King Colin: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — First Reading 
King Colin: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1734] 
COLIN KING (National—Kaikoura) 
: 
 I rise in support of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill and in doing so I acknowledge the very articulate way that the Minister for Land Information went through the bill its very structured purposes and what it is designed to do. 
I also take up the comment made by the member who just spoke and who has resumed his seat. He said that it has taken some time for him to get his call and that he had not known whether he would actually get to speak on the bill today. I think it is worth tying that in with what another Opposition member said today. The member said effectively that it has really been left up to National to tidy up what Labour clearly left very untidy. This bill was introduced in the House on 15 July 2008 and it has languished on the Order Paper. It has now been picked up by an eager and enthusiastic National Government to ensure we get these matters sorted. This bill covers matters that are significant from the point of view of the communities involved. So there will be no more waiting; we have brought this bill forward for its first reading and I am sure it will be sent off to the select committee. 
Interestingly nine of my colleagues on this side of the House will be eagerly waiting to see the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill pass into law. I take the opportunity of naming those fine members. We have Shane Ardern the member for Taranaki - King Country. We have the member for West Coast - Tasman Chris Auchinvole. We have the member for Waitakere Paula Bennett. We have Jacqui Dean from Waitaki and Bill English from down in Clutha-Southland. From Auckland Central we have Nikki Kaye. I am from the Kaikoura electorate Lockwood Smith is from Rodney and Jonathan Young is from New Plymouth. That gives members some idea why we on this side of the House see this matter as of significant importance. 
Going back to my own situation and considering the eloquent speech given by the Minister Richard Worth I see that the explanatory note of the bill touches on a matter that is close to my heart. It talks about the “Marlborough District Council (Picton Office) land”. We see that a long way back in time the Picton Institute Act 1864 bequeathed land for the specified intention. However the council has used that land for another purpose and under this Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill the council wishes to validate a previous dealing with the land and to remove the interest in relation to the Picton Institute. That goes right back to 1864. We can understand that the purpose of this bill is to tidy up such anomalies. 
As we have heard 2003 was the last time that a Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill was put forward. Some 5 years have gone by and now we have this bill which covers 17 pieces of legislation that need to be pulled into line. Either there have been oversights or corrections are required. 
A situation that is occurring in the electorate of Kaikoura is hugely significant and everybody is waiting on it. It is with regard to the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board and the land that surrounds the Wairau Hospital. Clauses 28 to 34 relate to five parcels of land that are very important to the Wairau Hospital rebuild. In fact the rebuild has already started. We are well into the project. This matter is very important to the rebuild because unless we get those titles clear we will not be able to use these particular parcels of land to complete the hospital rebuild. It is a very very important matter. It is something that needs to be processed quickly because the community is aware that there is an intention in relation to that land. Some 16 hectares of land is involved. Not all that land is needed. However the way in which the land came to be bequeathed to the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board needs to be clarified so that it can be used for the purpose of rebuilding that hospital. It needs to be processed. 
The intention is that the land that is not required be used for the purposes of residential subdivision. That in itself raises another point in the sense that when we look at the explanatory note we see that it states that the bill is non-controversial. That is an interesting comment because “non-controversial” today can take on the meaning that the general public are in acceptance of the process. It will be very interesting when the bill goes through the House and submissions are called for—and I am a member of the Primary Production Committee—to see whether every member of the public in Marlborough agrees that the land should be disposed of and subdivided for the building of houses. 
Effectively about $5 million in general terms is required to make up the sum that is necessary to totally fund the Wairau Hospital rebuild. There is a view amongst a section of the community that the money should come out of the consolidated account of taxes and that this land should be reserved. However once something is bequeathed to a district health board the board effectively becomes the owner and on that basis the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill as it is presented is intended to tidy up the matter so that it can be moved on without there being any issue. 
When we look at this bill we consider that those matters are very very important to the community of Marlborough in the Kaikoura electorate but likewise throughout the country there are other matters of huge significance that need to be tidied up. One area that I found to be of particular interest—and I will try my very best to pronounce the name appropriately—is to do with a cemetery in the electorate of Waitakere. It is the Waikumete Cemetery. A lot of its 220-odd acres of land has now been subdivided and used for residential properties. That being the case corrections need to be made concerning the process and everything needs to be brought into order. There is no doubt that the community of Waitakere agrees with that. Things are being dealt with in an orderly way and by arrangement. 
It is worth noting that that cemetery has a significant historical background. It includes a monument to the Holocaust. The monument was erected adjacent to the Hebrew prayer house in the Hebrew section of the cemetery. Also a number of victims of the 1918 influenza outbreak are buried in unmarked graves along the eucalyptus way. Probably the most recent thing of significance in regard to that particular cemetery was the burial of a number of unidentified victims of the Mount Erebus plane crash. 
As members will appreciate the provisions relating to those things need tidying up and this bill the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill does that appropriately. It is very very important—hugely significant—to the communities that are involved. It gives me great pleasure to support the first reading of this bill.