Smith NickPOINT ENGLAND DEVELOPMENT ENABLING BILLFirst ReadingHon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for Building and Housing): I move That the Point England Development Enabling Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Local Government and Environment Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported back to the House by 28 April 2017. This bill forms part of the Government's wide-ranging and pragmatic programme to address the challenges of housing in Auckland. At the core of Auckland's housing issues is the supply of land where we have seen section prices increase more than fourfold over the course of the last 25 years. The Government has a programme with the special housing areas special legislation around the new Auckland Unitary Plan and the programme in respect of the large Resource Legislation Amendment Bill that is before the select committee.Whether it be the major reforms that are going on in the area of social housing and the Government housing agency Housing New Zealand building the largest number of new homes ever whether it be the HomeStart programme which is providing the most generous support that has ever been provided by a Government for first-home buyers or whether it be the changes that our Government has made around the regulation of building all of those parts of the programme provide the long-term solution.But the Government is also very pragmatic in saying that where it owns land in Auckland it needs to free up sites that are not being well utilised and enable them to be able to be utilised for housing. That is what this bill is all about. It is part of the Crown land programme. It is the ninth site that is now subject to housing development. That programme will provide for 1500 homes and each week I am announcing additional blocks of land that can be better utilised for housing purposes.This particular block of land and the purpose of this bill is to enable housing development on 11.7 hectares of land on the Point England Recreation Reserve in Tāmaki in east Auckland. I emphasise that this is only 12 kilometres from the CBD of the city. It is part of the city where housing need is at its most acute. I would note that 18 hectares of the Point England Reserve has been used for the last 30 years for grazing cows. I know—including yourself Mr Assistant Speaker—that grazing land is an important economic activity for New Zealand but I would hope that there was a consensus in this Parliament that using land that is so central to the city of Auckland when we have got high housing need for grazing cows is totally inefficient inappropriate land use; that is what this bill will enable us to be able to develop for housing.The bill is very similar to a bill this Parliament has already passed this year the Riccarton Racecourse legislation where we also had a reserve that was set aside over 140 years ago—for racing horses—and land that was poorly utilised. That land now has construction work begun on building 600 homes for the city of Christchurch. The Point England Development Enabling Bill as with the Riccarton bill recognises that although it may be extremely desirable to have a further 300 houses within 20 minutes of the CBD the Reserves Act and the current zoning at the site provides a barrier to that being able to occur—thus the need for this bill.The development land is Crown-owned but vested in Auckland Council as a recreational reserve under the Reserves Act 1977. The land's reserve status and zoning means it is restricted to just that use. The bill enables housing to be built on the development land by creating a new parcel of land from within the reserve with separate title revoking that parcel's reserve status setting it aside for State housing purposes and applying a Mixed Housing Urban zoning that will allow it to be developed for residential homes. The balance of the reserve 33.3 hectares will remain recreation reserve land as will the council-owned beach reserve.The Point England Development Enabling Bill enables housing to be built on that land by subdividing the 11.7 hectares for housing from the balance of the reserve the creation of a separate title revocation of the reserve status on that parcel of land and requiring the zoning of the land to be changed from Public Open Space to Mixed Housing Urban. The development land will be connected by road to Point England Road and Elstree Avenue will not encroach on the elevated headland or the eastern sports fields adjacent to the council-owned beach reserve and will be set back from Ōmaru Creek. I want to acknowledge Ngāti Paoa's significant role in this development. They will have the first opportunity to develop the land for housing. The iwi became aware of the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company's plans at Point England in 2015 and brought a housing development proposal to the Government. Ngāti Paoa understands Point England as part of the larger area that was in the past well settled. There were houses and gardens significantly supporting a Ngāti Paoa population all the way along the Tāmaki River towards the great pā at Mokoia.Ngāti Paoa despite promises by the Crown at the time—large tracts of Auckland were being alienated—had not retained land in these areas that were once so important to them. This is why this development opportunity also supports the conclusion of the Ngāti Paoa Treaty settlement negotiations something my colleague the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Treaty Negotiations Chris Finlayson is working towards.The iwi in Auckland not all of whom have settled their claims have been willing partners with the Government in trying to resolve the housing challenges in the city of Auckland. They understand very well the importance of housing to their people and the communities they are part of. As part of this development we expect a minimum of 20 percent of the new homes to be social houses and a further 20 percent to be within that HomeStart price cap of under $650000 but the details of that housing development are yet to be negotiated. Ngāti Paoa will pay fair market value for the land and assume the risks of the development. A further 2 hectares is being provided at Point England for the development of a marae as part of the cultural redress of that Treaty settlement.Point England is also within the Tāmaki regeneration area and that huge development the largest redevelopment of housing anywhere in New Zealand has the added challenge of being able to provide homes for people while the houses are demolished and redeveloped. The big advantage of this Point England development with Ngāti Paoa is that we are going to be able to have homes for those people to be able to stay in their home community while at the same time accelerating that huge redevelopment from 2800 homes to 7500 homes. This land is also subject to a right of first refusal under the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau settlement legislation and the bill will not interfere with that.I would encourage members of the House to support this bill. It is pragmatic. It is about addressing the supply of land that is so fundamental to the housing challenge in Auckland. It really does come down to a simple question of whether this Parliament believes it is sensible that Crown land should have cows grazing on it when we have such a high need for housing and it would be the Government's view that by working with iwi we can make better use of this land as well as reinvest that money to provide for a wonderful recreational facility and build a new community. I note that both the Government and Ngāti Paoa's ambition is not just building houses but building a wonderful new community here at Point England.