Robertson Grant: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 27 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5775. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in this third reading debate on the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill. The Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage who has just spoken gave us an interesting history lesson around activities in the park and the war memorial. He could not bring himself to say the words “Helen Clark”. It is unfortunate that the Minister whom I think we have given some credit to that he has been a person who has worked on this issue over the last few years—he has stuttered along a little bit but now we have finally got there—could not manage to say that in 2004 Helen Clark put forward this idea. The words could not leave his mouth which is a pity because this is something that people on both sides of the House have certainly wanted. 
I want to make just a few points here. The first thing I want to do is just to thank the officials who worked on this particular bill. This bill was dealt with at speed at pace. A lot of pressure was placed on officials to be able to not only come up with the bill in the first place but also then deal with the submissions. A number of significant changes were made during the select committee process and they had to be made at pace. The officials from the New Zealand Transport Agency the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and also the Parliamentary Counsel Office did do a terrific job in getting that work done. I think in a piece of legislation like this that should be recognised. 
This memorial park will be a place that will become integral I believe to New Zealand’s heritage and history. It will be a place where New Zealanders can reflect on the sacrifice of those who have gone to war and also on the cost of war. It will also be a place where we will be able to highlight our relationship with countries such as Australia which has offered to put a memorial within the park. I was very heartened that at the first of the community meetings we had on this Minister Chris Finlayson said that he would be looking to see within the park some kind of memorial to those who were conscientious objectors to war. He mentioned at that meeting in particular Archibald Baxter. I think that is a very appropriate thing for this park. It should be a place of reflection. It should be a place where people can go to think about the overall impact of war. I was very heartened that Mr Finlayson had said that. I certainly support that idea. 
It is obviously timed to be able to be open in 2015 on the 100th commemorations of the Gallipoli landings. The year 2015 will be a very important time for New Zealanders in terms of our sense of identity and looking back over our history as a country. This is a great legacy project for that time. It would be better if we could have gone through the correct legislative processes regulatory processes and consenting processes that would be required for that but time is against us. On this side of the House we look warily at empowering-type legislation but in this case this is such a nationally significant project—a project that does need for symbolic reasons to be able to be there in April 2015—that we can agree to this legislation. But we make clear on this side of the House that it is not a habit that we want to see in this House to have empowering legislation that does override objection and appeal rights. That is not something this House should do regularly and we certainly will not support it to be done regularly. 
What we have done in this legislation is attempt to put in place measures that mitigate the fact that we are doing empowering legislation. The Minister has mentioned the review panel that will look at any Orders in Council that are being asked for by the Minister and that review panel in turn has to report to this Parliament on a 6-monthly basis so that this Parliament has some role. I think those are important provisions in this law. I think what is particularly important and which was added at the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee is clause 24(4) which is what we call the last resort provision. This is to make absolutely clear that the use of Orders in Council should be a last resort. The phrase is that the Minister must have considered “all other reasonably practicable ways relevant” to this legislation to achieve the goals that the Order in Council is trying to achieve. That is a statement to a Minister that they must have considered all other matters. We know that an Order in Council which as we know takes away the rights of this Parliament can be used only as a last resort under this legislation. That is a significant clause and I am very pleased that the Government agreed to the inclusion of it in this bill. 
Beyond the question of the Orders in Council I want to speak about the role of the community in this project. The community forum that is being set up with this bill is an excellent process. The addition the select committee made was to include the idea that the local community could have a role in the final design of this park and I hope the Government takes that seriously. The final design of this park will mean a lot to the people of the Mount Cook community and the wider Wellington community and it is important that the Government listens to those communities. There are concerns already being raised by those who are perhaps involved in one part in particular the historic creche that is just on the fringes of the park. They will be impacted on by this. I urge the Government to talk to the community to listen to the community and to use that community forum not just the three times a year that it is possible to use it but more often to ensure that the community is involved. I also urge the Government to ensure that the residents of Wellington not just those in my electorate in Wellington Central but more broadly across the city are kept informed about this project. It will start very very soon and people in Wellington may not be aware of the disruption that is coming their way. 
I want to make reference to a couple of groups that I think it is very important are considered here. The first of those is the Wellington City Council. The Wellington City Council has generously offered $5 million for this project. It is a key stakeholder. It must be involved all the way through this project. Hopefully working with the Wellington City Council we can see the development of this park this great green space for Wellington integrated within other plans that the Wellington City Council has. I thank the council for its support for this project. I particularly want to acknowledge the work of Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon and also Mayor Celia Wade-Brown who have been strong supporters of this project. 
The other organisations I want to mention are the Taranaki Whanui and the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust. They are landowners within the park area. They have a long historical association with this area. Their name for this area forms part of this bill. Their rights to be spoken to and talked to are important and I am disappointed that we were not able to perhaps find the accommodation within the bill that they wanted. But they can rest assured that through the schedules of this bill and the community forum the Taranaki Whanui and the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust are acknowledged for their important role and will be a key part of the development of the park. 
The last group that I want to mention in this context is the local community and the fact that in this bill we have added into the community forum and the consultation processes around traffic plans and the future place of buildings in the park the owners of the Mount Cook Police Barracks and the Tasman Garden Body Corporate the two buildings that sit either side of Tasman Street and the intersection with Buckle Street. They are representative of the interests of the local community as is the local residents association Mount Cook Mobilised which has also done a fantastic job of advocating for this park. It wants this park. It will become a vital part of the Mount Cook community. The Mt Cook School with its terrific principal Sandy McCallum is also part of that. This is something that it will be uniquely associated with and it is vitally important that in the development of the park it is a key stakeholder as well. 
Overall the Labour Party is happy to support this legislation. It is not ideal that we are passing empowering legislation but this reaches the threshold of a nationally significant project. I know that veterans their families and all those affected by war will know that this is an important thing. But much beyond that for Wellingtonians this will be a terrific place of reflection a green space and an open place for people to spend time. It will also attract visitors I predict from not only New Zealand but right across the world. It will be something that we can be proud of and that will pay appropriate tribute to the sacrifice of those who have gone to war and to the costs of war. I support this bill.