Cunliffe David: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6764. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn): May I begin with an apology to the generation of children born since this bill was first introduced—Richard Prosser: Stop apologising David. Stop apologising.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: —and by acknowledging the work of the—I did not apologise for “Wogistan”. I would like to acknowledge the work of the former Minister for Land Information David Parker in bringing this essentially tidy-up set of remedial changes to reserves and other lands.It is I think instructive to reflect on the old saying about army life which is the ethos of “hurry up and wait”. Members of the public will wonder why Parliament is in an extended sitting this morning to debate a bill that has been waiting since hundreds of thousands of children were born—or 2008. I think it is indicative of the management of the House by the Hon Gerry Brownlee that when we were sitting in our procedures meeting this morning we got handed essentially an email from the Leader of the House with what he thought the business of the House would be today. It is about as shambolic as it gets and unfortunately it is indicative of the state of the Government that we are in extra time hearing a bill that is 8 years old and with late notice at that.Let me now turn to the substance of the bill. This bill is designed to clarify and to codify a number of issues with reserve lands throughout the country—about a dozen of them. The bill was handled by Richard Worth in the good old days when he was a Minister before he visited the pyramids and it lapsed after he left Parliament probably it could be said under something of a cloud. It has languished on the Government’s Order Paper for those 7 long years or 6½ long years since 2009.It was open for public submissions. It has a number of issues that did excite believe it or not quite a bit of public attention. One of them was to change the boundaries of Albert Park in Auckland and to include the Auckland Art Gallery within its confines. It is a marvellous facility the Auckland Art Gallery but it was controversial with a majority of submissions opposing that inclusion on the grounds that the park itself is a public space and a green space and it was cleaner to have a consistent definition. However despite a wave of opinion and the difficult and perhaps less than democratic process that the then mayor John Banks followed to get it to that point we do not believe that it is sufficiently concerning to pick and choose from the various proposals contained in the bill and we are therefore going to support the change.Another issue that is addressed in the bill is the treatment of Auckland’s volcanic cones. There were a number of submitters who were opposed to the change contained here in that instead of the Governor-General’s signature being required to excavate on a volcanic cone now it is the Minister for the Environment’s signature that is required. We are relaxed about that because in effect it was the Minister for the Environment who made the recommendation to the Governor-General so we do not believe that there is a substantive weakening of protections here.May I turn to one issue that affects my local area of west Auckland in regard to Waikumete Cemetery and I turn the attention of colleagues to clauses 47 48 and 49 in Part 2 of the bill. Clause 48 states: “Waikumete cemetery land is a part of Waikumete Cemetery.” It is Crown land classified as a local purpose reserve a site for a cemetery. It is one of the largest—I think it is perhaps the largest—cemetery sites in the Southern Hemisphere certainly in New Zealand. It is a massive and very poignant place and it hosts every year some now 20000 to 30000 people who come on Anzac Day to remember our dead. It has a very large Auckland RSA presence and it is a very important place for west Auckland.However in 1995 the then Waitakere City Council without clear lawful authority disposed of the Waikumete cemetery land to a local authority trading enterprise. The local authority trading enterprise in turn subdivided the cemetery land and sold it to private owners—some of it—as fee simple titles. Most of that land around the edges is now developed with residential buildings upon it. The clause states: “because the titles to the Waikumete cemetery land were created by an invalid process and contrary to section 112 of the Reserves Act 1977 the land retains its reserve status and remains subject to that Act.” Therefore this bill revokes the reserve status on the Waikumete cemetery land. Can I say that it is with some sadness that we support that change—not because it is unnecessary as it is clearly necessary now but because we certainly would regret any further diminution of the reserve space at Waikumete Cemetery.The Primary Production Committee made a number of recommendations when it worked on this bill. There were several Supplementary Order Papers that included new items in it. Supplementary Order Paper 206 provisions relate to Lookout Point in the Waitaki district and also Māhinepua Bay as a Māori reservation. There was comment by the select committee as I alluded to earlier about the Auckland volcanic cones issues and there was amendment in respect of the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area where the committee recommended deletion of clauses 42 43 and 44 from the bill to allow further consultation with affected parties.The list of reserves that are affected beyond the Auckland Art Gallery and volcanic cones include the good old Dunedin Octagon Kahurangi National Park land Lookout Point Māhinepua Bay certain areas within Marlborough District Council’s Picton office area Nelson Marlborough District Health Board land Paparoa National Park Port Chalmers Recreation Reserve Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area good old Taieri Airport Waikumete Cemetery as I mentioned Waipā District Council land some areas of Westland National Park and of all things Winton Racecourse—Todd Barclay: Yes.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE: —a matter dear to the heart of the member for Clutha-Southland who may still have been at school I venture when this bill was first brought to the House. However it is good to see that the Government has moved with such alacrity that he is now of age and able to participate in its passage.It is with those few comments that I record that Labour does support the bill. It has been a long time coming. The fact that we are here in extra time to pass a bill that has languished on the Order Paper for some 7 years I think tells us something about the state of organisation of the Government. But we will not let that get in the way of a bill that is essentially a worthy tidy-up exercise. Thank you.