Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Mōrena Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on the Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill. May I just begin by congratulating my colleague Tangi Utikere on his stewardship of this important bill through the House. As he has mentioned it is unusual to have local and private bills come through the House but they are a very useful way for our councils and for local organisations to bring important legislation through so that they can achieve their objectives.I've had the opportunity to take a few calls on this bill; in fact I've asked to take calls on this bill. Why is that? The reason is that I had the pleasure of growing up in Palmerston North. I moved there at the age of nine years old. Funnily enough people often ask me where I am from and where I grew up.Hon Scott Simpson: Where did your parents meet?RACHEL BOYACK: I can tell you my parents met here in Wellington at Victoria University. They both had travelled to the Pacific actually with Volunteer Service Abroad. So that's how they met. Great question.I was born in Timaru and had the pleasure of moving around the motu with my father who was working in senior health roles becoming the chief executive of Palmerston North Hospital and I think he opened a few buildings there. So we're a hospital-building family my family—Tangi Utikere: And it continues.RACHEL BOYACK: Yes and it continues: Nelson will be next. So having said that I moved there when I was nine and moved away when I was 18. Interestingly actually Nelson where I'm pleased to be the local MP is the place I've actually lived the longest. So I very much am very proud to be a Nelson local and for Nelson to be my home town but I call Palmerston North my second home town because my parents and most of my siblings still reside in Palmerston North—although quite a few of them have moved just to the outskirts of Palmerston North and they're now in Mr McKelvie's electorate. So we have many family connections around this particular bill and with members of this House.What the bill does is it allows the council to go through a process and then consider and then potentially sell or divest the land. I think that's an important point to make: that it doesn't automatically mean that the sale or the divestment of the land will happen; the council still does have to go through a consultative process with its community to make that decision and that's a good thing.Other speakers this morning and in previous readings have talked about the amenity value of where this piece of housing sits—well potential piece of housing sits; I'll just clarify that. People have mentioned that it's close to local schools including my high school Palmerston North Girls' High School. I used to cycle down Huia Street which is just a small little street. If I was running late for school that would be the way we would try and avoid getting a detention. But there was a particular teacher there—anyone from Palmerston North listening in will remember Mrs Farrelly—Mrs Farrelly waiting at the little piece of Huia Street. One morning she caught me coming in late trying to avoid getting picked up and I ended up in detention at lunchtime. So it's an excellent piece of land in my opinion for housing because it has excellent amenity value; it would score very highly. It's right next to the botanical gardens the Lido swimming pool; and as Mr Utikere mentioned the Victoria Esplanade Gardens. I'll just note from Tripadvisor that someone a few years ago said These luxurious gardens really are a gem and sometimes underrated by the locals and missed by visitors." So I'm just putting on the record—anyone doing their research on where to visit in Palmerston North I've had friends who've been married there; it's a beautiful place—I encourage people to visit the esplanade gardens. There's also nearby a miniature train loved by my nephews and nieces and secretly loved by my brothers and sisters who I think sometimes take their children on the train not so much for their children's enjoyment but for their own.Hon Member: Is it free?RACHEL BOYACK: Oh look I'd need to—Tangi Utikere: No but it's cheap.RACHEL BOYACK: Yeah Mr Utikere says "cheap". I'm not sure if it's quite a dollar as Kieran McAnulty's train is in the Wairarapa but it's certainly not an expensive outing. Also Huia Street is very close to the Manawatū River and Fitzherbert Park where I have many recollections of doing athletics on rainy days which was never a particularly fun experience. And as others have mentioned there is a bridge leading across to the Rangitīkei River which I actually haven't had the opportunity to use yet; so next time I'm home I'll make a point of doing that.Mr Utikere also mentioned the Square. I'd forgotten in previous speeches the importance of the Square to Palmerston North. When I was a teenager and when we had nothing to do what we would do is drive around and around the Square. It used to annoy the local police no end. Boy racers of which I was not one—just saying—but I may have had a couple of friends that were drove around and around the Square. The police would do a very good job of driving around and around the Square so slowly that they would annoy those drivers wanting to go very very fast.As I said this piece of land has very high amenity value. It's also very close to public transport. It's within walking distance to the local mall the plaza where I had my first job at Christmas dressing up as an elf wrapping Christmas presents. It was a fantastic job at the Palmerston North plaza. So people living in any housing that may be built on this reserve will be able to walk to The Plaza to do their shopping.In previous readings there've been comments made by many speakers about the care we need to take around removing reserve land off the books of a council either through sale or divestment. We do need to take care. Some have noted that we don't need any process we should just allow councils just to do that off their own steam; others have said we shouldn't potentially do it at all. My view—and I think where the bill strikes the right balance—is being very pragmatic about saying yep the council has determined they would like to be able to do this they've brought it to Parliament where it's been scrutinised and then to do that they would still need to go through a robust consultation process. So I think it's really struck the right balance. It's not making the council able to do just sell the land willy-nilly; there still has to be a process to go through in order to consider it for housing.People have mentioned today and in previous speeches that a similar version of this bill was brought to the House in previous years and it was ultimately withdrawn. One of the reasons why it was withdrawn was there had been a lack of consultation. So there was concern from the community that meant when it did come through to the House it probably didn't have enough of that backing from local people to bring it here. I spoke to my stepfather after the first reading because he actually held a role that Tangi Utikere held he was the Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North City Council when this bill came forward the first time. I happened actually after the first reading to head back to my second home of Palmerston North and my stepfather was very pleased to hear that it had come back before the House; he had been quite frustrated about the process. It has been a piece of land that has been underutilised that is a perfect piece of land in my view for there to be housing. So I do just want to acknowledge my stepfather John Hornblow who worked on this a while ago now. He will be very pleased to see this bill pass its third reading today.On that note I just want to congratulate again my colleague the excellent MP for Palmerston North who I've known since we were at intermediate school at Ross Intermediate and thank him for his work on this bill; thank the select committee for their work; thank the officials who put in their time; thank all the submitters who took the time to submit on the bill; and most importantly thank Palmerston North City Council for their work on bringing this bill to the House. I know that they will once it has passed its third reading go through the appropriate process. It will be important for them to ensure there's good consultation with the community including local iwi Rangitāne; I just want to acknowledge them and their role in this part of the motu. I know that if housing is developed there it will make a real difference for families and people in Palmerston North who need good quality affordable housing. That is what our objective is as a Government. So I commend this bill to the House."