Tuiono TeanauTEANAU TUIONO (Green): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of the Greens to support the second reading of the New Plymouth District Council (Perpetual Investment Fund) Bill. I have been listening with great interest to the various contributions around the House before we broke for dinner and many of the people reflected on their relationship with New Plymouth and also their relationship with the Taranaki region as well. But during one of the calls which was taken by my colleague Rachel Boyack she pointed out that there are some geographically challenged people who didn't know the difference between New Plymouth and Palmerston North and that was reflected a bit around the House today. So just to reiterate the difference in Palmerston North we have the majestic clock tower there in The Square where we measure the greatness of the mighty Manawatū against the linear trajectory of time. But of course New Plymouth has many outstanding features as well and as I was listening to the many contributions earlier I was reflecting on my first time in New Plymouth when I was spending some time with my mate Taipuni Jason Ruakere—who now sits on the pae often over at Pūniho Pā—and a number of the Taranaki whānau. I remember them taking me out surfing for the first time and you would think that because I'm an Islander from an island surrounded by the ocean I would be a good swimmer but that would just be an assumption. I had to learn a quick few lessons. But the heart of that community and the heart of that district—the majestic Taranaki maunga—and the commitment to that community is something that I think we can all reflect on and celebrate in terms of the Taranakitanga. The purpose of the Perpetual Investment Fund and part of that history has been traversed tonight as well. I did like the contribution from Ian McKelvie because he did put it into some historical context which made it a lot clearer for me. Going back to 2004 there was Powerco shares—I think that was what they were called—and instead of flicking them out and getting a one-off payment to the ratepayers the foresight of the people running the district council at that time meant that they set up instead this Perpetual Investment Fund in 2004 to make sure that it could do good things great things for that community. That's a good thing that we support as Greens as well—appropriate decision-making making sure that you look after the community—and that fund is still here today. It did hit a bump in the road during the—well a big bump in the road and I think we all felt it at the time which was the 2008 global financial crisis. The original opening balance was $259 million and then the financial crisis happened and they lost $113 million in value over a five-year period. So the purpose of this piece of legislation is to try to ring-fence that to make sure that the—I guess the way that I'm seeing it is it's trying to futureproof the fund so that it actually does the things that they intend it to do around making sure that it supports the sustainability and making sure that it does the best things for ratepayers in that region. There was one submission—I did have a read of it and I did hear contributions from around the House and I think it was a valid concern around what happens if district boundaries change because who knows what's going to happen in the future as to whether there will be an amalgamation or a divvying up or whatever. But I do reflect on what was discussed in the select committee via the reports around how potentially you could come back to actually address that particular aspect in the future. But leaning on the experience within the district council itself and its being able to sort of manage those differences it can manage the movement of this stuff as well. Also I'm reflecting on what was said just before around clause 8. It is making sure that the management of this fund is independent—always very very important—of those who are elected into positions of authority who have the power as well and how important it is to be independent when you make those decisions. So that's my contribution tonight and the Greens support this bill.