Samuels Dover: Maori Fisheries Bill — Second Reading 
Samuels Dover: Maori Fisheries Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:619;Page:15210] 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State) 
: 
 Te mea tuatahi maku he mihi atu ki a koe te Kaiwhakahaere o te Whare i tenei po. 
[ 
The first thing to do is to extend a greeting to you the Speaker of the House tonight 
.] 
Ka pu te ruha ka hao te rangatahi. Translated that is to say: “The old net is cast aside and the new one goes fishing.” 
Te mea tuatahi maku he mihi atu ki te komihana o Te Ohu Kai Moana me nga kaiwhakahaere katoa na ratau nei tenei kaupapa i whakahoki mai ki mua i te aroaro o te Whare Paremata. Kei te mihi hoki ki a ratou ma kua huri atu ki muri i te arai.Kei te maumahara atu ki tera o wa tatou rangatira a Matiu Rata.Koia tetahi o nga kaipoipoi o tenei kaupapa mai ra ano.Ko ratau kua moe kua puawai kua puta nga hua o a ratou kaupapa whakaaro moemoea. Ki nga whanau ki nga hapu ki nga iwi hoki na ratau tenei kaupapa mai ra ano te tarewatanga mo te 12 tau kua puawai o ratau moemoea i roto i tenei pire i tenei po. 
 [An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
The first thing to do is to extend a greeting to the commission of Te Ohu Kai Moana and to all those who played a leading role in getting this bill back into Parliament. Acknowledgments are also extended to those who have crossed the divide namely one of our chiefs Matiu Rata. He was one of the ones who played a leading role from the outset. While they have passed away their vision and dream have come to bear.To the families sub tribes and people who have worked on during the 12-year period of suspension their dreams have blossomed tonight with this bill. 
] 
The Maori Fisheries Bill is in its final step in its final and well-considered process which has been undertaken to transfer and allocate assets from the Crown to Maori in settlement of treaty claims for commercial fishing. Once this legislative process is completed the casting of the new net will begin. Twelve years of uncertainty for our people is coming to its finality and to an end. Maori are looking forward to the transfer of 20 percent of new species also to the quota management system and I am highly thankful that the Opposition as the Government of Jim Bolger many years ago saw fit to recommend that the highly migratory species be transferred to Maori. I thank him for that and I also thank members of the National Party for supporting it. I hope when that happens that they remember the wisdom of their elder Jim Bolger in recommending that 20 percent of those species be transferred over to Maori. 
The second reading of the bill follows on the recommendations of the Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee. The committee has made valuable recommendations in response to key issues in submissions from the general public and from Maori. Those recommendations have been given preliminary consideration by the Government and we intend to move further amendments at the Committee stage in order to better respond to those recommendations. I extend my sincere appreciation to my colleagues and to the members of the select committee specifically my colleagues Phil Heatley the member for Whangarei Georgina Te Heuheu Pita Paraone from New Zealand First my colleague from United Future and other colleagues who certainly made a very substantive contribution to the formulation of the bill. 
They reminded us time and time again that Te Ohu Kai Moana said that this is not the bill of the politicians but of Te Ohu Kai Moana and the Maori people who over years have made a contribution to its formulation. However without the challenges the select committee sat down and listened to the submissions from the Ministry of Fisheries Te Puni Kokiri and other officials advisers and interested parties including Te Ohu Kai Moana which enabled us to be able to put this bill together and we are here today to move its second reading. 
In a little bit more detail I wish to touch on some key amendments that my colleague the Minister of Fisheries Mr Benson-Pope referred to. To improve efficiency and effectiveness the committee recommends establishing a fast-track process for iwi treaty settlement entities to acquire the status of a mandated iwi organisation and therefore be eligible to receive assets from Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd. Some existing iwi structures probably already fulfil the requirements identified in the bill as being needed for the recognition of a mandated iwi organisation. Sensibly the committee recommends that a pre-existing iwi structure should be recognised as a mandated iwi organisation if it fulfils certain criteria which include a listing in schedule 3; formal structure and accountability to members; establishment of an asset-holding company; acceptance by the Crown as having a mandate for treaty purposes; settlement of historical claims such settlement completed through to legislation; and the use of appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms. The provisions will help ensure that iwi who have completed the settlement of their historic treaty claims and meet the requirements of the new legislation do not have to start the mandating and other establishment processes all over again. 
The committee recommended that recognised iwi organisations also receive increased responsibilities. Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd will be able to recognise iwi organisations for various purposes such as participating in the process for sale of catchment entitlement although recognised iwi organisations cannot bind iwi into agreements to receive or use settlement assets on behalf of iwi. The accountability requirements of mandated iwi organisations to iwi members have been strengthened such as requiring each mandated iwi organisation to make its iwi registry available for inspection by registered members of the iwi. These accountability requirements balance the practicalities of asset-management with the trustee role of mandated iwi organisations and the right of the ultimate beneficiaries of the assets the Maori people generally. 
It is important that the people on the ground—the fisherman who was displaced simply because of the introduction of the quota management system many years ago—be given a system that is accountable to our people at the grass roots. Being a past fisherman I say that many of our Maori fishing villages and Maori fishermen were displaced many years ago and their hopes and dreams have been around the introduction of this legislation so that their whanau and their hapu can go back out fishing. I am talking from a customary perspective. I am not talking about giant corporations like Sealord’s but about the close relationship that Maori people have with their fishery and the traditional ways. This will give them the opportunity not to secure the putea and quota for themselves but to be able to allocate and distribute those assets to the people who really own them—the people there living by the sea who have been involved in commercial fishing for generations. 
Provisions to allow for Ngati Hine and Rongomaiwahine to withdraw from Ngapuhi and Ngati Kahungunu respectively have been the subject of recent media attention. However the select committee’s recommendations allow for a careful and considered withdrawal by Ngati Hine and Rongomaiwahine if those groups wish to withdraw from the mandated iwi organisations of the larger groups. The time frame provided for such a decision has been set at 5 years from the date the mandated iwi organisation for the wider group comes into being. Finally I tell members that the select committee recognises that the Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd has duties as the trustee and voting shareholder for Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd to ensure statutory compliance and to ensure that Te Ohu Kai Moana’s purpose is upheld. The committee recommends that adequate funding for the trustees in the commission is preserved and that Te Ohu Kai Moana may hold quota but not undertake fishing. All interests of the trustees other than capital and funding prescriptions will be transferred to Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd. That meets objections raised in a number of iwi submissions. Finally I would like to wish Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd well and I wish all those groups responsible for receiving the allocation—the putea—and assets well because I believe that the majority of our people out there wish to get on with the business. They want to go out fishing and they want to be able to contribute to their communities. This is an opportunity for our people to be positive in terms of the fisheries and the aspirations they have had over many years of waiting for the final allocation—so that our days of having disputes in court are gone. Our people now have the assets they have the ability and they also have the opportunity to be able to go out fishing. 
No reira kei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa nga mema o to matou komiti te kaiwhakahaere o te komiti whakatau i tenei kaupapa tena koutou a tena koutou.Kia ora mai ano tatou katoa. Kia ora tatou. 
[ 
And so I congratulate all you members of our committee who played a part in this bill and the chairman as well. Greetings to us all again and to everyone else 
.]