Genter Julie Anne: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Genter Julie Anne: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5583. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Tena koutou e te Whare. I rise to speak on the second reading of the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill which I did not have the pleasure of following through the select committee. Like my colleagues Gareth Hughes and Holly Walker have said on this bill before me the Green Party absolutely supports the creation of a National War Memorial Park in Wellington. We honour our fallen soldiers we honour the memory of their service and we hope that the creation of a war memorial park will enable reflection an opportunity in the busy city for people to think about how we will work towards peace in this world. 
However as also stated by my colleagues previously we simply cannot support this bill as it stands because it uses extraordinary measures that undermine the fundamental principles of democracy which are of course what our forebears fought for. It is simply not good process to use special legislation to give sweeping powers to the executive and it is a flawed top-down process that this Government has used repeatedly since it came into power. It is not only that this bill could set a precedent but also that it is continuing the precedent of the erosion of democratic process and we simply do not accept the idea that one can get the desired outcome and aims through poor process. It is simply not possible. 
If this Government had not axed the planning and funding for this park in 2009 we would not be in this situation of playing catch-up in this sloppy irresponsible and undemocratic way. 
I acknowledge the comments made by members of the Labour Party who have worked to improve the bill in the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and I acknowledge that at this late point in time perhaps this bill would be the only way that the park could be created in time. However to answer the questions previously raised by Mr Iain Lees-Galloway I think it is safe to say that if the Green Party held the balance of power we never would have seen the park abandoned. We never would have seen such a poor solution as an urban motorway ploughed through Wellington as the bypass which does nothing to solve the traffic problems of Wellington but did desecrate our National War Memorial which already existed in the heart of this city. 
For those members who are not familiar with the latest research in urban and transport planning policy I can tell you that actually there are cities all over the world that are removing motorways and creating parks. What they have established is the incontrovertible fact—it is incontrovertible—that when you reduce the ability of vehicles to flow through the city actually the traffic disappears. It is the exact opposite of the phenomenon that happens when you create a new urban motorway which is to say if you spend hundreds of millions of dollars putting tunnels through this city to enable the flow of vehicles there will simply be more people seeking to drive through the city and you will not reduce traffic. But if one takes a more creative low-cost approach which is being taken in many cities across the world— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Are we talking about Auckland or Wellington now? “Around the world”—which bloody tunnel are you talking about? 
JULIE ANNE GENTER 
: —it is entirely possible to get better traffic outcomes better economic outcomes and better urban amenities and you can absolutely create your National War Memorial Park without the need to spend $70 million on a tunnel and without the need for this outrageous legislation. 
To answer the question of Mr Mallard the cities that I am referring to include Seoul South Korea; New York City; Paris; Portland Oregon—cities of absolutely comparable size to Wellington and Auckland. The principles of transport planning actually are identical no matter where one is. So there is not the need for this legislation as it stands although the Green Party does support the need for a beautiful National War Memorial Park in the heart of Wellington. Thank you.