Hudson Brett: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHudson Brett: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10780. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRETT HUDSON (National): It is a pleasure to rise in support of this Wellington Town Belt Bill at its third reading. I will commend the sponsoring member’s efforts in this but today as has been mentioned earlier is May the fourth and may this day always be with us. It is also known to the many fans as Star Wars Day. This is a very serious and important debate. The lead up to it was somewhat quite interesting because as I watched some of it on television and some of it in this Chamber there were a few references to Star Wars Day going around. A colleague on my side was suggesting that the Leader of the Opposition was Palpatine—some evil emperor. I think he was trying to portray the persona of a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Then Mr Tabuteau was also making certain references which I could not quite make out but I am a Star Wars fan and the character that sprang to mind for me was Jar Jar Binks.But we move on to the Wellington Town Belt Bill. I would like to commend Grant Robertson for his exemplary excellent work and commitment to seeing this local bill introduced and passed through the House with unanimous support. Mr Robertson raised the town belt in his maiden speech and it has stuck with himnot only as words in his speech but as actions. He was clearly committed to doing something about it. Along with commending his resolution and dedication to this I will also acknowledge the elected councillors the mayor and the officials of Wellington City Council for their perseverance and also quite frankly their willingness to compromise and accept that it is better to have a bill pass through the House that strengthens the Wellington town belt and protects it for all of Wellington than to spend more years arguing—perhaps from an ideological basis and some sense of pure vision—about a bill that might not receive sufficient support in the House to be passed.Here we are at this point and the bill was introduced into the House only a few short months ago. Although it has taken a long time for the bill to come to the House it has gone through the proceedings of the House in fairly short order. Here this evening we are all I think very very confident that this bill will be passed in this third reading unanimously.Just as we work through this I think it is important to also give some consideration as to how and why this belt is so important to Wellingtonians. As has been mentioned it is a horseshoe-shaped ring that basically frames the city from around Mount Victoria throughto as has been mentioned Te Ahumairangi Hill which ends at the edge of the Ōhāriu electorate. In a very real sense it frames the city and you could say—and what I like about it—it harnesses in many respects the good qualities and the energy of this fine city particularly as we seek to project ourselves into the globe and build upon our creative industries and our ICT as well as our traditional light manufacturing and primary industries. As Wellington seeks to retain its status as a thriving vibrant and growing powerhouse within New Zealand we have this belt that helps to showcase our city. I think it is actually a quality a characteristic of the city that the inhabitants—both long-term and perhaps more transitory—actually see real value in it.That brings us to why we have reached this point today and why Wellingtonians would see it as so important and worthwhile to protect the town belt into the future. It is because its status has never been perhaps quite as certain as members and inhabitants would have liked. As has been pointed out by members in the debate so far it actually started off as a larger holding than it is today. It was in excess of 500 hectares but today it is roughly around about 400 hectares so there have been points in its history when despite the trust deeds and despite the nature in which it was first gifted the land within the town belt has not always been so sacrosanct to the governance within the city that it might not be pared off for other purposes.What this bill will do is not only ensure that the 400 hectares that comprise the belt today are protected but—as members have pointed out; both Grant himself the Hon Annette King and my colleague Paul Foster-Bell—it will give the ability for the council to add to the town belt. Around approximately 120 to 130 additional hectares of land will be added to the belt following the passing of this bill. Not only does it give the inhabitants of Wellington absolute certainty as to the protection and status of their town belt but it actually does not prevent the town belt from expanding in time in ways that might be appropriate to the inhabitants of Wellington as expressed through their elected officials—the mayor and councillors of the city.But I think the value of the town belt is more than as a simple visual pleasure or a continuance of a green space in Wellington. It is actually used for a number of worthwhile activities. One of the uses of the town belt is as a sport and recreation facility. For many many years there has been a velodrome in the Hātaitai section of the town belt and it is also home to a Wellington rugby club. From my personal perspective particularly my daughter plays netball at the netball facilities at Hātaitai Park very regularly through each winter and not alone—many many hundreds of Wellingtonians—Carmel Sepuloni: You can’t play netball by yourself.BRETT HUDSON: —play netball in that fine facility. It provides a space for many teams to play simultaneously on separate courts. I am afraid not all members quite understood that very clear reference but I am happy to educate them and help their understanding a little. One does understand on this side of the House that they are often much in need of that.However the town belt itself is used for many many good purposes for Wellington residents with sport being one of them. That is actually important—the ability to do not only those particular activities but activities that the inhabitants of Wellington would deem worthy. It is very important that those activities are protected because throughout this process as people have pointed out—there were about 300 submissions to the council and there were 31 submissions made to the select committee here of which about 21 or so were heard in person. Amongst those submitters—because some certainly came to see me—there were people with very well-intentioned motives but if their particular wants had been translated into the bill they might actually have prevented some of those activities that as I have said the inhabitants of Wellington value within the town belt. They may have seen those activities curtailed if not completely removed. They really wanted an absolutely pure green space.But what the bill is going to do as it does pass into legislation following this reading is it is going to protect the power of the council to grant either leases or most likely—as council members have themselves expressed—licences for activities to occur including some commercial activities in the belt. For instance in the sporting facilities that I mentioned just a couple of minutes ago parents—most often parents—while watching their children play sport are now able to actually go to the cafeteria. They get a coffee get some food—healthy food too I might add—and enjoy that while they are watching their children play sport. Their ability to do that is actually because the council can offer licences—more likely licences than leases. The council can offer operators the ability to provide certain services in the town belt and if some submitters’ wants had been expressed in the legislation those services may—in fact would have been—curtailed. That would not necessarily be the best thing for Wellington.I think that actually brings us to the heart of what is most important about this bill not necessarily in terms of the text of the bill but in terms of what it is seeking to achieve and I believe we all agree will achieve—that is it is going to protect a green space for the inhabitants of Wellington. They will get to choose what that space will be used for over its lifetime. Through their elected officials through the council and through the officials within the council the will of Wellingtonians as to the green space that can be protected in their environment and how it can be added to and how it can be used as an amenity for the values of the citizens the inhabitants of Wellington—this bill protects that.I think it is an incredibly important piece of legislation for this city and its environs. I think the value of it stretches beyond just the inhabitants within the city council area but also to people in the Hutt Valley to Porirua even to the Kāpiti coast—to the region as a whole. It is an absolute privilege to stand in the House and speak in this third reading and I commend this bill to the House.