Mark Ron: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMark Ron: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 06 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3275. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RON MARK (NZ First):I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to take a very brief call in support of the Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill. I want to start actually by paying tribute to the members of the Local Government and Environment Committee. I have got to say that when I first came back into Parliament and witnessed the swallowing up of all the chairman’s roles and deputy chairman’s roles of all the select committees it sort of made my heart sink a little bit. I thought well here we have a Government that has decided that it is going to control everything in Parliament and it is not going to share any responsibilities with other parties at the select committee level and I found that quite disappointing.I went into the select committee with a bit of a heavy heart. I have got to say that Scott Simpson and the other Government members of the Local Government and Environment Committee are proving to be very collegial and very easy and good to work with. I really want to take my hat off to Scott Simpson and say that in the next reshuffle mate I hope you actually land one of those portfolios in Cabinet or even outside of it. You are doing a good job. I know full well that this is going to be used later on; I am just saying that I am appreciative of that.I particularly say that because as a mayor I came to this House when the local government amendment legislation was going through and I unfortunately had to sit as a witness to those submissions put forward by other people who are interested in the Local Government Act. I was thoroughly disappointed with the way that that committee attacked members of Local Government New Zealand and other submitters who dared to criticise the legislation that went through. I am sorry Nicky but the behaviour of that committee and the reports that continue to be discussed around Local Government New Zealand speak very ill of that committee in the way it behaved. This Local Government and Environment Committee is nothing like that. It is a very good committee to work in and the work coming out of there reflects that.It is interesting also to look at the names of the people who have been involved in the Christchurch Arts Centre over the years. As someone who lived on and off in Canterbury for 30 years I see those people’s names here in the legislation going back in time to 1978—Albert Brownlie Malcolm Douglass Peter Dunbar Richard Harrington Graham Miller Noel Searell and Thomas Taylor. Those people have done sterling work in Canterbury for the Arts Centre over the years and that work is carried on very ably by Margaret Austin a person I have great affection for. She is one of those people who talked me into standing for Parliament right at the outset and supported me in my campaign against Ruth “mother of all Budgets” Richardson—a scalp we very very nearly got and we did get indirectly when she got fired by Jim Bolger as a result of that election.This bill is an easy one to support. It is eminently sensible. The purpose and objectives of the bill are clearly to set up a better governance structure that makes it possible for what is going to be a $290 million project involving 23 category I heritage buildings to be completed on time and with fiscal prudence and to ensure that the Arts Centre is managed sustainably going into the future. We can only support that.I am one of those people who spent a few nights in the Dux de Lux having a quiet ale here and there. No doubt if I had known him then I would have probably had a beer with Matt Doocey as well as we discussed the ills and the woes of the world amongst many students from Canterbury who likewise imbibed a few in those surroundings. The opportunity to take my children—and now my grandchildren—into the Arts Centre to enjoy the entertainment to enjoy the arts the culture the vibrancy and the atmosphere was something we enjoyed as a young family and I am very confident this legislation will make it possible for that to continue for generations to come.There were some issues around—and I am just looking back through my notes here—the powers of the trust board and the appointments the mechanism by which people are appointed. Eminently sensible decisions were taken there. Removing the Minister from any perceived control over who gets appointed I think was a very sensible move and New Zealand First supports that. Having said that I know from personal experience there have been some very sensible decisions made by some of this Government’s Ministers in the past people they have appointed to places and I thank them very much for those appointments in the past. I just want to close by saying that it is a good bill good work. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure working with the team on that. New Zealand First will be supporting the bill.