Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. It's a real privilege to speak on this important local bill which the member for New Plymouth has championed through this House. I acknowledge all of the members of this House who have spoken so warmly of New Plymouth and of him and of our guests in the gallery today. I acknowledge His Worship Neil Holdom the Mayor Gareth Green chief executive Joy Buckingham Greg Stevens Jonathan Salter Mark Butcher and Sarah Vrede. It is a real privilege to be having this debate about the health of a region we all care about with you to join in our conversation today.I'd like to pick up on a point which has been touched on by a number of colleagues around the House about the protections in the bill that have been arrived at through consultation by the council and then through consideration by the committee. That protection that I'm going to focus in on is to make sure that the investment decisions—which shares to buy and sell and so forth—are not political decisions. The bill provides that the investment decisions must be made independently of elected members on a commercial basis and the member who just resumed his seat Tama Potaka made this point: that those provisions are modelled very closely on those of the Superannuation Fund. Some members of this House have also noted those similarities. New Plymouth PIF Guardians is also a similar name to the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation and that was a deliberate choice made by council. It was also deliberate that in clause 8(2) it's very similar to the wording that protects that fund managed by the guardians of the Superannuation Fund.I want to touch on that because that point really highlights the intergenerational nature of this fund that New Plymouth will have. It will be a fund that has a similar sort of intergenerational and institutional level of oversight over its investments. These are investments which are meant to invigorate the economy in this area. They're meant to make targeted strategic investments that are good for the long term and are good for future generations. Does that sound similar to some other investments that are happening in this region? Yes it does.This region is very lucky to be a post-settlement region. Earlier in this Government's term Ngāti Maru was settled. The Crown made an apology to Ngāti Maru on 29 October 2022 making it the final of eight iwi within the region to reach a settlement with the Crown for historic grievances many that arose during the time of the Taranaki Wars. It was a real honour for me to be involved in that process as a member of the Māori Affairs Committee. Some of the most important work that this Parliament does is considering the historical grievances and historical wrongs of the Crown toward iwi and then to be able to see the aspirations of iwi for future generations—their plans for housing their plans for cultural revitalisation within an area—and a reconnection with their whenua. It is so important that this Parliament is involved. So for that region we have Ngāti Maru Ngāti Mutunga Te Ātiawa Taranaki—these settlements that have now occurred that make way now for a settlement of the maunga a reclaiming of a history and a special association that so many of us have as New Zealanders. But also those mana whenua those ahi kā groups can now have negotiation with the Crown which will enable a reclaiming of the stories associated with that maunga and an apology from the Crown.So it's in that context that when we talk about the intergenerational nature of this fund we as parliamentarians can express our excitement and our hopefulness about the ability of the New Plymouth fund—which is as I understand it $349 million worth—to interact with those iwi investments which are able to happen now. Ngāti Maru alone was settled $30 million from the Crown and those investments will rapidly grow in an area which is growing and in primary sector investments which are much in demand on a global scale. So the ability for these eight iwi to work hand in glove with the council is absolutely important. I understand that the council has a thriving iwi chairs forum and that the relationships that exist between council can only grow now that they are backed up by this institutional level of investment which can only get better.I wish the council well. Again it's a real privilege for you to be here. I look forward to seeing those relationships grow and enable the Māori economy to thrive in the region. I commend this bill.