Lees-Galloway Iain: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:670;Page:17075] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 It is a great pleasure to rise and participate in the Committee stage on clause 1 of the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill 2010. I suppose some of the confusion may arise because the year 2010 in the title is not in the heading of the bill. But the title clause shows 2010 in bold; it is beaming out at us from the page. I would not be as uncharitable as to suggest that maybe this is the Hamilton calendar that we are working to. I am sure that Hamilton MPs will not only put that right but may bring Palmerston North into the debate later on. One never knows; it could happen. I congratulate my colleague Sue Moroney on picking up on that very important point about the date. 
The title—Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill—superficially looks quite appropriate. The city council is seeking to secure the area commonly known as Parana Park to maintain it as a publicly owned asset for the people of Hamilton. The title seems quite appropriate but another title could be the “Hamilton City Council (Security of Public Assets) Bill” or the “Hamilton City Council (Working for its People) Bill”. This bill is quite a different approach from the approach we see from this Government. But this is not a Government bill; it is a local bill. If this were a Government bill coming from this National Government I suggest it would be the “Parana Park (Flog It Off for the Lowest Bid) Bill.” This is a public asset but this Government does not pay much heed to public assets. It is not particularly fond of public assets. It would want to try to flog it off to one of its mates or maybe to some foreign company for a nice sum so that the private individual could make the profit out of it. I have no doubt the asset would be horrendously devalued in the same way that the Government is trying to devalue our Crown pastoral land in the high country of the South Island and then some private operator would be able to make all the profit out of it. But no the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill 2010 is all about securing this particular public asset for the people of Hamilton. I congratulate the city council on taking that approach and on bringing this local bill to its local member David Bennett to do so. 
In the second reading of the bill we discovered that the name Parana Park may not be completely without controversy. I am no scholar of Hamilton geography and I am prepared to admit that. My colleague Trevor Mallard a former representative of the people of Hamilton said that in his day the area was known as Putikitiki. I am a bit sketchy on the details but I believe that the name is associated with a stream or a river that runs nearby the land. In fact many people would refer to the area as Putikitiki rather than Parana Park. So an alternative name could be the “Hamilton City Council (Putikitiki) Land Vesting Bill” but that would be quite debatable. Some people might say that having Parana Park in the title of the bill is in a way alienating those people who call the area Putikitiki. The local members might have more knowledge on that than I do and might explain why the area is not being called Putikitiki in this legislation. 
Normally the titles of bills are not considered particularly contentious but this one might be a little bit contentious because of that alternative name by which Parana Park is known. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Mr Mallard was simply trying to fill up his time. 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: He may have been but he raised an important point and it should be considered. The Committee stage is where those sorts of contentious matters can be dealt with by way of Supplementary Order Papers and the like.