Wagner Nicky: Kaipara District Council (Validation of Rates and Other Matters) Bill — Second ReadingText is subject to correctionWagner Nicky: Kaipara District Council (Validation of Rates and Other Matters) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 13 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:35. Text is subject to correction.]NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central): I too want to support this Kaipara District Council (Validation of Rates and Other Matters) Bill. You have heard already in the House today that politicians do not like these types of bills. We take quite a lot of convincing to support this type of legislation but we will bite the bullet if we are convinced that when validating legislation it is the best maybe of a bad set of options but the best of a bad set and in this case that is correct.This bill is the culmination of many many years of debate many years of argument and many years of bitter divisions in the community—many years of concern and anger that was all fuelled by poor decision-making careless governance and unsatisfactory behaviour with predictable results. It was all brought to a head by the stalling of the property market in the face of the global economic crisis. So despite our distaste for validating legislation the Local Government and Environment Committee has unanimously supported this bill—unanimously—because we believe it is an essential part of a sensible and reasonable plan towards rectifying the very messy very difficult financial situation that Kaipara residents and the Kaipara District Council have found themselves in.I too want to thank Mike Sabin the sponsor of the bill for all his work on it. I want to thank all members of the select committee and the officials. All of us have worked extremely hard and extremely conscientiously on this bill not only to understand the circumstances which was a challenge in itself but also to find a creative way to manage our way through the process and to get a workable solution for the council itself and for all the ratepayers of Kaipara.In recognition of the concern of some ratepayers with regard to their rates strike and their passionate challenging of the council’s long-term behaviour we have negotiatedan amnesty on penalties if ratepayers remit their arrears in the next few weeks. I think that is an extremely important part of this legislation. It was something that we agonised over. It was a very difficult thing to manage through the legislative process and I think that coming to an agreement with the commissioners outside the legislation while including that in our commentary was a good pragmatic sensible way of dealing with it.After wading through all the information reading all the submissions and listening to submitters both in Wellington and up in the Northland-Kaipara area the committee was enormously aware of the complexity of the situation and the stress and anxiety of the people of Kaipara. So our job was to unravel the detail and to make sure that any rate demand any decision any action or any omission that we were asked to validate could have been struck correctly and that it was invalid only because of a technical breach. So we went through every clause with a fine-tooth comb. We looked at every irregularity we held it up to the light and tested it and we have only validated anything that could have been struck correctly if they got the language right. No ratepayer will pay more than they were historically invoiced for.The validation bill really stops the financial bleeding of the Kaipara District Council and it provides certainty for everyone involved in the situation. But more important it provides a platform to build a solution going forward. The committee was very aware of both the social and the financial toll that the situation was taking on the Kaipara because without this legislation the arguments the debates the anxiety and the uncertainty would have continued for the ratepayers of Kaipara. Without this legislation the Kaipara District Council was struggling under increased costs across the board new planning requirements interest rate risk and the danger of losing Government roading subsidies. All in all when we teased out those liabilities we saw that inaction could have added at least an estimated $400000 a year extra to the ratepayers’ bill and that compelled us to take action.I also want to discuss what this bill does not do. It does not limit the ability to hold any person any organisation or any group to account for negligence or for bad or even corrupt behaviour. Regardless of this bill any person or any organisation including the Kaipara District Council can bring legal proceedings against anybody who deserves that.This bill is not the end of the story but it does close the door on uncertainty and out-of-control costs for the ratepayers. We believe that it is the most cost-effective way to move the council and the community forward. We are convinced that any other options—and again we held them all up to the light—would have added more cost to ratepayers and we did not want to do that.Of course we are still awaiting the inquiry of the Auditor-General and we would have liked to have been able to analyse that report before we passed the bill. But as we have said the costs were spiralling out of control and we wanted to complete this legislation before Christmas to avoid another 6 months in limbo and another 6 months of extra costs for ratepayers. So we talked to the Auditor-General and we were comforted by her assurance that the bill contains nothing that interferes with or compromises the results of the Auditor-General’s report or any actions from that inquiry that might eventuate.The bill really has shone the light on a very difficult and messy financial situation in Kaipara. It is really hard to believe that things could have got so badly out of control. We the members of the Local Government and Environment Committee are really looking forward to seeing the Auditor-General’s report so that we can perhaps understand how all this happened and so we can hold to account anybody who deserves that.I commend this bill in its second reading. It is the right thing to do for Kaipara. It will stop the bleeding of costs for ratepayers and will provide a platform for the whole community to move forward. Thank you.