ANNE TOLLEY (National—East Coast) Link to this
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.
His other benefactions to the city included the purchase in 1922 of 3,500 trees from the State Forest Service for a soldiers’ memorial park on Kaiti Hill. He purchased 8 acres in Endcliffe at the top end of Kaiti Beach Road to enable the construction of a road along the top of Kaiti Hill. And, of course, he purchased the 6 acres that are now Alfred Cox Park and donated them to the city to be preserved as a park to be used by the public. He was indeed a great man, and a man who left a huge legacy in Gisborne.
I have a copy of a letter written by his granddaughter Anne Lodge to the Gisborne District Council when it was putting this bill together, explaining that the uses at the centre of this bill were uses “that my grandfather would endorse, if it is necessary to establish whether or not he gave consent.” Anne Lodge said that she and the family believed that it was her grandfather’s desire to promote Gisborne, a place that he much loved, in any way he could. Indeed, his actions proved that he was a great benefactor to the city of Gisborne.
This bill, as we have heard, is about a park where a flea market and a visitor information centre are sited, which is not in accordance with the Reserves Act, and the activities carried out in those areas are not in accordance with the Reserves Act. So this bill seeks to make that right. The flea market is a colourful part of the Gisborne environment. One has to get up awfully early on a Saturday morning to go down and take part. The market opens just before 6 and, mostly, by half-past 8 it is all over and everyone is going home. It is used by people to sell all sorts of things. On one occasion I was next to a lady who was moving house and selling off the extraneous bits and pieces from her house. So it is truly a community centre for the Gisborne people.
The visitors centre on the site is visited by thousands of people seeking information about the city—not just visitors to the city but also locals who go there to get information and buy tickets to various events in Gisborne. It too is a great community centre.
I want to say in conclusion that the purpose of this bill is to right a legal wrong. No council in this country wants to operate illegally, and most of the citizens of any community do not want their leaders knowingly to act illegally. This bill will ease the conscience of both the city council and the community by legitimising the use of Alfred Cox Park. In passing this bill tonight, the reality is that most of the users of the park have no idea that they have been using the park for illegal purposes over the past 40 years.
DARREN HUGHES (Labour—Otaki) Link to this
I rise to speak in support of the third reading of the Gisborne District Council (Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill. This bill is, of course, very important to the people of Gisborne and the East Coast, which I think is marked by the fact that speeches in Parliament on this bill tonight are being beamed live, across three television networks, right into the homes of the people of Gisborne. That just shows what strong support Alfred Cox Park has in the hearts of the people of Gisborne.
As Mrs Tolley has just told the House, this is a simple bill in the sense that it corrects a legal wrong. It makes sure that all the activities that have been taking place on that significant piece of land that have been technically illegal—contrary to the deed from the time when the land was gifted—will now be made valid.
Shane JonesAs my colleague Mr Jones says, we will have one law for all when it comes to shopping at the Gisborne flea market, and the Government greatly supports that.
The bill received only one submission when it went to the Local Government and Environment Committee. Indeed, the select committee considered the bill for 43 minutes, which one would not think was a long time if it was to be a controversial bill. But this local bill has taken a very long time to get through the parliamentary system. It was first introduced by Janet Mackey, member of Parliament for East Coast from 1993 until 2005. She brought this bill to Parliament for its first reading, to make sure that the Gisborne District Council had the chance to have this important community area recognised by Parliament and to validate the purposes for which the park is being used. As colleagues know, Janet Mackey retired from Parliament at the 2005 election, but the bill still had not been completed, despite having been introduced by her several years before.
So it is really quite fitting that we bring this matter to a close and put this legislation on the statute book with its third reading, to make sure that people who use the flea market in Gisborne can go about their business free from any sense of guilt or any sense that they are breaking the laws of our country in purchasing the many wonderful, varied, and colourful items that I am sure are available at the Gisborne flea market.
Mr Jones suggests that maybe there could be Labour Party tickets at the Gisborne flea market, and I am sure there will be, because I know how hard my friend and colleague Moana Mackey works in that electorate to make sure that the efforts of this Labour-led Government are well known to the people of the East Coast. It takes a lot of constituency work in that area, and I am sure that she and her supporters will be down there at the Alfred Cox Park selling off the next Labour Party raffle, to make sure that all the wonderful prizes that are available can go to the people of Gisborne.
Christopher FinlaysonNow, of course, as Mr Finlayson says, this will be a legal activity. In that case, I invite him to buy as many Labour Party raffle tickets as his extensive salary will allow him to buy. I note that today, of course, is payday for members of Parliament, and it might be a nice gesture if he was able, this Saturday, to get in the car and drive up to Gisborne, and to partake in all the activities at the flea market. I say to Mr Finlayson that when he has finished at the flea market—as Mrs Tolley said, it starts at about 8.30 in the morning—there will be quite a lot to do afterwards. Rather than go door-knocking he could go to the i-site—the visitor information centre—at the Alfred Cox Park and find out all the fantastic things that are available to do in Gisborne.
I am sure that anyone who has visited the East Coast recently knows what a fantastic economic transformation is under way in Gisborne at the present time. There are lots more jobs in an area that was often depressed for jobs and where it was difficult for school leavers to get into work. Lots more is happening there with the Youth Transitions Service, which I have been to visit. The Modern Apprenticeships scheme is going very, very well. A lot of work has been done by Mr Anderton in the forestry sector, when he was Minister for Economic Development and, latterly, as Minister of Forestry. So Gisborne is a good example of what is happening across a lot of regional and provincial areas with regard to bringing them up to a 21st century economy and giving opportunities to their people. For those reasons we are very happy to support the bill.
In doing so, we acknowledge Mr Alfred Cox. It is good that his legacy has been mentioned in Parliament throughout the progress of this bill. Clearly, he was somebody who put a lot of emphasis on being able to do good public works for the people of Gisborne. That was not necessarily welcomed universally in the House as the bill went through its stages. The Māori Party, of course, raised significant objections to the bill from a historical perspective, and I can see the arguments they were making. But in terms of the current use of the land, it brings together so many people in Gisborne and 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.
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 Māori 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 pay off the debt of the city.” Those are all the things he said when he was Mayor of Wellington. Now that he is an Opposition back-bench list MP, he says: “It’s a terrible thing that councils are putting their rates up. I’ll have to go into Parliament tonight and vote to cap the amount that rates are put up by a council.” That is despite the fact that every single year that that man was the Mayor of Wellington—when, by the way, he opposed the Transmission Gully motorway; that was about four or five political parties ago and four or five failed businesses ago—he spent all that time putting up rates, and it was an absolute disgrace.
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I hate to stop my colleague midstream, but could we please confine the debate to the bill before us. It has nothing to do with Transmission Gully.
Speaking to the point of order, I point out that the problem I had was that the member’s own colleague was interjecting on me. If members want to take the risk of serving up an interjection, they will have to bear with the results. I have to assert my rights.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKERAll I know about Mark Blumsky as the Mayor of Wellington is that he was a big spender when he was the mayor. Now that he is a back-bench Opposition list MP, he tries to make sure that councils cannot do the very good sorts of things we are debating here tonight with the excellent Gisborne District Council (Alfred Cox Park) Validation Bill in the name of Anne Tolley, the local member of Parliament.
There are a lot of good things happening in local government that we support and think are fantastic. We are a partner of local government, which is why we put up our hands to say we could progress this bill all in one stage, rather than dividing it up over several nights. That option was not taken up by the House, but it was certainly an offer that was made by Labour as part of our ongoing commitment to our relationship with local government. I hope that at a future time when I get to visit Gisborne and try to assist in that regard, I will have a chance to visit the Alfred Cox Park and see a city that is on the move—and maybe pick up a bargain or two at the local flea market. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to make a brief contribution tonight.