Tremain Chris: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTremain Chris: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 05 May 2009. Volume:654;Page:2849. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier):Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Tēnā koe te Minita. I wanted to take a call on Part 1 of the bill just to clarify a few figures for the benefit of members of the New Zealand public who may be diligently listening to this debate so that they can put into context exactly what we are talking about with regard to this Te Pire Whakatikatika Kaitiaki Māori—the Māori Trustee Amendment Bill. We are dealing with an organisation that manages a considerable number of parcels of multiple-owned land. In fact I have just been speaking to the officials who told me that 111000 hectares of land are managed by this organisation. That is close to 250000 acres of land that is managed by this organisation and I put it to members of the Committee that in some parts this land is being well utilised and has been well developed but in many instances it is possibly well located but is considerably underdeveloped. When I look at my own rohe back in Heretaunga in Hawke’s Bay—and I know the Minister who is sitting in the chair today the Hon Dr Pita Sharples can speak fondly of that part of Aotearoa—I see there is a considerable amount of land managed by the Māori Trustee in Hawke’s Bay. Some of it is returning real value; a lot of it is underdeveloped and could be better utilised. That is essentially what the organisation exists to manage.But over the course of time a common fund has also been developed. I asked the officials to put some numbers around that common fund and I was told that at 31 March 2007 which I must admit is somewhat out of date it stood at $39496263. So we are talking about a serious amount of capital in that fund. But I must add to what my colleague Tau Henare said today: that money has been accrued over time from rents and from interest for the beneficiaries of the land that is managed in many small parcels by the Māori Trustee. It is their money. I am informed—and it is an interesting debating point raised by my colleague from the north—that the money is currently not invested in small entrepreneurial businesses or Māori business. It is actually invested in a range of portfolio investments at quite low risk at this point in time and that money is returned to the common fund. In effect it is not being returned to the beneficiaries of the fund.There is a dilemma in regard to this. When the legislation was first put up it was proposed that the money be utilised specifically for wider Māori development rather than being for just the beneficiaries and that is where the issue arose in regard to this side of the House opposing that part of the legislation. What we now have is the Māori Trustee Amendment Bill. Two bills have come out as a result of the original bill that was put up which proposed establishing a stand-alone Māori Trustee and also proposed establishing an economic development arm under it. We have now divided that bill into two bills and Part 1 of this bill gives effect to the independent establishment of the Māori Trustee role.If we look at the various clauses of the bill we see that new section 3 “Māori Trustee established” which is inserted by clause 7 provides the legislative means to separate the Māori Trustee from Te Puni Kōkiri; new section 4 deals with the capacity and powers of the Māori Trustee; and new section 5 deals with the independence of the Māori Trustee. Many speakers in the Committee have spoken this evening about how important it is that the Māori Trustee is independent—particularly for the sake of the beneficiaries of the small parcels of land throughout New Zealand so that sensible decisions can be made about the rents that accrue from that land and so that ultimately the best use or purpose of that land is fostered.New section 6 also inserted by clause 7 talks about the appointment of the Māori Trustee and interestingly states that the Māori Trustee is appointed by the Minister. So there is a strong involvement by the Minister of Māori Affairs who will play a key part in taking this legislation forward.