Henare Peeni: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Peeni: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9326. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I relish the opportunity to rise and take a short call on the Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill. Members across the House have spoken well on the bill. They have detailed the history and can I echo the sentiment of thanks towards the sponsor of the bill and of course the Government Administration Committee which heard all of the two submissions on the bill.What I like and what I sense from the discussions in the House today on the bill is the collaborative nature of this particular entity. We know that it comes from the Christian background but can I take us back to 1814 and the beginning of the Christian faith here in Aotearoa New Zealand. The first sermon was given by Marsden Te Matenga in the Bay of Islands and it is neat to see that despite the differences between the Churches that transpired post-1840 to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi we see pretty quickly after the signing in 1840 that this particular organisation has come together because it sees the sense in working together on particular issues. If one of those is to simply join up the property that the Churches hold I think that is a good thing.If there is one thing I would like to offer here today it is that I hope that some of the other churches that might not be part of this particular group would maybe like to consider that collaborative approach in some of the dealings they have with the properties that they currently hold. I want to point the finger in this instance towards the Churches that administer the Māori schools. We know that the Māori schools are struggling and I have said for a long time now that I think it is now time for the Churches to actually work collaboratively with these schools to make sure that they get the best use out of their assets—which this particular bill is hoping to do with this group—and also the best educational outcomes for Māori for the students of those schools.So I want to applaud the approach taken by this particular group. I also see in this bill a very pragmatic approach. It has already been spoken about in the House how the original legislation provided too small a scope for the trust to move forward and now this particular bill will allow that scope to broaden out and empower it to run its social agenda.Something that we have already heard in this House today is that the Churches are heavily involved in our communities—in particular in the great electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau where I have been fortunate to work alongside some of the Churches—and it is amazing to see the good work that they do. It is not an easy thing to do in my opinion to change legislation just willy-nilly like this to make sure that the powers of this particular organisation gain a broader scope in its social agenda. It is something that Parliament I am sure does not do lightly which is why I am at ease that the bill went through a robust process in the select committee and that the submissions given were heard and members have already spoken about them in the House today.So moving forward we look forward to seeing the social outcomes from the social agenda that this bill will empower the group to do. I am sure that all members across the House will endeavour to support it where they can to make sure that Christian New Zealanders—and indeed all New Zealanders across the country—will gain from that social agenda. It is sensible it is pragmatic and it clearly has the support of members from across the House. I do not want to go on too much longer because it has been well canvassed. I hope though that the sermons and the services in the many Churches across the country certainly have a bit more vigour and add a bit more life to the debate than is happening currently on this particular bill. It has been a little bit hard hearing everyone drag out every single word that you see in the particular papers in front of us but what I do want to just finish on is how excited I am to see the scope of the social work that I hope the organisation will be able to do to benefit all New Zealanders.The bill as I have already said is pragmatic. It will be the job of politicians and indeed this House to make sure that that particular agenda is fulfilled because as I have already mentioned it is not very likely or too common that we change legislation like this just at the whim of a particular group—and we want to make sure that it fulfils its particular part of the process and this empowering bill will allow it to do that moving forward. So in closing I stand on behalf of the Labour Party and offer our support for this bill. Kia ora.