Waititi RawiriRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Tēnā koe e Te Pīka tēnā tātou e te Whare. Ka tū ahau ki te kōrero mō tēnei take ā Pire mō te Wai.[Greetings Mr Speaker and greetings to all in the House. I stand to speak on the matter of the Water Services Bill.]When this bill was introduced and our people became aware of the provisions there was a large outcry from tangata whenua. This is for a number of reasons but in particular because just like the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 the bill would have enabled State officers to enter marae without consent or warrant. We are glad that the select committee has listened to our people's submissions and removed the warrantless search provisions for marae. The bill now requires owners' consent on par with private homes. The new wording is A compliance officer must not enter a home or a marae under this section except with the consent of an occupier." This is a good change and we acknowledge that the select committee in this instance were actually listening to the many hapū and iwi Māori organisations who submitted. However the Crown should not have proposed this in the first place and wasted the time and resources of our people who were then forced to submit and lobby to protect their rights as tangata whenua.Despite this much-needed change Te Paati Māori will still be opposing this bill. There remain broader concerns for tangata whenua in relation to this bill. To upgrade marae drinking water to the new Government standard would be too costly for many marae to afford. Many can't even pay insurance fees. It also undermines Māori rangatira and kaitiaki fresh-water rights interests and responsibilities in a number of ways including relegating Māori to an advisory group for the regulator Taumata Arowai. Although it has a Māori name it does not guarantee Māori representation. We are not advisers. We are not stakeholders. We are tangata whenua. We are Tiriti partners. We challenge this Government to adopt Te Paati Māori fresh-water policy which is to honour the rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga rights and interests of mana whenua over fresh water. In a Western rights framework this can be expressed as proprietary rights customary rights decision-making rights or put more simply ownership.The whakapapa connection between tangata whenua and wai Māori is intrinsic. This position is supported by the Crown obligation to He Whakaputanga Te Tiriti o Waitangi the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and by our tino rangatiratanga as tangata whenua. Negotiations of fresh-water rights and interests need to be completed before any significant reform of water regulations and management is undertaken. The Waitangi Tribunal said that the Crown should be working directly with hapū and iwi to create a standard process for addressing Māori rights and interests. Instead this current Government decided to stop negotiating with iwi leaders and instead has established its own Māori advisory group which was Te Kāhui Wai Māori. A water service regime that does not give effect to Te Tiriti isn't worth the paper it's written on. Our people have seen time and time again what happens when legislation is put forward that goes against our rights while they are still being considered and negotiated for in the courts and in Government. This must be opposed as it does not have the active consent or support of whānau hapū and iwi Māori. The Crown needs to go back to the drawing board and not rush this legislation through until it recognises and implements Māori rights and interests to fresh water.Our pepeha tells us the intrinsic connection that we have with our wai. He taonga tuku iho nā Ranginui kia horapa nei i runga i te whenua hei oranga mō te iwi Māori mō te tira hunga tangata katoa puta noa i te motu. Engari kei a te iwi Māori tōna mana motuhake. Ko te iwi Māori te kaitiaki o te wai.[It is a treasure handed down from the Sky Father to be spread across the land as sustenance for Māori and all other groups throughout the country. But Māori hold authority over it. Māori are the custodians of water.]As King Tūheitia said in 2012 when he called a national hui on fresh water it negated the National position that no one owns the water. It also negates the Labour notion that everybody owns the water. King Tūheitia said we Māori own the water. And so I end with that quote and continue to advocate for te iwi Māori in this space in terms of our rights to our wai Māori. Kia ora tātou."