Mahuta Nanaia: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — First Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:11761] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 I speak in favour of sending the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill to a select committee to ensure that in the fullness of time those more expert in the history of this property can bring that history out because I know that that could be a local concern. 
I will offer some of my own childhood recollections. We used to live on Boundary Road when I was a child and often would walk our dog down to Parana Park. It has been rightly said that this is a children’s playground. There were really two places my family went in Hamilton either as children or to take our children. One was Hamilton Lake which had a walkway around it and the other was Parana Park. We went to Parana Park mainly I suspect—for my mother and father in summer—because we were able to swim in the little paddling pool there without too much problem. I have been there recently—just last summer in fact—with my grandson. We took him there and he enjoyed the area. Sue was right to say that a lot of early childhood centres go there because it is a small and confined space. Children who go to that particular park are probably no older than 8 because of the nature of the small playground. It is a very confined space and there is a small paddling pool for children to use. I am sure that the benefits of the park as a children’s playground will not be lost. This bill is just about the transfer of the management and future management of the playground. 
I will comment on some of the remarks made by members in respect of the history of Parana Park. It is true that there is a post-raupatu history of Parana Park. Indeed the land would not have been owned by George Parr were it not for the confiscations within Waikato. But Hamilton City is very rich in history and if anyone wants to find out all the different pa sites in the area there is a well-indexed history at Waikato Museum to which Ngati Wairere and Wiremu Puke in particular contributed. It was really a means of trying within the city to ensure that those special places in the pre-raupatu history of Hamilton City would be retained. In the fullness of time through the select committee process a case may well be put by Maori community members to have both those historical accounts coexisting within the Parana Park story. 
The gift by George Parr later on to ensure that the land would be retained for the city and the benefit of all citizens within Hamilton was a great gift to all members of the community and it should stay as such. The little house there is a really nice little house and in summer we see the full beauty of Parana Park. I am concerned because there is an encroachment to the north of Parana Park. We are seeing more developments along Opoia Road and more apartments being put up. There is council housing in that area. I would hate to see in time Hamilton City Council choose to redesignate special characteristics of that whole area as a result of the changing residential profile of Opoia Road which is just abutting Parana Park. 
The select committee process will be important. It is an opportunity for those who have concerns about the future management and classification of this particular reserve to put their concerns to the select committee so that they can be heard by committee members. Not all Hamilton members will be on that particular select committee but I am sure anyone who has an interest in Hamilton will know that any reserve around our city would be protected by the citizens there. That is really important. The other important thing about the select committee process is that the Hamilton City Council itself may in its submission—and I hope that it will—set out its future management for that particular reserve. 
I support the bill being referred to a select committee and then coming back to the House. I am not sure whether there will be a number of amendments but it is an opportunity perhaps for the Hamilton City Council to consider its future management. It could have a member on the management committee of reserves in Hamilton. If that is a strong enough wish it should be put to the select committee. 
Lastly the fondest memory I have of Parana Park was of the first slide that I slid down as a child. Kia ora koutou.