Hughes Gareth: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHughes Gareth: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10778. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GARETH HUGHES (Green): Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou kia ora. I rise to support this bill and it is with great pleasure that the Green Party is supporting this local bill in the name of Grant Robertson the MP for Wellington Central. It is fantastic that we are finally here tonight. I do not need to remind members—it has been well canvassed in the debates—that it has taken an awfully long time to get here when you consider the original visioning of the town belt from 1839 through to the town belt deed in 1879 to more than a hundred years later when Grant Robertson I understand first got involved all the way back in 2001 and to the official process kicking off in 2010. Here we are in 2016 in the third reading of this legislation and it is fantastic to be here cleaning up the various statutes reserves and deeds that relate to what is a very special part of our city—I believe a taonga—not only for Wellingtonians but for all New Zealanders being in our capital city.First of all I would like to thank and acknowledge the many people who have been involved. First of all Grant I think this is a testament to perseverance in politics. It has taken a long time to get here but it is a fantastic achievement. Obviously the Wellington City Council has played a pivotal role in this legislation—Paul Foster-Bell: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sorry to interrupt the member but I believe it is the convention in this House to refer to members by their surname or their electorate.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Thank you.GARETH HUGHES: From the member who gave an embarrassing Star Wars speech before—incredible stuff.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): No. Mr Hughes can you resume your seat. I treated the point of order in the way that I thought it deserved. You cannot refer to it.GARETH HUGHES: I would like to continue the thanks and acknowledgment for the work that has gone on for the bill from the Wellington City Council the various officials who were involved the 250 submitters in that process through to the 30 submitters in the select committee process through our Parliament and of course the Local Government and Environment Committee chair Scott Simpson. It is great that so many people have come together to protect what is a taonga for our city.Reflecting personally it is every day that I scooter with my kids to school past the botanical gardens part of it. In my student days my flat backed almost on to Mount Victoria and I will not share any student stories with the House tonight. In my married days we lived in the Aro Valley and we would often walk up Polhill Reserve to the Brooklyn wind turbine. Through to today in my days off one of my favourite things is walking with my dog Joe the German shepherd up Te Ahumairangi Hill—up to the top there to the radio mast. It is an incredibly special place and I am sure all Wellingtonians have their own unique special stories about this part of our capital city which we love.It is fantastic that we are passing legislation unanimously. As often is the case with local bills it is passed unanimously often non-controversially. In a later part of my speech I will touch the single concern that we have with this legislation. But first of all it is a real improvement to the status quo. What the area has been operating in is a hodgepodge of the Reserves Act the original 1879 town deed and various other statutes—the Public Works Act for example. It is good to sort of rationalise this in one place.A key problem has been that it has been impossible to add land into the town belt. Land has previously been taken out but it has been impossible to add it in. So to I guess introduce a dieting methodology we have actually been tightening the belt with this legislation. We are protecting and strengthening particularly the powers under the Reserves Act and critically more land will be introduced to Wellington’s town belt as a result of this third reading and the consequent signature by the Governor-General to add 120 hectares of land to that.Crucially it recognises the history of mana whenua and also a co-management role when it comes to managing this incredible part of our city. I would like to acknowledge Te Atiawa Ngāti Ruanui Taranaki Ngāti Tama—which together comprise Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika—and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. It is an incredibly positive step for New Zealand to be acknowledging their historical role but also a role going forward—which I am sure will be much longer in length than the existence of the town belt—together in a partnership. When you just look at the principles of the legislation you get a sense of what Parliament is achieving tonight which is protecting the landscape character of the town belt enhancing it supporting healthy indigenous ecosystems and making sure that the Wellington town belt is accessible for all to enjoy including for a wide range of recreational activities.My final point which is not to take away from the very positive step that this legislation represents is the concern we had about clause 23. Obviously the original legislation was amended in the select committee—clause 23 which relates to the Public Works Act. The member Paul Foster-Bell who spoke before me I believe introduced an incredibly weak and I think false argument that this needed to change because of the potential earthquake risk and insecurity of the supply of electricity to the hospital. That is a smokescreen. The reason for this of course is that the Government is determined to try to ram through a seven-lane motorway on the Hātaitai side of the Mount Victoria tunnel down Ruahine Street. No one in Wellington I wager—and I think it is a reasonable assumption—would object to an emergency electricity supply. Can any member envision that scenario happening? Yet that is exactly the argument Paul Foster-Bell is using when the select committee removed reference to Wellingtonians as interested parties with the ability to object to acquisition under the Public Works Act. I believe it is a ridiculous scenario and example—that some Wellingtonian would object in the event of a major earthquake to maintaining electricity supply to the hospital.Of course it was a political argument—right? The argument was not really about that. It was because the member could not say the words that he really meant which were that the Government wants to ram through a seven-lane motorway and it wants to eat into the town belt to achieve it. This is exactly why the clause was amended in the select committee.However on the whole this legislation is a considerable improvement despite this. The way we are going to protect the houses in that region and the way we are going to make sure Wellingtonians get better transport choices—including light rail through to the airport and better bus services which do not require a seven-lane motorway—is of course the general election next year.This legislation is a considerable improvement on what is a very special place for Wellingtonians and for mana whenua and that is why we are very proud of and privileged to have the work that Grant and the rest of the team have put into it and we are glad that we can support it with our votes in Parliament tonight. Kia ora.