Mahuta Nanaia: Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mahuta Nanaia: Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 13 June 2012. Volume:680;Page:2955. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 I rise to speak on behalf of Labour. We will support this bill the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill at its first reading. Having listened to the previous speaker from the National Party Nikki Kaye I say that if National is so passionate about ensuring that iwi concerns are taken account of especially on resource management issues it would have supported my member’s bill the Resource Management (Enhancement of Iwi Management Plans) Amendment Bill which sought to have regard to and provide for iwi management plans and planning documents of regional councils but it did not. However it is important to recognise the Maori Party member Te Ururoa Flavell and his comments regarding the history of Nga Potiki and their relationship to the site on which waste-water treatment plants are currently sited because they have a particular interest. I will pick up in some part where that member left off to say that when the Tauranga City Council got together and established the Maori consultative committee in 2004 it had a document that went out for consultation in which a number of iwi in Tauranga Moana contributed and had a say about their particular views as tangata whenua with regard to continued developments in their area.  
There are a few points that I would like to mention. Firstly I would like to mention Nga Potiki’s particular relationship with the area on which waste-water plants are. I am noting from the document on te maunga wastewater treatment facilities. I really wanted to raise in the House an important meeting that Nga Potiki had a hui-a-iwi or hui-a-hapu on 3 October 2004 when RereamomoOhiaand Tai Taikato presented some key recommendations to the council from the hui-a-hapu. Firstly “That Nga Potiki do not support the application by Tauranga City Council to continue to discharge wastewater from the Sewage Treatment and Wastewater System located at Te Maunga into Te Moana A Toi Te Huatahi.” Secondly “That Tauranga City Council ‘commit’ to decommissioning the entire system at Te Maunga within a specified time frame.” and thirdly “That there be no further ‘hook ons’ including those proposed in the list contained in the consent application and those omitted from the list.”  
I make that point in reference to this debate only to ensure further on down the track when negotiations are occurring that it is clear in this House that Nga Potiki have expressed their interests in their area through successive consultations over time as cited by the member for the area and successively in terms of engaging in resource consent processes. That is important to mention because there is great hope and aspiration that in working together for the future the interests of tangata whenua in that area are not overlooked. They in particular made a point about the repeal of the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowerment Act because they did not want any further reclamation to take place and as the previous speaker Nikki Kaye mentioned the full reclamation of land intended here in Tauranga was not utilised. Nga Potiki supported the repeal of this Act because they did not want to extend reclamations on the basis of their ongoing interests.  
 It is also important to recognise that tangata whenua in the Tauranga Moana area have had very strong views about the ways in which waste water should be managed and treated. The expression that there should be land-based treatment prior to discharge has been a view that is long held. It is clearly cited in this particular document which I did a little bit of research and study on. I think it is important again to state and continue to state that these are not new issues for the iwi. They continue to be issues that pervade the ongoing best-management practice for the care and responsibility not only of land-based activities but of whatever happens within the marine environment. Again I want to reiterate that Labour will support this bill in its first reading to the select committee. We look forward to hearing ongoing process on the other hand with Nga Potiki and their broader interests as tangata whenua in the area. We certainly look forward to a continuing positive relationship with tangata whenua in Tauranga Moana on all issues within the Tauranga Moana area. Kia ora.