King Annette: Wellington Town Belt Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Wellington Town Belt Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6712. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour): This is a red-letter day for Wellington for Wellington City Council and for Grant Robertson in particular because over many years there has been dogged determination—eventually desperation—to get this bill before the House and passed. So I want to begin by congratulating a number of people. I must start with my friend and colleague Grant Robertson because as he pointed out in his contribution he started working on this issue many years ago when he was a humble servant of a member of Parliament. Today he is the member for Wellington Central and the person who is proudly putting through this bill. You see it is a proud day and a red-letter day because we are so blessed here in Wellington to have the town belt. There are very few places in the world that have the sort of green space around the city—the horseshoe-shaped green space around the city—that we have here in Wellington. It is something to be protected something to care for and this bill as has just been said by Scott Simpson who has just sat down is putting protection in place hopefully for the next 170 years and beyond.I want to also congratulate Wellington City Council staff and councillors who have worked hard on this bill. I particularly want to thank the parks and reserves people. You know they are the people who keep the town belt looking so good making it open and available. They are unsung heroes of the Wellington City Council and I want to commend them. There are two people from my own electorate who are very dear friends and have worked for years to protect the town belt and they are Cynthia Wainwright and Joan Quinn. I would like to acknowledge Joan who is sitting in the gallery today. This will also be a red-letter day for the Friends of the Wellington Town Belt—the people who have kept an eagle eye on whatever happens on that town belt. For any encroachment or anything that was not appropriate they certainly made their voices heard.This is a very special day for Wellington. That town belt—it will be repeated many times—has for over 170 years been the reserve that the public has been able to enjoy and it is a scenic backdrop to this city. Many of us have walked on that town belt. We see cyclists in places. We see kids and dogs and all sorts of outdoor activity. When people say “You wouldn’t live in Wellington—terrible weather.” I can tell them that there is so much good weather in Wellington that we get to enjoy the town belt and it has become very much part of how many people live in this electorate.What I really like about this bill apart from the protection that it is going to give is the ability to be able to add to the town belt. That is something that the Friends of the Wellington Town Belt have wanted for years—to be able to add to it. This bill allows that to happen so that there can be more green space. Watts Peninsula on the Miramar peninsula is in the part of Wellington that used to be called Motu Kairangi—it was an island and it was called Motu Kairangi. That became a peninsula when there was an earthquake and it all joined up and that part of it has the area called Watts Peninsula. It is about 76 hectares and it has been decided that it will be a public reserve. I would like to see that added to the town belt.In the short time that I have left let me say that I think that Rongotai and the Wellington electorates are very very lucky to have this asset but also to have a member and a council who are prepared to do the work over many years to preserve it. Finally in response to Scott Simpson about the second tunnel at Mount Victoria—something that is felt very strongly about on my side of Wellington—this bill is irrelevant to it because the Government can take that part of the town belt it might like down Ruahine Street under the Public Works Act. What the bill does do is talk about compensation and I hope that compensation ends up as other land that can go into the town belt. This bill deals with the compensation of taking something like the Ruahine Street land. So this is a very good day and I congratulate all those involved.