Hipkins Chris: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
Hipkins Chris: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
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CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I am delighted to take a call on clause 5 of the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill which is David Bennett’s proudest accomplishment in his tenure as the member of Parliament for Hamilton East—his final months as the member of Parliament for Hamilton East. He wants this bill to be passed before the election so that he can go out there and say to the people of Hamilton East that he has actually achieved something in the—what is it—5 years that he has been a member of Parliament. He has to have something to talk about so he wants this legislation to be passed. 
Clause 5 deals with the land freed of the trusts of the last will and testament of the late George Parr and freed of the conditions imposed by that will. I have been very interested to read the biography of Mr Parr and some of the facts in it but I have also been interested to read some of the history of the land itself of course. It is interesting that there has been no contribution on this bill from the Maori Party or from Tau Henare Ms Parata or Simon Bridges—because on reading through this information I have discovered that the land is confiscated land. It was Tainui land and it was confiscated land so I am surprised that the Maori members on the opposite side of the Chamber have absolutely nothing to say about it at the moment—they have absolutely nothing to say about it at all. 
The land is confiscated land. It changed ownership several times before it was bought by Mr George Parr who of course later put it into a trust for the benefit of all the people of Hamilton. I am surprised by Mr Henare. He has been barracking and shouting a lot but he could have taken a call rather than moving a closure motion. He seems to have an awful lot that he wants to say and he is getting himself very worked up over there. I am surprised that he is not keen to take a call and actually have a say on the bill. 
I think that Parliament needs to be very cautious when we pass any legislation that potentially overrides somebody’s last will and testament. This is the second time I think in the time I have been in Parliament that I have been involved in a debate on legislation that does that. The first was a bill about Christ’s College and freeing up money that was in trusts. This is the second piece of legislation. I think we really need to be careful about that. When people leave money assets land or anything else behind we need to be very careful that we do not override their last wishes about vesting that land and giving that land or placing it in trust. This land was placed in trust. We need to be very careful that what we do in this legislation is totally consistent with the objectives that Mr George Parr had when he set this land aside. 
I sat through some of Local Government and Environment Committee proceedings on this legislation—not all of them but some of them—and I wanted to be satisfied that Mr George Parr’s last wishes were being respected. 
Simon Bridges 
: Whatever! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Well this is a very serious matter I say to Mr Bridges and I care about making sure that people’s last wills and testaments are respected. I sat through the proceedings and I was ultimately satisfied that his last will and his last wishes were being adequately dealt with by this legislation. That is one of the reasons why I will support it. I think it is important that we take the time to consider what those wishes were and to consider what his motivations were in setting this land aside because that will be particularly relevant when we come to the next clause of this bill which is about the sort of reserve it should be. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: You mean there’s another one? 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: We will debate that under clause 6—there are still four more clauses to go after this one I say to that member. He can just knuckle down and look forward to it I am sure. 
George Parr was a very active member of the community a very active— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: He used to be! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: I said “was”. He was a very active member of the community. From what I can see from the biography he was from a very active family within the community. He was clearly very community focused— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Did you know him? 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: No I did not know him but I am sure given Mr Henare’s his advanced years that the member went to school with him. George Parr was clearly very community focused and active in the community. I am sure that would have been part of his consideration when he vested this land in his trust so that all Hamiltonians could enjoy it and benefit from it. We need to make sure that we are being—[ 
Interruption 
] He was a Rotarian in Hamilton and I have a lot of respect for Rotarians.