New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

Valedictory Statement [4448]

of the wonderful, loyal, selfless people who have helped me and who stand behind every constituency candidate. In Timaru I had a committee called The Last of the Summer Wine. To name some would mean omitting others, which would be unfair. My own office staff in Wellington, in Oamaru, and in Timaru have been fabulous. Again, after so many years, I cannot mention some-even those nearest and dearest who are now friends for life-without unfairly and arbitrarily omitting others.

And finally, family. Public life is often a selfish business. It is often all-consuming. Those closest to public figures often pay a high, unfair price. To those I have hurt, I say sorry. To those who follow me here, I say to try to do better than I did in that respect. And I hope you all have as much fun and enjoy as much job satisfaction as I have had. It is a great honour to serve the Parliament of the people.

Sitting suspended from 5. 51 p.m. to 7. 30 p.m.

GISBORNE DISTRICT COUNCIL( ALFRED COX PARK) VALIDATION BILL

Third Reading

Debate resumed.

ANNE TOLLEY( National-East Coast):

It is an honour to speak to the third reading of the Gisborne District Council( Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill. I start tonight by thanking a number of people. I thank the Gisborne District Council and its staff, in particular Douglas Birt, the council's corporate affairs manager, who produced this bill and grappled with it for a number of years. In fact, I think it dates back to 2001- 02. A great deal of work has been put into the bill, particularly by Gisborne District Council staff, and I thank and pay tribute to them tonight.

I also pay tribute to my former colleague Janet Mackey, who was the electorate MP for the East Coast electorate. She worked very closely with the council over the last 3 years in order to get this bill to Parliament in an acceptable form. I remind people that the bill came to Parliament, then Parliament changed the rules, and it had to go back and be reformatted.

I thank the Local Government and Environment Committee for its very common- sense approach in consideration of this bill. It took a very pragmatic approach in its desire to help the council through its legal difficulties. I also thank parliamentary counsel for the attention they paid to it.

Finally, I thank all the parties in the House that have supported this bill. It would have been nice to get it through earlier, but, perhaps, having had the opportunity to talk through some of the issues in the background, we are all the better off for its slower progress to this point.

I think it is befitting at the third reading of the bill to pay tribute to Alfred Cox the man. I have in front of me the notice that was published in the Gisborne Herald on 19 April 1971 recognising the passing of Alfred Cox. It is headed Death of a city pioneer. Reading about the accomplishments of this man, Mr Arthur Cox, and about what he did for the city of Gisborne makes one feel almost humble on behalf of the people of Gisborne. Mr Cox was obviously a very successful businessman. He bought a large amount of land that he then gifted to the city of Gisborne. To ensure that the beach would be vested for all time for the people of Gisborne he bought a 5- mile marine drive along the Waikanae Beach foreshore, and made many trips to Wellington to secure the cooperation of Ministers and departmental officials to preserve it for the public. He also bought many acres of land adjacent to the Waipaoa River and gifted them to the Cook County to facilitate the construction, at some unknown time in the future, of a traffic bridge to provide an entrance to the city by way of a scenic seafront drive.