Kuriger Barbara; O'Connor GregSPECIAL DEBATESLocal IssuesDEPUTY SPEAKER: OK members we now come to the debate about local issues arranged by the Business Committee under Standing Order 80. Would some honourable member care to move that the House take note of local issues.GREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): I so move. Thank you Madam Speaker. The issue I'm going to speak about today is very local. Members in this House will be very aware I come here representing the Ōhāriu electorate which members who fly in and out of Wellington pass through on a weekly basis. In fact those on planes contribute to the noise which is an issue there which I've spoken about here before. A very good group Plane Sense have brought that since there has been a change to the airport flight path that has actually become quite an issue where the gentle hum of air traffic which is part of the urban noise has actually become a cacophony of noise but that's another issue.There's actually been another issue and it's a very community-minded electorate. Just in the weekend we had a great community meeting over saving the local pool which is very nicely situated in the base of Mount Kaukau and well worth saving. I'm hoping as a result of the turnout of the councillors and the community we can save that.But no that's not the issue I'm here to speak about. A much bigger issue—very local—is the Johnsonville Shopping Centre. Now any member here who has any relations friends living in the area will be well aware. During the recent campaign when I'd knock on doors and say What's the issue?" people would blankly look at me—"Well of course it's the mall. Of course it's the shopping centre." Even the local Salvation Army who did a survey expecting to be told that there were social issues and there were some—no the first issue that arose was the local shopping centre.It's more than somewhere where people just shop; it's somewhere where they gather. In something of a dormitory electorate where most people live and work around this area—in fact many of the very officials that come to this House are privileged to live in the mighty Ōhāriu electorate.So what is lacking there is a place a centre point that people can be proud of. The Johnsonville mall was once that place—in 1969 it was one of the very first shopping malls in New Zealand. You couldn't get a car park there but slowly and it's probably its demise it's been—and I'm not here to blame any Government to blame any council. This is something that is actually very much a private sector issue. It is owned by a company called Stride Property Group listed on the stock exchange. They have shareholders; one of them is a very big Australian shareholder HESTA which is a big superannuation fund which is the medical superannuation fund over there who unfortunately have quite a big say in where and what money will be spent there. And I don't think the Australians are as focused on Johnsonville on Ōhāriu as they could be.I've been working closely with the mall owners Stride and I know that over the years they've had plans to actually do something about the place but many of those plans have come to nothing to the extent that it's almost become part of local legend—"Oh the mall." Generations have grown up hearing their grandparents talking about the mall and they too will roll their eyes at any thought of the mall.There's some very good businesses and there's some very good people who are doing their best to keep the place alive—places like the local coffee shops; Scheckter's Deli a great recent addition—but slowly any of the national providers any of the chains have gone the banks have gone and we're left with something that really is something of a disgrace. I mean Tripadvisor have called it the worst mall in New Zealand.So of course it's not just a matter of standing here and being critical; it's just what can be done about it? What can be done about it is actually the newest proposal and the council after initially having been a little bit reluctant to provide for the traffic flow around there because they were worried about the golden mile out here that it might do what say Christchurch has done where the suburban shopping malls might suck the life out of the city centres they've actually been on board recently.The proposal—and the council have been very good with this—is to allow the developers to go higher to have a mixed model to have offices to have accommodation retail movie theatres which again the community is screaming out for crying out for. But again every time a proposal comes up—and there have been things like the Kaikōura earthquake the GFC and the change in the retail environment but every time the community has been ready thinking they're going to have a centre they can be proud of their hopes are dashed.So it's time now for Stride Property to put up or sell because it is just now unacceptable the impact it has on my local community on the whole of the northern suburbs by having this pretty ugly sort of edifice in the middle of it non-functioning—it's time to go. It's time for Stride to sell."