Smith Nick: Bishop Suter Art Gallery Governance Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
Smith Nick: Bishop Suter Art Gallery Governance Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:648;Page:17136] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 I move  
That the Bishop Suter Art Gallery Governance Restructuring Bill be now read a second and a third time 
. I thank the members of the Local Government and Environment Committee for the very prompt way in which they dealt with the bill and recommended back to the House that it be passed without amendment. I note that the select committee received only two submissions both of them strongly supporting the intent of the bill. No one expressed any opposition. 
Can I give some background to the bill. Nelson is very proud of its art heritage and the fact that Nelson’s Suter Gallery is the oldest art gallery in New Zealand. Art is a very important part of Nelson’s identity and the Suter Gallery has played an important role in our community for over 108 years. The problem that this bill attempts to address is the archaic structure provided in the old 1896 Act of this Parliament. It constrains the Suter Gallery and does not provide the sort of governance structure that 100 years later would enable us to move the gallery forward. 
The bill effectively does four things. Firstly it transfers to a new trust the Bishop Suter Trust all the property rights and obligations of the old Bishop Suter Art Gallery Trust Board including its land and buildings in Bridge Street and its invaluable art collections. The new trust however is a standard trust under the 1957 Charitable Trusts Act and it also is a council-controlled organisation under the Local Government Act 2002. This change means that the Suter Gallery will have a very standard trust structure with greater legal accountabilities and a direct link with the people of Nelson through our elected council. 
The second legal effect of the bill is that it dissolves the old trust board removing it from the register of charitable trust boards. 
The third legal effect is that it makes quite plain that there are no legal obligations arising from donations that were given for recent redevelopment proposals and that means that the new board is free to postpone or proceed with major develop proposals. I know that at the first reading of this bill the Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Judith Tizard expressed some concern about that third provision. The select committee satisfied itself that those provisions are quite proper will not remove any of the legal rights that those donors would have had and are quite appropriate. 
The last part of the bill repeals the old 1896 Act. 
This bill is not a controversial bill. It has the strong support of the Bishop Suter Art Gallery Trust Board itself. I pay tribute to the trustees of that board and to Sir Geoffrey Palmer who as a former Nelsonian has provided good advice on the way forward and the restructuring of this organisation. It would have been easy for the old board to feel threatened by those who challenged the old structure and said it was unaccountable. In fact the board chose to set up a number of informal arrangements to try to put in place the greater accountabilities that will flow from this bill well before it was invited by the Nelson City Council to do so. In many respects the Suter has been ahead of its time. Many of our other local government units around New Zealand have established art galleries and they have established them as council-controlled organisations. The reality is that the Suter which was established 108 years ago was well ahead of its time and it is appropriate for us to bring it into a more appropriate structure. 
There has been some debate about the linkages between the city council and the trust board. I take the view that our local government representatives who are democratically elected by our community provide an important oversight for institutions like an art gallery. I do not advance the view that they should have hands-on involvement on a day-to-day basis but the risk with the old structure was that it was a self-perpetuating trust and if it became out of tune with the community that it was there to serve it was very difficult to put it back on track. It is my view that in having the trust board members accountable to and appointed by the Nelson City Council we have a structure that is more directly accountable to the people of Nelson. 
There are some people whom I want to acknowledge for advancing this bill. I particularly acknowledge David Farnsworth of Pitt and Moore who as an arts enthusiast has given hugely of his time to the drafting of this bill on a pro bono basis. The community is also indebted to the Nelson City Council Chief Executive Viesturs Altments who has saved ratepayers a considerable mint by doing a lot of the legal work himself. 
I also pay tribute to the original founder of the art gallery Amelia Suter who all the way back in the 1890s decided to found a public art gallery in Nelson in memory of her husband Andrew Suter. When we look back at the 1890s and all the stresses of day-to-day life then we can see that it was somewhat remarkable that the bishop’s wife decided that a gallery was something Nelson needed and that people worked vigorously to raise funds to ensure its development. I pay tribute also to other founders of Nelson’s Bishop Suter Art Gallery including Nelson’s member of Parliament at the time John Graham and the mayor who got in behind Amelia Suter’s vision. 
I thank Parliament for its indulgence in allowing the second and third readings of the bill to be advanced together. With 1 July having just passed the members of the Bishop Suter Art Gallery board which is to be led by a Nelsonian of whom we are very proud Craig Potton who is famous for his photography—he offered to be the new trust chair and it has been agreed that he shall—are champing at the bit to get on with the important work of entering this new chapter in the life of the Bishop Suter Art Gallery. I acknowledge the support of all the parties that have agreed to the combining of the second and third readings to allow this bill to be advanced as quickly as possible.