te Heuheu Georgina: Central North Island Forests Land Collective  Settlement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
te Heuheu Georgina: Central North Island Forests Land Collective  Settlement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 23 September 2008. Volume:650;Page:18944. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I am pleased to rise to take a call on the second reading of the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill. This bill came to the Maori Affairs Committee at the same time as the bill we dealt with last night the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill and the select committee travelled to the central North Island to hear submissions on the bills at the same time. I think it is a tribute to the significance of this bill and its ground-breaking approach that there was a very very good attendance of the interests represented by this bill as for there was for the Te Arawa bill as well and that there was generally widespread support for it. So it is very good to be here this morning to see the return of the bill to the House and to anticipate its passing into law later this week.  
This is an important bill as has already been referred to. It is important to remind ourselves that it addresses only claims as far as licensed Crown forest land is concerned and that there will be future negotiations over various packages for each of the iwi in the collective. I was interested to hear the honourable member who spoke previously the Hon Mita Ririnui talking about how this bill and the approach in it appear to have acted as a springboard for other settlements across the motu in terms of the way it is possible for various iwi and various interests to come together in a settlement when there are interests in common. That obviously makes sense if having to wait to deal with them individually would not result in a better settlement and would also result in a further time delay. I look forward to the Hon Mita Ririnui outlining several other areas where the Government has been engaging with iwi over the last wee while since the central North Island settlement and to seeing some of those settlements come down the line as well. I am very interested also to see that progress appears to be being made in terms of settlements in Tai Tokerau.  
I would just flag a slight anxiety of the Opposition members that there appears to have been a rush to settle these claims. That is not to take away from the importance of doing so or to take away from the fact that the iwi involved have been willing to engage in the process in this last 12 months. After all they are not witless either. They know when they are ready to settle and if they see a readiness on the other side which they obviously did then they have been willing to move to the table. It bodes well for the future and that is good considering that there had seemed to be a bit of going to sleep on the job in the previous 8 years of this Labour Government.  
In any event we had very good gatherings at the select committee. I will refer briefly to one or two issues. The mandate issues that arise in all settlements certainly were not absent from the select committee hearings on this bill. Several submitters opposed the bill on the basis that the collective had no mandate to represent them and that the inclusion of their claims in the bill was of prejudice to them because it removed their ability to pursue their claims through other avenues such as the Waitangi Tribunal or the courts. Issues of mandate were raised in relation to Ngati Manawa Ngati Hikairo Ngati Whaoa Ngati Tahu and Ngati Rangitihi. The submissions from all of them were well put to the committee. They were certainly aired and given a good hearing.  
But in the end what is unique here—and we have acknowledged this already—is that the Government has basically seen fit to let the iwi sort through issues that are internal to them. This has been unlike previous matters where the Government has tended to go where it should not tread. It appears that in the end one has to accept certain mandates because there seems to be a majority there and because various interests have been mandated for other purposes. That does not mean to say that those who feel aggrieved ought to be ignored. Hopefully the collective in time will find a way to bring those parties into this settlement as well. I understand that in the case of Ngati Hikairo since the select committee went to Taupo there may have been some progress on their issues in relation to the Taurewa Forest. If so that is good.  
I would again urge the tribes within the collective to take that issue seriously—I am not suggesting that they have not—and I hope that when this bill passes into law they will take all possible steps to bring those interests into the settlement. This is a big settlement; it is a settlement that will provide a very potent springboard for the tribes of the central North Island. It is a very sensible one in the commercial sense because it keeps the forest estate under one entity. That makes sense undoubtedly. It also makes sense that everyone who is entitled to benefit from this settlement does so in the future.  
The other matter that I would like to refer to is the allocation model and the tikanga-based mana whenua resolution process. I raised this issue in my first reading speech. We were interested as a select committee to explore the issues involved with submitters. The proposed allocation for the commercial benefits in schedule 3 of the bill appears to be problematic for some iwi but again the collective itself proposed that to the Government. The tikanga-based allocation model or resolution process for the allocation of land interests of course is still to come. It is still before us. There are some anxieties about that as well. It interests me again that the iwi have proposed that to the Crown. It is good that the Crown accepted that given the experience we had over the fisheries model—although it has been laid to rest some time ago and we have seen the allocation of fisheries to iwi over the last 2 or 3 years.  
This model tries a new approach which leads us to the iwi themselves. After all they are the ones who know best or who ought to know best who has mana whenua in the various areas covering the Kaingaroa Forest. So that does seem to be a sensible place to start. The Opposition will be watching with interest and should we make it into Government we will certainly be monitoring and supporting the process. As I say it makes sense to leave those internal matters to the collective itself but it does require great leadership. Maybe it requires the various individual entities to put to one side their own interests in an attempt to make sure that the collective remains strong and united and to realise that everything is possible if one continues with dialogue and korero. Anything is possible if one does that. So we look forward to seeing how that model works and obviously if it is being followed elsewhere then maybe that is the way that other tribes will be able to see their way forward too. Thank you.