Hawke's Bay A & P Society GM Elisha Milmine said the society will promote a bill to remove limits on what it can spend $7.5 million from the sale of the Tomoana Showgrounds on. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke's Bay A & P Society GM Elisha Milmine said the society will promote a bill to remove limits on what it can spend $7.5 million from the sale of the Tomoana Showgrounds on. Photo / Warren Buckland
Politicians in Wellington will decide what Hawke's Bay's A & P Society can do with the funds it gets from selling the Tomoana Showgrounds.
And it's all because of an act of Parliament introduced 114 years ago.
Members of the A & P Society voted to accept Hastings District Council'soffer to purchase 40 of the 42 hectares of the showground for $7.5m in June, with ownership officially transferring on April 1, 2023.
The A & P Society has now given public notice that it intends to petition the House of Representatives to introduce a private bill, the "Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association Empowering Bill".
This is being done to remove a legal restriction placed on them by the Agricultural and Pastoral Societies Act 1908.
That more-than-a-century-old act requires the society to invest money received from any sale of showground land into the purchase of other land suitable for the purposes of the society.
Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Meka Whaitiri has agreed to sponsor the bill on behalf of the A & P Society.
Letters of support for the bill were sent to Whaitiri from Hastings District Council and Waipatu Marae in July.
"The Hastings District Council is fully supportive of this Private Bill to enable this greater flexibility and we note this was most recently done by the South Agricultural and Pastoral Association Empowering Bill 2006," Hasting mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said in her letter.
A Hastings District Council spokesperson said the council was aware of the bill and the Agricultural and Pastoral Societies Act 1908 before the sale agreement.
"The matter was investigated and shared between Council and the Hawkes Bay A & P Society and included as a condition of the sale and purchase agreement which was signed in May 2022," the spokesperson said.
"There are clauses in the sale and purchase agreement regarding any delays with the bill going through parliament."
The Agricultural and Pastoral Societies Act 1908 requires the society to invest money received from sale of the showgrounds land into the purchase of other land. Photo / NZME
The bill will go through a similar process as other government bills, but the main difference is that private bills are only on the agenda every second Wednesday that the House meets.
A & P Society General Manager Elisha Milmine said the society was going through the process because it wanted to gain flexibility around what the funds could be spent on.
"[It's] so we can invest it into the community and for the long term, not necessarily into more land at this point," Milmine said.
She said this did not mean the society would never purchase land with some of the funds, but it preferred to have options.
"Obviously at the moment, if we went to purchase land, it is not the best time to be doing that."
She said the process could take a number of months and depended on when the bill would get to the next reading.
After the first reading is a select committee, which alone could take six months, before a second reading, a committee of the house, and a third reading.
"The land sale goes through on April 1, so we have got a little bit of time," Milmine said.
With the sale next year, the A & P society will retain 2.8ha bounded by the Hawke's Bay Railway and Kennilworth, Karamu and Elwood roads.
As part of the agreement, the Showgrounds is to be designated as a reserve managed by a trust with representatives of the A & P Society, the council, and nearby Waipatu Marae.
The society will have 10 days of free use of the showgrounds annually, primarily around the summer show each October, and free use of office space.
