Peke-Mason SorayaSORAYA PEKE-MASON (Labour): Tēnā koe e te Mana Whakawā. Firstly I'd like to acknowledge Mayor Holdom as I understand he is here with his team in the House. Mihi ana ki a koe e te rangatira. I had the pleasure of meeting you for the very first time last Saturday at Te Rā o Tā Māui Pōmare. It is great to take a call on the third reading of the New Plymouth District Council (Perpetual Investment Fund) Bill which is sponsored by my colleague Glen Bennett MP. Again I commend my colleague Glen for his sponsorship of this bill. New Plymouth sits in the Te Tai Hauāuru electorate where I am based as an MP. While I live at Rātana and was raised in Whanganui I have strong ties to Taranaki by whakapapa and by whenua and have close whānau that still live there. Whilst a district councillor I heard the calls of many ratepayers over many years who have struggled to pay their rates. This can go some way towards helping to support and perhaps take a little bit of the anxiety out of this annual cost for each and every one of us in this country that own a house or residential home. Just a bit about the background—I know you've heard it all before but let me just say that this is clearly something that needed to be done. The fund's original intent of being a sustainable fund to annually subsidise these rates was not achieved. It is sad to see the loss of some $113 million in value over those five years but I celebrate this bill because of what it is now going to achieve and that is the original intent. I'm grateful for local government in terms of their long-term planning for that process helped the council to identify and land with the establishment of this bill. That was in 2021; the offices there during their long-term process reported on introducing a local bill in order for it to achieve its original intent. The benefits of that were all about living in this current district boundary: providing legislative protection to its capital base and its benefits back to the communities in perpetuity. I want to acknowledge the work again of the council officers. Many are passionate about what they do they are hard-working they are diligent and sometimes they are not recognised for the contribution that they make to our communities and local government; I say ngā mihi nui ki a koutou—thank you. Due diligence was exercised in terms of a process alternative options were considered—including doing nothing which of course was not an option as it would not have achieved its original legislative protection on the capital base. Council also considered other local legislation including the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Act 2018. I have seen the vision of the New Plymouth District Council and I'm very excited for them. Their vision is to be a sustainable lifestyle capital"—great slogan there Mayor Holdom and councillors. Their district offers so much to the people that live there: spectacular natural beauty from Maunga ō Taranaki ki Tangaroa—that's from the mountain to the sea; thriving towns and communities; and a productive rural sector. How will they do this? They are looking at doing this through partnerships through delivery of quality services through community wellbeing sustainability by nurturing prosperity by being resilient in building it. I see this as helping them towards achieving their vision. The bill ensures the Perpetual Investment Fund (PIF) continues to benefit their communities in a number of ways—that is by setting an annual release to be used to subsidise those general rates. In 2022-23 the release was around $10.4 million which helped to reduce those rates required by around 8 percent a savings of $163 per year per ratepayer—I know how big that savings is for many many people including myself. The release enables the council to also provide a level of service higher than what they could afford through just your ordinary rates processes. The bill acts as a key cornerstone for our financial position providing halo benefits. It means that council has financial assets larger than external borrowings which is reducing the cost of borrowing. I'm pleased to see and support the AA+/Stable/A1+ credit rating that this offers. I have talked before about embedding the lessons of history while being flexible for the future. What does this actually mean? It means the council of the day must be satisfied the flexibility of the fund achieves a better outcome for the wellbeing of both current and the future communities of New Plymouth. It also means that it cannot—and this is important—be used to simply keep rates down to gain political advantage ensuring it can be accessed following a significant natural disaster or other unexpected event. That is really important particularly in the environment of climate change that we live in today.To avoid any further losses it is important to ensure the real value of this capital is protected and that any reduction be considered under justifiable situations. They were very clear: had to be justifiable situations. It is to that end that I emphasise a submission from New Plymouth PIF Guardians Limited that they "[support] the intention of the bill to provide the statutory provisions to ensure the real capital value of the fund is continuously maintained or increased and to ensure it continues to be used for the New Plymouth District community in perpetuity." Of particular relevance in terms of this they actually outlined this in clause 8 where "[it] provides that investment decisions are to be made independently of Elected Members and their interests. The clause provides additional assurance on the independence of [New Plymouth guardian] to manage the PIF in the best interests of the New Plymouth District [Council]."Again the case in point here is it provides that investment decisions are to be made independently of elected members. Council has also considered establishing a trust to hold the PIF with council having trustee obligations to use for the benefit of the New Plymouth District Council to be maintained in perpetuity—of course the main problem: that would remove the PIF from the council's balance sheet which significantly reduces council's credit rating and increases its borrowings and its insurance costs. It would result in council exceeding its net debt limit.Just for clarity and just very quickly in summary what the bill does: it defines terms used in the bill; it provides the enactments applicable to the council's financial management responsibilities and accountabilities. Clause 6 provides that the PIF is to be managed and applied wholly. Clause 7 talks about and outlines the principles of managing and applying the PIF. And clause 8 of course as mentioned sets out the requirements of that investment. I am pleased to be able to commend this bill to the House and heartfelt congratulations to everyone involved to make this happen: the ratepayers the communities of New Plymouth and of course the council. Kia ora koutou tātou katoa."