Hipkins Chris: Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Hipkins Chris: Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:14885] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I am very happy to take a call on Part 2 of the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill and from the very beginning I say that I am quite excited about the Rugby World Cup coming to New Zealand. It will be a major event for this country and I am looking forward to it. I am also very broadly supportive of the establishment of the Rugby World Cup Authority which is what the second part— 
John Hayes 
: So why is Mallard off the leash? 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Mr Mallard also supports Part 2 “Establishment of Rugby World Cup Authority”. I will talk about some of the powers that the authority has some of the considerations about membership and in particular how the authority will be supported. 
Part 2 establishes the Rugby World Cup Authority as a body corporate. It sets out its functions and powers which include determining all applications making recommendations to the Minister for the Rugby World Cup and granting urgent applications. 
One of the issues that the Government Administration Committee took into consideration and had some significant discussion on was how best to support the authority in exercising its powers and in making decisions. Effectively we are taking some of these functions and powers off local authorities and for matters related to the Rugby World Cup transferring them to this authority. But the expertise and the local knowledge which is quite critical in many of the decision-making processes that will take place will still reside with those local authorities. So the question is whether a secretariat should be established that would specifically serve the Rugby World Cup Authority or whether it would be better to draw on local expertise and knowledge from within the existing local authorities. Of course I tend to go with what the bill has ended up with which is that it is better to draw on the expertise and knowledge of the existing local authorities. However the question then becomes whether we can meet the objectives of the bill which are to speed the process up and make sure we do not have undue delay. Can we do that if we are relying on the local authorities to provide the process and secretarial support? 
In the case of larger local authorities such as the Wellington City Council or the new Auckland Council they are likely to have significant resources behind them and it will not be a problem for them to supply good-quality robust secretarial support to the authority and to meet those constrained time frames and time pressures that the authority will face. However if we move to a much much smaller local authority that will not necessarily be the case. Even Hamilton which is not tiny but which is not a big local authority either— 
Sue Moroney 
: It’s the fourth-largest city in New Zealand. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: —the fourth-largest city in New Zealand—may not have the staff and the support available to support this authority to meet the time frames that it is required to meet. There will have to be a balance between relying on local authorities to support the new Rugby World Cup Authority and providing additional advice and support. 
I think it is important that we understand what the functions of the administrative secretariat will be. As I have said the administrative secretariat will have to be supplied by existing local authorities. Clause 15 sets out what is required of the local authorities and clause 15(4) sets out the functions of the administrative secretariat. I think the important provision here is clause 15(4)(ba) which states: “to provide advice to the Authority in accordance with its requirements for matters relevant to any determinations of the Authority:” and then clause 15(4)(bb) which begins “to act on the instructions that the Authority gives”. Ultimately the local authorities the councils will still be the ones that have to implement whatever decisions the authority makes. So although the authority gets the power that currently resides with the local authorities that does not simply mean the local authorities do not need to be involved. Whatever decisions the Rugby World Cup Authority makes the local councils will still be ultimately responsible for implementing them. 
Having the administrative secretariat supplied by the local authorities will certainly assist in making sure that that process works effectively but we should also acknowledge the resource constraints that that will potentially place on some of the smaller local authorities that may have to deal with that issue.