Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise in the House this afternoon to take a call on the New Plymouth District Council (Perpetual Investment Fund) Bill—the PIF bill. As a member of the Governance and Administration Committee it was a pleasure to hear what was a very small number of submissions on this bill and to be able to engage with the New Plymouth District Council and the member who has sponsored the bill through the House my colleague Glen Bennett; it was useful to be able to talk through and hear from them about the benefits of the PIF to the New Plymouth community. I think many of us sitting around the table of the committee and perhaps some of us in the House were a little bit envious of this fund. It is a significant fund that does allow a significant amount of investment into the New Plymouth community.I note one of those organisations that receives funding from the council is the TSB Showcase concert venue in the middle of New Plymouth which I have fond memories of as a former member of the New Zealand Youth Choir; it was where I performed for the first time with the Youth Choir in New Plymouth. I'm not sure if Marbles restaurant receives funding however but I do have fond memories of heading along with a bunch of hungry 20-somethings at the buffet there at Marbles restaurant in New Plymouth. Every so often the waiting staff—they were dressed in a Greek theme—would do a whole lot of dancing throughout the restaurant and we would then sing our way into the night on the karaoke machine. As I say these are the types of investments that this fund can make into the New Plymouth community which enables the economic and social fabric of the New Plymouth society to thrive. I am very envious of their PIF fund.Myself and the New Plymouth MP do have a little bit in common. One of things we have in common is having to constantly remind people of the difference between New Plymouth and Palmerston North. I was lucky enough to go to high school in Palmerston North and many people around New Zealand often get those places confused. What I can say—look they both have an N" and they both have a "P" in the title of their names and that's about where it ends the similarities between Palmerston North and New Plymouth.As a proud MP from provincial New Zealand who has grown up and spent the large majority of her life living in provincial New Zealand it's always enjoyable chatting to my colleague Mr Glen Bennett just about the similarities between Nelson and New Plymouth. But I would say: we are the sunshine capital of New Zealand and I was pleased to present Mr Glen Bennett with a little box of sunshine earlier this year filled with products from mighty Nelson which—I'm sure Mr Speaker would agree with me—is the sunniest part of New Zealand it being his tūrangawaewae as well.The other thing we share is that we are due to have a coastal shipping link started later this year between New Plymouth and Nelson and just like this bill and the Perpetual Investment Fund supports the economic prosperity of New Plymouth so too will that coastal shipping route.I'll spend some time just focusing somewhat on the bill. As I said we had five submissions; there were excellent submissions.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Only took four minutes to get here. RACHEL BOYACK: That's a record Mr Speaker! I think it is important to talk through some of the history and the fund itself. It was established in 2004 from the sale proceeds of the council's shareholdings in Powerco. What did happen though which I think the New Plymouth District Council and the bill's sponsor have done a very good job of explaining well to the committee was it was not managed sustainably so it lost around $113 million in value over five years. That was following the 2008 global financial crisis. That gave cause for concern to the council and the community about the ongoing financial sustainability of the fund.What the bill does is it requires the council to use the PIF for purposes that are primarily for the benefit of current and future communities of New Plymouth as defined by its current boundaries—and I'll make some commentary on that a little bit later. It requires the council to have independent financial managers that make best-practice investment decisions to maintain or increase the value of the PIF over time and avoid prejudicing the council's reputation. It ensures that the council can only reduce the real value of the capital of the PIF where circumstances arise that warrant doing so. I just note the comments from the former speaker Barbara Kuriger just around that being in some type of emergency situation whereby there could be a need to tap into that fund.It's very important and the New Plymouth District Council made that very very clear about their view that they needed to ensure that ongoing financial sustainability of the fund. And that's important; when you've made a decision to do something such as sell assets in a company like Powerco that has an ongoing dividend and income application essentially to the council you need to ensure that you don't then have a sugar hit of funding that then depreciates away and you're no longer able to continue investing in perpetuity. It's prudent that there's some removal of that management of the fund away from for example councillors—not suggesting they wouldn't have the best interests of the fund in their approach—to those who are financially sound managers so that you can ensure that you've got that expert advice. It's certainly something that the committee completely agreed with.I will just make some notes about the submitters who opposed the provision in the bill which would limit the benefits of the PIF to the current district boundaries. That submitter felt that this could cause disparities amongst ratepayers. Now the particular point this submitter made during select committee hearings was that if there were to be some form of merger in the future—now that was an if but there are always potentials for council mergers to occur around the country. The submitter made the point that if there were to be a merger you could then have a disparity between ratepayers that were within the current New Plymouth boundary and those that are not but could be part of some form of merged council.Now my perspective and the select committee's view was that given that this fund has come from the initial investment in Powerco and the decisions made by New Plymouth District Council for the benefit of ratepayers within that district—it's certainly my view and I believe the committee agreed with the council that that should be ring-fenced for the benefit of those people that have contributed to that fund in the first place. That's not to say that in a hypothetical situation if there were to be some form of merger in the future that the council was not stopped from coming back to Parliament to potentially change that at some point in the future but ultimately that would be a local decision to make.On that note it is just worth reminding the House and those who may be watching that this is a local bill. So this is a bill put forward by the council where they have undertaken the consultation necessary in order to get the bill to a point to bring to Parliament. Unless there is something that is of concern from a legislative point of view or from a Standing Orders point of view our role as a select committee during this process is to ensure that submitters have the opportunity to be heard and that the council itself in taking the bill through the process has heard those submitters and has followed an appropriate process. So I am comfortable with the decision that the New Plymouth District Council has made. I think it's the right one.Now my colleague Mr Glen Bennett in his speech and we have in the select committee report as well about the governance deed—and that may be a matter we have to have some further conversation about as this bill progresses through the House which as a member of that committee I'd be very happy to have that.I do also want to note that the New Plymouth District Council also did an excellent job leading to this process to look at a number of other options. I don't have time to traverse them unfortunately because I have taken some time to speak about the wonderful provinces of New Zealand—New Plymouth Palmerston North and Nelson. This is an excellent bill. I commend the council on their work. I commend my colleague Glen Bennett. I thank the submitters. I commend this bill to the House."