Rurawhe Adrian: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9316. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru):Ā tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te W’are otirā e tika ana kia tuku atu te reo poroporoaki ki te rangatira nei ki a Tākuta Ranginui Walker. Nō reira e te rangatira hoki wairua atu ki a rātou mā i te wāhi ngaro; e oki e moe ā kāti mō tēnā.[And so thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. But at the same time it is fitting that I deliver a farewell tribute to this esteemed one Dr Ranginui Walker. Therefore to you esteemed leader return spiritually to those at that place that is out of sight; rest sleep and let us leave it at that.]It is a delight to stand and speak on this bill the Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill. First of all I want to acknowledge Christian Churches New Zealand which I understand spent around 2 years before this bill came to the House making sure that it had consulted widely amongst its parishioners and the wider Church. This bill is not needed to create the new trust—that trust is created under other legislation—but the old board was created under the Associated Churches of Christ Church Property Act 1929 and this bill is required so that property can be transferred to the new trust. So the purposes are of course to transfer those property interests and the powers and obligations from the Associated Churches of Christ Church Extension and Property Trust Board to the Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board. Also as the Hon Nick Smith mentioned the bill will dissolve the old board and repeal the original 1929 Act.There were only two submitters on this bill and I would like to mention both. The new board itself made a submission which was very helpful. Again the Hon Nick Smith mentioned this: there was a submitter who asked that there be a sunset clause put into the bill so that after say 2 years—2 years after this bill becomes an Act—the Act would be automatically repealed. On advice the Government Administration Committee decided not to. I just want to elaborate on exactly why. One it was because of the advice. For example the select committee was told that if one of the parishioners perhaps had left in their will a donation to the old trust board and this Act had been subsequently repealed then that donation would not be able to be actioned. There are other reasons as well but that was one reason that we took particular note of and I think it is worth mentioning in this second reading.Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board the new members also spoke about the restrictions of the old board and its ability to operate in—it was then 2015—the modern world and to deal with issues that its churches are facing. We are talking about 33 churches that are part of this collective of Christian Churches. So each one of them has its own requirements and they needed a lot more flexibility to be able to go about their business. We absolutely support the Christian Churches being able to go about their business in a modern context and not be restrained by legislation that was enacted 90 years ago. It is time for an update. As part of that update as I understand it in 2012 Christian Churches New Zealand got together and started this process. They went through a name change and began to develop what they wanted in this bill.So we come to the bill which gives the board a number of powers that any board would want in this day and age. The Hon Nick Smith also mentioned some of the other changes that we will come to in the Committee stage. There were a few minor technical changes that need to be made around dissolving the board and repealing the original 1929 Act and we support those. I want also to acknowledge the submitters the Church representatives who came to the select committee. They did make some very good points. They talked in particular about the legislation requiring the assets and the liabilities of the Associated Churches of Christ Church Extension and Property Trust Board to be transferred to the new trust. They talked about the terms of the new trust being considerably wider than those of the 1929 Act. They talked about enabling the board to consider their wider mission and outreach. They also talked about not only the buildings but also using their funds for other activities of the Church. In their opinion they were also to promote the charitable purpose of promotion of the Christian faith. I think all of those things were accepted by the select committee.It was a pleasure to be part of that select committee. Also it was great that the select committee was able to get through all of its work in supporting this legislation. We too on this side of the House support this bill. We commend it to the House.