Williams Andrew: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWilliams Andrew: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 13 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17776. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ANDREW WILLIAMS (NZ First): I rise to take a call on behalf of New Zealand First on the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill in its third reading. New Zealand First does have some real concerns in relation to this legislation and we will not be supporting it.We concede that some aspects of the Historic Places Act did need updating. That Act was originally drafted in 1975 and amended in 1993. As time has marched on what has not been regarded as historic under the Act—that is being post-1900—is now becoming of significant heritage and historic value as we move well into the 21st century. For instance the World War I centennial era is now upon us and we must be mindful of the importance of such important periods in the history of our country. Important structures to commemorate that Great War are most certainly now being regarded as having historic importance. Likewise architecture from the 1930s such as art deco in Napier is now coming into that same category of unique historic significance.However putting those positive aspects of amendments to the Act aside the most controversial focus of this bill—the area where New Zealand First has grave concerns—is the change of the name and complete restructuring of the Historic Places Trust. Its name in itself has historic heritage value. The Historic Places Trust has been known to us all over many many generations. That iconic name the Historic Places Trust will become Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and with it the whole structure will be radically changed.New Zealand First does not agree with the proposed changes that will see the disestablishment of the local branch committees. I think that that is one of the fundamental problems that many New Zealanders and many who submitted to the Local Government and Environment Committee have in that this bill is taking away that whole volunteer side of the Historic Places Trust. Committees throughout New Zealand have laboured long and hard over many many decades to ensure our heritage is preserved.We all know of sites in our own communities where such volunteer branches have raised money worked hard and put in a huge amount of volunteer labour to preserve sites buildings or special areas of historic interest. Those people have put a great deal of their own personal time money and effort into that. Effectively what we are now seeing under the bill is that volunteer system which New Zealanders are famous for—and New Zealand has the honour of being a country that is seen as having one of the highest levels of volunteers in the developed world; we are renowned for our level of volunteering—being undermined and the effective corporatisation of our New Zealand heritage.The bill also sees the removal of three positions of elected members of the trust board. In the past the people who were most involved in historic places and heritage were able to elect members to represent them on the board. It is most disappointing that that will no longer be the case. Again that in effect is a removal of the democratic principle and we do not support that. What it says now in the bill is that the governing body will comprise eight persons appointed by the Minister one of whom is to be appointed as the chairperson of the board.The persons appointed must collectively have the appropriate skills knowledge or cultural background to assist Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to perform its functions. At least three persons must be appointed who in the opinion of the Minister after consulting with the Minister of Māori Affairs are qualified for appointment having regard to their knowledge of Te Ao Māori which is the Māori world view and tikanga Māori which is Māori protocol and culture. The appointments must be made in accordance with the Crown Entities Act 2004.Effectively this is the corporatisation of the Historic Places Trust and it is taking it from all those many limbs all around New Zealand and all those many volunteer branches around New Zealand and giving it back to the control of the bureaucrats and central government here in Wellington. That to our mind to New Zealand First’s mind is not a good thing and it undermines the very reason that so many of us cherish and give such great presence to our historic places all over this country. They are there on behalf of the people; they are not there on behalf of a bureaucracy in Wellington that is administering them.The Historic Places Trust comprised volunteer committees and communities all over New Zealand that have provided invaluable time energy and local knowledge to maintaining and protecting the history and heritage of New Zealand. As dedicated guardians of much of our most precious history they represent all that is good at grassroots level in New Zealand. These volunteers are being ungraciously moved aside in favour of a more centralised corporate model run from Wellington.The Local Government and Environment Committee heard from many branches and individual members who felt they were being sidelined by the whole process. They felt it was detrimental to the heritage movement across the country and will result in fewer people taking the trouble to volunteer their time and money to this most worthy endeavour of protecting the history of our nation. That will be a result of this legislation. There will be a reduced level of interest. Volunteers will not continue to offer their services in the way they have in the past simply because the rug has been pulled out from underneath them. They felt aggrieved that their annual fees will continue to be taken but with greatly reduced representation within the restructured organisation.This is not what New Zealand is about. The history of our country is not about another piece of Government property that it can corporatise and commercialise. It is therefore with grave concern that New Zealand First opposes the intent of this bill because it certainly does not put New Zealand heritage and dedicated volunteering New Zealanders first.