Roy Heather: Wellington City Empowering and Amendment Bill — Second Reading Procedure Third Reading 
Roy Heather: Wellington City Empowering and Amendment Bill — Second Reading Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:615;Page:11114] 
HEATHER ROY (ACT) 
: 
 On behalf of ACT New Zealand I rise to support this bill. It makes very good commercial sense. The Wellington City Council is the rightful owner of this land; there is no dispute about that. It should therefore be able to sell the land if it so wishes. 
I would like to commend Mr Gallagher on his enthusiastic support of Wellington. Those of us who live in Wellington of course know what a great and vibrant city it is and it is a pleasure to live here. But it is always good to hear that other people also appreciate the things that a city one lives in oneself has to offer. 
With regard to the piece of land in question—the part of Willis Street where The Malthouse is with community groups housed downstairs—the council should be commended for the responsible attitude it has taken to the community groups that are tenants in the building at present. By assisting them to relocate the council is taking its duties very seriously and it should be commended on doing so. 
I was not on the select committee that heard the submissions from the Wellington City Council and the Wellington Tenths Trust but I read with interest the report of the Local Government and Environment Committee. It states that in 1929 when the council was considering the sale of the Willis Street land in order to use the proceeds for street-widening purposes the Wellington City Empowering and Amendment Act was passed. It is clear later in the same report that there was really no indication why section 13(2) was enacted. It states that the council’s archives do not give any explanation. I think this sends us a message that as lawmakers we have a duty to consider very carefully why we are putting legislation in place what the future might bring and whether in the future the legislation is going to cause problems. The previous speaker alluded to that. 
I would also like to point out that when the council in 1929 was considering the sale of this land for street-widening purposes it was showing a lot of foresight. It is a shame that at the time that foresight was not given to what might happen in the future. A very good example that springs to mind of some foresight shown by Wellington councillors of years gone by with some vision is in my own suburb of Karori. I recently read the history of the building of the Karori tunnel One councillor who obviously had quite a lot of vision fought long and hard with his other councillors in the late 1880s to make the Karori tunnel wide enough to allow two horses and carts to pass each other. I in particular and the other residents of Karori are very grateful for the vision that this gentleman had because we now have a tunnel that two cars if not two buses can pass through. With regard to the wideness of the roads in Wellington we certainly wish some were a little wider but they do add to the character of the city. 
ACT New Zealand supports this bill mainly because of the good commercial sense that it makes. I come back to the issue of property rights: owners of land must be free to sell it as they see fit. So ACT New Zealand supports this legislation.