New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

Gisborne DC (Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill [4451]

provides so many opportunities. While the rest of the country is going mad on TradeMe, I say it is fantastic to hear that the people of Gisborne still get out for community interaction and are able to spend time together enjoying each other's company and hunting out for the latest bargain.

It never ceases to amaze me what a good bargain one can get on label clothing at these flea markets. We must be getting ripped off by all the good clothing that is available in department stores around the cities of New Zealand, given how cheaply it is made available at flea markets. I assume the clothing is the genuine article, but one never really knows.

The final point I would like to make about the Gisborne District Council( Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill is that it is a good example of Parliament working in partnership with local government. I see the Associate Minister of Local Government, the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, in the House tonight. She knows how important it is that central government and local government work hand in hand. That is something this Government has put a huge amount of work into.

Shane Jones

: Partnership-the Treaty principles.

DARREN HUGHES

: Partnership is important to us. I hear Mr Jones talking about the partnership of the Treaty of Waitangi, which, of course, is a very important part of Aotearoa today, particularly in Maori Language Week.

Working in with local government is one of the key responsibilities of central government. A lot of us found it very frustrating and disappointing last week when the Leader of the Opposition went to the Local Government New Zealand conference and slagged off our local government mayors and councillors. Labour members of Parliament were besieged with calls from mayors and councillors right around the motu, who asked: Why did that old man come here and criticise us? Why did he get a chance to get up in front of us and bag us and say that we don't have a role to play?. I thought that was a very bad example of neglecting the relationship of local government, as we pass into law tonight this Gisborne District Council bill because we see it as being important that we work together.

Of course, this is 2006- we know that. In 2005, which was election year, Dr Brash went to the Local Government New Zealand conference and said: I acknowledge that in the final years of the last National Government the relationship between central and local government was not all that it should have been. Of course, that was election year. He was going around trying to curry favour. This year, being a non-election year, he went down there and got stuck into the mayors and councillors and gave them a hard time. Our mayors and councillors around New Zealand deserve a much better deal than that from the National Party. To see National behaving like that with local government undermines the good work that has gone on here with this bill.

So this was a chance for me to get up and make a very brief contribution in support of this bill, which I believe will be welcomed by the council. It brings closure to the people of Gisborne for the whole way in which they unfortunately found themselves on the wrong side of the Reserves Act 1977. They unfortunately found themselves on the wrong side of what was intended by the deed of trust that Alfred Cox left. I am sure that if Alfred Cox were here today he would, most likely, say that anything that brings people together has to be a good thing, and anything that puts people in a good mood and brings them together as a community has to be a very good thing. Interruption

I heard an interjection from Mark Blumsky, the failed Mayor of Wellington. Mark Blumsky is one of those people who, when he was the mayor, went around all the wards saying: We've got to put rates up. It's a terrible thing that we've got to put rates up, but we have all these priorities for Wellington. We've got to be positive about Wellington, say what a wonderful city it is, and go around the place saying we've got to invest and