Burns Brendon: Methodist Church of New Zealand Trusts Bill — First Reading 
Burns Brendon: Methodist Church of New Zealand Trusts Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:2973] 
BRENDON BURNS (Labour—Christchurch Central) 
: 
 I move  
That the Methodist Church of New Zealand Trusts Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Finance and Expenditure Committee. This is a member’s bill. It is a modest amending bill. It is my first member’s bill in this House and it is my privilege to introduce it on behalf of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. 
The Methodist Church as every member of the House will well know is a respected religious institution with a long and proud history in New Zealand dating back to the earliest days of European settlement. The Methodist Church has a vision of its purpose in the community and an important part of that purpose is the sharing of resources with the poor and disadvantaged in New Zealand. Over the years the Methodist Church has attracted a number of benevolent contributions. Some of these funds have been preserved in the form of trusts for charitable purposes. As a consequence of its long history the Methodist Church holds some trusts with purposes that have become obsolete. Of particular note are the numerous trusts held for the benefit of Methodist orphanages and children’s homes. Time has moved on. The Methodist Church now no longer undertakes the care of children in this way and today there are no Methodist orphanages or children’s homes operating. 
The moneys held in these trusts are generally quite small amounts and they cannot be used unless the purposes of those trusts are varied. It is possible to vary the purposes of a charitable trust on application to the High Court under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957. This option however is lengthy expensive and impractical given the number of Methodist Church trusts that need to be varied. 
The purpose of the legislation is twofold. Firstly it will provide an alternative process to that provided under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 to vary charitable trusts relating to the Methodist Church. Secondly it will widen the purposes of children’s trusts to allow those trust funds to be used for the benefit of children across New Zealand. The alternative procedure for varying the purposes of certain trusts proposed by the bill is similar to the procedure under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957. The trustees of the trust must prepare a scheme for the application or disposal of the trust property. That scheme must be accompanied by a statement giving full information about the reasons for the proposed application or disposal of the trust property together with a copy of the trust instrument. 
An important difference provided by this bill is that the scheme may then be submitted to a legal adviser or committee appointed by the Methodist Church instead of to the High Court. Following this the legal adviser or committee must submit a report to the Conference of the Methodist Church. The conference is the annual gathering of the Methodist Church where all decisions affecting the operation of the Methodist Church are made. The conference has the power to approve the scheme subject to there being no objection by the Attorney-General. Importantly all decision makers under this alternative regime must act in accordance with the rules of law that would apply on any application for variation to the High Court under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957. Furthermore all schemes must be submitted to the Attorney-General. If the Attorney-General objects to the scheme the Conference of the Methodist Church must not approve it. I have provided advice about this bill to the Attorney-General the Hon Chris Finlayson. He has provided me with advice from his officials that the bill appears to be consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. 
Further the bill allows any trustee or other person who holds funds or has properties in trust for the purpose of Methodist orphanages or children’s homes to pay or transfer the whole or part of those funds to the trustees of the Methodist General Purposes Trust Board. That board will have responsibility for the proper application and administration of such funds in accordance with any founding instruments of those trusts. Importantly where it is impossible impractical or inexpedient to give effect to the original purposes of those trusts the Methodist General Purposes Trust Board will be able to apply those funds to any other purpose for the welfare of children in New Zealand. The alternative regime for varying and widening the purposes of charitable trusts and the ability to transfer certain funds to the Methodist General Purposes Trust Board will allow the Methodist Church to more efficiently use funds donated to it for its charitable purposes in the New Zealand community. 
There are precedents to this bill. The Methodist Church is not the first religious institution in New Zealand to do this. The Anglican Church successfully promoted the Anglican Church Trusts Act in 1981 the Presbyterian Church successfully promoted the Presbyterian Church Property Amendment Act in 1966 and the Catholic Church successfully promoted the Roman Catholic Bishops Empowering Act of 1997. This is ecumenical legislation. Those Acts dealt with similar problems to those faced by the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church of New Zealand Trusts Bill does not go beyond the ambit of those existing private Acts of Parliament. It is not a controversial bill but it will greatly assist the Methodist Church of New Zealand in its pastoral care. I commend this bill to the House.