SpeechNAISI CHEN (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to arise and take a call on this bill the St Peter's Parish Endowment Fund Trust Bill. I did sit on the Governance and Administration Committee—a great select committee—as well when we scrutinised this bill. I thoroughly enjoyed the submissions process because I got to meet many members of the church and their excellent legal adviser who we've now become very good friends with over many bills—advising my select committees—including members of the clergy as well and to see your dedication to your community and to the church as well.I took a particular interest I think in the way that churches are governed and the structures that we hold to hold this sacred institute but at the same time to have laws—the laws of man really is what I call it—to interact with the Church of God and being able to go into those discussions and see where the church interfaces with law with the society in terms of the social justice programme that my colleague Rachel Boyack has already talked about. That was something that has left a long-lasting impression with me after that interaction that day especially the submission from the social justice committee—so having another arm another body to specifically carry out that work but also the different memberships that the trust has as well. So it's great to hear also that day that this bill and the changes we're about to make here in the House has the support of the whole entire church and all the different branches and all the different arms of the church as well.I do have my own story with the St Peter's church on Willis Street. It's probably not one that people expect. I stay in the Victoria Street Precinct Apartments which are built right next to the church and on its land. On the first Sunday I remember when newly elected that I stayed in that apartment I worked to the beautiful church bells which were obviously an hour before I had anticipated getting up that day because I was trying to recover from the campaign trail. Then I've since learnt that if I want to have a sleep-in on a Sunday morning I shouldn't be staying in my Wellington apartment.But then I saw the different people that streamed into the church and then I discovered that on the ground floor of my apartment building there was that community centre as well. And I saw firsthand the work that St Peter's were doing on the ground here in Wellington and within its own community. That was probably the most straightforward way that I could really appreciate the wide-ranging work that the church is doing here in Wellington. For this bill to be able to give the church I guess its wider power—it's a bit more flexibility in terms of how it deals with its finance in terms of how it supports all the other different types of work that it's doing. I think it's just a much needed change.My colleagues have limited my use of this following phrase to probably once a month or once a year which is This bill was enacted before I was even born." I think I can say that very safely for this bill as the member who's just resumed her seat has mentioned. Today's bill is one where we're trying to amend an Act—so the St Peter's Parish Endowment Fund Act 1927 and obviously in that original Act in 1927 we have built a structure that is of that time and obviously does not work and is no longer compatible for modern-day New Zealand.Being able to update that to make it compatible and to be able to analyse across different legal entities into the ones that we have and that are most comparable in terms of the legal instruments that we can use to help and build the Church I think is very much necessary. And it's really good that we've looked at in the select committee process how the funds are distributed. We know that there's $5.7 million in the investment fund. That's a great and healthy I think financial governance that we've put into place in the church. Being able to still support that and support the church in a sustainable growth in the years to come to fulfil its vision and mission in the community I think is something that I'm extremely proud to have played a part in.We've also looked at the exceptional circumstances as well in the select committee process where we can I guess deviate a little bit from the set rules where we can respond to some of those needs. I think there's no other better example than COVID-19 when we had to really be creative and be nimble about the way that we responded in those kind of circumstances. So being able to give the trust a bit of flexibility in how to respond to unanticipated events has been really good as well.Then there was also the liability and indemnities of trustees which I think is now quite a standard clause in most trust deeds and then there's some other loose ends that we're tying in. Obviously the select committee also commented on the future of these private bills and how Parliament can better respond to them and be more efficient for both the people who want to change a trust deed and for Parliament as well.This is a great bill. I'm very proud and very humbled to have played a little part in this and so I commend this bill to the House."