Mark Ron: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMark Ron: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 04 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10782. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First): It is an unusual thing when unity and harmony break out in the House of Representatives and you have a situation where not only is the House unanimous in its support for a member’s bill but also it is actually speaker after speaker even on the Government’s side—yes I say that. Even the Government’s side has today been generous towards all people who have worked on and contributed towards what will be the passage of this piece of legislation.I will start on behalf of New Zealand First by giving our congratulations firstly to Marian Hobbs an old friend of mine from down in Christchurch. I do remember the days when I stood for Labour against Ruth Richardson the architect of the black Budget the “mother of all Budgets”. That was in what was known as the Selwyn electorate and Marian Hobbs succeeded me to stand for Selwyn in the by-election that saw the Hon David Carter enter Parliament because I chose not to stand for Labour actually. I do note that Marian came third in that one whereas I actually came second but never mind—a close second. But never mind that was history. It is funny how history goes.But also I want to pass on congratulations most sincerely to Grant Robertson and I thank the Hon Annette King for the support that she has steadfastly given him throughout what has been a long arduous process to bring us to this point here and now. Thanks also to the Local Government and Environment Committee for the way in which I think all members have tackled some of the issues that have vexed some members of the community. But I am very confident that New Zealand First is lending its support to a very worthwhile piece of legislation and we look forward to maybe celebrating this a little bit later on.I think sometimes when you get to this speaking slot—I have said it before—almost everything that needs to be said about the legislation and the process has been said so I am going to try something different. Firstly I am going to acknowledge the advisers to the select committee the Department of Internal Affairs and Land Information New Zealand which provided not one not two but three reports to the select committee during the passage. What started out as a very simple report on 6 November 2015 I note blew out quite substantially. For those who are listening on the radio you cannot see it but I am holding up a very slim document which consisted of only eight or nine pages—four pages backed. This blew out to be quite a substantive document. I see Mr Grant Robertson is having a good chuckle there because come 3 December 2015 the issues were somewhat more complex one should say.That was followed up by a further supplementary report from the two departments which was given to the select committee on 8 February 2016. For anybody listening who thinks that there was not due solid consideration given to the many technical issues that arose have a read of those three departmental reports. That might enlighten those people somewhat.I also want to recognise some of those people who came before the select committee: Friends of the Wellington Town Belt Wellington City Youth Council Mt Victoria Residents’ Association Craig Palmer Transpower New Zealand—interesting—Joan Quinn Judith Graykowski John Christopher Horne the Wellington City Council—and I know the mayor specifically—Mayor Celia Wade-Brown Mike Oates Nick Chapman Adam Holloway and particularly Councillor Helene Ritchie who put a lot of effort into the production of the bill and getting it into the process whereby it might pass. Wellington Water presented and the  of course. Mt Victoria Historical Society made a submission as did Tim Bollinger Ellen Blake Wellington Botanical Society—of course you would naturally expect to have a good submission from the Wellington Botanical Society—and Victoria Lamb. The one comment from Victoria Lamb that stood out for me was that this process had been well consulted with the public and by “this process” I am referring to the consultative process taken up by the Wellington City Council and the select committee. Wellington Civic Trust submitted as did Action for Environment and the Greater Kelburn Progressive Association.I do want to pay particular attention to the efforts of Councillor Helene Ritchie and she is here in the gallery today—hi Helene. I had the joy and the pleasure of sitting with Helene on district health boards in my time out of the Chamber and I know the value and the amount of work and effort that Helene Ritchie puts into the community and into trying to enhance the lives and well-being of people in communities. Whether that is on the health board whether it is at city council that has been her long track record and I just want to compliment her on it.If I go back to the report of 3 October 2014 when the decision was made to raise the bill to have a bill brought to Parliament a number of comments were made by Helene Ritchie. I think in that report she talked of: “In the words of the Queen’s Counsel who provided legal opinion: ‘the Bill better expresses in a complete way the basis upon which the Town Belt is to be made available and managed better defines the council’s powers and provides for improved transparency in its decisionmaking’.” That pretty much sums up what the aim was from Wellington City Council and particularly from Helene Ritchie at that time.The report went on to state that a significant amount—well I will leave it for you to read that. It was an interesting report that came through. It listed some 10 different points that the bill would aim to achieve and stated: “This is the culmination of four and a half years’ work and a great public contribution from hundreds of constructive passionate Wellingtonians. As Portfolio Leader leading the process I”—that is Helene Ritchie—“have endeavoured to ensure meticulously word by word that through this Bill/Act the Town Belt is and will be protected to the highest possible level for current and future generations. It has been one of the most rewarding and sometimes challenging roles in my time on the City Council.” That is a quote from Helene Ritchie and I think it deserves to be read into the Hansard.But looking at the passage of this bill or the pathway that Wellington has walked to get to this point one cannot help but reflect on a couple of things. One of the things I will reflect on is the comment in the speech earlier on from I think Scott Simpson who said that green spaces promote the health and well-being of citizens. Could not agree more—could not agree more. I just do not understand why this Government removed health and well-being as those key things that local government is meant to consider in governing—Hon Member: So they’ve stopped have they? They needed to be told.RON MARK: Well I was there Minister. I was there at Local Government New Zealand at the time and I unanimously opposed that change by this Government. But do not worry the next Government will put it back. I will say that again: the next Government will put it back.But I agree with Scott Simpson that health and well-being is an issue and those things can be enhanced by having green spaces and green belts such as this. I do lament if we go back in history again and look at Christchurch and the situation that it faced back in 1991 when we had the Greenbelt Protection Society which fought so stridently to retain the green belt—something that is lost but ironically might well be restored as one of the consequences of the planning that is going on down there in the aftermath of the earthquakes. But again how ironic that one of the people who sought to undermine the green belt and actually bring about those changes that saw land loss was a National Minister of Finance by the name of Ruth Richardson.Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past and I just say that because in this air of unanimity and conviviality we do sometimes need to take a reality check and remind ourselves of our track record—and it is not all roses. But this point is a high point.I want to note a couple of submissions in particular and I will cut through—looking at the time—to a submission from the Wellington City Youth Council. There is a paragraph there the third paragraph that states: “We support the changes to the legal framework surrounding the town belt to modernise the future management. Given the historical problems with land development along the Town Belt this new framework is well overdue to create a new legal precedent for future decisions which is modern and relevant.” This is a very pertinent paragraph and summary from the Wellington City Youth Council and for that we as a committee thank it.New Zealand First supports this legislation. We congratulate everybody who has been heavily involved in its production and passage and we will be supporting it with our vote.