Sitting date: 23 October 2024

AUCKLAND HARBOUR BOARD AND TAKAPUNA BOROUGH COUNCIL EMPOWERING ACT AMENDMENT BILL

First Reading

Hon SIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): I move, That the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time, I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 24 February 2025.

I am proud to present this bill, the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill, as the member of Parliament for North Shore. We see few private or local bills in this House. This is the first one for this Parliament, and one of only a handful that I have seen in my entire time here in this House. It's quite rare for a member of Parliament to take a bill through the House that is so specific to their electorate, but I am privileged to perform this service on behalf of the beautiful North Shore electorate. The North Shore has everything—beautiful beaches, thriving communities, and businesses. I couldn't hope for a better place to raise my boys and represent as a member of Parliament.

We also have a heritage that makes the community unique. Part of that heritage is the Takapuna Boating Club's Bayswater clubhouse, which I have a photograph of in its current state at the moment [Holds up photograph]. Stories of people meeting their future spouses at this venue were common, and the collective memories of this site live on in the memories of many. The clubhouse served the club and community, hosting dances and social and sporting events for many years. Sadly, though, the clubhouse has seen better days. The boating club has since moved on to newer accommodation, and the once-proud building is now in a story state.

That takes us back to the local bill and how this issue landed on my desk as the member of Parliament for North Shore. In 1923, when the club was first opened, the land was purchased under an Act of Parliament which sets the conditions for its use. The conditions set at the time made sense, and ensured that the clubhouse could function in the public interest. Sadly, though, those restrictions have become increasingly burdensome. For example, one of the stipulated uses for the site is for public swimming baths, something that there are few of in 2024. The saltwater swimming pool, attached to the site, was closed in the 1950s, partially because of the polio epidemic, which best demonstrates how outdated this Act has become. The club cannot lease the site for anything more than a "peppercorn rental", which is the actual term written into the legislation. That made sense at the time, but, once again, Parliament wanted to make sure that the site was available for the public.

In reality, though, the club serves neither the public nor the club. The site can't be used for anything other than what the Act says and can't even make enough rent to cover its maintenance. Very quickly, it became easy to understand why nothing had ever been done, as amending a local bill involves passing another local bill—so began the long process that has led us here today to debate this bill.

The bill in my name amends the conditions set out in the original Act so that the clubhouse can be used for commercial purposes while still requiring that the principal use of the land remains for community purposes. The bill also stipulates that all money received under any leasing arrangement should be used to maintain the buildings and the land on the site for community purposes. This strikes the right balance. It allows for some commercial usage but also uses the proceeds for the good of the community and for maintaining this heritage asset. All involved believe that this property should, as originally intended, be primarily used for community purposes. I'm pleased that this bill includes that.

The efforts to get this bill before the House have been substantial, and I'd like to thank all of those who have made that possible. This issue was first brought to my attention, and the attention of many in my community, by reporting on it, particularly by Caroline Williams from Stuff. Thank you for your work in shining light on this issue. Thank you also to the Takapuna Boating Club's commodore, James Jordan. The club's advocacy to bring this asset up to working order and keep it in the use of public good has been remarkable, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this clubhouse. I'd also like to give tribute to former club president Barry Ward, and the late Ralph Roberts, whom I know wanted to see this happen. Lastly, I'd like to thank Jack Bolter, my parliamentary adviser, who has done much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes to get this bill to the House today.

While I am shepherding this bill as a local MP, it was drafted and managed by Auckland Council, the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, and their hard-working teams. I want to thank all those elected members who helped this along its way, and the governing body of Auckland Council, which unanimously supported this bill and sent it here to this House.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of those in our community who contributed to this process and provided feedback. The community has had the opportunity to give feedback on this draft bill as part of getting a local bill in front of this House. When I discussed the issue with those on the North Shore, the feedback is clear: our community is better because of our shared heritage and cultural touchstones. The Bayswater clubhouse is one of those, and I ask for the support of all members here today for the first reading of this bill. If the bill passes today, it will head off to select committee, where there will be further opportunity for public feedback. I have no doubt that the feedback will be loud and clear: let's get out of the way of rebuilding and managing this treasured asset. I am proud to commend this bill to the House.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is that the motion be agreed to.

CAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a great pleasure to be able to take a call on this local bill today, the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill. The title is almost as long as the content of this bill, which is a very small bill that addresses an important issue for the North Shore community. I want to start by saying we are very enthusiastically supporting this bill and we thank the member for the North Shore—which is, I understand, the capacity that he brings this bill to the House—Simon Watts, for his leadership and advocacy on this issue.

As Mr Watts said, this is an issue which has united the part of Auckland that it relates to. Mr Watts held up a photo of the building in question. If anyone goes to have a look at it, you will be in no doubt of its need for further investment. It was a once-proud building where, I understand, it was the hub of the local community. Mr Watts mentioned some community activities that took place there, like dances. I understand even weddings were held there in its heyday, and, of course, it had the saltwater baths—I know that it's unlikely that that will return to the Takapuna Boating Club in this particular area; I think it's on Sir Peter Blake Parade, but I think that would be a nice think to think about in the future. So maybe another issue for Mr Watts to pursue in the future is the bringing back of those saltwater baths.

This is an issue where there seems to be a lot of agreement. I just want to acknowledge some of the people who have brought that about today. I want to acknowledge the commodore of the Takapuna Boating Club, Commodore James Jordan. I want to acknowledge the local councillors Chris Darby and Richard Hills, who took this particular proposal to the Auckland Council governing body. I want to acknowledge them for supporting this. Also, the Takapuna and Devonport local board for also supporting this initiative. And, also, all of the locals who, undoubtedly, drive past the somewhat dilapidated building and see an optimistic future for things to come. I am a big supporter of increasing the ability for communities to feel that they have the facilities to allow them to do what they would like to do, and that includes, as I understand, looking at renting out the rooms for commercial purposes, potentially getting coffees there, which would be, I think, much appreciated, especially with the close proximity to the ferry.

So this is a huge opportunity. It's supported by local councillors, local boards, and local MPs. It will unlock the use, and upgrade, of this local asset, which currently is falling apart. It's not often that we get to correct something that was done in this House in 1923, but today is one of those days. I'm sure that there will be widespread agreement around the House, so I won't take too much of our time, but just to say that, undoubtedly, the locals in the North Shore will be greatly appreciative of the House's support in allowing them to use this local asset—once a proud part of their history—to update it, upgrade it, and make sure it's fit for 2024 purposes. I commend this bill to the House.

STEVE ABEL (Green): Thank you, Mr Speaker. We likewise will be supporting the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill and acknowledge the local member, Simon Watts, who has brought this to the House. We also acknowledge Auckland councillors Chris Darby and Richard Hills, who brought it to the Auckland Council. And particularly, too, we acknowledge all those who have advocated, from the boating club and from the community, to get this building restored.

It's a major challenge for us that we have many beautiful buildings across the city that fall into decrepitude because there is no practical means for funding their protection and their restoration. I very sadly watched, out in New Lynn, when the Clark red-brick church that was built on Margan Avenue by the owners of the brickworks went into private ownership and that owner didn't have the funds to look after the church. One of the side walls collapsed. Water ingress meant the church was so badly harmed that it ended up being demolished. It was a beautiful little red-brick church. It could have made a fantastic cafe on the corner of Margan Avenue. So I take real heart that someone has come up with the idea for how we work out how to fund the restoration of this beautiful heritage building in Takapuna to ensure that it remains part of our community and it gets looked after.

It was very cool to read some of the history, to see that the building was moved into place by barge in the 1920s and that, up till the 1970s, the club was still using it and that dances regularly occurred there. Perhaps we should have some more dances at this building, too—I hope not just a cafe. Let's get some dances going on there again! I think this is the sort of solution that we do need. There is also a Yozin orchard packing building out in Swanson, where I live, out in Rānui, a beautiful old building which is not allowed to be demolished but has not currently been restored. So, eventually, it will reach some state of damage that it probably will be demolished. And we see this all too often.

So I really admire that people have taken the effort to come up with a solution so that funds can be raised to actually restore this building so that it remains a valuable asset for the North Shore community and, indeed, for the heritage of Auckland in general. Thank you. We commend this bill to House.

SIMON COURT (ACT): The ACT Party will be supporting this bill and want to commend the Minister, the Minister's staff, and Auckland Council for responding to the community, community wishes, and I also want to commend Parliament. I'm sure all parties will be supporting this unanimously. It's an example of where we recognise a community need and we agree to support the proposal.

I'm also heartened, on behalf of the ACT Party, to support it because it represents unwinding unnecessary law from a century ago which constrains the development that the community is seeking, that constrains the use of an historic building which itself has already been recycled and repurposed, as Steve Abel pointed out. It's been transported to this spot by barge to be repurposed, and it also supports aspirations for economic development—I'm not talking about the kind of economic development that's going to see condominiums on the site, but just the ability to sell an ice cream and charge a couple of bucks for it and use the meagre profits from selling an ice cream to fund the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the building.

But having looked at some images of the building, I am concerned that it is significantly degraded. While I understand, from reading some reports, that the structure is in an adequate condition that will allow it to be remediated and repurposed—and I'm sure that there are competent designers and architects and engineers and builders who can achieve that—I am concerned about the potential need for resource consents and working in the coastal area, which can be quite complicated regulatory areas to navigate for anybody. Whether you work in local government or you've got a private asset in the coastal area and you're trying to get resource consents to do things like build a seawall, upgrade a wharf, or any of the things that are no doubt going to be really necessary to support the long-term viability of the structure, this clubhouse.

So I want to reaffirm the ACT Party supports this bill. When it's referred to select committee, we'll be wanting to make sure that the questions around the viability of the building, around the design, making sure that there's a value for money pathway for the Takapuna Boating Club to actually remediate this building and that they don't end up being given permission on one hand by Parliament, but being told "No", on the other hand, or "Impossible" by the local government through the Resource Management Act. So, on this basis, I commend the bill to the House.

ANDY FOSTER (NZ First): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm pleased to rise of behalf of New Zealand First to support this bill. It's a simple bill, it's a common-sense bill, and it's a local bill. I've had involvement in one local bill before, which was the bill that's given us the Wellington Town Belt, which was sponsored by the Hon Grant Robertson. So I want to congratulate the Hon Simon Watts for getting this bill to the House—so well done on the work that's obviously taken to get us to this point.

The Takapuna Boating Club here has a problem which is in common with many community and sports clubs right around the country, and that is the difficulty and the challenge of maintaining club rooms and other assets with often a limited financial base and a limited volunteer base. This particular building is clearly in need of a lot of support. I take the points that have just been made by the previous speaker, Simon Court, that this building is potentially going to be quite challenging. I hope they can get there, but I'll come back to that in just a moment.

The key point is that being able to bring a commercial activity in to be able to get some revenue to support the maintenance of a building to be able to get greater use into that building and to be able to help with the maintenance of that building is something which is shared right across the country for so many clubs and societies and sports organisations. The problem which is different here is that this boating club is subject to an Act of Parliament—I don't think that many sports club are in that invidious position—that prevents commercial activity occurring. What this bill is about is to allow commercial activity as a subsidiary—a limited activity—sitting underneath, if you like, a community activity.

I'm still involved in a number of different clubs as either a chair or as a patron of a number of them, and for one of those clubs we brought in a cafe operation. And we did that deliberately. It took us a bit of work to get it through the Reserves Act process, because there are limitations there as well. It was subsidiary to the main focus, which was for sporting organisations, but it really helps with finance; with maintenance; making a place a centre for a community, as opposed to a place which is simply open for a couple of days a week; and it's also actually a deliberate move to make sure that a building is well utilised. I think that that is a very sensible thing to do, so that is a very sensible thing to do in this circumstance as well for the Takapuna Boating Club.

I do note that the boating club will undoubtedly—or the work that it's got to do, which we've just heard about—be subject to planning and other land use restrictions. All I can say is that I hope that they are not too onerous. If they are too onerous, probably we should be thinking about whether we can make them easier and smoother not only for them but for other organisations. It's a beautiful spot, it's very close to the marina, I'm sure that if they're able to get the building sorted out, it will go very, very well. New Zealand First believes in supporting and empowering—which is what this bill is all about—our communities. That is not just true in this circumstance but also in so many other circumstances where people have great ideas to make our community better, to make our economy better, and I would just say to this House that we need to be empowering all of them right across our society, because that is the way that we will make—if I might use the pun in this particular case—the boat go faster. I commend this bill to the House.

HANA-RAWHITI MAIPI-CLARKE (Te Pāti Māori—Hauraki-Waikato): Tēnā rā tātou e te Whare. Aroha mai [I'm sorry], I've just run all the way from the banquet hall, so I just need to catch my breath for a minute—whew!

E tū ana ahau ki te waha i ngā kōrero mō te Pāti Māori nei i tēnei rangi. E tautoko ana mātou i tēnei o ngā pire. Ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero ki waenganui i te rōpū kōmiti whakahaere mō tēnei o ngā pire.

[I stand to speak on behalf of Te Pāti Māori today. We support this bill. And to listen to what will be said between the committee for this particular bill.]

Tāmaki-makau-rau, loved by many, reminds us that there is, and always will be, over a hundred reasons to love Tāmaki-makau-rau. I rise to discuss the community aspects of this bill. My connection to this bill is that I actually lived in Beach Haven, North Shore, for 12 years of my life. At that time, Dan Bidois was my MP when I was 12 years old. I was going to put a petition to him to actually change the T2 lanes to T3—but that's a whole other kaupapa, so back to this bill.

Te Pāti Māori wishes to hear from mana whenua on this matter raised in the bill, both individually and collectively, where mana whenua deem it appropriate to do so. In supporting the bill to first reading, we wish to hear more about how Auckland City has gone about identifying alternative options, consultation with local boards, and engagement with the public and iwi Māori. While the general policy statement for the bill explains that "Restrictions in the principal Act prevent the club from securing the commercial income necessary to fund restoration of the [boating] club building and provide an income necessary for the club to maintain the [boating] club building into the future.", Te Pāti Māori notes that the principal use of the land is intended to remain for the community. We, through Parliament, wish to hear from the community directly. Te Pāti Māori will always query the way land was acquired—and, by mana whenua views on the land, occupation. More broadly, we look forward to learning more insights about that.

He whenua Makaurau, Auckland, has many partners. Auckland is a diverse city which many have come to call home. In this way, it is always important to work alongside our key partners, ensuring that those matters are raised in general policy statements. That is why we commend this bill to the House. Tēnā rā koutou.

CAMERON BREWER (National—Upper Harbour): I join with others in supporting the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill. As has been canvassed, it is a local bill, and its sponsor is the local MP for North Shore, the Hon Simon Watts. So his community will be very happy with the work he's doing here.

Can I also acknowledge another presence on the North Shore, with my colleague Dan Bidois, the MP for Northcote. I'd like to think that I have a part of the North Shore too—certainly part of the former North Shore City, with Greenhithe, Bayview, Unsworth Heights, Totara Vale, Wairau Valley—

Hon Dr Deborah Russell: I thought you wanted to be a Westie! Are you abandoning West Auckland?

CAMERON BREWER: You should come, Deborah. You're most welcome to come to my electorate office at any time, and we can do a tiki tour of the electorate boundaries.

This, as I have said, is a local bill and its sponsor, by enabling this, will enable this Bayswater boathouse and the Takapuna Boating Club to get on and start paving the way for the restoration of that magnificent building, dated in the 1920s. As has been alluded to, it was an old tannery building in Panmure lagoon, and it was dismantled, barged, and then reconstructed by the Takapuna Boating Club in the early 1920s—working bees, everything else. I don't know whether there were building consents. There certainly wasn't a Resource Management Act back then. But, once again, like most of this country, it was built by volunteers.

I think it's appropriate that we're doing it this week, a few days after the America's Cup, which New Zealand won back to back to back—there's three "backs", isn't there? Back to back to back. Of course, the person who brought us the America's Cup was the late, great Sir Peter Blake, and this, of course, sits on the Sir Peter Blake Parade, because that's where the Blake family was from. We pay tribute to them, and we know that Sir Peter is looking down at us, not only willing on Auckland and the Government to get behind and bring the America's Cup back to Tāmaki-makau-rau, but to get in and support his old boating club and restore his neighbourhood boathouse. So I wanted to acknowledge his role in the history of New Zealand and in bringing the America's Cup to us, which we have retained three consecutive times.

This big building, for those who don't know Auckland that well, is when you head northbound on the motorway over the Harbour Bridge and you are entering the fabulous electorate of Northcote—the fabulous electorate of Northcote—and there are signs of Dan Bidois everywhere! But you look right and you see that big timber building, two storeys high, possibly three if you count the attic. It's that big white building on the right over the Bayswater Marina, and that is ripe for redevelopment; for restoration. This bill, as others have said, enables an old piece of statute to be amended to allow part of it to be used for commercial purposes, but most of it to be retained for community use. So this project, this piece of legislation, led by the Hon Simon Watts, is 100 years in the making. Aucklanders can be very proud that it's on its way and that that Bayswater boathouse is coming back to its former glory. I commend the bill to the House.

Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL (Labour): I'm just going to draw the House's attention to this again to make sure that people really understand that Cameron Brewer really wants to be a North Shore MP rather than a West Auckland MP. I just emphasise that point. I rise, along with my Labour colleagues, in support of this bill, that will enable the Takapuna Boating Club to use its building much more effectively. It's a pretty sensible sort of bill.

Before I just talk about why I think we should support it, I just want to take an issue with something that my ACT MP talked about, which was about whether it was going to be financially viable in order for the Takapuna Boating Club to have some commercial operation there. I'm just going to suggest to the ACT MP that that is a matter for the Takapuna Boating Club to make their own decisions and I'm sure they're quite capable of doing that. However, they certainly need this enabling legislation to go ahead, and from then it's up to them what they do with the building.

It is actually a beautiful building. Now, I know the Minister brought a photograph down to the House. I've brought this one as well. Mr Brewer, just so you know, there are actually three storeys—as one can tell from the photograph—and it's quite a magnificent building. But looking at it carefully, one of the things that you can see from this picture is that the top storey has, and, actually, the next, got a deck around it and quite a beautiful verandah. So I think this building is going to lend itself to some commercial venture like a cafe. There's something quite magical about sitting on a verandah over the water, having a coffee, you know, passing the time of the day. I think it's an entirely viable proposition.

If I could think of something to compare it to, if we think about here in Wellington, the Maranui Cafe at the Maranui Surf Life Saving Club in Lyall Bay—it's actually a really cool cafe, and, again, partly it's because it's right by the water. So when the Takapuna Boating Club says they have this heritage building, and it's quite a magnificent building, and they would like to find a way for it to be viable for them to use it, for it to be restored—now, I note that they said the work has already been done on the foundations and the roof, but they would like to restore this building. And the one thing that is standing in their way is a bit of legislation. Now, it's good legislation, but sometimes, you know, legislation does lead to perverse outcomes—and, in this case, it's led to the outcome that the Takapuna Boating Club cannot use this building to its full potential.

So one of the reasons for supporting this legislation is to enable the Takapuna Boating Club to get on and use this facility to support their club through doing it, but, actually, also to restore a pretty valuable building. I hope in time that that will provide a really good facility for the local community. I'm looking forward to the day, but, hopefully, we can head over that way, spend a day at the beach, get a coffee, have a nice meal, all those sorts of things that actually is one of the things that make living in New Zealand special—the access to the water, the access to the relaxation, just the general enjoyment of our wonderful coastline and outdoor environment here.

So, with that, I commend this bill to the House.

DAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): It's a pleasure to rise and join the chorus of support today on this local bill. I'd like to start by acknowledging my colleague the Minister Simon Watts and supporting his comments that the North Shore really is a truly great place to live, work, and raise a family. I'm truly blessed to have my family in the wonderful electorate of Northcote.

But this bill has had a lot of people that have brought it to the House today. So I'd like to just quickly acknowledge commodore James Jordan, who was a former general manager of Northbridge Lifecare Trust, which is in the Northcote electorate; council staff and officials on the local board; Carolyn Williams from Stuff—you do some great work, Carolyn, and thank you for shining a light on this matter—and past members of the club. It's been raised, actually, that one of those past members is, in fact, the late Sir Peter Blake. So thank you to all of you for your mahi in this work.

The club has a proud history of community involvement and sporting. It's been raised in the House that it is an old building, that it was shipped over on barges from Panmure. In fact, 40,000 feet of timber was shipped across the Harbour Bridge to construct this building. It's now in a state of disrepair, as has been signalled. This bill really gives effect to commercial operations being allowed to help restore this once-great building. It has been heard that that building has some proud stories of bringing people together, and there were stories told of many couples who had met in that building through Saturday night dances. We hope that that building can once again bring people together.

t's a great privilege to support this bill in the House today. I just acknowledge that it will take some funds to restore this building, and the Takapuna Boating Club don't have those funds available. They've then turned themselves back to the council, and the council doesn't have those funds available. So the purpose of this bill, which we support, is to allow commercial activities to be used to help actually raise those funds up so that this building can be restored and repaired.

It is on that basis that this side of the House certainly supports a vibrant private sector, 'cause, actually, it's not all over to Government and not all over to charities, such as the Takapuna Boating Club. So it's really great to support this on behalf of the Northcote electorate, on behalf of this side of the House. I'd just like to finish with a quote from former Takapuna Boating Club member Sir Peter Blake: "The hardest part of any big project is to begin. We have begun—we are under way". With that, I commend this bill to the House.

HELEN WHITE (Labour—Mt Albert): Mr Speaker, I asked for this slot because I wanted to talk about Mt Albert and the kinds of things I've seen that support this. But before I do that, I'd like to first of all congratulate Minister Simon Watts for bringing this bill—the local member—and congratulate the local councillors who were involved.

I also want to make my own claim to the Shore because my great—[Interruption] Shush for a minute, people. My great-grandfather was, in fact, the Mayor of Takapuna from 1930 to 1951, and as I drive down to Bayswater, there's a street named after him. It was actually quite a dysfunctional family—I didn't know this man. He did not have a good relationship with my grandfather—in particular, he didn't even know that he was his son in the early years—and my grandfather took his name when he was 20. My mother bears that name—she has the name of that mayor—and so I know that my great-grandfather will have a connection with that building, and I'm proud that he does.

Now, I want to talk about the bill, and I want to talk about the value of the bill. What I've seen in my own area is that some of these clubs are doing such good things for our community, and they're gummed up by the fact that they can't do things like what is happening in this bill. It's fantastic when we can double-duty these things—we can be a bit flexible when we can see that a club brings so much to a community—and we need to make sure that that continues to happen.

I like the way that the bill is structured so that it has this emphasis on the profits coming back to the community. In my own area, one of the big lessons I've learnt is from our league club, which is an incredible asset in our community. It brings so much value. It brings kids in who would otherwise perhaps be disengaged from their education, etc. They learn so much in that club and it is so inclusive, but those clubs are also looking to spread their wings all around the place, trying to provide a lot more links for their communities in general. So there are clubs that do vaccinations and there are clubs that will have internet connectivity. There's one rugby league club in the city that has a laundry so that its people can come and use the laundry, because that's what they need in their community. So I love the idea of having more flexibility here.

This is not just an asset for Takapuna. People from Mt Albert will shoot across there, too. This is an absolutely beautiful part of Auckland that we all get to share, because it is an incredible city with these beaches. So having this club be able to do this and restore the building and preserve the asset in this way is not good just for the people in the local area; it's really, really good for Auckland.

I'm absolutely thrilled to see a bill like this coming before the House, and I'd love to see more examples of that kind of flexibility of mind. Sometimes it won't take a local bill, but it will take a little bit of flexibility in the way that our local board or our council think about the use of space, and their not being too afraid of things like clubs like the one I'm talking about—the rugby league club—setting up a cafe on the premises, because the use of our parks and our waterways is going to become so much more important as our city intensifies. These are our commons. These are really important, and actually having a cafe in the middle of a rugby league field, or having a cafe on the waterfront—those things will connect people in ways they vitally need at a time when we are really challenged by the isolation that can happen when perhaps more of us are working from home, more of us have the congestion issues that we have, and more of us are living in environments which challenge that very strong sense of community.

So thank you for bringing in the bill, Minister. It's lovely to be here in support of it, and it's good that the House is able to get out and support a bill like this. I hope that the same flexibility of mind is happening across our country in other electorates to make sure that we are really supporting our clubs in the purpose which they have, which is to bring joy and a sense of community to us. So I commend this bill to the House.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: In reply, the Hon Simon Watts.

Hon SIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): I'll keep my right of reply brief, as the people of the North Shore shouldn't have to wait a moment longer. I am humbled by the support across the House for this local bill, and I do acknowledge all of those members across all parties who have indicated their support for that. I am thankful for that support.

My community of the North Shore values the ability to come together and unanimously support a small but impactful action that will make a real difference. I know that the Governance and Administration Committee will look forward to opening submissions shortly on this bill. It's a capable committee, with good members who will give the bill a thorough shakedown. The boating club and other groups may wish to submit, and I want to encourage all of those watching who want to submit on the bill to keep an ear out for when the committee calls for submissions. While I don't sit on the committee, I know that they will handle it carefully and report it back when the time comes.

One contribution by the member from Northcote referenced Sir Peter Blake. It would be remiss of me not to note that this building sits on Sir Peter Blake Parade, and simply acknowledges the deep history of sailing and living and enjoying the beautiful waters that surround the North Shore. This clubhouse is part of that legacy and will be sustained into the future.

When the time comes, I hope all members will continue to support this bill, and, in time, join me, potentially, for a dance at this clubhouse in the future. Once again, thank you to all members for their support. I look forward to the remaining stages of this bill.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is, That the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill be considered by the Governance and Administration Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Governance and Administration Committee.

Instruction to Governance and Administration Committee

Hon SIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): I move, That the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 24 February 2025.

Motion agreed to.

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