Harawira Hone: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1738] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe. Kia ora Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tatou e te Whare. Tena koe Sue. Thank you very much for that korero about Albert Park. It brings back memories. 
Shane Ardern 
: Do we want to know about it? 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Now now cut that out. 
The Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill raises important issues about land for the Maori Party. When the colonials first got here if they did not see any houses on the land they called it—what do you call it— 
David Garrett 
: Terra nullius. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: —terra nullius. There was nothing there so they claimed it for themselves. After the colonials had been here a while if there were not any Maori still on the land 24 hours a day 7 days a week they said “We’ll call this wasteland and take this stuff too.” Later on in the 1800s after the colonials had started grabbing all that land and selling it off to each other they had a twinge of conscience and realising how many dodgy land sales there had been they passed an Act called the Validation of Invalid Land Sales Act. Then they could say “OK we’ve ripped off all this land but that’s OK—we’re going to make it OK.” So any time that a bill like this comes up about what is likely to happen to a piece of land—especially land that is called reserve land empty land or wasteland—and there is the opportunity to dispose of it in one shape or form we will express our concern. 
Apparently we are supporting this bill at its first reading because we want to get as many iwi as possible to signal what has happened with regard to a lot of their own reserved lands so we can get the picture in on that. Clearly a lot of these reserve lands are lands that were either gifted or transferred from Maori ownership into Pakeha ownership and particularly into Crown ownership for specific purposes. It did not end up staying that way. One of the Labour members talked about land in Waikumete where the local council grabbed some land and gave it to one of its subsidiaries which then flogged it off and some houses were built on it. I know of lands all around the country that were originally school land and when the schools were closed the land was transferred from one Government agency to another then to another then eventually sold off and not returned to its rightful owners. 
The Maori Party is concerned about any suggestion that these small pieces of land here there and everywhere may be eligible for immediate sale by the Crown its agencies or local bodies without any further consultation. The Waikumete land was one example of that having been done and the Albert Park land was another. That park apart from being a place of great value and great beauty to the people of Auckland is also a place of historical settlement by the people of Ngati Whatua. I know that at the resource consent hearings the iwi laid out a whole lot of their concerns about what might likely happen to that land and this bill will not assist them in ensuring that their rights will be adhered to. We have concerns about that. We know of lands in Marlborough that were originally set aside for hospitals but that have been chopped up and passed on to this entity and that entity then eventually flogged off. 
For example I know of some land in Kaitaia that is currently held by Far North Holdings Ltd on behalf of the local district council on behalf of the Crown which used to own it through the then civil aviation division of the Ministry of Transport. Far North Holdings is now starting to impose different rules and regulations on the use of that land and that has impacts on the local school. 
I am speaking only about the situations I know of personally but those sorts of blocks of land all over the country have huge value for Maori. As long as they do then we will raise these concerns—certainly at the select committee. We will be notifying as many of our people as possible and we reserve the right to vote on this bill according to however we feel at the second and third readings based on the information that comes before the select committee as a result of that process. Mr Deputy Speaker thank you very much for the opportunity to speak. Kia ora tatou katoa.