Smith Nick: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSmith Nick: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9314. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): I move That the Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill be now read a second time. I introduced this bill to Parliament last year to enable Christian Churches New Zealand to reorganise its portfolio of Church properties across New Zealand. There are 44 Churches across New Zealand that are affiliated to Christian Churches New Zealand.I am very proud of the fact that the Church began in Nelson in 1844. A Church was opened the following year in Auckland and this Church movement grew significantly through the 19th century to the significant number of congregations that there are today. I cannot talk for other communities on the role that Christian Churches New Zealand plays but I can say that in my Nelson community the Annesbrook Church is one of the largest most progressive and very constructive Churches in my community. Its work with youth and its work in helping families is something in which my community takes a great pride. That is why it is a privilege to be able to advance this bill which makes administrative changes to the way that network of churches is managed in New Zealand.The bill repeals the Associated Churches of Christ Church Property Act which dates back to 1929. The core of the changes proposed in this legislation is to enable the new trust that those 44 Churches have agreed to establish to have a more modern governance structure and to be able to manage their Church properties in a more flexible way. I want to thank the Government Administration Committee chaired by Ruth Dyson for its work on the bill for those two submissions that were made to the select committee and for the relatively minor refinements that were made—in a pretty bipartisan way—to this legislation.The select committee did explore whether long-term legislation could be dispensed with altogether in transferring the 44 parish properties over to a new trust and whether it would work for Parliament for the trust to simply operate under our existing trust legislation. Although I have some sympathy to reducing the number of statutes on our books the committee on advice came to the view that because of the unique history of Christian Churches New Zealand that was not a practical option and that in fact this new law would need to stay on our books to ensure that those Churches have got the security of their property and are able to manage it into the future without any legal uncertainty.I also want to acknowledge the work of Viesturs Altments a constituent of mine who has been at the forefront of this reform. He is a person who has served in my community in so many different ways: as chief executive of the Nelson City Council; as the chief executive of the previously largest dairy company back in the 1990s; and he is a person of considerable financial nous as well as a great deal of community-mindedness. It is his endeavour working with those 44 Churches across New Zealand that has put the hard work into preparing this bill for Parliament—getting the broad consensus of those 44 parishes and enabling this more logical structure for the management of those Church properties into the future.It is worth noting that Christian Churches New Zealand those 44 parishes have met every year since 1905 and continue to have an annual conference and that at that conference the churches the owners of these properties have thoroughly debated and thoroughly supported the changes to the now old 1929 Act.I also note that Christian Churches New Zealand in a number of parts of the country is united with parishes of other denominations which is certainly true in a number of our more rural communities and the new Church structure ensures that that can continue into the future.It is also worth commenting on what brought about the growth of the Christian Churches way back in the 19th century in the UK where there was concern about the traditional Churches—and I confess to being of Church of England origin. The concern for the original Christian Churches movement was that our traditional Churches had become too rigid and too authoritarian. The Christian Churches movement which is spread around 185 countries in the world is very much based on a philosophy of all persons being able to participate in Church governance in Churches being largely independent and being part of not a top-down Church structure but rather one that is very much driven by its grassroots parishes. The architects of this bill have been very concerned about and cautious of ensuring that that Church culture which goes right back to the beginning of the 19th century in the United Kingdom is maintained with this bill.The last comment I would wish to make about this legislation is to thank the select committee members for the diligent way in which they both listened to the submissions and made the changes that they have sensibly made to the bill.When we come to the Committee stage of Parliament’s deliberations and the clause by clause analysis we will make the minor changes around the process of the dissolution of the old property management board and enable the transfer of these properties which are worth some millions of dollars over to the new trust structure. As I have indicated I am strongly supportive of those relatively minor changes that the select committee has made.I would note that probably the most significant change in this bill from the 1929 Act is that the Act put quite a narrow constraint on the property trust board to be able to spend the funds and the revenues of those properties only back on property and the view that the 44 parishes have today is that the trust board should have a wider mandate and that it should be able to spend those property funds as those united 44 Churches would want to. I think that is a flexibility that this Parliament should confer on that trust board. Any of us who are involved in churches would know they are not just about bricks and mortar. They are about people and if the parishes of Christian Churches New Zealand wish to spend their funds on things other than property that is very much their asset their financial base and their choice.Again I acknowledge Ruth Dyson and the constructive dialogue I have had with her in refining this bill as it comes back to the House. I commend the bill to the House. It is about supporting this network of churches and their parishioners in being able to have a more modern structure so that as this Church extends beyond its 165-odd years in New Zealand it can have more flexible structure for governing the properties that it owns across New Zealand. Thank you.