Reti Shane: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeReti Shane: Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 06 April 2016. Volume:712;Page:10281. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei): It is a pleasure to speak to the Christian Churches New Zealand Property Trust Board Empowering Bill to take a final call on this bill. I actually unexpectedly spoke to Part 1 of this bill and became interested to know a little bit more about it a wee while ago. So when I was in Nelson working with my colleague the Hon Nick Smith I took some time to visit the Christian Churches headquarters and was fortunate enough to be shown around by the Church archivist. I was taken to the Annesbrook site in Nelson and that is the headquarters for the Church where all their archives are. It had not always been there this wonderful structure that I will tell you about; it had been in various locations over time before being housed in the Nayland Road intermediate school and then it moved to its current site in Saxton Road.The current Annesbrook Church the headquarters for the Christian Churches was built in 2002 with a mix of community funding and lottery grants funding for which they are very grateful. When I visited this site—it is really a wonderful facility; truly a community facility—I saw a beautiful sound-proofed auditorium able to take 700 to 800 people a children’s playroom an infants’ playroom there was a youth room that becomes a dance studio complete with ballet barres on the side there was a kitchen and there were outside seminar rooms for teaching and education. That is important because Annesbrook Church is also a large ministry development centre and it is also an approved tertiary institution. In fact it is one of the main theology colleges for the upper South Island.The Christian Churches work has both national reach including managing four large-scale campsites for youth work around the country and international reach. I would like to read out some of the achievements that the Christian Churches have done from a letter that was sent to me. “For 170 years this small denomination of always less than 5000 New Zealanders has quietly gone about ministry to local communities made a tremendous impact in emancipation in Zimbabwe and punched above its weight in ecumenical affairs. It has spawned mayors members of Parliament prison and defence chaplains missionaries and welfare workers. Two in particular have been in the international spotlight. The late Sir Garfield Todd was the only missionary in the world to become a Prime Minister in Southern Rhodesia and knighted by the Queen after a New Zealand Government initiative.”Sir Garfield Todd was born in New Zealand; he is a New Zealander. He was born 13 July 1908. He worked in his student years at his father’s brick-making business. After university at Otago University he went to the Glen Leith Theological College took his holy orders in 1931 and was then assigned from New Zealand to missionary work in South Africa. When he was there he then took up public life from an empathy he felt with the Africans whose interests he had overlooked as a superintendent of the Dadaya Mission School. So he is a person who had been supported by the Christian Churches—a New Zealander who then went on to do wonderful things.Another person who had been supported by the Church was the late Ronald O’Grady. He is the founder of EPCAT International which is End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes—again another really good cause that the Church has been around. Locally in Nelson Tony Barnett the hospice chaplain was crowned “Nelsonian of the Year” by the Nelson Mail. Again he has strong involvement with the Christian Churches as well. It is noted to me that even Fred Hollows the noted Australian eye doctor passed through its Bible college in Dunedin.The Church’s work continues overseas. It continues in Zimbabwe where it is very proud to have done 80 boreholes to date an orphanage a 700-student boarding school and microfinance for subsistence farmers. It has quite a large congregation in Vanuatu and its work following the recent cyclone disaster has been quite strong.I think this congregation and this body of work by these people is really important. They have really contributed to New Zealand history over time. I think the final sentence in this letter that was sent to me outlining these achievements says it all: “Being autonomous congregations the 24 current churches need a property trust board to be able to combine their resources for training missionary outreach and church ventures.” I agree with those sentiments and I commend this bill to the House.Bill read a third time.