Salesa Jenny; Brown SimeonParts 1 to 11 Schedules 1 to 10 and clauses 1 and 2CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that Parts 1 to 11 Schedules 1 to 10 and clauses 1 and 2 stand part.SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga): I assume this is a very wide-ranging debate now. Is that correct?CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jenny Salesa): Correct.SIMEON BROWN: Fantastic. That's great. I was getting very nervous there having to find out about every interpretation to try and keep this debate going but Simon Court was doing a fantastic job so hat's off to Simon Court. He's the man when it comes to the committee of the whole House from the ACT Party.Anyway I'm keen to ask some questions about Supplementary Order Paper 325 which the Minister has tabled. The first change I think is one of the substantive changes in relation to the Public Works Act and of course this was one of the significant issues raised by submitters at the select committee and I'd like the Minister to explain to the committee what these changes make in relation to public works and the public works powers that airport operators can use because this was a contentious point raised by airport operators in that the powers that they have around being able to acquire land or dispose of land in the original bill was being significantly curtailed and those powers were going to be given to Land Information New Zealand to be able to make decisions around whether land was surplus. And of course an airport is an asset which has a very long life cycle and to have a Government department coming in and saying to an airport that certain land was considered surplus would pay disregard to any long-term plans that an airport operator may have.So I think it would be useful for the Minister to outline what these changes are doing to ensure that airports are able to make those decisions and what these changes do to ensure that airports continue to hold those powers that they require and to I guess give the committee some confidence that these changes are not necessarily winding back the significant amendments made by the select committee which removed that excessive involvement of Land Information New Zealand into the process. I think that a number of airport operators up and down the country would appreciate hearing directly from the Minister—I'm sure they're all watching now—to understand exactly what these changes do regarding their powers under the Public Works Act.Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Associate Minister of Transport): First of all I'd just like to acknowledge the Minister obviously clearly engaged in identifying what is indeed a significant power and where there were significant and substantive issues raised throughout the select committee process. I think it's probably just important to note for the record that the select committee changes that the select committee members undertook throughout the course of that process it did clarify some of those matters. As a matter of fact in the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) before us today it doesn't renege or pull back on that.I think that following the report back by the select committee it became clear that there was still a significant amount of confusion I think it's fair to say from the industry as to what the clauses in the bill related to the Public Works Act provided for. So this SOP seeks to clarify and expressly state what the law is. These clauses are drafted in a manner that's consistent with the language used in section 186 of the Resource Management Act something that operators are familiar with and it is intended that they're easier to use.Clause 227 confirms the general position as currently stated in the Airports Authorities Act that an airport operated by an airport operator that is not a local authority must be treated as a Government work. Clause 227A more clearly provides for airports not operated by a local authority to compulsorily acquire lands through the Minister of Lands. Clause 227B more clearly provides for airports that are not operated by a local authority to dispose of land through the Public Works Act for the chief executive of Land Information New Zealand to be empowered to lodge a caveat on airport land and for the chief executive of Land Information New Zealand to comply with the procedural requirements in relation to any offer-back process. I hope that clarifies it for the member.