Chadwick Steve: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
Chadwick Steve: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
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Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) 
: 
 I will take a short call on clause 9 of the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill. I was hopeful that the member in the chair David Bennett would rise to speak. This is becoming quite a serious matter. This is the second week that we have been debating this bill and we are very anxious to get it through its stages as I know the good people of Hamilton are. 
I see some clarification is being given to the member in the chair and I think this will be helpful but I am concerned that under clause 9(2)(b) there will be an entry on the computer register of the recreational reserve subject to the passing of this bill after its third reading. We have a dispute—it is not a bitter dispute; it is an anomaly—with the footprint size of the Parana Park reserve. There is 0.4 hectares missing. That is worrying if we are to finesse the bill this evening. I can see the member in the chair now has clarification. We cannot have this registered as a recreational reserve by the Hamilton City Council as is able to happen under clause 9(2)(b) if we do not know the actual size of the footprint of this park. We are not prepared to go further with this bill until that is clarified in the Committee. 
This matter is becoming quite serious. We are quite prepared to give a call to the member in the chair. I thought he would sort this out—[ 
Interruption 
] He has had 2 weeks. Labour members were accused of filibustering last time we debated this bill. We were concerned that the actual size of this park is incorrect. As lawmakers we cannot deal seriously with legislation before us without it being seen as a bit of a mockery if we are talking about the wrong size of the park. 
This park is being gifted to the people of Hamilton and we in Labour say that we will protect the assets built up by past generations so that Kiwis can own their own future. This is all part of an asset that belongs to Kiwis; it belongs to all New Zealanders. I have been to Parana Park with my children and I will go back there. But this recreational reserve cannot be registered until we know what we are registering. We know it is Parana Park but for goodness’ sake around the edges there is 0.4 hectares missing. Mr Chairperson Roy you are a farmer and you know what 0.4 hectares is; I am not very sure myself. It may seem inconsequential and trivial but it is not inconsequential and trivial to lawmakers to make sure that we are talking about the right thing. 
I can see that the member sponsoring the bill on behalf of Hamilton City Council now has some clarification from the survey maps. I am sure the Registrar-General of Land who is authorised and directed under this very provision in clause 9 will want to make sure that this issue never comes back to the Committee. We do not want it to come back to the Committee in the future. We do not want to debate it again as a local bill because we need to correct the record. It is as simple as that. 
We have got to a bit of a breakdown here. We want to make sure before we support this bill—because it is a wonderful bill for Hamilton—that we are protecting the assets that George Parr donated. Labour believes they ought to be protected and never hocked off. We will not allow that. We want the children of future generations to enjoy Parana Park in its fullness. 
We seek clarification on that clause. I do not think we can proceed to debate on clause 10 in the interests of trying to get through this Committee stage until we have clarification. I do not think I take it so seriously as to want to recall the Speaker. It is not a breakdown but we need some clarification. We are simply entreating the member in the chair who is getting his head around the previous land records with the Registrar-General of Land—perhaps we could call the Registrar-General of Land and not the Speaker to the Chair.