Foster-Bell Paul: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 03 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4286. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National): Before I begin my contribution on the Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust Bill in this third reading debate I would like to make a couple of acknowledgments that I think do bear some pertinence to the matter at hand. Firstly this is the first opportunity I have had when speaking in this House to acknowledge the passing of respected New Zealander Ērima Hēnare. I was fortunate enough to have had Ērima as my third form social studies teacher at Whangarei Boys High School in 1990. He was someone who in his lessons and in the way he conducted himself in the classroom encouraged a love of arts history and culture through his social studies lessons which carried me forward and encouraged me to take on courses in history classics archaeology and art history whilst at university. So I would like to acknowledge the passing of Ērima. It is a great loss not only to his whānau but to us as a country.Secondly as chair of the New Zealand - Scotland Parliamentary Friendship Group I would like to acknowledge the unexpected and shocking death of Charles Kennedy former leader of the Liberal Democrats at the young age of 55. He was the youngest MP when admitted to the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. I think this news comes as a shock to all of us who follow British politics.But getting on to the bill I do want to acknowledge the Minister and member for Christchurch Central the Hon Nicky Wagner who has sponsored this bill. Nicky Wagner is a very impressive member of this House. This is the first of two bills that she brings before us today to advance issues in her local area. She is a very assiduous and hard-working member and there are many of us who follow what she does with great interest because we think there is much we can learn from such a successful and hard-working member. It is a pleasure to speak on such a bill that enjoys cross-party support—in fact unanimous support on all sides of the House. I do want to thank the speaker who just resumed his seat Major Ron Mark for his comments acknowledging the excellent chairman of the Local Government and Environment Committee Scott Simpson who does work very hard to conduct the committee in a very non-partisan cross-party and I think cooperative way to make sure that we deliberate carefully on all such issues that we address.In the particular case of this bill I did enjoy the opportunity to go down to Christchurch where we heard about another matter which we will come to later in the day but also we did have the opportunity to tour the Arts Centre guided by the staff. I particularly want to single out the chair of the board Jen Crawford and the chief executive officer André Lovatt who have made an enormous contribution to ensuring that this precious asset this cultural asset—which not only is important to Christchurch but is actually significant to all New Zealanders and is world heritage—has the opportunity to be restored and to be saved from the almost certain destruction that the earthquakes threatened upon it.As a student of history I would like to touch on a couple of particular parts of the story of the Arts Centre because I think they are perhaps not as well-known as they could be among New Zealanders. The first is the fact that Lord Ernest Rutherford Lord Rutherford of Nelson did his undergraduate studies at the University of Canterbury or as it was then Canterbury College of the University of New Zealand. He did groundbreaking work which he later continued when he went to McGill University in Canada. He later went to Cambridge University where he became director of the Cavendish Laboratory. Of course he is famous for having split the atom—I think that is how we might describe it in common parlance. But Lord Rutherford in his early days did groundbreaking research including on differentiating alpha and beta rays. It is the sort of science upon which much of our modern learning and knowledge in the area of physics is founded. The fact that we now have preserved the rooms in which Lord Rutherford did some of his seminal work is very important. We have to I think take heed of the fact that Lord Rutherford was not only the first New Zealander but actually the first antipodean—the first person from our part of the world more generally—to receive the Nobel Prize before he actually split the atom. So a lot of that early groundbreaking work that Lord Rutherford did was conducted in the Arts Centre and it is a wonderful thing that that laboratory is going to be preserved.Another factor that I think is very important is that the Arts Centre represents one of the very very few—it may even be unique—coherent and cohesive neo-Gothic collegial precincts that exist not only in New Zealand but in the world. We can go to the places where this sort of architecture originated and it is clear that the college buildings were designed to replicate the colleges of universities such as Cambridge University Oxford University Edinburgh University and Glasgow University in the United Kingdom. This is the sort of architecture that I was quite accustomed to at the University of Otago where you have a slightly different Scots baronial neo-Gothic architecture in the original buildings of the university. But this is a unique site because you have not only the college buildings but what is now the Canterbury Museum buildings where work is under way to make sure that they can reopen to their full potential. A lot of the galleries are already open and they are available to visit. I would encourage not only Cantabrians but visitors from overseas to make the trip down and pay a visit to the Canterbury Museum because it is well worth a look. But you have Christ’s College and sadly of course with the destruction of the cathedral one end of that streetscape precinct has unfortunately been affected. But we have had some positive news in recent days and weeks around the potential for the Catholic cathedral to be restored. There are modern means that allow even heavily damaged buildings to be economically brought back to something approaching their original status to preserve some of those heritage values and I think that is a very positive thing.This bill has been improved upon by the Local Government and Environment Committee in hearing submissions from obviously those intimately involved with the current governance and administration of the Arts Centre. We have reported back and made a few changes including some small technical details such as the removal of clause 8 which if it had been allowed in as originally proposed would have provided for the transfer of trust property back to the Crown in the event of the winding up of the trust. As laudable as that goal in itself may sound it carried the unfortunate consequence of a debt incurred by the trust also falling to the Crown. There has been some reorganisation and new clause 5(2) has been added requiring that all income benefit or advantage received by or accruing to the trust be used to advance its charitable purposes and objects. I think this sets the trust up well. It was originally founded some 40 years ago and of course after 40 years it is time for a bit of a spruce-up. But I think we are going to leave the trust in a very strong position in which it will be able to conduct its affairs including some commercial activities provided that the profits and proceeds from those activities go back to deliver on those objects of what is quite rightly a charitable and non-commercial trust. This could include for instance the leasing out of premises to act as cafes. Those of us who visited the Arts Centre pre the earthquakes will remember what vibrant cafes and restaurants it had.Those of us who visited pre the earthquakes will also remember the theatre that served up some wonderful productions. My personal favourite of course was David McPhail starring as Muldoon in the eponymously entitled play. He has moved on. I do not know whether other members have seen David McPhail’s more recent interpretations but he has moved on from the comical caricature of one of our great Prime Ministers into I think a very sensitive and highly dramatic portrayal of Muldoon the man. That was done in a theatre that has been acknowledged by people who I think are experts in the world of theatre and stagecraft. People such as Sir Ian McKellen and other great performers have singled out the Court Theatre as one of the pre-eminent venues that should be rightfully restored. It should be preserved and it should be put back into a use whereby the proceeds from ticket sales and hiring it out can actually go to further making it a sustainable project on an ongoing basis and assist with renovations.Other members have touched on the artistry and artisanship and craftsmanship that are going into the stonework. I do not think it is necessary for me to go on at great length about that other than to say that these are wonderful skills not only to have in the Arts Centre itself but to be deployed more widely throughout New Zealand and in fact even perhaps commercially exported including to such places as Mr Mark mentioned as the Sultanate of Oman where His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has an enormous aesthetic and an unlimited budget for doing such works. I would like to see that move forward in the future. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you very much.