Goldsmith Paul: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goldsmith Paul: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6619. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) 
: 
 I hesitate to stand up in front of my learned chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee but I would like to have my say on this important bill the Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill. I was glad to hear from the previous speaker Phil Twyford his congratulations to the excellent member for Waitaki Jacqui Dean but I thought he was rather unkind in suggesting that there was some nervousness on the part of the local constituency about what the National Party’s intentions were. I mean given the fact that this member has a 14140 majority— 
Hon Member 
: How much? 
PAUL GOLDSMITH 
: —14140 over Barry Monks—indeed this person who has been held up to be commended. That has been the number of people voting for Jacqui Dean and I think that is a great testament to the popularity of that member in the local environment and a testament to the hard work and the support of the National Party. 
 There was a member who spoke earlier Mr David Parker who used to be a member in this area I believe some time ago. I understand that he tried to deal with the situation that we are dealing with in this bill but failed to make any progress on what turned out to be a difficult and intractable issue. 
Kris Faafoi 
: Shouldn’t you be talking about Epsom? 
PAUL GOLDSMITH 
: Yes well funnily enough that member did indeed come up to Epsom and he failed to have much traction in that area either. He spoke with a great deal of clarity on a number of issues in the Epsom electorate but I do not think he gained a lot of sympathy with the locals. To be sure the people of Epsom do tend to be focused on understanding the importance of enterprise in the development of this country and its economy and I do not think Mr Parker’s messages around extra taxes and capital gains resonate very well with the locals up there so he went on. I do think nevertheless that David Parker would make a fine leader of the Labour Party if he had an opportunity. 
Fundamentally this bill is about fixing an error that was made back in 1937 when this land was mistakenly vested in the Waitaki District Council as a reserve. We all make mistakes. Indeed sometimes political parties make mistakes when they are choosing leaders and when they are deciding where the future of the party is going to be. I suppose we have to reap the consequences of our mistakes. There comes a time when you have to set them right and it will be interesting to see whether over the next few days the Labour Party— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Order! 
PAUL GOLDSMITH 
: —rectifies what may have been a mistake. Sorry do I need to shorten things? Oh right. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Back to the bill. 
PAUL GOLDSMITH 
: Getting back to Waitaki then interestingly this bill really harks back to history. When we look at this land which was originally purchased by the Government from Ngai Tahu in 1848 as part of the Kemp purchase it was then part of the original subdivision of the town of Oamaru. Then we go on to 1885 when the land was set aside as an endowment in aid of funds for the benefit of the then Oamaru Borough Council. I heard another member Chris Finlayson in the general debate today talking about history. He was talking about the history of the Labour Party which is going to be the subject of a seminar. It is interesting that they are focusing on the success of Norm Kirk. 
Phil Twyford 
: It’s already been. 
PAUL GOLDSMITH 
: Well I would be very interested to hear some of the reports because what you had here was celebrating the ability to take a 23-seat majority in 1992 and convert it into a 23-seat loss in 1975 and yet this is still held up as a great moment in history for the Labour Party. To go from a 23 majority to a 23 loss—I am sorry that was 1972 to 1975. I am sorry about that. It is interesting. That was a remarkable period in our history to go from such support in 1972 and then in 1975 being in a great deal of trouble. 
Anyway I am getting back to 1885 in that period when this land was set aside as an endowment in aid of funds for the benefit of the Oamaru Borough Council. You cannot help but go back to 1885— 
Brendan Horan 
: Is it actually going anywhere this ramble? 
PAUL GOLDSMITH 
: —a very interesting time in New Zealand’s history when this nation was being developed—somebody is trying to put me off—and when this nation was growing. When we look back at the seeds of that success in New Zealand in the 19th century what do we see? We see the innovation that was so important to the farming communities around Oamaru where it became a successful city and a prosperous part of New Zealand. We look at the export markets and the fact that New Zealand at the time had great access to the United Kingdom and was able to sell its produce around the world. Then we look at the skilled workforce that was ready and eager to work on the farms and to build with that Oamaru stone that beautiful city that we now visit and understand and love. Then we look at the development of infrastructure that was so important to the nation and to the development of this city linking it with Timaru linking it with Dunedin and with Christchurch. Then we think about the natural resources that the people who came from the other side of the world to Oamaru and set up their farms discovered the gold up in the hills not far from Oamaru and the fruit and vegetables and the grass from the land. Then we also think about the capital markets that they were able to draw upon through sovereign funds from London in order to grow and develop.  
When we think about these these are all the things that this Government is talking about in its Business Growth Agenda which is the heart and soul of what this Government is trying to achieve here in this country. All those things that are so crucial now were indeed still crucial back in 1885 when this land that we are talking about here today was set aside as an endowment in aid of funds for the benefit of the Oamaru Borough Council. I just wanted to reassert or underline the importance of all those elements of the Business Growth Agenda which I think cannot be repeated enough in this House because that is what this Government is focusing on and what it is all about.  
I just want to draw back if I may in the last few minutes that we have available to us to some of the intricacies of this bill. When we reached 1935 and there was an administrative oversight that saw this piece of land mistakenly vested in the Waitaki District Council as a reserve we found that as a result of this confusion and the result of the semantics the reserved land was endowed. It should have been endowed instead of reserved as was intended. We had a long period of time when there was some confusion over the exact status of this land. So the council has been working closely with Land Information New Zealand with Ngai Tahu with the Department of Conservation with the Commissioner of Crown Lands and indeed with the member for Waitaki the very fine Jacqui Dean. She worked tirelessly and meticulously to try to work her way through the complications of this situation to bring it to such a happy result as we have today. We have reached the second reading and we are not far off from resolving once and for all this issue so that the local council can have the ability to have the flexibility of arrangements that it needs in order to continue to serve its community successfully and in a way that does not unduly burden them with rates.  
I was glad that the previous speaker Phil Twyford did mention the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill which will be coming back to the House because that is an excellent piece of legislation. Certainly the thing that people around my neighbourhood are most concerned about is the cost of local government. This bill will deal with it in a particular way of great importance to the people of Oamaru. But the wider legislation that will be coming down the track before too long will start to deal with some of those four well-beings that have led to a massive growth in local government spending over the last decade and will get local government focused back on its essentials such as dealing with its reserve and endowment lands and moving the community forward.  
Getting back on to Ngai Tahu which took considerable advice in the development of this legislation they confirmed to the council that it was their view that the Waitaki District Council has—