Ross Jami-Lee: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ross Jami-Lee: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4815. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAMI-LEE ROSS (National—Botany) 
: 
 It is a genuine pleasure to speak in favour of this piece of legislation the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill and it has been very good to see you know the working together of the parties with the exception of one on this bill and the genuine and the passionate and the well-intentioned speeches of all members so far on this piece of legislation. 
I was listening very carefully to the speech of the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. It was good to hear that when the war memorial was first established in this country it was a unanimous vote in this Parliament that saw it established. As we come close to the centenary of the Gallipoli landings and as we talk about a project that is designed to commemorate not only that landing and that war but also other conflicts that New Zealanders have served this country well in in overseas theatres remembering those people and commemorating the sacrifice that they have made for this country it is fitting that we should also have cross-party support in this Chamber. 
I would ask those who have indicated some opposition to this bill to really reconsider whether or not that is the right thing to be doing. Yes there are some questions about the process. Yes there are some people who may have some unease at the fact that legislation of this type is being proposed or is going through this Parliament in the fashion that it is but we have to remember the importance and the significance of this project. We have to remember that we want to see this project in place and completed by Anzac Day in 2015 and to fail to meet that deadline would be absolutely unacceptable. 
I listened carefully also to the speech from the Hon Annette King and I was pleased to hear of all the work that Labour did for the National War Memorial. The Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Chris Finlayson also spoke at great length about the consultation and the efforts that he has put in as Minister on behalf of this Government to try to get the National War Memorial to the point where we can have the park to remember New Zealanders in 2015. 
Looking through the regulatory impact statement there are some interesting points that are worth noting and I would like to cover just a couple of those. I was quite interested to see that there was some recent consultation done with the community in 2011. It was around the Wellington Northern Corridor road of national significance. There were many hundreds of submissions to that process and 550 of those submissions indicated that they would like to see a realignment or a redesign of Buckle Street. So this legislation and the proposal we have in front of us would fulfil the wishes of those 550 submitters. 
It was also interesting to see in the regulatory impact statement that a lot of work has gone in with the Wellington City Council the New Zealand RSA and indeed Mt Cook School all of which have indicated their support for this option. There is support from a very wide range of people for this particular project and it is important that those people’s wishes as well as the wishes of all New Zealanders to have a grand memorial for the centenary of the Gallipoli landings is in place in time. 
In terms of the process yes there is some legislation that is being proposed here that would override some normal processes that we would go through but I think it is important to note in the House that there are also some important safeguards that are being put into this legislation. Firstly there is the disallowance procedure that is in the legislation. When such wide-ranging powers would be granted to the Governor-General to make Orders in Council it is appropriate that the disallowance procedure be put in place and this bill does that. 
This bill also establishes a community forum for ongoing consultation with locals in the area and interested stakeholders. There is also a review panel that is being established. Although it is not desirable in the normal course of business to be overriding other pieces of legislation in the fashion that this does for such a significant project it is absolutely appropriate and the timing issue is essential so that we meet the deadlines the strict deadlines we have for this project. The corresponding actions that have been taken in the legislation around review and around consultation are also appropriate and should be welcomed and they should mitigate many of the concerns that some people may have. 
This is a very very important piece of legislation to commemorate a very important date when many thousands of New Zealanders served their country in war and I commend the bill to the House.