te Heuheu Georgina: Bishop Suter Art Gallery Governance Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Bishop Suter Art Gallery Governance Restructuring Bill — Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:648;Page:17143] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I am very pleased to stand and take a call on the third reading of the Bishop Suter Art Gallery Governance Restructuring Bill. This is a good bill this is a great bill and I am very pleased to follow my colleagues from around the House in supporting it in its third reading. I am very pleased too to support my colleague the Hon Dr Nick Smith and the Nelson community of which he is part to enable them to make certain changes to the way the Bishop Suter Art Gallery is structured and managed in order to bring it into the 21st century. That is why it is a good bill—it is a great bill. 
I understand that this gallery—and my colleague confirmed this for me after the contribution made by the Hon Maryan Street—is the oldest and first dedicated gallery in New Zealand. It has played an important role in the life of Nelsonians and Tasmanians for over 108 years so this is a real institution a taonga for that region. It is part of Nelson’s identity; indeed it is part of New Zealand’s proud cultural heritage. It is an institution of great value great history and tradition. 
As my colleague Chris Finlayson has said we have across New Zealand a wonderful grouping of regional and provincial art galleries. They are tremendously important in the communities in which they sit. I too like Chris in the short time that I held the arts portfolio as spokesperson for the arts for the National Party back in 2004-05 was greatly privileged to be able to travel to a number of these institutions and galleries: Wanganui Puke Ariki in New Plymouth Gisborne and Whakatane and even to the smaller ones. I went to Nelson as well to visit this gallery. I was always absolutely impressed and moved by the fervour and the pride that those communities have in their galleries—and in their museums as well when we look at the bigger centres. I think that that underpins exactly why it is a good thing that Dr Smith has done to bring this bill to this House and to make sure that this gallery is structured and managed in a way that brings it right up to the modern day. I have one wee regret not having had that spokespersonship for the last 2 years which is that my ability to visit these places and see progress has been somewhat diminished. None the less it is a matter of great pride no matter where we are from in New Zealand for us to be able to see the fervour and creativity of the communities that nurture institutions like this. 
I say again that this is a good bill and I am pleased to support it. As has been said by colleagues the bill does four things. It transfers to a new trust the Bishop Suter Trust all the property the rights and the obligations of the gallery including its land and buildings in Bridge Street in Nelson and its invaluable art collections. The new trust is a standard trust under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 and it is to be a council-controlled organisation under the Local Government Act. This means that the gallery will have a standard trust structure with greater legal accountabilities and a direct link with the people of Nelson through the democratically elected council. That makes sense. It is their resource that supports it so greater accountability is right in line and in keeping with making sure that this gallery is managed well both now and in the future. 
The second legal effect of the bill is to dissolve the old trust board and to remove it from the register of charitable trust boards. The third effect is to make it plain that there is no legal obligation arising from the donations given for the recent redevelopment proposal for the gallery so that the new board is free to proceed with or to postpone that major development proposal. 
The fourth and final part of the bill repeals the Bishop Suter Art Gallery Trustees Act 1896. I was interested in looking at some of the papers that accompanied the bill as they had a bit of the historical background. As I said the gallery was opened in 1899 under a trust established by Amelia Damaris Suter the widow of Bishop Andrew Burn Suter of Nelson. He was the bishop from 1830 to 1895. She conveyed certain properties to the trust and also donated a collection of paintings to form the nucleus of the gallery’s collection. Further land was vested in the trustees on the same trust under the Bishop Suter Art Gallery Trustees Act 1896. 
Amelia Suter’s trust deed created a self-perpetuating board to manage the endowment. It has been suggested that a self-perpetuating body of any kind may become ingrown and complacent; it has no constituency to represent and so no other body has a natural stake in its existence. Obviously that is a big part of the reason why we see this bill in the House today. No other financial endowment or income was provided; every generation of trustees and latterly of professional directors has struggled to find an adequate secure living to keep the gallery afloat and extend its activities. I give all the more commendation to that community and to the people who have nurtured and kept the gallery going up till now. The properties would have been of more use on a shorter lease which would have allowed for revaluation. However extremely long-term leases were customary at the time especially for educational and charitable purposes. The member for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell in the tenor of his speech referred to some of this particularly in relation to the Wakatu Incorporation and other Maori interests there. In any case the leases had been entered into almost 40 years previously and could not be altered. 
As I said at the beginning this is a good bill. It is not controversial as has been stated already. It has the unanimous support of the Nelson City Council the neighbouring Tasman District Council the existing Bishop Suter Art Gallery Trust Board and the new board and it has the strong support of the wider Nelson arts community so it is no wonder that it has support right across the House both from the Government side and from Opposition parties. I am pleased that Dr Nick Smith stood to respond to the concern that was raised by Dail Jones of New Zealand First because in that way we know that absolutely nothing is standing in the way of the passage of this bill. I suppose that underpins the appropriateness of what we are doing as parliamentarians this afternoon. 
I am not sure there is much more to say. Those who have not been to this gallery might at some future stage set some time aside to visit. Nelson is a vibrant creative arts community. I was truly impressed with that community when I went down there as our party’s spokesperson on arts culture and heritage at the time. Of course they were so proud as well—absolutely proud—and well they should be. Each community of course always thinks their gallery is better than the others. One of our speakers has already referred to that possessive feeling we all have about our galleries. I come from Taupo where we have a very small and compact museum. We are very proud of it; there has been quite a lot of development around it over the last few years and the treasures being placed there are increasing. I am very pleased to support the bill. The creativity of our communities says a lot about the kind of people we are as New Zealanders. It says a lot about how we want our youngsters to be as they move into the future and that is the importance of institutions like this.