckland generally will remember. Although this bill will be discharged tonight after its second reading it is fair to say that it reminds us of the stain on this Parliament of the way in which the National - ACT Government has forced on the people of Auckland a structure and a process that they have not had a proper say in. The Government lost a great opportunity to put in place a truly democratic Auckland governance structure which could have gotten over some of the problems that have bedevilled Auckland for many years but still kept a democratic process in place. That is something that Parliament needs to reflect on very seriously as this bill is discharged. 
LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 I rise to speak on the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill which was brought before the House by the very hard-working National member of Parliament for Hunua Dr Paul Hutchison. I believe that he has represented his constituents very well in bringing forward this issue which is concerned with a rating anomaly. Members on the other side have gone into a variety of rants about changes to the Auckland super-city that are not relevant to this legislation. This bill arose because of a rating anomaly associated with two Acts of Parliament that allowed for levies to be raised for the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology on the basis of the population of the Franklin District. 
We have had quite a wide-ranging discussion on the super-city. It was interesting to hear Labour members criticise the Government for the decisions that were made about Franklin. I can understand that Franklin has had a period of uncertainty and now a period of change with the super-city but I want to put on record that Labour did not support Franklin’s decision to have a unitary council which was its preference. Labour is suggesting that it would have been fully behind Franklin but it was not fully behind that proposal and did not support it. In effect Pukekohe and the rest of Franklin would have been divided by the Waikato River boundary. Anyway we are not talking about the super-city; we are here to talk about the challenge the Franklin District has with funding. The hard-working Local Government and Environment Committee came to the conclusion that this problem could not be solved by Parliament. When the bill was introduced in 2008 clearly a problem existed. However times have moved on. 
This Government is very effective in getting things done in partnership with the ACT Party and the Maori Party. We are firm believers in delivering for New Zealanders and the changes in Auckland are but one example of that. In effect those changes mean we are not in a position to support this bill. There has clearly been a major restructuring of local government since its introduction. We do not believe that it is Parliament’s role to resolve the issue of the levies in this particular instance. I recognise the local member’s support encouragement and representation of his constituents. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Mr Assistant Speaker kia ora tatau. Kei te korero tatau mo tetahi pire e pa ana ki a Waikato no reira na runga i tera whakaaro me huri ki te titiro ki te ahuatanga ki a Te Po Nui a Jim Nicholls e takoto mai ra i roto o Hauraki i waenganui i tona iwi i tenei po. Apopo ka tukuna atu ki te kopu o Papatuanuku. E aroha atu ana ki a ia ko au tera i mahi nei i tana taha. Kei te takoto a ia i runga i tona marae i Mataiwhetu i roto o Thames o Hauraki. Ko ona iwi ko Ngati Maru Ngati Whanaunga Ngati Hako me ki ko Pare Hauraki a Tainui waka era e tangi ana. 
Na ko Jim te Tiamana o te Kaunihera Kaumatua o Hauraki to ratou mangai hoki i runga i te Poari Kaitiaki Maori o Hauraki tera Poari o tona iwi ka mutu ko ia te tiamana tuarua a te Kaunihera Maori o Aotearoa. No reira e tika ana i tenei wa kia timata ake waku korero hei wawahi ake i taku korero a me te poroporoaki i a ia. Kai te penei tonu au na runga i te mea ko tenei pire e hangai tonu ki a Waikato. Na reira whakaaro ake ki a ratou kua ngaro atu ki te tirohanga kanohi. Ko ia tera ana tae atu ki a Te Atawhai Taiaroa tera o nga pou o roto o Aotearoa. No reira a kati waiho ratou ki a ratou kia moe anei tatau e korero nei mo te take nei. 
I a au e whakaaro ake nei kei te rere tonu nga whakaaro mo te hunga utu reti me ki o roto o Ngati Maru Ngati Paoa Ngati Tamatera Ngai Tai me etahi atu wahi o roto o Waikato. Ko tenei pire tetahi o nga take kua roa me ki e wanangatia ana i roto i nga Kawanatanga i nga tau kua hipa. E ai ki taku e mohio nei ko te Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill i tae mai i timata mai ai i te 13 o Here-turi-koka ara o Akuhata i te tau 2008 a ka mutu ka tukuna ki te komiti whaiti ara ki te select committee i te 4 o Poutu-te-rangi Maehe i te tau 2009. E ai ki taku e mohio nei e rua nga wahanga o te pire nei me ki ko tera e pa ana ki te Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 
i te tau 1996 me te Whare Taonga the Museum of Transport and Technology Act i te tau 
2000 
.  
Ko te tikanga o tenei me ki rawekeweke i tenei pire me ki ko te ata whakatau i te utu mo nga whare taonga me ki kia kautehia na runga i te tokomaha o te tangata e noho mai ra i roto o Franklin 
 
 otira te hunga kai roto i te rohe o Tamaki-makau-rau kaua ko ratou kei roto o Waikato. 
Engari i a au e korero ana ki aku hoa ki a Hone Harawira ki a Pita Sharples i puta te maramatanga ka mutu ko tenei take e hangai tonu ana ki a Waikato me ki kua whakaara ake a Waikato i tenei take etahi o nga iwi nga tangata o Waikato i tenei take o roto i tenei pire. No reira he pai tenei kia tae mai enei momo pire me nga tono a tena a tena a tena a tena. Ka mohio tonu te Paremata ae he take nui tera kai roto i te hapori. No reira anei ano tetahi huarahi hei whakaara ake i te iwi i o ratou whakaaro. Me ki he mama noa iho te tikanga o tenei pire he mea hai whakatau i nga moni ka utua ki te Franklin District Council 
ki te Auckland War Memorial Museum 
me te Museum of Transport and Technology 
. 
 Kai reira tonu tetahi wahanga o te Rohe o Franklin 
.  
He uaua te whakamarama ake tenei take i roto i te reo Maori no reira tera pea me huri ki te reo Pakeha mo te wa poto. 
[ 
Greetings to us Mr Assistant Speaker. We are addressing this bill that relates to Waikato and because of that I turn to look at the situation concerning Te Po Nui Jim Nicholls lying in state tonight in Hauraki among his people. He will be buried in the womb of mother Earth tomorrow. I sympathise as I have worked with him. He lies upon his marae at Mataiwhetu in Thames and Hauraki. His tribes are Ngati Maru Ngati Whanaunga Ngati Hako of the Hauraki Gulf and of the Tainui canoe. They are grieving there.  
Jim was the chairman of the Council of Elders of Hauraki their representative on the Hauraki Maori Trust Board his people’s board and deputy chair of the New Zealand Maori Council. So it is fitting at this time that I preface my address by bidding him farewell. I have done this because this bill relates directly to Waikato. My thoughts are therefore with those who are no longer to be seen including Te Atawhai Taiaroa one of the pillars in New Zealand. So enough leave them to rest there as we debate this matter. 
As I ponder here my thoughts immediately go to the ratepayers of Ngati Maru Ngati Paoa Ngati Tamatera Ngai Tai and of other places in Waikato. This is one of those bills that have been the subject of prolonged discussions within Governments over past years. According to what I know the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill arrived on 13 August 2008 and was referred to a select committee on 4 March 2009. I understand there are two parts to this bill. One refers to the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 and the other to the Museum of Transport and Technology Act 2000. It was to amend this legislation so that specific contributions could be made for the museums based on the population of people residing in Franklin particularly those in the Auckland region but excluding the ones in Waikato.  
But it was while I was discussing this with fellow colleagues Hone Harawira and the Hon Dr Pita Sharples that I realised that this matter did indeed relate to Waikato because some of them raised this issue in this bill. So it is good that these kinds of bills come here with submissions from different individuals. Parliament will then know that yes that is an important issue in the community. So here is another way for people to express their views. This bill is simply the instrument whereby contributions are determined from the Franklin District Council to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology. One part of the Franklin District is still there but it is difficult to explain in Maori so I will turn to English for a short time. 
] 
As others have said—and it is a bit difficult to explain clearly in Maori—the bill seeks to ensure that in calculating the levies payable by the Franklin District Council to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology any part of the district of the Franklyn District Council that is not within the boundaries of the Auckland Regional Council is excluded.  
My colleagues have told me of the frustration that many Franklin citizens shared with them as to why their hard-earned rates should go into Auckland facilities that do not have any direct relationship to their community. We noted the view of the North Shore City Council that this issue should be dealt with as a part of the Government’s comprehensive governance reform process for Auckland. At this stage of the reform process it sees no reason to have interim or separate measures enacted. That might be all very well on paper but the Maori Party has no confidence that the special interests of those within the boundaries of Franklin district will be addressed simply by leaving it to chance.  
Kei te tino tautoko ake i tenei pire na runga i tana aronga ki tenei momo uauatanga i roto i te pire i tenei wa. We are pleased to support this bill as it addresses an apparent anomaly in the current legislation that covers the method of calculating the levies relating to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology. We note too that Federated Farmers view the present arrangements as inequitable on farmers and other rural landowners in the southern part of the Franklin district. 
We believe it is vital that that local government authority has acknowledged mana whenua. Our policy preference is that local government will enhance the development of local and regional business; commercial partnerships between local and regional authorities; industries and business; and local whanau iwi and hapu. In order to do that councils must know who is in their specific territorial region and who sits outside. For all those factors and most particularly because of the wishes of the people the Maori Party is happy to support the bill at its second reading. 
Motion not agreed to.