Peters Jim: Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill — First Reading 
Peters Jim: Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:6581] 
JIM PETERS (NZ First) 
: 
 I am pleased to stand on behalf of New Zealand First to give support to this bill. The Auckland War Memorial Museum in earlier years was funded by all of the former local bodies in the Auckland province. While the modern funding base is provided by the seven local authorities in Auckland there is among the people in the Northland district a feeling that that museum the old museum is part of their heritage. So as one who hails from the north I am pleased on our behalf to give support to this bill as well. 
The second thing that the Auckland Museum has is not just the unique collections on its three floors but also a unique library. Because of its earlier provincial origins the library houses records and books that are not found anywhere else in New Zealand. If anyone is interested in education it records interestingly enough all of the school records of every closed school in the old Auckland province. For those interested in social history it is a mine of information which is available only there and for family histories is unique. I understand that that old library which used to be upstairs at the back will in the modern set-up be much more readily accessible to all. So its stage 2 extension will make a unique difference to the memorial. 
As already mentioned by the Minister this museum was a memorial to those who died in the First World War. Subsequently the records were added to after the Second World War and other conflicts. Every name recorded there is cherished because the names are of those who left and who did not return. People go there frequently to look at the records of those years. 
The building is well sited. It is dominant. As a former teacher I spent some time there—probably the best time in my teaching life—in taking classes. So the third thing I want to mention about the Auckland War Memorial Museum is the unique service it has given over the years to the schools of the district. In early years it had an interesting association with the teachers college; today the funding I believe for teachers is from the Ministry of Education. About 65000 students and teachers go through the museum annually. The actual work and quality of resources are unique. Anyone who has been there and seen the display of Auckland in 1866 or seen the exhibit of the “Scars of the Heart” which I understand is about to be updated will have seen very modern resources. In 1997 I was in Boston went to the Boston Museum of Modern Art and saw its unique educational set-up; today’s museum set-up in Auckland does not lose anything by comparison. Those 65000 students and teachers are uniquely able to see something of our heritage in a presentable modern way which was not so in my day. 
For Maori the museum is unique. It houses the best collection in this country of our treasures—for those members across the House of our taonga. It also does that as well for our people from the Pacific Islands. There is something of our maritime history in the waka there which is interesting in view of comments here in previous days. I know that Sir Peter Buck is no longer held in high esteem but the “Vikings of the Sunrise” was an adequate term for Maori in the past. The waka is a very visible and symbolic expression of that in the heart of the museum. 
So in conclusion we are very pleased to support this legislation that enables stage 2 of the extension plan. The car-park by the way will be very much to the advantage of someone ofelderly years. It will have an all-weather entrance I understand. We will be able to go in take the lift and go upstairs and that is a really big addition for the future. I was pleased to see in the drawings that the essential form of the buildings had been preserved and the Auckland City Council to its credit made very certain in its consent that that was so. I wish the sponsors of the bill well and I hope that it will be passed quickly. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have been advised by the Green Party that it wishes to split its call.