O'Rourke Denis: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9323. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First):New Zealand First has no objection to this bill and we take some pleasure in noting that there is multiparty support for it as of course there should be. There has actually been quite a long history in terms of how Church property is held in trust in this country and initially the property was held in the individual names of the congregation members. Of course that is a little bit impractical when you come to think of it so a solution had to be found and as a result special legislation was passed in 1908 which was called the Religious Charitable and Educational Trusts Act 1908. All that did was establish a board for the holding of the Church property but it did not really do much more than that.So there were still problems in practical terms as a result and it did not take long for a new call to be made for legislation and that happened in 1929 with the Associated Churches of Christ Church Property Act 1929. And that actually did take the step of setting out what the trusts were under which the trustees would hold the church property. But it still really concentrated on the retention of land and buildings—other property as well but especially land and buildings. So that was the theme of the early legislation—holding on to those things.But obviously over time things have changed and I agree with Alfred Ngaro that the attitudes and the roles of Churches have changed over time. They are less concerned now with holding on to property and more concerned with investing the resources they have and applying them for social purposes in the community and we in New Zealand First applaud that as I am sure everybody else in the House does. Other things have happened as well of course. Being from Christchurch I know that as a result of the earthquakes a lot of Church buildings did get either destroyed or severely damaged and it is clear that not all of those are going to be replaced or repaired. So the effect has been to accelerate what was happening anyway which is the rationalisation and probably the reduction in the number of Church buildings and land held for Church purposes and an increase in other demands—investments of different kinds and ways to apply those investments especially for social purposes. And so that has been the trend up until today and I think really the driving force behind this legislation.So we do see that a number of Church properties have been sold and invested in other ways and yet the definition of the powers in the current legislation are really still quite narrow and inappropriate for today’s needs. Clearly that needs to change. So we need to solve the doubts that exist currently about what the trusts are how wide they are and what powers the trustees have to do the new things that are required of them in this day and age; and that is really what this bill addresses. The Churches had a conference back in 2013 and I applaud them for that. They have got their act together they know what they want and they have come to this Parliament for assistance in rectifying the current situation.The new bill really does just two things. One is to enable the transfer of the property from the existing trusts to the new trust established by the Churches; there are inadequate powers to do that currently so this bill is absolutely necessary for that reason alone. And in addition to that there are new and broader powers to be given to the trustees to do the new things that I have spoken of. It will allow the Churches to consider a wider mission not only in terms of buildings but in using their funds for the other activities of the Churches that they now wish to indulge in. New Zealand First thoroughly approves of both of those things: the updating of the trusts and the broader powers that the trustees will have. This bill more than adequately addresses those needs. I commend the Minister Nick Smith and also the Government Administration Committee for the work they have done to make sure that the new legislation will be fit for purpose in the future. New Zealand First will have no hesitation whatsoever in continuing to support it.