Tirikatene Rino: Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 19 November 2013. Volume:695;Page:14942. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Kia ora Mr Chair. I would like my contribution at this Committee stage to really just focus on quite a narrow issue. That matter relates to the actual composition of Te Pūtahi Pāoho. The organisations that make up Te Pūtahi Pāoho are listed in schedule 1 of the Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Act. To be removed from schedule 1 of the Act requires an Order in Council. That Order in Council requires a recommendation from the Minister. The Minister’s recommendation comes through as to whether they are taking up the decision of Te Pūtahi Pāoho to that effect. So basically Te Pūtahi Pāoho makes a decision it goes through to the Minister as to whether he will take on that recommendation then it gets enshrined by Order in Council and then the Act is amended.We have got 11 organisations in schedule 1 of the Act as I understand it today. I will not rattle through all of them. There are some longstanding Māori organisations that have done much work in terms of championing the Reo when doing other great things.Hon Shane Jones: Kōhanga reo?RINO TIRIKATENE: Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust is in there.Hon Shane Jones: Special Minister in kōhanga reo. Kei te moe.RINO TIRIKATENE: Āe. We have got the Māori Council—Hon Tau Henare: Who?RINO TIRIKATENE: The New Zealand Māori Council. There are the kura kaupapa. There is a whole host of organisations there that comprise Te Pūtahi Paoho. That means that those organisations are entitled to appoint a member to Te Pūtahi Paoho. So what I am really seeking from the Minister of Māori Affairs is absolute certainty as to the composition of Te Pūtahi Pāoho.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.RINO TIRIKATENE: As I was saying before the dinner break I am seeking clarification from the Minister of Māori Affairs as to the composition of Te Pūtahi Pāoho. It is the statutory body that is now going to have the management and administration rights for the spectrum under this bill and it is very important because of as you know the issues raised at the Māori Affairs Committee regarding certain members of that Te Pūtahi Pāoho body specifically because we as a select committee were written to by the Minister when we raised these matters. We received a letter from Minister Sharples which was received here on 20 August stating that Te Pūtahi Pāoho was going to have a meeting on 28 or 29 August to consider the membership status of certain organisations specifically the National Māori Congress and Kawea Te Rongo. I know the Minister mentioned in his opening speech that those two organisations have withdrawn from Te Pūtahi Pāoho.I am just seeking clarification from the Minister whether recommendations and an Order in Council have actually gone through to that effect. As I understand it—and I may wrong but it seems clear—under section 14 of the Act it requires an Order in Council on the recommendation of the Minister at the advice or request of the chair of Te Pūtahi Pāoho. Only then can there be the addition or removal of names from Te Pūtahi Pāoho.The reason why I am seeking clarification is I think it is very important that given all the issues that we have raised around whether certain bodies are defunct or whether they are operative and whether certain members who are representing those bodies have been validly appointed we get a record really of the decisions that have been made by Te Pūtahi Pāoho—a record of the paper trail I guess—and a record of that going all the way through to the Order in Council. I think ultimately that we need the Order in Council because despite what the Minister may say the fact that those certain bodies like the National Māori Congress and Kawea Te Rongo have withdrawn and until those measures have been put in place and given effect to technically they would still be part of schedule 1 of the Act.What has added to my confusion is that when I looked at the Te Pūtahi Pāoho website and looked at the page where it lists all the members of Te Pūtahi Pāoho it is woefully out of date. It is either that or I may be mistaken as to who certain members are or who certain organisations are on Te Pūtahi Pāoho. For instance it still lists Tūwhakairiora Williams as the chairperson. It still lists Kawea Te Rongo as a member and a member representing Kawea Te Rongo. This is the actual website itself of Te Pūtahi Pāoho which again is misleading because as I understand it there is a press release that came out from Te Pūtahi Pāoho announcing the appointment of Willie Jackson as the new chair and the appointment of two co-deputy chairs.All of that goes to show that if the actual administration of Te Pūtahi Pāoho is not displaying the correct composition or membership of the board it does not give us much confidence. It does not give us much confidence that the Minister knows what he is doing the ministry knows what it is doing and Te Pūtahi Pāoho knows what it is doing in terms of who the members are who the organisations are who the members are who represent those organisations on Te Pūtahi Pāoho and indeed how valid the decisions are that it is making as a decision-making body.It is an important body because it is going to be managing significant management rights of the spectrum and it is a Treaty partner to the Crown in terms of Māori broadcasting. I think it is incumbent on us to ask the Minister to provide us with theOrders in Council to give us proof as to which organisations are definitively in Te Pūtahi Pāoho and who the members of those organisations are in Te Pūtahi Pāoho. Until we get that comfort I guess it could be not validly constituted because we have to make sure that the legal mechanisms have been put in place to make sure that Te Pūtahi Pāoho is a valid organisation.