Smith Nick: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Smith Nick: Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 05 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7168. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
: 
 Firstly I want to commend the member of Parliament for Waitaki Jacqui Dean for the work that she has done on this bill the Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill but more particularly for the work that she does for her absolutely huge electorate. She is one of this Parliament’s most effective local members of Parliament. The way that she has championed the cause of this bill on behalf of the Waitaki District Council speaks volumes and I am not surprised at all that she has got a majority about the size of Mount Cook in her electorate for a seat that was once held by members opposite. 
I want to comment quickly on a few of the issues specific to Lookout Point. I actually want to commend Annette King for her thoughtful contribution and her comments about officials. Annette and I do not agree on everything but we do have respect for officials. We on the Local Government and Environment Committee as a select committee gave them very specific instructions. We said “Provide us clarity about the origin of this land.” and they came back—not conditional not saying there was any doubt but absolutely definitive—and their advice was that this was endowment reserve for the local authority. On that basis Annette King has quite honourably said “Look we accept that.” and that is why Labour has taken its position on the bill. I commend the Labour Opposition for taking that principled stand. 
I want to particularly challenge the Greens and New Zealand First because I have witnessed so many speeches in this Chamber in which they stand up for local democracy. That is what they say they stand for. Here we have the locally elected council the Waitaki District Council coming into Parliament and saying “We think the best use of this land for our community is for it to be a subdivision and for the council to be able to enjoy the $3 million that it will receive for the sale of this land to be able to offset the debt and the rates of its communities.” And here we have the arrogance of the Greens and New Zealand First saying that they know better than the Waitaki District Council. How many votes did the Green Party and New Zealand First get in the Waitaki community that they believe they can veto the view of the local council? It is truly arrogance from those two parties. Really their view on local democracy is that if councils agree with them then of course they will back them but if they disagree with them they should veto them. That is effectively the position that New Zealand First and the Green Party are taking in respect of their double standards. 
I also want to commend my colleague Maggie Barry from North Shore because there is something that she understands that Andrew Williams will never understand—that is time is money. Time is money. You see when you have got a piece of land that is worth $3 million every week of delay is a cost to that local authority of $3000—$3000 every week. That is the cost. We know this from Mr Williams’ experience in North Shore where rates went up so hugely. We know that in North Shore there was an appalling record in terms of delays in getting resource consents and building consents—incredibly slow and bureaucratic—and that there is no understanding from either the Green Party or the New Zealand First Party that time is money and that we need to progress these things on so that there is not that expense. That applies to resource consents that applies to building consents and that applies to the passage of this bill. That is why the member in the chair Jacqui Dean and my colleague Maggie Barry from North Shore have had the view that we need to get on and deal with these issues in a timely way because every week that we delay is a cost to the ratepayers of Waitaki of $3000. 
The very last point I would wish to make on this bill is to ask why it is that members in the Green Party and New Zealand First do not trust the locally elected council. 
The question was put that the amendment set out on Supplementary Order Paper 150 in the name of Eugenie Sage to clause 5 be agreed to.