Parmar ParmjeetAUCKLAND REGIONAL AMENITIES FUNDING AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingDr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): I move That the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill. I would like to start by acknowledging the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board with a special acknowledgment to David Houldsworth the acting chair of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board for his leadership in bringing up this issue and the work that they have done to have the bill come before Parliament. Mr David Houldsworth also served as the chief executive of one of the amenities the Stardome Observatory and Planetarium which is situated on Manukau Road in the Mt Roskill electorate. For me it's a great pleasure to be the sponsor of this bill. I agree and I really hope that all sides will agree with the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board that it's important we align the two pieces of legislation that affect all the nine amenities in the Auckland region. The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act 2008 and the Charities Act 2005—this is specifically in relation to the requirement for preparation of financial statements by specified amenities under the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act 2008. The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board was established with the introduction of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act 2008. On a day-to-day basis the funding board is not responsible for the governance of any of the entities. The sole purpose of the funding board is to administer the provisions of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act which primarily comprises determining the levy to be collected from Auckland Council and then distributing that as grants to the specified amenities. The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board distributes grants to organisations that deliver arts culture recreational heritage rescue and other facilities and services to the Auckland region. Each of the specified amenities retains its own board of governance and management and is responsible for the decisions made regarding the operations of the organisation. The amenities make significant contributions towards making Auckland an attractive global city. Section 39 of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act requires that the specified amenities prepare financial statements that contain a statement of financial position prepared in accordance with New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards and that contain the other statements and information set out in section 39(2)(b). It's important to note that the specified amenities are registered charitable entities under the Charities Act 2005. In 2015 section 42A of the Charities Act 2005 was amended to require that certain charitable entities those whose total operating payments are $125000 or more in each of the two preceding accounting periods prepare financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice. The acronym used for this is GAAP and from here on I'll use this acronym.At that point the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act was not amended. So as a consequence of that the requirement under the Charities Act 2005 to prepare financial statements in accordance with GAAP is in addition to any other reporting requirement under any other enactment. Consequently the specified amenities are currently required to prepare financial statements according to both New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards and GAAP. The purpose of this bill is to fix this inconsistency by removing the requirement that is there for the specified amenities to prepare financial statements according to New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards under the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act and to permit specified amenities to prepare a single set of financial statements that comply with GAAP. For consistency this amendment will also amend section 40 of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act to clarify that the funding board's audited financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. This is because section 40 of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act does not specify the accounting standard to which financial statements by the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Board established under section 6 of the Act should be prepared. Clauses 4 and 5 in this amendment bill before the House the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Amendment Bill will remove the current requirement under the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act for the specified amenities to prepare financial statements in accordance with New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standards and instead will require the specified amenities' financial statements to be prepared in accordance with GAAP.The nine amenities are Stardome Observatory situated in Royal Oak; Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra situated on Queen Street in Auckland; Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust in Mechanics Bay Auckland; Auckland Theatre Company situated in Mount Eden; Coastguard Northern Region situated in Mechanics Bay; New Zealand Opera situated in Parnell; Surf Life Saving Northern Region situated in Mechanics Bay; Auckland Arts Festival situated in Auckland central; and WaterSafe Auckland also known as Drowning Prevention Auckland in St Marys Bay. It's important to note that all the amenities are charities and are therefore required to meet the requirements of the Charities Act too and not to do so could lead to amenities losing their charitable status. The New Zealand International Financial Reporting Standard is an older accounting standard which is generally being phased out and being replaced by GAAP. The difference between the two accounting standards is probably not great but sufficient that if the amenities are to comply with both standards they would have to prepare two sets of annual audited accounts. This is an unnecessary burden and cost for the amenities. Currently the amenities are technically in breach of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act. However Audit New Zealand who audit the funding board and monitors compliance by the amenities with the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act has agreed to waive this breach on the understanding that this proposed amendment bill is progressing. The objectives of this bill cannot be attained otherwise than by legislation because the objects are to amend statutory requirements that are currently contained in the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act. Finally I want to again acknowledge David Houldsworth for his efforts and also for communicating with each electorate member of Parliament in the Auckland area about this bill as this bill affects specified amenities that operate in the Auckland region and I hope that all sides are supportive of this change to help the amenities board in their effort to fix this difference that is there in two pieces of legislation which is creating an extra layer of work for them. It's a simple fix but it means a lot because it will reduce their workload. So I highly recommend this bill to the House. Thank you.