Twyford PhilPHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū): This is a shabby bit of politics from Nick Smith in the final 100 days of this tired National Government. Why do I say it is shabby? It is because this bill is basically about Nick Smith trying to score political points. You see he thinks that if Labour opposes his bill to build 300 houses on a city park it somehow undermines the criticism that we make of his failed housing policy. Well it does not because the failure of that Minister is writ large. His bumbling failures and utter inability to do anything about the housing crisis while the hopes of a generation of young Kiwi families go up in smoke—that cannot be diminished or diverted by the pathetic little bit of theatre that this bill is. The National Government's legacy of record homelessness and the lowest rate of homeownership since 1951 cannot be diverted by this bill—as if building 300 houses on a city park is any kind of solution to the housing crisis.Why else is it shabby? It is shabby because Nick Smith has dragged Ngāti Paoa into his little game and I want to repeat for the record that Labour has no beef with Ngāti Paoa. We understand and respect their aspirations: their aspirations to settle their historical grievances their aspiration for a place to stand. They have got a deal on the table. Why would they not take it? That is why Labour will vote for Ngāti Paoa's settlement when it comes to this House. But I say to Nick Smith and the Māori Party that if you thought that Labour's commitment to Treaty settlement was so shallow that we would be blackmailed into supporting a classic half-baked Nick Smith scheme like this then you horribly misjudged us. Labour's commitment to Treaty settlement goes back to the Hon Matiu Rata. It is solid and enduring but it does not mean we will go along meekly with an idea that is as misconceived and short-sighted as carving up one of the most precious open expanses of waterfront parkland in the entire city of Auckland and turning it into housing.It is shabby because Nick Smith's political game-playing has dragged Ngāti Paoa's settlement into a climate of disenchantment and mistrust and cynicism in the local community—a community that feels betrayed by this Minister and this piece of legislation. It did not have to be like that.This is a shabby bill because the Government has ignored a much better alternative. Instead of carving up this precious piece of city parkland it could instead have offered Ngāti Paoa 12 hectares of land just over the fence from the Point England Reserve for the commercial redress part of Ngāti Paoa's settlement. It could have offered Ngāti Paoa ownership of the entire reserve on the basis of perpetual public access. It could have offered Ngāti Paoa co-governance of the land at Point England alongside 2 hectares of land for a marae on this achingly beautiful piece of land.It is shabby because Nick Smith has peddled falsehoods about this bill as he is so prone to do. He says repeatedly that the land is underutilised. Well tell that to the thousands of people who turn up for the Weet-Bix Tryathlon in the park for movies in the park and the generations who have played kilikiti and all manner of sports on the land that Nick Smith is taking away with this bill.Nick Smith is obsessed with the 28 cows that have been grazing on part of this reserve. He is absolutely obsessed. He is so obsessed with cows on this land that he is passing a bill that will prohibit Auckland Council from grazing animals on the reserve that it is responsible for. I kid you not. This Minister has got his meek sheepish colleagues voting for a bill that will ban Auckland Council from grazing cows on this reserve as well as ordering Auckland Council to replace the three playing fields that this bill obliterates with three new playing fields when the only space left on the reserve to put these three new playing fields is on the precious waterfront headland. This Minister needs his head read. Auckland Council says that it will not get a resource consent to do what this bill orders it to do. Once this bill is passed into law Auckland Council faces being either in breach of the Resource Management Act (RMA) or in breach of this bill. It is unbelievable.This is shabby because it cuts across the RMA it cuts across the Reserves Act when those Acts have perfectly good consultation and decision-making processes for precisely this kind of endeavour. There are established democratic procedures in place for turning over reserve land for other purposes. But no that is not good enough for this Minister.It is shabby because this community in Glen Innes one of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in Auckland needs this parkland for future generations. This community is about to get 20000 extra people in the next 10 years because of the Tāmaki regeneration project. Auckland is going to get another million people. That is why Auckland Council came to Parliament and said that this bill is a dangerous precedent.It is shabby because the National Government has treated this community in east Auckland—the people of Point England Tāmaki and Glen Innes—with utter contempt. The Government did not consult on this plan. It sprang it on the community when this bill was tabled in the House. This bill legislates away the democratic rights of that community. The select committee was timed to receive submissions over the January summer holidays when everybody was away. The local National MP Sam Lotu-Iiga claimed in this House that he had consulted his constituents and that they supported this bill but he refused to meet face to face with local people in his electorate who are opposed to this bill. What a shame. What a shame.National's candidate for the seat of Maungakiekie Denise Lee refused to publicly debate this issue—absolutely gutless. She would not even stand up publicly and defend the policy of her party taking away 12 hectares of land from the community that she purports to represent. How disgraceful. Then we have Nick Smith coming to this House repeatedly perpetrating the lie that this land is underutilised. The reason this park has had cows grazing on it is that successive councils have not properly invested in the parkland that belongs to one of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in Auckland. And Nick Smith has the gall to come here and use that as a justification for confiscating 12 hectares of land—unbelievable.I want to honour the people of Tāmaki and Glen Innes and Point England who have stood up and resisted this travesty. The Save our Reserves group mobilised its community against this bill and I want to acknowledge Tsz Ho Shaun Lee Jen Vella Julie Chambers Helen Momota Tony Watkins and Chris Barfoot and 4000 other people—many of them who once voted for the National Party—who signed the petition opposing this bill.I also want to give special recognition to Labour's Maungakiekie candidate Priyanca Radhakrishnan who stood up and told the truth. She stood up for her community unlike the members on that side of the House who take for granted their people in that community—how appalling how disgraceful. They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves on that side of the House.This shabby bill will be seen for what it is. It is a tawdry bit of political game-playing by a Minister who has so spectacularly failed to build houses who has totally failed in his responsibility as the housing Minister to do anything about the housing crisis—so stung by that humiliation—that he wants to prove to the world that he can build houses even on a treasured patch of city parkland.