Kaye Nikki: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Kaye Nikki: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6605. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 I am very pleased to speak on the Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill. The first thing I would like to do is acknowledge the excellent local member Jacqui Dean and the huge amount of work that she has done to ensure that this bill is taken through Parliament. She is a great local member. I did hear in some of the other speeches—and I want to just address this—that some members have gone to the beautiful place of Oamaru to do their own research. I think that is a great thing if a piece of legislation is going through the House. Not all other members on this side have been able to do that but we have so much confidence in our local member Jacqui Dean and the work that she has done over several years that we did not necessarily need to visit and I do look forward to visiting in the near future. 
I also would like to acknowledge the very competent chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee Nicky Wagner who has worked tirelessly as well with the local member Jacqui Dean on this bill. 
As has already been mentioned this bill deals with several provisions around land. One of them was more controversial as has already been mentioned. The less controversial ones were the Palmerston Showgrounds and the lot 1 ones which were more straightforward because they are a revocation of the land’s Reserves Act status. In the case of the Palmerston Showgrounds land the bill will allow the Waitaki District Council to sell the land to the current lessees. In the case of the lot 1 section the bill will allow the Waitaki District Council to regularise the sale of the section to the current registered proprietors and will allow title to their property to be unencumbered by any notation relating to the Reserves Act. 
When we get to the key area that has been the subject of many of the submissions that we have received Lookout Point I think it is important to reiterate what has been mentioned by both the member Jacqui Dean and the Hon Annette King and that is that in all of the submissions you can see the huge amount of work that many people have gone into to ensure that the research happened. If we just go back through the history here of Lookout Point there was a very very clear disagreement or misunderstanding or confusion if you like that needed to be resolved. The particular issue with regard to Lookout Point was that an administrative oversight in 1937 had mistakenly vested the land in what was then the Oamaru Borough Council as a reserve. Reserve status and endowment status are two completely separate concepts and this was not fully appreciated in 1937. 
We discussed this at length at the Local Government and Environment Committee. I want to pay tribute at the moment to the huge amount of work done as well—it was not just by local people in Oamaru—by Land Information New Zealand Ngai Tahu the Department of Conservation the Commissioner of Crown Lands and the Parliamentary Counsel Office. As to what came back there is a very clear statement from our report because I think it does resolve this longstanding issue after lots of research by the community and all Government agencies and the local member for Waitaki. I want to read this key statement from the Primary Production Committee’s report on the Reserves and Other Land Disposal Bill: “Having reviewed their records Land Information New Zealand and the Department of Conservation are satisfied that treating Lookout Point as a reserve was indeed a genuine mistake resulting from the various meanings and legal uses of the word ‘reserve’. While we appreciate the sentiment of submitters and acknowledge there is contention on this issue after receiving advice from Land Information New Zealand and the Department of Conservation we believe that the land was actually classified as ‘reserves’ for an endowment in aid of borough funds rather than as a recreation or similar reserve.” 
For me that statement summarises several years of work by people in the Oamaru community by the local member Jacqui Dean by numerous Government departments and by the Primary Production Committee. I want to address that because I think it is important at this point as well not only to say that there has been research by the community that our select committee has considered the bill at length— 
Hon Member 
: The Labour members. 
NIKKI KAYE 
: —and that the Labour members have gone down to Oamaru I acknowledge that and that the National members have put a lot of faith in Jacqui Dean because we know what a great member she is— 
Maggie Barry 
: And I’ve been there. 
NIKKI KAYE 
: And Maggie Barry has personally been there as well. As Annette King said I think we will leave no stone unturned which is incredibly appropriate given that we are talking about Oamaru. 
But can I come back to some more of the history because I think members will be very interested in this. The Primary Production Committee heard submissions on 7 May 2009 and the council presented to the committee at the time. This was the key part of its report which I think is aligned with our report but it says as reported back from the Primary Production Committee: “Clauses 18 to 20 relate to land in the Waitaki District known as Lookout Point or Forrester Heights. The submissions we received concern one key issue: whether Lookout Point was mistakenly treated as reserve land under Reserves Act legislation or whether the council is attempting to circumvent the law to enable a building development.” I think what is really important is that we come back again to that point— 
Phil Twyford 
: Cut to the chase. 
NIKKI KAYE 
: No it is very important given that so many people have worked on this issue Mr Twyford that we go through this history and understand that there has been a lot of research by Government agencies the community the Primary Production Committee and the Local Government and Environment Committee. I know what it is like to have a local issue that is of controversy. What I am very confident of as I stand in this House is that we have left no stone unturned. We have had this issue go through several select committees in Parliament. There has been so much research on this issue. 
But the key important point that I want to make is that through several select committee processes we have ended up at this point where we can say we are confident in the approach we have taken with regard to Lookout Point. But what we have said in the select committee’s report on the bill is that the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill is currently before Parliament and we have made this point: “We know that clause 7 of this bill is the same as clause 20 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill which is currently awaiting its second reading in the House.” and what is important is that “There is nothing in Standing Orders that disallows two different bills from having identical clauses.” I think the conclusion is that in this circumstance “the identical clause can be removed from whichever bill is enacted second by an amendment at the committee of the whole House stage.” I wanted to raise that point because I think it is very important for this House to understand that so many members across the Chamber have cared so much about this issue that we have got two identical clauses in two bills. We know that it is important to the people of Oamaru to resolve this issue finally and once and for all. That does not mean that every person in the community will be happy but what it means is that there has been a very very thorough process with regard to this bill. 
Again I want to acknowledge the member for Waitaki because I think she has dealt with this issue with incredible diligence. She has carried herself well throughout it. I want to acknowledge the people of Oamaru for the many submissions they put in. I want to acknowledge members across the House. I can see Eugenie Sage. I can see the Hon Annette King. I want to acknowledge Nicky Wagner the brilliant chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee and other members of the committee for the diligent approach we have taken on this issue. Finally can I commend to the House this bill to resolve this issue once and for all so that the people of Oamaru will know that we have left no stone unturned and they can sleep easier tonight. Thank you.