New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

Gisborne DC (Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill [4444]

involved in securing its future cultural survival. That discussion has begun in the case of the Gisborne District Council( Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill-and the Maori Party is pleased to see that tino rangatiratanga flag flying, as it should, to honour the spirit of the Treaty. Greetings to us.

Hon BRIAN DONNELLY( NZ First):

I want to acknowledge members on both sides of the House for their cooperation in the last half an hour to ensure that the timing is right for the next speech. I think that is a real measure of the respect that Jim Sutton is held in. I pay tribute to the members of Labour, National, the Maori Party, the Greens, and New Zealand First for their endeavours.

I have fond memories of Gisborne, because in the early 1980 s I spent 2 years as deputy principal of a school called Te Waha-o-Rerekohu Area School in a place called Te Araroa, which is halfway between Gisborne and Opotoki. In fact, Gisborne happened to be the closest place from Te Araroa to get a haircut, for example-it was 100 kilometres away from where we were-so we very often had to go down to Gisborne for that and to get our shopping.

Gisborne is very much like Whangarei, where I currently reside. One of the features of those cities-and it is an abiding memory for me of Gisborne, for example-is Saturday mornings and the amount of kids' sport there was, and the way parents came out and supported their kids on the sidelines. That is very similar to Whangarei and many other provincial cities the size of Gisborne and Whangarei. What that tells me about these cities-and particularly cities like Gisborne-is that there is a strong sense of community. They are still small enough to have that sense of community there. As a result of that sense of community, they do community things. In many respects, the Gisborne District Council( Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill enables community activities that have already been taking place at Alfred Cox Park to continue, but to do so without the awkwardness of it possibly not being legal to carry out those activities.

New Zealand First is therefore very pleased to see that the bill is going to go through the House tonight. We pass on our commendations to the sponsors of the bill-first Janet Mackey and then Anne Tolley-who have pushed it through and made sure that the current awkwardness is resolved and that the people and councillors of Gisborne can get on with the activities that have been going on at Alfred Cox Park.

Having read through the select committee report-New Zealand First obviously did not have a member on the select committee-I want to congratulate all the members of the Local Government and Environment Committee. When the Gisborne City Council came along with some of its propositions, I believe that all the select committee members acted in a very responsible and sensible manner in progressing the bill in the way they did. So we believe that the passage of this bill-it is pretty obviously going through tonight-will be good for Gisborne.

The only disappointment we have is that if we had had our way, we would have put the bill through its second reading, Committee, and third reading stages all at once so that the people of Gisborne could get on with their business and activities and get on with something that is very special to rural and provincial areas, and that is showing hospitality to people from outside that city and centre. Obviously, the visitors centre will be able to continue completely free from any concerns that it may be acting illegally under the legislative framework.

Without further ado, therefore, New Zealand First is very pleased to be able to say we will be supporting the bill, and very pleased to see that it will be going through this evening.

Debate interrupted.