SpeechHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker thank you. I'm very pleased to take a short call on the Local Government (Pecuniary Interests Register) Amendment Bill because there is a very comprehensive nine-page report from the Governance and Administration Committee highlighting the changes that the committee has made in response to submissions. I also acknowledge the very comprehensive outline of the recommended changes to the bill that the bill's sponsor Tangi Utikere and also Rachel Boyack made. I think they have been very clear for anyone listening and for the Hansard exactly what happened in select committee and what the changes are proposed to be.So the Green Party does support this bill and its intent around improving transparency public trust and confidence in decision making by local authorities because of course local councils manage infrastructure and other assets with a value of more than $135 billion. They're responsible for significant planning and regulatory decisions whether it's resource consenting or urban planning and those decisions can shape a community for decades so the public needs to be confident that decision makers act transparently and in the public interest.This bill is particularly useful because the Local Authorities (Members' Interests) Act 1968 LAMIA while that certainly prevents elected members from discussing and voting on issues where they've got a pecuniary interest which isn't in common in the public and it prevents someone from being an elected member where they or a company they control have got contracts worth more than $25000 annually it doesn't require members to make an upfront declaration of their interests which might be relevant to any decisions the council makes.While Local Government New Zealand has for a long time recommended that councils adopt a register of interests as well as having a code of conduct compliance is voluntary and the standards required around the country aren't consistent. So the major value of this bill is introducing a regime which will be consistent across the country. It will require councils to actually hold and publish the register of pecuniary and other specified matters whether it's directorships business interests employment or property.As both Tangi Utikere and Rachel Boyack have noted there's been a lot of very good work in the select committee to ensure that the publication is of a summary it's of a level of generality that is similar to the register of interests that members of Parliament contribute to so it's not intruding on privacy but it is providing a level of transparency to the public.There are quite a number of specific changes but one change that I suggested in the first reading and hasn't been picked up by the select committee is this concept of having—and I noticed the Law Society raised it in its submission—a single external registrar for all local authorities rather than just the chief executive of each council designating someone within the council to maintain the register.I think Sir Maarten Wevers in his role for the Parliament has certainly shown the value of having that external person—also particularly when you've got a new Parliament new MPs—in providing advice to members on what sort of information they need to provide in those declarations. So I still think that that concept deserves merit and it would bring the expertise into one place rather than having it scattered across councils.Rachel Boyack noted some comments around the select committee not having the time to deal with some of the issues around LAMIA and that there may be a Supplementary Order Paper around that but as some of the submitters noted and I think Taituarā – Local Government Professionals Aotearoa said LAMIA is complex outdated and difficult to interpret and apply. It predates accrual accounting modern financial management provisions" and all sorts of other things. So I sincerely hope that the local government Minister has LAMIA in her sights; with it being more than 50 years old it does need to change. Tangi Utikere is bringing the pecuniary interests register into the 21st century but this wider issue of pecuniary interests needs work as well.The Green Party is very pleased to support the bill. We congratulate Tangi Utikere for all of his work and members of the Governance and Administration Committee for their comprehensive analysis of submissions and very detailed technical changes to the bill which will significantly improve it. Kia ora."