Swarbrick ChlöeCHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green): E Te Māngai tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. It is a pleasure to rise in the House on behalf of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand to offer our wholehearted support as the Green Party to this Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2). It is unfortunate to hear that members of the Opposition will not also be offering their wholehearted support. I haven't heard much rationale as to why they won't be except for the fact that we have crossed out quite a lot of the things that they wanted to do in the form of amalgamation through the likes of council-controlled organisations but also the likes of concentration in power through the Local Government Commission or the Minister of Local Government.To trace some of the history of this legislation when it was first introduced as was mentioned by the former speaker Maureen Pugh it was of course introduced under the former Government. It then went to select committee and was met with strong opposition from the likes of those who Maureen Pugh and members of the National Party have invoked in their speeches—those being National Party - aligned mayors and local government elected members. Importantly it was actually only as a result—and I would mention my colleague Lawrence Yule who probably learnt some of that in his time at Local Government New Zealand. I'd love to hear his contribution to this debate and where he now falls given that he has pinned the blue colours very profoundly and explicitly to his chest.None the less this piece of legislation under the National Party Government that being the prior Government of the 51st Parliament was met with strong opposition from Local Government New Zealand and of course actually as well from the three parties who now form Government. There was a staunch and quite detailed minority view authored by the Green Labour Party and New Zealand First parties from the Local Government and Environment Committee returned to this House in 2016. Just for the sake of the historical record and putting it in Hansard because I think it's a really important thing to note in tracing the lineage as to how we got here today some of the remarkable members of this Government within the coalition and confidence and supply were on that Local Government and Environment Committee. They were the Hon Ron Mark obviously with his previous experience in local government; the esteemed and brilliant Mojo Mathers who unfortunately didn't make it back in with us the Greens into Parliament this time around but has authored a legacy in the form of the Election Access Fund Bill which I am now proud to champion. Of course now the Hon Eugenie Sage our now Minster of Conservation but formerly one of many of the Greens who held the local government portfolio; so too the Hon Meka Whaitiri; and the Hon Dr Megan Woods—so quite an all-star line-up there. But I would however note that sitting in and participating on this item of business and I believe to a certain extent co-author of this minority view was the now Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice Jan Logie my esteemed colleague. So quite a lot of weight actually in the minority view which opposed the National Party's legislation as it was drafted. It's been knocked into quite a bit of shape by the Minister of Local Government the Hon Nanaia Mahuta.Just to try and point it out to those who may be watching at home on the television these here are all of the sections—all of this page here all of this page all of this page here all of this page and pretty much all of that page and that page have been crossed out. That is the madness the badness that we are undoing which the National Party sought to rort on our local governments on the councils and local bodies across this country met I would again emphasise by staunch opposition from Local Government New Zealand which I believe was led at the time—and I'd love you to correct the record—by my esteemed colleague Lawrence Yule a former mayor amongst local government in New Zealand.It's now been knocked into shape. It does slightly less things because there's a much broader work programme that this Government has towards fulfilling that kaupapa of subsidiarity which my colleagues in this Government have spoken to at length so far. There is also as has been mentioned the greater handover of control to making decisions on transport in the hands of local bodies a critically important piece of decision making for communities because they are actually those who will be interacting on a daily basis tangibly with those transport options and obviously so too do they have a vested interest in the likes of housing decisions that are made around those transport nodes.Just in closing the Green Party's support for this much-improved at third reading—subsequent to Supplementary Order Paper 323 in the name of the Hon Nanaia Mahuta at committee of the whole House stage—Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill (No 2) I would also like to make note of all of the incredible individuals of all ideologies who put themselves forward for election at these local body elections just this past weekend. There were some incredible people elected who have the mandate and the backing of their communities and we believe on this side of the House that it is those people who are closest to their communities who are elected directly by their communities who live and work and play actively on a weekly basis in those communities and don't find themselves siloed—unconsciously subconsciously or consciously—in this very literal ivory tower who should be making those decisions.If I may I'd also just like to shout-out to our first ever explicitly Green mayor—that is the mayor of Dunedin Aaron Hawkins; absolutely stoked with that win—and of course for the other 41 Green Party members who have been elected on that Green ticket and all of the other wonderful progressives who have found themselves in to championing ending inequality and getting some real climate action under way around their communities. The Green Party is proud to commend this bill to the House.