Davis Kelvin: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavis Kelvin: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 05 May 2009. Volume:654;Page:2850. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KELVIN DAVIS (Labour):As I listen to the debate going on I keep coming back to the feeling that this bill has missed a number of opportunities. I hear what my whanaunga over there is saying about money being held in the common fund. I am not talking about taking taking taking and depleting that common fund; it is about investing—it is about Māori investing in Māori and returning funds for Māori.Hon Tau Henare: It’s the Government’s job.KELVIN DAVIS: I come back to what I said. It is a missed opportunity—and I just heard my whanaunga say it is the Government’s job—but what I am talking about here is that this is an opportunity for Māori to invest in Māori and return to Māori. It is about aspiration. What I am hearing is just dull conservatism that is missing a huge opportunity to actually do something for Māori. I hear about underdeveloped land I hear about significant sums of money just sitting there doing very little and I hear the member Mr Tremain saying the money is already invested in low-risk opportunities and then invested back. What is wrong with investing in Māori initiatives? It does come under Part 1 of the Māori Trustee Amendment Bill in that the Māori Trustee acting independently from Te Puni Kōkiri should have the ability to do something significant so that Māori get a greater return.I will now touch on new section 6D inserted by clause 7 in Part 1 which allows for the Māori Trustee to employ staff. Here is another perfect opportunity for us to actually do something. Instead of just employing people to do administrative things we could employ those people make sure they have financial skills and acumen and get around to helping our whanaunga who are trying to develop businesses and enterprises and trying to be entrepreneurial. We could use this opportunity to get those employees of the Māori Trustee out amongst the whānau and help them to work with the investment that has been made in them so they can make more money and then return a dividend to the common fund.It is not about just taking money; as I said earlier it is about Māori having tino rangatiratanga—having the resources and the independence to make decisions for the betterment of themselves and then making returns to the fund. The beneficiaries would not miss out. Mr Gilmore spoke about a Mr Johnson being owed thousands of dollars—that would not change. That money if it were invested back into the common fund could still be accessed by Mr Johnson if and when he is found and his family—and Mr Gilmore named them all.As I say I believe this is a missed opportunity. We as Māori need to be aspirational and see how we can develop ideas further so that we do not stagnate and do not continue to have our hands out and be dependent on other people’s help to invest in and develop our businesses. I take this short call to reiterate that I think this bill does not go far enough and I would really like when Part 2 is discussed and debated for us to open our eyes and think outside the square so that Māori do develop and become financially successful and independent. Kia ora.