Eagle PaulPAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Look it's a real privilege to have the opportunity to speak on the Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Bill in its third reading and I do want to acknowledge the Minister of Local Government the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and also the Minister of Employment the Hon Willie Jackson for being here and seeing it on a safe journey through its third reading. I know that this had been close to the Minister of Local Government's heart long before we resumed on this side of the House the Government benches. The Minister had been vocal around saying that the drumbeats of local government from the top to the bottom of Aotearoa New Zealand had been calling out loud and clearly to say We need those four well-beings reintroduced." And the Minister acted quickly. I worked with the Minister to ensure during the busy programme that this Government was putting together and delivering when it first came in that this was not forgotten and I'm very thankful that she took up this package to ensure that the views of our fellow elected members right across local government were heard and not only heard but actioned and delivered because that's what we're about on this side of the House.Can I say that restoring those four well-beings shifted the focus to "Should we do this?" from "Are we allowed to do this?". I want to reflect for a minute just on that because the example that I can use that's so vivid is the Wellington City Council and the living wage. The entity at the time which I was an elected member of—our citizens told us that to live a decent life in a metropolitan city like Wellington those most vulnerable those most in need they needed to be paid a living wage—a wage that reflected their ability to live to work for 40 hours like everyone else and to get paid decently for that. Can I say that the entity was confronted with all sorts of legal action saying "No this goes against the Act" and certainly that was I guess a test case for the Local Government Act where instead of focusing on as I said whether we could do this we just got on with it. I'm really proud that we withstood any threats of a legal challenge at that time and at least paid those council employees and those employees from some council-controlled organisations the living wage. I think it was a heroic move to say "Despite what the Act says" and I think that many many many other councils across Aotearoa New Zealand were keen to do that because no council is there solely for the economic well-being. They are there for social cultural and environmental well-being as well. They had been used to that too in terms of reporting against such a mechanism.I'm proud that this Government will introduce its first well-being Budget and I think local government was ahead of the game where certainly projects and issues were measured against a quadruple bottom line or a four well-beings approach. So with them being reintroduced—I can see the cheers from the top of New Zealand to the bottom once this is through. To put it really simplistically it simply reflects the role that they are already doing and this just reaffirms that.In addition to this the Minister spoke of the use of development contributions for community facilities. That needed to be back in there and I'm proud that that's made its way back in there too in addition to a wee technical fix around the Housing Infrastructure Fund. So whilst it looks innocent and small this impacts every single part of Aotearoa New Zealand. I know that councils will unleash a range of things that will enhance the well-being as they see fit. As I said every single council is waiting for this to happen. They don't want to spend their ratepayers' dollars on legal action. They want to get on and deliver the projects that their communities have said "That's what we want." because they reflect the cities or districts or regions where they live. I proudly commend this to the House."