Doocey Matt: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDoocey Matt: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 06 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3278. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri):I am standing to take this call on the Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill. It is great to be from Christchurch; great to be from Canterbury. As a young fellow born in the old Calvary Hospital it strikes me with some irony that I spent many years as a student investing in the longevity of the Arts Centre via the Dux de Lux and now I get to invest in the longevity of the Arts Centre through this bill. I managed to wear my new blue suit today but like my parliamentary colleague Megan Woods I very much wanted to wear my red and black suit—but I am red and black on the inside.The Arts Centre is as Christchurch as sitting on the embankment at Lancaster Park watching the Christchurch and Canterbury teams through the 1980s Shield challenge era. The Arts Centre is as Christchurch as sitting in the square watching the Birdman and watching the Wizard at lunchtime. The Arts Centre is as Christchurch as going up to Mount Hutt and skiing during the morning and heading down to Sumner and swimming in the afternoon.Could I acknowledge the Hon Nicky Wagner for bringing this local bill to the Committee. You could not find a harder-working Minister and MP than the Hon Nicky Wagner and I suppose for a Canterbury MP myself she is such a role model with her work ethic. I also acknowledge Scott Simpson who is the chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee—a select committee that holds a huge workload—for his effortless approach in dispensing the work at hand.The Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill reflects the local national and international heritage significance of the Arts Centre. Growing up in Christchurch I very much know that Christchurch is deemed the most English city outside England. The Arts Centre is the heart of that along with the Hagley Park our beautiful botanic gardens the Avon River which weaves its way through the city with the willow trees and of course the great Christchurch Cathedral. But most of all I suppose it is our archaic one-way system through the city and the great English street names like Hereford Street Manchester Street and Lichfield Street. The bill is a key part of protecting and preserving the Arts Centre of Christchurch for the future. As many will know Christchurch experienced severe earthquakes and the Arts Centre was impacted on by the first earthquake in September 2010 and subsequently in February 2011.Since we are in Committee I would just like to take some time and talk to the clauses. Clause 8 was removed—this one would have transferred trust property to the Crown on an interim basis in the event that the trust was to be wound up. Omitting this clause avoids debts accrued by the trust board being adopted by the Crown. Also new clause 5(2) was added requiring that all income benefits or advantages received or accrued to the trust be used to advance the charitable purposes of the trust. We do know that this Arts Centre has considerable potential for income and revenue streams. Before the earthquakes and the subsequent closure of the Arts Centre there were up to 1.5 million tourists turning up at the Arts Centre every year. They went along to see the Court Theatre. They went along to see the many markets as well as the art studios. I myself can remember going along to the range of cuisine and food carts there as well and of course to the Dux de Lux which we have heard a lot about tonight. There is also the amending of clause 9 to state that the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 applies to the trust and the trust board.I think we need to remind ourselves here of the scale and the size of this work. Currently this restoration project is the largest in the world at a scale of around $280 million to $300 million.Todd Muller: How much?MATT DOOCEY: It is $280 million to $300 million. This is currently the world’s largest restoration project and we do know that the Christchurch Arts Centre is also the largest cluster of heritage buildings in New Zealand. What we need to do is think about this gem within the story of the earthquake recovery. There are a lot of views put forward but if we do not take stock of the good stories of the Christchurch recovery we are going to miss these great stories.The Local Government and Environment Committee did go down and convene the committee in Christchurch where we heard the very succinct and eloquent submissions of the chief executive officer André Lovatt and the trust chair as well. It was great to get a tour of the Christchurch Arts Centre from them. My colleague Todd Muller has talked about it tonight. Their energy and enthusiasm and their passion are what is driving this forward as well as the support of Christchurch Canterbury New Zealand and also the rest of the world. What I mean by that is that they took us into the stonemason room and around that room they have flags from all around the world. Each flag represents a different type of nationality of stonemason. Many of these people have contacted the Arts Centre off their own bat because they want to be part of this restoration project. It is currently the largest project of its kind in the world. It is great to see this workforce coming from around the whole world to instil this specialist skill of stonemasonry. Christchurch’s Art Centre will be rebuilt. We are very much looking forward to that gem of the Christchurch recovery.We also amended clause 6 and in schedule 2 added a new clause 12 to enable the trust board to amend its constitution. I would ask the Minister whether we could maybe hear a bit more about what Jen Crawford the trust chair and André Lovatt the chief executive officer spoke about. It is a shift from representation to a skills-based governance model. They explained that what they would be doing is moving to a skills-based governance model where individuals will be appointed by an appointments committee so that the trust board has a strong set of skills to address the issues that will come up through this restoration project but it will also ensure that this board will have the right skills and experience to take the Arts Centre forward over the next 10 20 30 and 40 years. So I would hope that the Minister will be able to respond to that—to ensure that the implementation of this new governance system will achieve the outcome that they hope for. Thank you.