O'Connor GregGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu): I'd just like to talk today about Te Ara Tupua. Now this is something that actually every member in this House and anyone who works in Wellington is going to actually enjoy even though it's highly pertinent to my Ōhāriu electorate. Because my Ōhāriu electorate each of you here if you come into Wellington you'll fly over it. You'll see the mighty Mount Kaukau reaching into the sky. On your left you'll see the mighty Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington Harbour. But if you look down you'll see a piece of road between Pētone and Ngauranga Gorge which is a very long neglected part of Wellington—neglected on behalf of my own electorate because it means in an electorate that has 17 kilometres of coastline there is actually no access for any of my electorate.So those who've lived in Wellington a long time will be used to coming down Ngauranga Gorge. They'll remember the blood from the Ngauranga freezing works sort of delta'ing out into the harbour. They reckon the eels there were so big at one stage that they made the Loch Ness monster look like a whitebait. But those days have gone as have the days of going out towards Pētone where even a heavy dew would bring a great swathe of dirt into the harbour—again greying the harbour. Those days have gone but still if you drive that stretch of road it's as we would say a piece of coastline only a mother could love. The road is obscured from the sea where often there's fish out there there's birdlife. Those on the rail line reading their papers can actually look out and get a good view but nobody has access to what is actually a very nice piece of coastline.So I'd like to speak about something very positive today which is there's going to be actually a boardway access there that's going to be built. It's going to be multi-purpose. It's going to actually ensure that as global warming and rising sea levels affect us there'll be a bigger barrier which will save the rail ensure that we have that rail access. Again that piece of coastline—in fact in the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake it rose one metre. That could perhaps be why it's been ignored for so long.But we now have Te Ara Tupua which is going to be a shared pathway and it's going to be more than a cycleway more than just somewhere where people can walk. It's actually going to give access to the harbour. There's going to be islands off there. It's going to be something that even those in the House here who maybe often enjoy Wellington Harbour on the rare time they're able to escape from this House—it will actually increase access there right around to Pētone. And I know Mr Speaker you yourself are often a user of that route and you may stop every so often and enjoy the ambience of that new route that will happen. So this is a joint initiative between Waka Kotahi Hutt City Council Wellington City Council Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Taranaki Whānui and also of course KiwiRail. I've noticed with these speeches today that there's been a lot of negativity a lot of those who are pointing out the terrible things about their electorates their regional areas but this is one here—I'd just like to brighten the debate perhaps on a Thursday afternoon and say Good things can and are happening." and that this is something that is a long neglected part of Wellington. It will actually join up—and again it will benefit many around Wellington. For those who know Wellington Red Rocks right through to Pencarrow there'll be a cycleway and this will complete that.So again as we found through COVID look after the people the health of the people and everything else will follow. This is again something that at a time in Wellington is looking—we've heard those talking about "Let's get Wellington moving"—a bit of negativity. This is something that is going to be very positive something that certainly those in my electorate those young people particularly who like to catch a fish like to get out of the electorate get down there and enjoy that magnificent Wellington Harbour will now have the opportunity to do so.So I'd just like in the time left to me just to reflect on the joy of a Thursday afternoon on behalf of the great Ōhāriu electorate that one thing that will result from this will be access to our waterfront at a time when the world is rediscovering its water. My fine Ōhāriu electorate is now joining that trend. We're going to be able to discover our water and enjoy that magnificent piece of water out there—Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington Harbour. So thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of my electorate here Mr Speaker."