Williams Andrew: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Williams Andrew: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 05 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7167. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First) 
: 
 I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill. Likewise we are concerned only about this land at Lookout Point overlooking Oamaru township. The rest of the bill we are happy with but it is this main contentious piece of land. 
I think that what people have to remember is the fact that this is not just about bits of paper it is not just about legal technicalities and it is not just about who was right and who was wrong. This is about a physical piece of land that has been there since the 1800s. This land has been there overlooking the township and laid out by generations gone before us for the future of that town but has been used by the people of Oamaru and of the district for more than 130 or 140 years as an open piece of reserve. 
Therefore four or five generations of people have always had the expectation and the understanding that that open large piece of land was for public use and for the public of Oamaru to use. It went up to Lookout Point and it formed part of the extension of the very extensive Lookout Point piece of land. Therefore quite rightfully there is a significant portion of the community who today say that it is wrong that it be carved up and turned into a subdivision for a short-term gain of $3 million or thereabouts of profit in order to plough the $3 million into upgrading the Oamaru Opera House. Once the $3 million is gone and the land is gone and there are hundreds of houses on what was a 100-year-old reserve it will never be there again. 
As I have said in this House before councils all over New Zealand are constantly trying to acquire more land and trying to acquire more public reserves. Just the other day Auckland Council announced that it had just bought a large piece of land up at Pakiri north of Auckland. It is a very sizable piece of land—several million dollars worth—which will be a huge improvement to the park area and the council is very proud of it and Aucklanders will be very proud of having that additional reserve land under public ownership. 
I know that many MPs often do not get involved in this because they do not get involved in local government. It is something quite foreign to them. But those who have been in local government know how important it is to have reserve land in public ownership and how much effort goes into buying public land for reserve purposes. For an expanding population—and New Zealand when I was a child had 2 million people and it has now got 4.5 million— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I didn’t realise the member was that old. 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: You did not realise who was that old? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: You. 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: Yes there were 2 million people— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Two million people? 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: Yes there were 2 million people when I was a child. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: You’ve worn pretty well. 
ANDREW WILLIAMS 
: Exactly; I have. So now that our population is growing and is heading towards 5 million and in another 20 or 30 years it will be 6 million open reserve land becomes more and more and more precious. In a township like Oamaru where there are significant numbers of people saying: “We don’t want that lovely big ridge of land that overlooks the town being chopped up and turned into houses for a short-term gain.” I tend to fall on the side of those who are there to protect the land and keep it in perpetuity for our future generations. 
I think there was enough doubt even though the officials said that after analysing everything it seemed to be that it was an endowment piece of land rather than a reserve piece of land. There still seemed to be a certain area of doubt there and it was basically down to interpretation. I think that if you threw enough Queen’s Counsel and learned people at this you could come up with different answers at the end of the day. 
Therefore in that respect where there is an element of doubt and where there is a significant element in the community saying: “We want to keep our land and we want to preserve it.” I tend to err of the side of the reserve. New Zealand First likewise does not believe that it is in the interests of the area of Oamaru to start carving off reserve land for houses.