Moroney Sue: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
Moroney Sue: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
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SUE MORONEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am very pleased to stand in support of clause 8 of the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill which has been brought in in the name of the Hamilton City Council— 
Paul Quinn 
: What about those 16000 Playcentre kids being funded; 9000 kohanga reo kids? 
SUE MORONEY 
: I ask whether the member opposite is in the right debate as I am not sure. I can talk about early childhood education if the member would like me to but I was going to try to stick to the clause in this instance. It would be nice to have the opportunity to talk about passenger train services from Hamilton to Auckland as well but I will leave that aside for now. I was just responding to the interjection Mr Chair. 
Coming back to clause 8 which deals with the vesting of land I am particularly pleased to stand in support of this part of the bill because I think that in the time since the Hamilton City Council drafted this legislation the clause has become even more pertinent. As my colleague Iain Lees-Galloway pointed out it ensures that the Hamilton City Council does not incur any further cost than is necessary in having Parliament take over and vest this land once this bill passes. We would not want the council to incur any further cost because since it drafted this bill the council has found that its costs have been a real problem. It was reported just last week that because of the recession—which is National’s recession now because it has double-dipped and that must be because of what the National Government has not done—the council now faces a very precarious financial situation. It was reported just last week in the  
Waikato Times 
 that as a result of there being no growth in the economy in Hamilton the council is facing— 
David Bennett 
: It’s not true. 
SUE MORONEY 
: The member in the chair David Bennett who is in charge of this bill said that that is not true but it was there in black and white that the council has lost $4 million in the development contributions that it had budgeted for in this financial year and that is for Hamilton City Council alone. That tells us that economic growth has dropped so badly in Hamilton that there is just no development going on there. Although the Hamilton City Council had budgeted knowing about the global recession that was taking place it put forward a budget of X amount of dollars which has fallen short by $4 million just on the development contribution alone. The council has also identified that as a result of there being no extra money available for families to spend in Hamilton what had been budgeted for to be brought in through gate sales for the Waikato Stadium has fallen by $780000 in just 1 financial year. That tells us a story about ordinary families not being able to spare $20 or $25 to go to the rugby match because things are so stretched on that front. It is really important because of those circumstances that this Parliament supports this part of the bill where we make sure or the drafters of the bill have made sure that no further cost is incurred. 
I must congratulate those who drafted the bill as they have done a very good job on it—I tell Mr Bennett that I am referring to the officials but if the member has actually put pen to paper and drafted the bill himself then I would apologise withdraw that comment and would want to congratulate the member; however I suspect that it was the officials—because little in this bill has become controversial. I think that is the result of good drafting. 
However we need to support this clause because of the terrible financial situation that the Hamilton City Council has found itself in due to the lack of economic growth in our region and our city. I think that it has to come back to an absolute lack of a plan from the current Government that we have families who are really stretched and who cannot afford to go to rugby matches and the funding has fallen. Therefore it is so important that we make sure there are no additional and unnecessary costs for the Hamilton City Council to try to cover off in its budget this year. We know that if gift duties were to be paid on this land and if GST were to be paid it would come back on the ratepayer.