Mark RonHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Madam Assistant Speaker thank you very much for the opportunity to rise and speak to this amazing bill the Local Government Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill. I say amazing—and deserving of full and complete explanation and discussion—because it was indeed a bill that commenced under the steerage of one the Hon Anne Tolley as I understand and another member who's sitting in the Opposition benches who really should take the opportunity to speak in fullness to this bill—another person who also was heavily involved in the groundwork for this bill and I refer to the Hon Jacqui Dean who's sitting over there. I know that she dedicated most of last term to this work and the studiousness and the diligence that she put into it is reflected in every word of this bill. It is therefore only befitting that we acknowledge the sterling work of the Hon Anne Tolley and Jacqui Dean both of the National Party and former members who held ministerial positions in the last administration—to actually stand up and take some credit for this stunning piece of legislation.Of course like a lot of things that the National Government started they never quite got stuff finished and then there was of course the stuff they got finished that we wish they'd never ever started but that's another whole topic and I won't even go into the housing problem will I.Maureen Pugh: Lucky. Otherwise you'd have nothing to talk about.Hon RON MARK: But this piece of legislation never—and Maureen Pugh from the National Party is another erstwhile colleague and friend of mine from the local government family our local government whanaunga of former mayors. There have been a few former mayors in this House and I know that Lawrence Yule also—not just a former mayor but also a former president of the Local Government New Zealand—has a great interest in this piece of legislation. No doubt his fingerprints are on the back of every page here because this bill deals to the things that Lawrence Yule had to contend with when he was the president for I think about three terms of Local Government New Zealand. Of course then there was the other National Party member in the last Government's ranks: Jonathan Naylor mayor of Palmerston North at that time. I actually take with some pride the fact that there are so many members of Parliament across the House who have local government experience and have been able to in some way shape or form contribute to pieces of local government legislation that have gone through. It does actually beg the question how the heck did Nick Smith ever get the job as Minister for Local Government because most of what that member did was—he never seemed to have much involvement here. It was a bit of a disaster.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I'll just remind the Minister to make sure he will call the member by his full and proper name. Thank you.Hon RON MARK: The Hon Nick Smith—yes of course. As I cast my mind back through local government legislation such as this—Tim van de Molen: Stop talking to the bill—get to PlayStations.Hon RON MARK: —and I notice that this is the third reading—yes young man. I can't remember your name but I'll just say I will get to this point. But it is worth acknowledging the sterling effort of people behind the scenes not just Jacqui Dean and Anne Tolley but also David Carter who was a Minister of Local Government; Chris Tremain—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): All three members who have titles. Thank you.Hon RON MARK: —the Hon Chris Tremain; the Rt Hon David Carter; and there have been a couple of others in there as well who have all held the local government portfolio. Yet it took until the Hon Anne Tolley came to the seat that these issues which are technical by nature and small when some people look at them but are actually important—let's take one. Let's talk about the areas that my erstwhile colleague the Hon Peeni Henare was speaking of where the changes that have been made with respect to public notices are a small thing one what might suggest but if we look at how technology and media and the means by which we communicate have changed I guess it does stand out that it took the Hon Anne Tolley and her coming into the job to recognise that local government needed to change the way in which it communicated.If we look at the issues that come before local government—and Maureen Pugh and I know this as former mayors—everything that we're meant to do in local government almost everything has to be publicly notified and sometimes that's a very expensive exercise for very little feedback. We would often lament that publically notifying our annual plan or the long-term plan or even that great wondrous 35-year plan that got inflicted on us by the Hon Nick Smith in his reforms when he took all the well-beings out and left us with that—one would advertise them in the conventional way that was required by the Act by public notice not acknowledging the large numbers of New Zealanders who don't read the newspaper.They might read the front cover. They might skim through the sports section in the back. They might look at the births and deaths. But do they wade through the New Zealand Herald looking at every public notification particularly those from the local councils? No. They do not. They probably—if they read the courts columns—are looking at their devices and they're taking advertisements that are popping up there maybe when they're trying to play solitaire. Or maybe when they are on their Xbox or their 360—and it's interesting to know that the Hon Peeni Henare has noticed the same thing I've noticed when I'm gaming. When I'm gaming I see advertisements all the time coming up on Xbox coming up on—I don't have a PS4.So if one wants to reach into the youth stream why would one not communicate through the mediums that young people are utilising day to day and some of them for many many hours on end? I have to wonder as a former mayor how much reach I would have had with the youth when I was trying to encourage young people to stand for local government. How much more reach might I have gained if we'd been able to access other media or been required to put our notices out through other means and through digital means? I think this is probably a very understated change but a very important and very significant one.Introducing a definition of the internet site into the Local Government Act so that council websites are placed where the public can find them—these are important things. But giving that opportunity to use the power of the internet and the power of other mediums is extremely important. I've got to congratulate the Governance and Administration Committee team for putting so much work in behind that. The giving of powers to looking at the Local Electoral Act and recognising—and by the way the Hon Peeni Henare if you're listening my gamer tag is Norkram2. Norkram is actually Ron Mark" spelt backwards if you forget that but I'll look for you next time and maybe we can publish some public notices there for local government in the time it takes us to get Royal assent.But the Local Electoral Act—putting the responsibility with the chief executives rather than the electoral officers to try and facilitate and foster greater electoral participation I think is a very very smart move. I congratulate the Minister of Local Government the former Minister the Hon Anne Tolley and the select committee for their wisdom in reaching into that space and recognising that actually often the electoral office doesn't have the same vested interest or focus as chief executives. Putting the responsibility with the chief executives makes it apolitical and it is the chief executive who has the continuity—some people come and go but generally chief executives don't. By putting it with chief executives I think you're going to get a higher level of conversation at the New Zealand Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM) conferences when they start discussing how they might do this. It is an important thing to recognise that we have to encourage more participation in local government. We have to encourage a higher level of voting. I think that the current voting patterns—particularly in metropolitan New Zealand—in local government are astonishingly and sadly very low. They tend to be higher in rural and provincial areas. Maybe it's because in rural and provincial areas people take a greater interest in what's happening in their infrastructure than the metropolitan areas do—I don't know. But the fact that the responsibility will rest and lie with the chief executives is we in New Zealand First think a very very good thing. It's a smart move and the members of the committee and the Minister of Local Government the Hon Nanaia Mahuta should be congratulated and I have to acknowledge the Hon Anne Tolley for moving the legislation in this direction. Enough from me. I think it's a great piece of legislation and it's very good to see it moving through the House. But I do hope that the National Party speakers from hence on in give it the credit and the respect that it's due—particularly for Jacqui Dean and the Hon Anne Tolley."