Hughes Gareth: Wellington Town Belt Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Wellington Town Belt Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6714. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora. It is not every day in this place that you get to rise and speak on a bill that traces its heritage to the age of sailing vessels and the settlement of this great city all the way back in 1839 so I would like to acknowledge the tremendous history involved with this. I rise to support the Wellington Town Belt Bill a bill in the name of local MP Grant Robertson. This bill quite simply aims to simplify and make more transparent the basis on which the Wellington City Council manages and holds the town belt. It recognises the importance of the town belt as an asset as a taonga to the people of Wellington. I have lived in this great city for some 15-odd years and the town belt is incredibly important to Wellingtonians. One of my favourite pastimes is walking up Te Ahumairangi Hill behind this House. It is a bit of a walk. I used to live on Mount Victoria where we backed up near the top of the hill near the belt. For a few years there were actually reports of people biting people in the forests of Mount Victoria and it led to a whole rash of newspaper headlines around vampires on Mount Victoria. I wonder whether that is where Taika Waititi got his inspiration for the great Wellington film What We Do in the Shadows—from the news of what was happening in our town belt. We know that the town belt is important to Wellingtonians. It is much loved. It is a treasure given by our forefathers and foremothers all those years and decades ago.I would like to acknowledge the people who have put in considerable work to get this legislation to this floor today. I understand this legislation has been developed since 2010. There were more than 250 submissions and I would like to thank all the people involved including the local member Grant Robertson council officials councillors—and I know we have got some in the Chamber today—and parliamentary counsel as well. In a nutshell this bill simply addresses the legal uncertainty flowing from those various old statutes and the nature of the deed dating from the 1870s. It provides strong protections around the uses of the town belt for recreational activities; safeguards against new buildings and commercial activities; and I think crucially this bill prevents the council from selling any part of the town belt. So it gives a legislative protection to this point and the guiding principles and guarantees of public access which is fantastic and the Green Party absolutely supports it. It recognises the history of mana whenua and I understand that the co-management regime is a positive step forward. We are seeing the ability of the council to add land not subtract land and it is great to see another 120 hectares slated to be added to this beautiful area. So there are a lot of positives with this legislation. It is quite simple common sense to try to rationalise and simplify.But I want to touch on something from the last speaker Paul Foster-Bell because he picked up on the big motorway vison that we are seeing from the current Government and this is one of the controversial threats facing this taonga of the Wellington region. This is quite specifically the roads of national significance and the dream of a second tunnel the dream of a motorway from Levin to the airport at a time when we do see traffic stable and declining and the relationship with the Public Works Act. What we see is a debate in the city around what the provisions should be. I know that a controversial point in earlier drafts was the standing given to citizens. This town belt belongs to all of Wellington. I note that the council has a management role a historical role a leadership role but I also question that and that is something we will be looking at in the select committee. We also need to discuss the issue of compensation and the time lines around that and I welcome the opportunity to hear submissions on this. I know that Wellingtonians will be very keen to have their say and I look forward to working with members on the select committee the council staff and the local member of Parliament Grant Robertson because ultimately what we are doing is trying to protect an area of Wellington that we love. We do want to see it protected. Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker.