Cunliffe David: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
Cunliffe David: Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:645;Page:14878] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Health) 
: 
 It is my pleasure to take a short call to support the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area Bill. In doing so I think it is appropriate to offer some thanks for the work that has been done by a large number of people both inside and outside the House to bring the bill to the place it is today. 
In my earlier contribution on the bill I spent some time discussing the concept of the cumulative effects of subdivision and development. I went through the arguments about why although every consent individually might seem appropriate when added together the cumulative effect is that one loses this magnificent natural heritage and that process is irreversible. 
Paula Bennett 
: Like if it had been done to your house in Herne Bay eh? 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: At least I know where I live and I have never denied it—unlike the leader of the National Party who seems to have a memory lapse when it comes to making declarations. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Amnesia! 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: It is amnesia—exactly. If we do not act now and seize this opportunity we will never get the opportunity again. It has taken about 30 years to get this bill to where it is today. It started off with some people like Justice Tony Randerson the former Speaker of the House Jonathan Hunt and Gary Taylor sitting down one day and thinking about the long-term future of the ranges. The current chair of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society John Edgar pioneered this and gathered the support of many constituents in that area. 
There are other people in the Chamber who also need mentioning. Obviously there is the member who is carrying the weight of this bill through the House Lynne Pillay the MP for Waitakere who deserves our special and collective thanks. Lynne has followed this bill from the beginning of the community consultation. I know that she has been at every meeting. She has spent interminable hours with community groups the Waitakere City Council and other councils the Clerk’s Office and the Bills Office getting the draft prepared. She is here today not to take credit for herself but to shepherd through a bill with a narrow majority—we recognise that—but it is one that will make a very positive and lasting change in that area. 
I recognise the Prime Minister’s efforts. The Prime Minister has listened to the voices of west Auckland; she said that on this bill what the west wants the west needs to get. She has backed this bill through our caucus and supported it to Parliament today. It would be difficult to conceive the bill without it having received that support. I thank Darien Fenton MP who is a Waitakere resident. She has made a valuable contribution to our team and has been a strong local supporter. The MP for Te Atatu the Hon Chris Carter has been a rock-solid supporter right through the process particularly working closely with Waitakere City Council. I acknowledge Taito Phillip Field. Taito Field had his reservations about the bill but he has at least done the hard yards of coming out west and meeting with the Pacific Islands Advisory Board and the landowners in Oratia. He sat down and listened to them and worked in a reasonable way through their objections then crafted amendments that members could vote for to perhaps moderate some of the rough edges of the earlier draft so that we now have a bill that he supports. With his support this bill will hopefully pass into law. 
I thank the leaders around the table at the Waitakere City Council. It is easy to take people for granted but Bob Harvey has been a visionary out west and has lifted it from “Boganville” to the “eco-city”. He needs to be recognised as he has been a tireless supporter of this bill. He was able to swing some of the majorities in behind it that enabled it to come to the House. Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse was very keen to have a full consultation process and I think that in the end it has probably assisted the durability of the consensus even if it did take a bit longer. Councillor Judy Lawley has been a rock-solid supporter through the process. Former councillors Greg Presland and Denise Yates made an important contribution earlier on they have carried that through. These are the kinds of people whose mana is tied up in bringing this bill to the House. Although we as MPs are doing our bit to carry the bill forward that next step we are actually standing on the shoulders of a whole lot of giants who have put their vision hopes and dreams into this fairly modest bill. I thank the Maori Party the Greens and all who support the bill.