Ward Mike: Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill — First Reading 
Ward Mike: Auckland War Memorial Museum Site Empowering Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:6582] 
MIKE WARD (Green) 
: 
 The Greens will be supporting this bill. We are not without some misgivings but the extension is an excellent project. The 60-plus percent increase in floor area for display and for teaching and workshop space is a commendable commitment to this country’s heritage by Auckland by the museum and by the Government. It is not just about displaying material; it is about educating about exploring and protecting that heritage. The thousands of youngsters a year do not merely wander around that place; they have an opportunity to go and explore it and to create materials to take back to their own classrooms and schools. The museum staff teach at Auckland University. There are events and function centres at the museum. It houses a unique and interesting blend of cultures and identifying what it is that makes us different and interesting as people has never been so important. Globalisation is not just a threat to our economy. Imported products imported practices and imported programmes have long since made our kids our shopping baskets and our television programmes look less distinctly “us” or ours. Learning to take delight and pride in our culture is strengthened by this museum and this project. 
My concern is about the additional car-parking that the redrawn boundaries provide for. In a city crippled by cars in a city that refuses to acknowledge that too many cars and too many car-parks are the problem this is just 290 more car-parks. So why am I picking on the museum? Well I am not only picking on the museum. I pick on anybody who builds car-parks these days; I do not discriminate at all but someone has to give a lead. I have been told that the elderly and infirm have to be carried into the museum on occasions. I say that working on the problems of mobility is admirable but it is not necessary to deprive everybody else of the pleasure of using their legs sometimes in order to make sure those people who do have difficulty in getting around can get to the front door. I think that is great and I hope that buses make it to the front door as well because currently it is a bit of a drive—or a bit of a walk shall I say. 
The issues of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are issues of people climbing into their cars all too easily. The motorcar is likely to kill vastly more people through our sedentary lifestyles than through fumes or crashes. Simply providing another car-park says: “Yes the buses are there.” and “Yes you can walk there more easily now.”—and the museum is to be commended for that—but the message it gives is that one is still better off climbing into one’s car. 
To its credit the museum has done well to preserve the integrity of its reserve by putting the car-parks underground. The museum is also to be commended for improving pedestrian access. The museum has a frequent and regular bus service but it is a little bit too far off. Perhaps sometime in the future the museum is likely to be accessible by train and that is a great move as well. The message given by making the museum more accessible by car however is that the buses are for the poor. I believe it is a great museum with a great car-park. I am glad that it will be underground but there are still too many car-parks. We have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol and if we had not done that the oil was likely to run out fairly soon. Calculations show clearly that while demand is still climbing supplies of oil are rapidly dwindling and a transport future predicated on cheap oil has a limited future. Fortunately for the museum it is well located and when the motorcar finally outlives its welcome the museum will have space for displaying 290 of the 20th century’s dinosaurs.