Ngaro Alfred: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNgaro Alfred: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 16 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9828. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ALFRED NGARO (National):My colleague Paul Foster-Bell talked about Part 2 being the meat and bones. I heard Mr PeeniHenare say: “Is it not pork bones?”. I am not sure Mr Henare but you could say that this here could be pork bones. This is the substance of the bill here in Part 2. Mr Chair I do thank you for your wise guidance in saying that in a sense all speeches especially in the Committee stage should add some relevance some new information and so I do stand with some new information that I can add to Part 2. Maybe this can be the pork and the bones for Mr Henare in this regard.We are talking about Part 2 “Transfer of property rights and obligationsfrom old board to new board”. When we talk about the old board the Associated Churches of Christ Church Extension and Property Trust Board it was set up to unite Churches and to bring together the various denominations under one banner. That was the intent. So that is the sense of the old. It is an evangelical missions-based Church which is the reason why having all funds tied up in property runs counter to its reason. We talked about the flexibility of that—so that is the old sense of what it was.The laity-based tradition means that people in the pews take the lead in the service—so there are a lot of lay preachers who are actually the ones who deliver the services and preach the sermons and distribute the ordinances that are there. In other words they take communion for people as well. Each Church is an individual being and the collective is known as an association because the various congregations span the divide of the Christian expression from the Pentecostal to the conservative. My colleague Mr Mark Mitchell talked about the 30 congregations. We will not name all 30 congregations as that could take up some time but their history in New Zealand saw them seed many congregations starting in Nelson but now extending to Invercargill and Whangarei.Here is a bit of information that many may not know—again talking about Part 2 and transferring the old into the new. The forebears their ancestors the tūpuna of Minister Finlayson the Hon Annette King and also the Deputy Speaker the Hon Chester Borrows were the founders of congregations in Richmond and Spring Grove in Nelson. This included the Rev. Roger Russ who ministered in Dunedin Whanganui Onehunga and Matamata and Mr Cliff Russ—Carmel Sepuloni: How is this relevant to Part 2?ALFRED NGARO: —who was the minister in Newton St Albans in Christchurch and in Ōāmaru. In fact since I know that Ms Sepuloni would like to know the 30 churches in the 30 areas—I will not name them all but I will name a couple of churches in particular. I want to acknowledge Annesbrook in Nelson. That is where the Hon Chester Borrows was actually married. This is one those churches.Carmel Sepuloni: Is that in Part 2 of the bill?ALFRED NGARO: That is Part 2 of the bill because this is in a sense transferring the old moving into the new.In Part 2 the bill is talking about the transfer of property and the rightsobligations but we are talking about transferring the old into the new. As I have said before this is to allow the flexibility. The intent of the old legislation was that it would establish an umbrella association that would bring all the denominations from Pentecostal to those that were more conservative together but still focus on what they had in common. What they had in common was to be able to outreach into their communities. But since 1929 until where we are now it is obviously agreed that the fact is that this transfer—not just of property but of rights and obligations—is to ensure that they are then able to administer their roles of responsibilities of ministering into those communities in particular.I think it is important in the rounding up of my speech and in my contribution to this part to acknowledge the Hon Nick Smith who has brought this bill forward. I want to acknowledge the board which came and made its submission to the Government Administration Committee. There were only two submissions but I want to acknowledge Mr Altman who was the secretary and also Mr Steven Baigent who is the chair. I think they will look forward to the eventual outcome the Royal assent and the gazetting of this bill which will allow them to fulfil to perpetuity their stewardship of the Christian ministry in those churches right throughout the whole of New Zealand.I want to acknowledge that in the area of west Auckland in Te Atatū there is one of those Union churches there the Te AtatūUnion Parish but it meets at the old Te Atatū tennis club. It meets there for prayer and for services which is really important. I round off my speech and I acknowledge the role and responsibilities of the Government Administration Committee and thank it for its work.Part 2 agreed to.Clause 1 agreed to.Clause 2 agreed to.House resumed.Bill reported without amendment.Report adopted.