Henare Tau: Maori Purposes Bill — First Reading 
Henare Tau: Maori Purposes Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:3957] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Have we ever heard a more patronising speech than the one from Jim Anderton? He came down to the House. He has never spoken on anything Maori in the House before but he came down to the House because he feels he has a responsibility to say a few words to the natives of the land to say to them: “You know you’re part of the economic circle. We want you to do this that and the other thing.” He will now go back to his office and feel really great that for once in his life—[ 
Interruption 
] There he goes back to the office feeling great about his contribution to the indigenous people of this nation. I say on behalf of all Maori thank you thank you thank you bwana. But I come back to the point of the bill. If being patronising was a crime then Mr Jim Anderton would certainly be serving a long time in prison. 
Shane Jones 
: Where’s the content? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yes the “big dipper” over there will have his say soon. Oh I am sorry the “big double dipper”. Actually while we are there in relation to myself and the original waka jumper I am in good company because his name was Ngatoroirangi but that is another story. 
This is the first bill by the Minister in 6 years. In the 6 years he has been the Minister of Maori Affairs he has not brought one piece of legislation to this House. All of a sudden all he can do tonight is get on his feet and give us a fix-up bill. It is called the Maori Purposes Bill but maybe it should be an omnibus bill the “Catch All Mistakes Bill”. That is what it is. 
Shane Jones 
: Missed the bus. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is right. He missed the bus. Let us have a look at the amendments to Te Ture Whenua Maori Act. The maximum number of judges of the Maori Land Court rises from eight to 14. That is an increase of seven extra judges. Normally when we have an increase it is because there is an increase in work but nowhere in the bill itself or in the accompanying notes to the bill is the increased caseload set out. 
Shane Jones 
: In Tauranga. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh in Tauranga. That is right. He is the member who lives on Tinakori Road but wants to be the member of Parliament for the far north. Yes get that one. [ 
Interruption 
] I digress. A comment was made that there are no flash houses up north. Well Mr Shane Jones knows all about that because he actually bought some houses from the Meremere power station. They were clapped-out old houses but he moved them up north so that the poor Maori could have them. I ask Mr Jones how that is going to solve a lot of problems. 
But anyway I go back to the bill. What is the ratio of cases per judge? How many cases do the judges actually take care of? With 14 judges around the nation one would think that there were hundreds and hundreds of cases but there are not. So where has the increased caseload come from? The Minister of Maori Affairs is not here to tell us that—[ 
Interruption 
] Something that also really worries me is I suppose the retrospective validation of decisions that were made by a so-called judge. We can call him a so-called judge because in the period that he was a so-called judge he was not a judge. The bill states that he was purporting to be a judge. Is that not fraud? I am not a lawyer—though two of the best lawyers in the country are sitting right here now—but I would have said that that was illegal. So if at any time one of those 83 people took—[ 
Interruption 
] It is hundreds of people—the member is absolutely right. It is thousands of people. If any one of those people took an appeal he or she would win hands down because the judge who was presiding who was purporting to be a judge was not a judge at all. Most people on the other side of this Chamber purport to be MPs but I suppose that is OK. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Some are fake policemen. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: There we go—one is purporting to be a policeman. He is just a cardboard cut-out. If somebody outside was purporting to be a police officer or a judge he or she would be arrested and charged with fraud. But that is not really the bottom of the pit on this point. The bottom of the pit on this point is who narked on the judge for not having his warrant? Was it the administrators who found out? When it was found out that this judge was not really a judge did the Maori Land Court contact those thousands of people and say to them that it got it wrong and that they had better come back so the court could have another look at their cases? No and the Minister said that the reason was that it was convenient to do so. Never mind justice and the justice system let us just do whatever Parekura Horomia says is convenient. That is an absolute shame and an absolute abrogation of the Minister’s responsibility to make sure that the people he purports to represent are told about what went on. 
Who narked on the judge? That is what I want to know. How did people find out that he did not have a warrant? Somebody in the system must have narked to the chief judge. The chief judge went to the Minister and said: “Excuse me boss you’d better fix this or else we’ll be in trouble especially if the people in one of those cases that were before the purported judge appeal the decision of the purported judge.” [ 
Interruption 
] That is right. Leaving it for 6 or 7 years is OK. We are lucky we do not have a statute of limitations. I think it is 6 years in the States. 
I also want to touch on the Treaty of Waitangi. The purported bill specifies 1 September 2008 as a close-off date and we certainly support that. But what I want to know from anyone across the House is that if 1 September 2008 is the new closing date what was the old closing date? There is no closing date. 
Pita Paraone 
: Does it matter? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I tell Mr Paraone—it is good to see him back—the reason why. The explanatory note states that it is so they—whoever “they” are—“will have certainty about the number of historical claims the Tribunal is to inquire into.” My goodness me. 
Shane Jones 
: Bring closure. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well it will bring closure if Mr Jones resigns. He should tell us about the slum dwellings he tried to sell to those people up north. He is a slum landlord. Yes National supports this bill going to a select committee. We do not support the selling of slum dwellings to people but that is another issue. We support the Treaty of Waitangi claims process having a cut-off date. It is simple. It lets everybody get on with it and lets everybody plan. It cannot go on forever and we support that. But we do not support the dodgy moves made by the Maori Land Court to fix up problems that happened 6 years ago that have affected over 300 people in the Maori community. How do we know— 
Jill Pettis 
: What do you think about it? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: There is screeching from the back benches over there. It is like a poodle has a microchip somewhere it should not have. National will support this bill but not all of it. We hope that there will be submissions galore to the Maori Affairs Committee.