Mahuta Nanaia: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMahuta Nanaia: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17126. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to be able to join previous speakers and support the passage of this bill the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill.I was listening to my colleague Shane Jones reciting history and I can say that in terms of the relationship the Bledisloes had throughout the country with Māoridom at the time it was certainly significant. They visited Tūrangawaewae Marae a number of times. Te Rata was a member of the original trust board. It was during this time that Te Pūea consolidated the nature of that relationship by sending our master carvers up to the north to be able to carve Ngātokimatawhaorua. I am recalling those carvers like Piri Poutapu Hoani Hērangi and the like who contributed their time and effort to the aspiration set down by the Bledisloes to remember our history; to purchase this piece of estate and gift it back to the nation in a way that we can celebrate. It is a place that is a historical site of significance not just to the north and not just to Māori but to New Zealanders. Eighty years later now that we are looking again at this legislation we can remember with only pride the amount of foresight that was held by those leaders at the time to make sure that where the founding document of our country was signed there was a place to remember that occasion. I want to acknowledge Pita Paraone who is a current board member of the trust and is listening to the debate representing those original whānau who were on the board as well.I am really excited by the fact that the time has now come to modernise the trust deed which informs the way in which the trust board operates but also to think about how Waitangi as a site of significance can grow and be a place where more tourists come to learn about our history and more schoolchildren come to experience a little bit of what is unique about New Zealand. I want to maybe dwell a little bit on some of that opportunity. I do not think that there is a school in the country that I have visited where Waitangi is not an annual school trip fixture—maybe not for all the classes of the school but they always try to make a pilgrimage to Waitangi or to Parliament here in Wellington.It is with that kind of sense of optimism that I want to say that the trust board does the nation a great service not just by looking after the place in itself but by continually challenging itself to see how it can be a part of telling New Zealand’s stories. I remember some years ago there was a debate about the fee for going in to visit the place. At the time I think people were saying that New Zealanders should be charged nothing and only tourists should pay. That was by the by and I think the real point of the debates of the day is that the trust board has a good opportunity to link New Zealand’s national heritage and story in a way that continues to promote us with some integrity. That is a two-sided story.I want to come to the membership of the board. We support this bill going to the select committee because we think it is far overdue that the trust deed be modernised so that the membership and the way in which it works for the benefit of the board can be a more proactive I guess engagement of ideas skills and enthusiasm.Having had a discussion with people around this particular bill maybe there are two issues that might be put on the table now that we might expect at the select committee. I am expecting that it will come to the Māori Affairs Committee.Hon Christopher Finlayson: It will.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: Fantastic. I must have been distracted slightly. When it gets to the select committee maybe the issue of the lands in the estate supporting the work of the board could be a possible point of discussion. Shane Jones raised the issue about potential further investment from the Government for the ongoing operations of the trust board but more important is guaranteeing to the board that the whole estate that was gifted to the Waitangi National Trust Board remains intact. At the moment we have got Treaty settlements in the area. Far be it from me to predict what might be part of the settlement package but if the farm estate in this area which was originally gifted for the purposes of preserving this particular site becomes part of a settlement package we might see ourselves revisiting a number of components of our contributions today which will not be very helpful I think.The other point is one that I observed when I looked at the original membership of the board in the bill. We have one member who represents four of the Māori whānau who have a direct connection there. One might presume that each of those whānau in their own right deserves to have a member sit on the board and make a contribution. I understand they have come to their own arrangement where there is a rotation of who represents those four whānau but that is still one representative for four whānau. That could again be a matter that the select committee might have to consider at that point. I do not want to dwell too much more on this bill. We need to get it to the select committee. Hopefully we will get at least to the submissions before the House rises.Shane recited some history that also links to my Ngāpuhi connections and my Te Takapau Ngāti Manu connections to Pōmare. The place that he was referring to back home in the Waikato was Te Rore where that incident happened. It is a place that has for my own family particular significance because of that event but more important I think it is an opportunity for us to live what the successive I guess marriage relationships have been in consolidating the relationships between Waikato and Ngāpuhi.Nō reira with that said I support the bill. I support the renewing of the trust deed and the revisiting of the membership of the trust board. I would like to get an assurance at some point about the nature of the estate that looks after the trust. If Shane Jones’ recollection of history is right there may well need to be in the future some consideration of further investment to support the activities of the board. Tēnā koutou katoa. Kia ora.