Boyack Rachel; O'Connor GregTHOMAS CAWTHRON TRUST AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): I move That the Thomas Cawthron Trust Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee to consider the bill.It is a privilege to be a member of the Cawthron Institute Trust Board as the MP for Nelson and to bring this private bill to Parliament. My interest as one of the statutory trustees is hereby disclosed including the proposal that all members of the trust board have their personal liability limited and indemnified by this bill.It has been quite a journey bringing this private bill to the House and I am pleased we are finally here. I want to place on record my thanks to a number of people who have helped bring this bill to fruition. My thanks to my fellow trustees to chair John Palmer Sarah-Jane Weir and Harvey Ruru for being the driving forces behind the introduction of this bill. Thank you to Cawthron Trust secretary Elizabeth Bean for keeping us all on task throughout the process. To the exceptional team in the Clerk's Office and the Parliamentary Counsel Office thank you for your wise advice to ensure we were compliant with the many Standing Orders that govern the introduction of a private bill. And finally thank you to Cawthron lawyer David McLay for his patience and perseverance in getting the bill to this stage.There is a high bar for bringing a private bill to Parliament which is as it should be. There needs to be a very strong rationale for private organisation to use the time of the House for its private purposes. Throughout my contribution I will explain why a private bill is needed to achieve the objects of the bill instead of seeking a judgment through the High Court. The purposes of the Thomas Cawthron Trust Amendment Bill are to provide for the appointment of a member of the trust board nominated by Te Tau Ihu iwi and to clearly articulate the objects of the trust board and to specify the legal liability of the trust board members and update and modernise the governance arrangements of the trust board. In addition there was a change made to the existing Act by the Trusts Act 2019 that was inconsistent with a previous High Court judgment. The Bill will correct this error. But before I address the bill in some detail I wish to provide some historical background. The Cawthron Institute is New Zealand's largest independent science and research institute and has operated for over 100 years. It plays a special role in the life of Nelsonians in Aotearoa New Zealand and on the world stage. Cawthron Institute is a taonga and a jewel in the Crown of the Te Tau Ihu top of the South region. The Cawthron Institute is named after its benefactor Thomas Cawthron a name that has resounded in Nelson for over a century. Cawthron was one of New Zealand's earliest philanthropists and a pioneering businessman. His contributions have had a lasting impact on Aotearoa and the city of Nelson. Born in London in 1833 Cawthron lived in Nelson from 1849. He recognised the importance of enriching life with music and beauty as demonstrated by his donations to the Nelson School of Music Nelson's public hospital the chains on Rocks Road and his gift of the granite steps leading to Nelson's iconic Christ Church Cathedral. After his death in 1915 Cawthron's will provided for £230000—about $127 million in today's terms—to establish an industrial and technical school institute and museum to be called the Cawthron Institute. Cawthron envisioned an education institute that would address the problems facing our agricultural industries in order to further our country's economic social and environmental development. Cawthron's will was made while he was in London in 1902 and resulted in the need for clarification of his bequest by scientific advisory committee by the then Supreme Court in 1919 and ultimately by way of the Thomas Cawthron Trust Act 1924. It wasn't long before the institute guided by some of the country's leading scientists gained a strong reputation for providing the research needed to support New Zealand's primary industries.Today Cawthron is one of New Zealand's most significant scientific organisations. Not a year goes by without reports in both mainstream and scientific media in Aotearoa and overseas highlighting progress made by the small yet world-class scientific community. In recent years Cawthron's research focus has been on aquaculture seafood safety ocean and freshwater health algae and bioactives and food testing. The institute is currently investigating the potential of the native red seaweed Asparagopsis to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The seaweed has already been proven in trials overseas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in livestock by up to 80 percent. Cawthron has recently partnered with Westpac Port Nelson and forestry company OneFortyOne to launch a national seagrass restoration project that aims to fight climate change and improve ecosystem health. Cawthron is also part of an international collaboration with Boston Children's Hospital to develop the world's first algae-based local anaesthetic using shellfish toxin: neosaxitoxin.Last year the Cawthron Institute celebrated its centenary albeit with the impediment of COVID. I was proud as the MP for Nelson to mark the occasion here at Parliament and pay tribute to this world-class Nelson institution. One hundred years of Cawthron can be attributed to the many people who have worked for guided and supported the institution through its ups and downs and is testimony to the pioneering vision of Thomas Cawthron.Now to the bill. Clause 5 of this bill is the first key provision. It will inject an objects clause that states the charitable objects of the trust board. The clause represents the objects set out in the will of Thomas Cawthron and the judgment of the then Supreme Court in 1919. The proposed wording is that the objects: are the advancement of science to benefit Te Tauihu and Aotearoa New Zealand with a focus on natural resources." Clause 5 also contains an interpretation provision proposed section 2B that includes definitions of "Te Tauihu Iwi Bodies" and "Te Tauihu Iwi Chairs Forum". Clause 6 will then provide for the appointment of "the Te Tauihu Iwi member by the Te Tauihu Iwi Chairs Forum acting on behalf of Te Tauihu Iwi Bodies." These two clauses will ensure that local iwi can appoint a statutory trustee to join the four existing trustees: the MP for Nelson Mayor of Nelson Mayor of Tasman and Anglican Bishop of Nelson. Some might say that this could be achieved by way of an application to the High Court. However that would not be honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the Te Tau Ihu iwi member would not then be one of the statutory trustees identified in the Thomas Cawthron Trust Act 1924. In order to create a statutory trustee the Act must be amended and this is what this private bill seeks to achieve. Prior to the introduction of this bill our trust board chair John Palmer has spent significant time engaging with local iwi to ensure they are supportive of the changes we are making to the bill. It is clear that Thomas Cawthron's intention was for local community leaders to have governance oversight of the institute in order to ensure its charitable status for the good of the people of the region was maintained. The trust board is of a clear mind that adding a statutory trustee nominated by iwi is in keeping with the will and intention of Thomas Cawthron.I now wish to highlight the recent High Court orders made under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 by what that Act terms a "charitable scheme". In February 2003 High Court orders were made by Justice Wild that included an order that section 17 be deleted and replaced. Further orders were made in 2011. Those orders affect the trust instrument but have not been recorded in legislation. The Trusts Act 2019 the amended section of the Act rather than the Act was changed by the court orders. In essence the amendments to the Thomas Cawthron Act via the Trusts Act gave some of the responsibilities that the trust's board had passed to the institute's commercial board of directors through the 2003 High Court judgment back to the trust board. The trust board was not consulted and the error was made that needs reversing. As I have already said that error cannot be amended again by the High Court.The last main change is that the liability of the trustees ought to be limited in a manner that is permitted by the Trusts Act rather than the trustees having completely unlimited liability. This change is contained in clause 12 of the bill that will enact a new section 17A.I thank everyone for their work in getting the bill to this stage. I am confident that members here will support this bill through to select committee where it can receive careful consideration. I commend the bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."