Peters Winston: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Peters Winston: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13973] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 It must be great to be the spokesperson on Maori affairs for the National Party. That person could make one speech a year then go home for Christmas. Mr Henare gets even that part wrong. 
I ask which members remember the fiscal cap of $1 billion that Doug Graham floated in 1994 with National’s consent and backing. When I heard Georgina te Heuheu say that National would provide the resources on this matter I pricked up my ears because that will come as the best-kept secret within the politics of this country as far as Maori are concerned. That is the first thing. 
Secondly as Mr Henare well knows National says one thing before an election and does the very reverse after it. When National was in power there was never any mention whatsoever in respect of the Maori Purposes Bill’s effect on the tribunal’s work of ever properly providing the tribunal with the resources to do its job. 
Christopher Finlayson 
: That’s wrong. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Is that wrong? I ask Mr Finlayson to tell me why I am wrong. I say to Mr Finlayson that he cannot sit there and shout out every day. The member is qualified so he can tell me why I am wrong. He cannot. That was the value of that interjection. I think Mr Finlayson is one of the most qualified people in the National Party.  
R Doug Woolerton 
: So they say. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I suppose Mr Woolerton can throw in that interjection. When Mr Finlayson is put to the test he also does not know what he is talking about. 
This is National’s record. When did National provide the tribunal with the resources to do its job? Everybody knows that it is a huge job to be done and if we are going to get the target settlement dates completed via the tribunal in a way that makes Maoridom happy then the tribunal will need greater resourcing—perhaps more than this. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: You’ve done nothing for us in 8 years! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I suppose we could say the Government is guilty of not doing anything in 8 years but what is National’s record? What has National’s record been since 1975? It has done nothing at all. It has done nothing at all since the tribunal was first established. 
I also say to Mr Henare that it is not right to criticise a Maori who still owns ancestral land. That is the aim of the exercise—to have ancestral land to keep it and hopefully to pass it on to future generations. Why Mr Horomia should be slagged for being such a Maori is beyond me but then there may be a slight envy factor that we could refer to here. 
The Maori Trustee funds have been taken out of this bill. I ask whether members remember that in 1985 an attempt was made by Roger Douglas to sweep all the funds into the consolidated account via an addition to the schedule. That is what he did and he got stopped—not by the National Party. [ 
Interruption 
] No he was not one of mine. Roger Douglas has never been one of New Zealand First’s people. I say to Mr Bennett that Roger Douglas is one of his types of people and he is welcome to him. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: He knows a lot about politics that fella! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Well he is a new member and he does not even know who Roger Douglas is. But I will tell members what he does know. He knows how to imitate Roger Douglas’ policies—how to pillage the country and leave it wide open to the ravages of international money based not on the interests of this country’s wealth and export creation but just on helping out one’s mates which is what the Electoral Finance Bill is all about as we all know. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: That’s why they hate it so much. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Well they always revert to type. That happened in 1985. Then of course as Georgina te Heuheu said there was an inquiry in 1991 by two very able people Mr Charters in particular and the Maori Trustee has been soundly based ever since. We will be very interested to see what the legislation says come next year. 
Let me ask a question of the National Party. What is the National Party policy on the issue of the Maori Trustee? 
Hon Members 
: Wait and see. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Oh I get it. What is the policy? It is “wait and see”. Why have those members departed from their real policy which is “me too-ism”? Someone on the Government side of the House says something and National members say “me too”. It goes even as far as the music industry. We have seen it in respect of National’s DVD. Why everybody is complaining about Mr Key using Coldplay’s music I do not know because that is what National’s stance has been. It is “me too” on everything including the music. We saw a variation on that today. It is called “wait and see”. 
I suggest to the National Party spokesperson from Tuwharetoa that we would like to know National’s policy before Christmas. All these Maori will be going to all these unveilings and all these marae and having all these whanau meetings and they would like to know what the National Party’s policy is. 
Hon Member 
: Chris Finlayson knows. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He would be the only guy in the party who does. 
All I want to say is simply this. The bill does increase the numbers on the tribunal from 16 to 20. Frankly I think it is not enough. The tribunal needs more members if we are to expedite its work and take this issue which has tended to linger for far too long off the political agenda as a result of people being satisfied that their claims have been properly met. 
While I am talking about this issue I just want to say this. The Central Plateau settlement should be going ahead with expedition. To delay this matter month after month and year after year is not in anybody’s interests. I would ask those other people who are not happy to go back again to join with the original claimant group in order to try to sort out this matter before they next come to Government rather than go through this tortuous process of going to the High Court for a further legal wrangle. But then again which party said that this would be the matter that would create more dissension amongst Maori than any other? In actual fact it was New Zealand First. We said that. There is nothing as antiseptic as the old saying “I told you so” but we did say that. 
I conclude by thanking the Minister for the precise and clear way in which he enunciated the provisions of the bill and to wish all those in Maoridom—in fact the country itself—a very happy Christmas and a delightful New Year.