Gosche Mark: Auckland Domain (Auckland Tennis) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Gosche Mark: Auckland Domain (Auckland Tennis) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:13311] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 This Auckland Domain (Auckland Tennis) Amendment Bill deals with the Auckland City Council. As the member of Parliament for Maungakiekie I represent an electorate that is in Auckland City unlike the members opposite who put forward somebody from the North Shore to give a speech. As the Hon Trevor Mallard asked I ask whether the North Shore is contributing at all to this or to any other sporting facility south of the harbour bridge. National does have a member of Parliament in Auckland City and that is the member for Tamaki. I cannot remember his name but he lives on the North Shore as well. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: There used to be a really good member for Tamaki called Clem Simich. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: Yes Clem was a much better member because he lived in the electorate and he knew its people. 
I thought it was important to take the call because I was a little aggrieved at the way in which the Auckland City Council lawyers went about this process. I first heard about the bill on 21 September after it had been drafted and when it had been put out for public consultation. I received a letter because the lawyers had to send me one under the rules of the  
Standing Orders of the House of Representatives 
. Although I support the bill and I think it is a very sensible and necessary bill it demonstrates a bit of a problem that Auckland City has had for many many years which is that it does not realise that it needs to actually consult its communities throughout its city boundaries—and in particular communities in the southern part of the Auckland City boundaries which is the part that I represent. We are still waiting after 35 years for a swimming pool in Otahuhu. We sit and watch sand being brought down from Northland on a barge costing many millions of dollars and being spread across the beautiful beaches along the Tamaki waterfront. 
That is good for Auckland but my plea to the Auckland City Council and to its lawyers in particular is for them to do their job a little better in the future when they are bringing these sorts of bills to Parliament. The council should have the decency to consult widely with its communities. As the member for Maungakiekie which covers a significant part of the Auckland City Council area I would have thought that the council would consult with our community earlier on because this bill is good for the Auckland region not just for the Auckland City Council area. 
This bill upgrades a facility that has served our region and our country for many many years as the prime site for international tennis tournaments namely the men’s and women’s tournaments that are held in the early part of the year. We have good international players coming down to New Zealand. They have an experience here that they do not have anywhere else in the world in that they are billeted. They come back to New Zealand and to Auckland and they play in those tournaments year after year even though we might not expect them to come down because their world rankings go up and they might decide to forgo tournaments like the ones held in Auckland. But they do come because of the hospitality the warmth and the experience of playing in those two tournaments. 
As Dr Wayne Mapp the member for North Shore said our tournaments precede very important tournaments held in Australia so we need the facilities that will continue to meet the demands of the international circuit. That is why this bill is necessary. It means that a developer will be able to come in and spend many millions of dollars upgrading the tennis centre so that it can continue to host those sorts of tournaments. Those tournaments act as a real incentive to New Zealand’s young players coming through because not only can they see some of the best up-and-coming players in the world at those tournaments but also if they are lucky and do well they may qualify to play there. Some may get that chance but they would not if we did not put this bill through upgrade the centre and make it a viable place to host those international tournaments. 
I was utterly surprised at the speeches from National members about the Rugby World Cup Eden Park and all those sorts of things. Those members continue to want to put their foot in their mouth and to make cheap political points about what is an important sporting event for all New Zealanders and particularly for Aucklanders. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: It’s not a cheap political point. We want it to be for Aucklanders. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: I think it was the member who is mouthing off over there who had the job of being the Opposition spokesperson on Auckland issues. 
Dave Hereora 
: Eradicator. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: Yes he had the job of being the PC eradicator before that and then he got promoted to being the spokesperson for Auckland issues by the current leader of the National Party. All he has done is to show that his view of Auckland is one that is bound by the harbour and the harbour bridge. He sees Auckland as being only the North Shore. It is interesting that National members had to get all that member’s mates around Auckland to twist his arm on the other bill that will deal with regional funding issues before he saw the light. He realised that the reason why National does so badly in Auckland is that it is narrowly focused on its electorates on the North Shore or in the southern parts of Auckland—that is all that those members see. 
I am pleased that those members are supporting this Auckland Domain (Auckland Tennis) Amendment Bill. They have finally realised that they cannot get away with having that narrow focus any more. They cannot play those stupid parochial little games when they are trying to pretend that they would be a future Government. You see one has to have a bit of vision. That is what the tennis people have. They see a need to upgrade the facilities and they have found a developer who is prepared to put in the money so that the poor old Auckland City ratepayers do not have to. Auckland ratepayers pay for most of the regional activities in the Auckland region out of their rates whilst others take advantage of them and then have the cheek to complain—like those members opposite from the North Shore do—about what is going on in Auckland City. At least now we can see that the National Party through its support for this bill has realised that there is no electoral future in behaving like that. Those members only behave like that when they think there is an electoral future in it. 
It is a pity that a few years ago there was a very good rugby league ground just down the road a little from this particular tennis centre. It was also up against the Auckland Domain. There was talk about that being turned into a future stadium for New Zealand and Brian Donnelly and I—old rugby league players—were in favour of that. But unfortunately the time passed. The Auckland regional politicians of the time did not wake up and see that opportunity. We could have passed a bill like this to aid that sort of stadium and maybe there would not have been an argument at all about where we should have the Rugby World Cup. 
However rugby league people will go on and we will support ventures like this upgrade of the tennis facilities. This bill is necessary so that there can be a sensible lease time of 50 years. Obviously if someone wants to put big money into upgrading the facilities that person wants to know that the facilities will have a sensible lease. 
The necessity for this bill is pretty simple. After I received the original notification I wrote to the lawyers for Auckland City Council and said: “Well you sent me this bill. I have read it. It doesn’t really tell me why you want to have this lease.” It was not until I had a further letter back on 7 November that the need for this bill became apparent. I hope the council did not charge me too much as a ratepayer for this legal advice and work. I think we deserve a discount for the lack of consultation and the lack of explanation. I know the council probably charges by the letter so it had a bit more money out of the Auckland City ratepayer by having to respond to my request for more information. 
However we got there in the end and like my colleague the Hon Judith Tizard whose electorate also sits within the boundaries of Auckland City Council we are genuinely supportive of this bill. We look forward to its passing so that Auckland Tennis Inc. and New Zealand can look forward again to those very good tournaments into the future.