SpeechMĀORI PURPOSES BILLThird ReadingHon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Ā tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tātau katoa e hoa mā tātau kua whakawhāiti mai nei ki te whakaoti i te kaupapa i whakairia ki mua i te aroaro o Te Whare Pāremata i ngā tau kua hipa ake ā anei kua eke kua eke i tēnei rā.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and acknowledgments to us all fellow colleagues we compressed here to complete the matter that was hung before Parliament in the years that have passed and now this day has finally arrived.]I move That the Māori Purposes Bill be now read a third time.Tuatahi me whai wāhi au ki te mihi ki te tangata nei ki te nanakia ki te tipua nei ki a Wī Pere tētahi o te hunga e noho nei i tēnei Whare Pāremata i ōna rā. Ko ia he tangata tohe nā mō ngā āhuatanga o te Ao Māori. He tangata e iri nei i roto i te āhuatanga o te rārangi whakaahua o te hunga e noho nei hei mema Māori i roto i te Whare Pāremata. Nōna te whakaaro kia whakarite i tētahi rūnanga ā-rōpū na ki te tiaki i te āhuatanga o te whenua nei. Ka mihi ka tangi ake me te kī atu e Koro hoki wairua mai ki roto i tō Whare Pāremata i tēnei rangi tonu nei! Ka rua me whai wāhi au ki te mihi ki te poari e Alan tēnā koe e whakakanohi nei i te poari ōtirā koutou e noho nā ki reira ko Hēnare Lardelli Trudy Meredith Kīngi Smiler and Hector Pere. Koutou nei e tiaki nei i te rawa i waihotia mai ai e Wī Pere i te wā i a ia. Ka mutu ki taku mōhio ko tō rōia kei tō taha a Angela tēnā koe kua hoki mai ki te kaupapa nei. Te āhua nei nāu anō rā i kōkiri i ngā tau kua hipa ake. Mēnā kei te whakarongo ētahi o te hunga e whai pānga ki tēnei o ngā kaupapa ka mihi ki a koutou katoa i tēnei rangi me te whakaaro ake ē kua eke tēnei kaupapa ki tōna taumata. Mr Assistant Speaker tēnei o ngā kaupapa ā i wānangatia e Te Rōpū Whāiti nei o te Whare Pāremata arā ko te Māori Affairs Committee. Me whai wāhi au ki te mihi ki tēnā ki tēnā o ngā mema. Otirā ki tā rātau Tiamana e noho nei ki muri nei. Tutehounuku Korako ka nui te mihi ki a koe e ārahi nei i tēnei o ngā kaupapa. Ka mutu me mihi anō rā ki ngā āpiha ki ngā ringaringa ki ngā rā waewae ki ngā ringa raupā o te kaupapa nei ngā mea pēnei i a Tāria Tāhana e noho nā ki a Greg Reilly ki ētahi atu anō hoki o te hunga e noho nei ki runga ake nei ka nui te mihi ki a koutou! Tēnā koutou i whakapau werawera ki te whakatutuki i tēnei kaupapa. Ka mutu ki ngā tari i āwhina anō hoki i Te Puni Kōkiri ka mihi rā tae atu ki Te Parliamentary Counsel Office. Nā koutou anō rā te kaupapa i tuhi kia tika i raro i te korowai o Te Whare Pāremata. Otirā Te Tari o Te Leader of the House ka mihi rā ki a ia.Mr Assistant Speaker ko te ōrokohanga mai o tēnei o ngā poari. Tīmata mai ai i te tau 1899. Nā ka mutu i whai wāhi tūturu nei arā ko Te Statutory Trust i te tau 1938. E ai ki ngā kōrero tata eke ki te 460 te hunga whai pānga ki tēnei whenua ka mutu e 5500 heketea te rahi o te whenua e tiakina nei e rātau. E ai ki ngā kōrero ko te wāriu o te whenua nei tata eke ki te $65 miriona tāra. Arā anō ngā painga ō runga i te whenua – ko te mahi ahuwhenua ko te mahi wāina ko te mahi keri i te whenua. Ēnei kaupapa katoa kei te whakahaeretia e tēnei o ngā poari. Nō reira ka mihi i ēnei āhuatanga katoa i Te Reo Māori hei whaiwhai haere i te oati a Wī Pere i te wā i a ia. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora tātau katoa.[Firstly I need to take time to acknowledge this person this not too bad a person this deity this Wī Pere one of those who was a member of Parliament in his day. He was a persistent person in regard to aspects pertaining to Māoridom. His photo hangs among those who sat as a Māori member in Parliament. It was his proposal to consider establishing a corporate body to look after aspects relating to this land. I acknowledge lament and say oh old one come back in spirit to the House of Parliament today at this very moment. Secondly I need to take time to accord a tribute to the board and to commend you in particular Alan its face but at the same I acknowledge you Hēnare Lardelli Trudy Meredith Kīngi Smiler and Hector Pere seated there. You indeed are the ones who looked after the assets that Wī Pere left behind in his time at the helm. Furthermore and to my understanding your lawyer Angela is sitting there beside you. Salutations to you who have come back to this matter. It appears that you championed it over the past years. Should some with interests in this matter be listening in I acknowledge you all on this day and I am thinking at the same time hey this matter has reached its pinnacle. Mr Assistant Speaker this is a matter that has indeed been critically analysed by one of the select committees of Parliament—namely the Māori Affairs Committee. I need to take time to thank each committee member and furthermore acknowledge their chair seated at the back here Tutehounuku Korako I acknowledge you greatly in your lead role in regard to this one of the matters. And what is more I must acknowledge the officials once again and all those of this matter who worked on it—ones like Tāria Tāhana seated there Greg Reilly and others as well sitting above in the gallery I you appreciate greatly. My appreciation to you for the perspiration expended to complete this matter. As well as that I extend my gratitude as well to the departments that provided assistance the Ministry of Māori Development and Parliamentary Counsel Office. You drafted the matter to ensure that it was correct under the cloak of Parliament. But at the same time I acknowledge the office of the Leader of the House.Mr Assistant Speaker the origin of this one of the boards began in the year 1899. Eventually it became mandated under the Statutory Trust in 1938. According to the commentary this land reached approximately 460 beneficiaries and furthermore 5500 hectares was the size of the land that they administered with a value of nearly $65 million. The benefits on the land are endless—agriculture winemaking and mining. All these initiatives are administered by this one of the boards. And so I commend all these aspects in the Māori language as a means of following up Wī Pere's oath in his time. Congratulations and accolades to you collectively and my appreciation to us all. ]Māori purposes bills by their nature can bring together a number of different shapes and parts of legislation that sometimes actually have no connection whatsoever to one another. It is pretty much the case with this one. At the heart of this particular Māori Purposes Bill are the activities and I suppose the shape and the function of the Wī Pere Trust of Te Tai Rāwhiti sitting alongside Te Rarawa and sitting alongside other bills that sort of all come together in a conglomeration of new pieces of legislation.I want just to acknowledge those who are in the gallery today: the chair Alan Hāronga who is a good Hato Tipene College—St Stephen's—old boy.Marama Fox: Ah!Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: Oh I am just saying.Marama Fox: Ah!Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: He is the chairperson of the trust I might add. Another St Stephen's old boy is Tutehounuku Korako who is a fine—well I will leave it at that. But he is a fine member of Parliament and a good St Stephen's old boy.To draw us back to the bill this bill establishes a new trust board structure for the Wī Pere Trust and a constitution reflecting the trust board's primary accountabilities to its beneficiaries. The bill strengthens the trust's accountabilities and includes a disputes resolution process. There are provisions for increased participation of beneficiaries at general meetings and beneficiaries can propose changes to the constitution. Under the bill the trust board will be able to administer its own register of beneficiaries. This actually means that the trust board will be able to manage the unique succession arrangements that secure Wī Pere's legacy through his whakapapa.Approximately 29 percent of the trust's total landholdings when acquired was general land. Legislation in place since 1938 deemed all general land acquired by the trust to be Māori freehold land. This land will revert to general land status restoring a mixed portfolio of land. This will provide a greater range of economic options available to the trust which they thought-out well before bringing this particular bill under my purview. The remaining Māori freehold land which comprises two-thirds of the trust's landholdings will continue to clear statutory projections. The bill clarifies the jurisdiction of the courts in relation to the trust. The Māori Land Court will be available to resolve disputes about lineal descent related to the trust's Māori freehold land.The High Court will be responsible for hearing disputes about the administration of the trust that cannot be resolved through the trust's disputes resolution procedures as well as matters involving general land. The new arrangements for the Wī Pere Trust are contained in Part 1 of this bill and the remainder of the bill contains technical amendments to other pieces of legislation which I referred to earlier.I just want to say in closing that in respect of the whole way that this bill has come through all of the recommendations—in fact this whole bill—were provided by the guidance of the trust itself. It has discussed things with the beneficiaries and I am pleased to say that in our debate that concluded pretty much yesterday—the Committee stage—there was an acknowledgment of that. I will just mention the other parts of the bill. Part 1A of the bill repeals redundant clauses in the Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Act 2003 relating to Te Pūtahi Pāoho which has now been disestablished. Part 1B of the bill amends the Te Rarawa Claims Settlement Act 2015 to recognise the mandated iwi organisation status of Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa. Part 2 of the bill makes a technical change to the Maori Trust Boards (Transitional Provision) Order 2012 to correctly describe the Tauranga Moana Māori Trust Board. Part 3 amends Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 to remove inequitable financial reporting requirements for Māori incorporations. All of these were pretty non-controversial pieces of legislation—technical amendments—included in this particular bill at the Committee stage.In closing it is with real great pleasure and indeed it is an honour that I have ushered this particular bill through to this point in the House. I do not take these sorts of bills lightly—in particular when you are dealing with the legacy left by Wī Pere an honourable member of this House. I am really pleased that we have actually arrived here at the third reading. After all the time that we have put in to get it to here it seems sort of a little bit sad to give it just 10 minutes but be that as it may that is how we are.I wish to thank the Wī Pere Trust for its patience during the time that this bill has been before the House. The trust I think has a proud legacy and with this new legislation it can look forward to building on that legacy for the prosperity of all its beneficiaries. I understand that Wī Pere once said in this House that Parliament would never consider a bill that recognised the mana of Māori to manage their own land until all that land is gone. Today we can all be proud that we are enacting a bill that recognises the mana of Wī Pere's descendants to manage the 5500 hectares still retained within their ownership. I can say too that the new Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill follows the same pattern. I commend this bill to the House. Congratulations.