SpeechDAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā and thank you Madam Speaker. Look the law that this bill seeks to address Te Ture Whenua Maori Act is actually a really important Act of our Parliament. With the amount of land that's gone to address Treaty claims for Māori there's a huge opportunity and I think there's about 5 to 7 percent of all land in New Zealand that comes under this Act. So there's a huge opportunity for the legislative arrangements to be such that enhances the potential of this important asset for the Māori community of New Zealand.This amendment bill that we're discussing today essentially seeks to reduce the complexity and the compliance burdens that Māori face when they're interacting with the courts or with the Government over issues of Māori land. It's actually really important to get that right so that Māori can focus on productive use getting the most out of their land and getting the returns as required to improve the iwi the hapū and the people of their communities.So we do support this on this side of the House. The select committee did make a number of recommendations and I would like to acknowledge all of those on the select committee: the chair Rino Tirikatene but all select committee members. I have fond memories of that select committee. I miss the kai very much but I'm very happy to call the Education and Workforce Committee my new home.The select committee duly heard a number of submissions on this bill and worked very hard along with the officials and I'd like to do a special shout out to the officials who waded through those submissions made a number of specific recommendations most of which actually were incorporated into the bill that we're discussing today.So some of those changes were about clarifying the meanings making sure that there's flexibility over successions and my colleague Jo Hayes referred to one of those flexibilities around succession to whāngai versus whānau. We look forward to debating that in the committee of the whole House and to just tightening that up because the issue of whāngai is actually one that needs to be addressed. Also there are changes so that judges who are involved in court proceedings cannot also act in those proceedings where they've been mediators. I think that's just addressing some conflicts of interest in those circumstances.Look what we would have liked to have seen in this bill is—you know winding the clock back the previous National Government along with the Māori Party did a lot of work in the Te Ture Whenua Māori space and we would have liked to have seen that some of those changes in a bipartisan fashion were incorporated into this legislation today because it is important for Māori and Māori land owners that these kinds of laws are enduring and we saw in the previous Government a whole bunch of failings with this legislation. We sought to address that it was in the select committee stage and then the new Parliament came through and we would have appreciated a hand out to the Opposition to reach across the aisle to make sure that these changes are in fact enduring throughout the life of Māori land owners and their successors which this bill also incorporates.So look I just want to reflect on the massive opportunity that this bill presents. If we get it right—and the Ministry for Primary Industries has stated this—the opportunity for this country is $8 billion most of which will go to the Māori communities throughout New Zealand. If we get it right and there is streamlining of court proceedings and dealing with successions that is worth a massive $8 billion to the Māori economy. We on this side of the House have made it very clear that we want to see the Māori economy improve and that is what we look forward to debating in the committee of the whole House in terms of how we can feed some of those recommendations from the previous Parliament into this bill to make it more impactful for the Māori community in New Zealand.So that is it. We commend this bill to the House at this stage and we look forward to the debate in the committee of the whole House.