Worth Richard: Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Worth Richard: Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:611;Page:8379] 
RICHARD WORTH (NZ National—Epsom) 
: 
 I thank the Committee for allowing me the opportunity to talk about Part 2. This is an unusual bill and it is very short. In fact Part 2 has only one clause which is clause 5. So I do want to talk about the power to lease the land in the domain. And in that context I want to identify four people who in my view have been responsible for the passage of this legislation. The first is the MP for Auckland Central the second is myself the third is Rodney Wilson who is the director of the museum and the fourth person whom I want to dwell on for a moment is a man called Bill Laxon. 
Bill Laxon is a lawyer in a major Auckland City law firm called Brookfields. Brookfields has a very proud history. It has gone through a number of name changes as have many of these conglomerate firms. It used to be called Reed Bailey Towle and Cooper. It became Towle and Cooper then Brandon Brookfields which became Brookfields. In that firm is a man called Bill Laxon. He is one of those people who has been synonymous with local government in Auckland. He has acted for a number of local authorities. He is probably known to you Madam Chairperson in the context of your local government experience. He has given huge service to a number of elements of the Auckland community and he has given huge service to aspects touching the maritime industry. But he has also I think been president of the Auckland Institute and the Auckland Museum Trust Board but I stand to be corrected on this by the Hon Judith Tizard. It was his role as lawyer for the museum to draft this particular legislation that has come before the Committee tonight. I think that in a rare gesture of consensus and unanimity we will see we hope this legislation pass through all stages tonight which would not normally be the case. I would say of Bill Laxon who is not well at the moment and in the context of all the contributions he has made to Auckland City and elements associated with the city that he might rightly feel that the Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill is part of his intellectual property. 
It is in Part 2 that we see the power to lease land in the domain. As the previous speaker has commented there are some aspects of interest relating to the leasing terms not the least of which would be the lease rental at an annual rent of not more than $2 per year. It is quite unusual I think to find in statutes these days certainly reference to peppercorn rentals of that amount. There is obviously a statement there of a relationship between the Auckland City Council and the Auckland War Memorial Museum that has seen it as appropriate that a council in the context of its obligation to fund public facilities has decided that a commercial rent should not be set. Instead the rent should be no more than $2 a year. 
But there is another aspect of this short clause that I think is worthy of comment. It is tucked away in clause 5(3)(a). The drafter records: “To avoid doubt—(a) section 5 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act 1915 does not apply and is deemed never to have applied to the land described in the Schedule;”. This is the statutory quirk that for a number of years lay hidden from the view of many. It is a particular protective provision that touched the volcanic landscape of Auckland—the City of Volcanoes it is called. Section 5 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act is concerned with protecting those volcanic cones. For those of us who follow the writings of Bill Rudman in the  
New Zealand Herald  
this has been one of his issues and an issue that I think burdened the Prime Minister for a short period in any event in the context of what was going on in respect of a motorway that was to be constructed through her particular voting district. 
I would like to say in commending the bill to the Committee that clause 5 is a well-drafted clause. I would also like to offer as a testimony a statement in support of Bill Laxon and all he has done for the museum and all he has done in connection with this bill. 
Part 2 agreed to.