Finlayson Christopher: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Finlayson Christopher: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 27 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5773. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage) 
: 
 I move  
That the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill be now read a third time 
. I am very pleased to have played my part in steering this National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill through the House. I certainly acknowledge and appreciate the support that has been received from all parties with the obvious exceptions of the Greens and the Mana party. 
Hon Nathan Guy 
: Disappointing. 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON 
: I am disappointed but not surprised by their attitude. I think what they fail to appreciate is that since I became the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage in 2008 a lot of work has gone into this project to ensure that the cut-and-cover option became a reality. It is simply and plainly wrong to say—as I think Holly Walker said at the Committee stage—that the plans have been around for some years. I think Mr Chauvel may have made a similar allegation in his rather peculiar contribution in the first reading debate. They are both plain wrong. The 2008 plans provided for State Highway 1 to go through the park. I was first alerted to that by Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon in 2008. I spoke to Mt Cook School and said that I thought that was really most unfortunate. I have worked since then to see if we could get this result and we have. 
We have the bill. The bill was introduced. It was referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee on 28 August. That committee worked very hard and I salute its chair and members because it reported the bill back to the House on 18 September. I also want to acknowledge the contributions from the submitters and the officials from both the New Zealand Transport Agency and my ministry the Ministry for Culture and Heritage who have worked very hard on this matter. 
This legislation is required to complete the memorial in time for the centenary of the Gallipoli landings and this very speedy progression will enable Government agencies to start work in October on what will be New Zealand’s major legacy project for the First World War commemorations: this wonderful park Pukeahu. It is the centrepiece of the Government’s programme of projects and activities to mark the centenary over the 2014-18 period. The joint agency WW100 Programme Office in the Ministry for Culture and Heritage is going to lead and facilitate commemorative activities in accordance with other organisations of the Crown like the New Zealand Defence Force the Department of Internal Affairs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and others and a panel of trusted New Zealanders is going to be guiding and informing these activities. During this period the war memorial is very much going to be a focus of the First World War commemorations and also increasingly of a number of significant 70th anniversaries of the Second World War and as time progresses of anniversaries for both the Viet Nam and Korean wars. This bill is going to ensure that we have a park that provides a more appropriate setting for these very important commemorative activities. 
 What the bill does is it grants resource consents heritage authorisations and building consents and provides for the designation of the land and powers of entry on to the land. It grants rights to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the New Zealand Transport Agency to complete the undergrounding of State Highway 1 and the memorial park in time for the centenary of the Gallipoli landings in April 2015. In doing so what it is going to do is remove the standard objection and appeal rights available under the Resource Management Act 1991 the Historic Places Act 1993 and the Public Works Act 1981 but I emphasise that rights to compensation under the latter Act are going to be preserved. And should the need arise the bill will also enable the Governor-General to issue Orders in Council to grant further consents than those covered in the schedules of the bill. 
But it is extremely important to note that there are safeguards to provide oversight of these Orders in Council and a review panel is going to be convened to scrutinise recommendations for those Orders in Council. That panel will report to the Minister at 6-monthly intervals and the Minister will provide a copy of that report to the House. Parliament is also going to have the power to disallow an Order in Council within 12 sitting days after the day on which it was presented to the House. So what has happened here is that every step has been taken to ensure that the focus and the purpose of the bill are tightly defined to avoid any risk that powers may be used for anything other than the intended national purpose. The bill also ensures continuing input from important stakeholders like Mt Cook School the Wellington City Council the Wellington Tenths Trust the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust and other organisations representing local residents and road users. 
Like many public memorials the development of this National War Memorial has proceeded in fits and starts. In the 1920s there was a debate over what form it should take. There was some talk that there could even be a memorial parade or a new cathedral and then a Wellington jeweller Mr Denton suggested the Carillon with bells of remembrance and that was the idea that was enthusiastically embraced by the community. The Wellington War Memorial Carillon Society raised the money for a 49-bell carillon and presented the funds to the Government. The Government then made its contribution towards the construction of the bell towers to house the Carillon. Gummer and Ford were two persons who won the design competition for the bell tower and the new national museum behind it. Gummer was renowned for his work on memorials. I think he was responsible for the Massey Memorial on Watts Peninsula and the Bridge of Remembrance in Christchurch. And so it was in 1932 that the public flocked to this new memorial. At last New Zealanders had a surrogate tomb for the thousands who had sadly died overseas in service of their country. 
 The next stage was supposed to be an adjoining Hall of Memories but its construction was cut short because of the Depression and then the Second World War. Indeed it was to be 32 years before that building was finally opened in 1964. In 2004 Kingsley Baird’s Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was added to the complex and the remains of an unnamed soldier from Caterpillar Valley Cemetery near Longueval were interred in the tomb. 
I give the House that history because it is important to recognise that this has been a developing project but with this development we will be able to say that we finally have a complete memorial to those who have served this country so well. With the completion of the project the impressive architecture of the memorial is going to be complemented by a park of equivalent substance and design. The National War Memorial and the various elements of the precinct will be unified. It is going to be a place of quiet reflection where people can congregate for important national commemorations and our allies will also be honoured with their own memorials. I emphasise that there is also going to be an interpretation centre where young New Zealanders who attend Anzac Day commemorations will be able to learn more about the tumultuous events that have left their mark on this country. So too will visitors to Wellington from around the country and overseas be drawn to the memorial. 
In the future I believe the precinct is most likely to be included in the Government’s proposed national historic landmark list of places that are significant national treasures to New Zealand. Last but not least the traffic noise is going to be greatly reduced because this tunnelling is to take place. Everyone is delighted that this is going to proceed. To have had State Highway 1 traversing a sacred memorial frankly would have been inappropriate and indeed disrespectful. 
There is keen interest in the development. I am looking forward to attending community meetings to talk to people about it. I am very keen to keep in touch with people. I think this is going to be a memorial of which we are going to be very proud indeed.