Pillay Lynne: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — Procedure First Reading 
Pillay Lynne: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — Procedure First Reading 
[Volume:629;Page:1401] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 I would also like to add my thanks. I did have a list of names I was going to rattle off but my good friend David Cunliffe has done so. There are people who have worked alongside David me Chris Carter and also Dover Samuels such as the members of Waitakere City Council led by the mayor Rodney District Council and of course the Auckland Regional Council. It has been a real culmination of so much hard work passion and energy and it is a really proud moment to stand in this House today to talk about this bill. 
I also thank with real sincerity the Maori Party and the Green Party for their supportive statements and of course my colleagues and friends in the Labour Party for their support to enable this ground-breaking legislation to go to a select committee. This will give many supporters of the bills such as landowners iwi environmental groups community groups westies and in fact all Kiwis the opportunity to have their say to explain why long-term protection of the ranges is so vitally important and why it has won their hearts and minds. To Paula Bennett who describes this as an emotive issue I say that that is rich. What irony! Earlier today we heard Nick Smith preach about credibility. That is a joke in itself. 
Some months ago pre-election before the Labour-led Government was re-elected the National Party being unable to get a local MP to speak against it shipped in its most engaging eloquent speaker Nick Smith who claimed that this bill was a land grab. Those comments were echoed by Paula Bennett. Now the legislation is deemed waffly. To not be aware of the problem is an indication of being out of touch with Waitakere. 
The national park theme is a different issue. It does not address the problem of the cumulative effects of ad hoc subdivision on private land unless Miss Bennett is proposing that private land is part of the national park—and I suggest that she will be in a heap of trouble with the people in Waitakere if she tries to run that one. 
Pleading ignorance is one thing; acting ignorantly is another. If members do not understand then they should read the report of the environment commissioner and talk to the people of Waitakere. They should talk to the Henderson Valley residents who spent $50000 fighting inappropriate subdivision in the Environment Court. They won their case but at tremendous financial cost pressure and pain. 
 I find it extraordinary that the National Party spokespeople on this bill are not elected MPs for the area the bill covers. I know that it is very very hard to find elected National MPs in that area but there is one and I would ask John Key why you have not taken a call. Why will you not stand up and take a call on this issue? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member is bringing the Speaker into the debate. The use of the word “you” brings the Speaker into the debate. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: I ask John Key why he does not take a call on this important issue. 
David Bennett 
: He’s not here. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: The member said that John Key is not here. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: The member said that Mr Speaker. 
Lindsay Tisch 
: The reference to an absent member is out of order and you might want to point that out to the member. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I did not understand that the member on my right actually referred to the absence of any member. That is the way I took it. She did not actually do that. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: It is important for local MPs to make their point when they have been elected. I remind this House that before this election I stood very clearly on support for this bill. I said that I was committed to supporting it and I was re-elected as the member of Parliament for Waitakere. Paula Bennett did not stand on that ticket and she was not elected. The polls that my good friend David Cunliffe has spoken about clearly show there is majority support for this bill. It is with tremendous pride that I stand alongside my colleagues my friends in a visionary Government and promote a visionary bill to this House.