Tirikatene Rino: West Coast Wind-blown Timber (Conservation Lands) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is subject to correctionTirikatene Rino: West Coast Wind-blown Timber (Conservation Lands) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 26 June 2014. Volume:702;Page:18941. Text is subject to correction.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Tēnā koutou ngā mema. Huri rauna i tō tātou Whare. I am really pleased to take a call in the Committee stage of the West Coast Wind-blown Timber (Conservation Lands) Bill. Before I get into the details of Part 1 I do want to mihi at this time to our leader the Hon David Cunliffe and to all of my colleagues in the Labour caucus. I would like to acknowledge them all for allowing my colleague the Hon Damien O’Connor and me the opportunity to vote in support of this bill to act as local MPs for Te Tai Poutini which is the area that we both cover. As my honourable colleague mentioned earlier we have stepped out in faith today. It is not the norm obviously that we would be doing this. But we do listen and we do represent the good people of Te Tai Poutini West Coast - Tasman. I know that we have searched deep within us. My honourable colleague was talking about his Catholic upbringing. He was clutching on to that. I myself was saying a few Rātana prayers. I do want to acknowledge my colleagues for allowing us to express our vote in this way.However we would all be supportive of this bill had the Government merely responded to some simple requests that our leader wrote in a letter to the Government yesterday. The amendments that are contained in these Supplementary Order Papers were outlined in this letter. It was a very genuine sincere request we made in the context that urgency was called around this very issue. What did we receive? What response did we receive to this letter? Absolutely nothing. Nothing from the Prime Minister’s office—or the Minister’s office for that matter. That was very disappointing because there really was a genuine willingness from this side of the House that we fully support this bill. Be that as it may it is regrettable.Turning to the various provisions in Part 1—as we know we are dealing with the clauses relating to the definitions and the purpose clause. Thinking about what Mr Clendon has said in his contribution Māori are very much aware of the values of conservation. We know the science of conservation. But we are also pragmatists as well. When Mr Clendon was referring to cultural harvest and the like I think it goes all the way back to our wonderful legends and stories and kōrero like when Rata carved the first waka. To be able to carve that first waka it took him a few attempts but he finally realised that he had to say the right incantations the right karakia because otherwise the children of Tāne the insects and the birds would put the tree back where it was. Try as he might to carve that waka he did not do it the right way and therefore he could not complete his waka. But according to the kōrero when he was able to say the incantations and the karakia and follow the right kawa and the right tikanga he was allowed to extract that tree to carve his waka.That is no difference really from this context. I do see merit in this bill particularly for my whānau in Te Tai Poutini. I think of the likes of the Mawhera Incorporation and I think of the likes of the many Māori reserves that there are on the West Coast—and there are numerous. These are very historic blocks of land that were set aside way back in the 1860s and 1870s around the original purchase deals around the South Island. For many years those blocks really have just been lying—well nothing has ever happened on those blocks. But there could very well be opportunities that could be leveraged in terms of benefiting from the wind-blown logs that are lying strewn right across the blocks. There could very well be benefits to those whānau to our whānau from opportunities around the extraction of those logs.I think I might leave it there. That was my contribution. I acknowledge my colleagues but I also support the Supplementary Order Papers that have been put forward especially by Moana Mackey around greater specificity around the definitions in Part 1. I commend those Supplementary Order Papers.