Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare huri noa ki a tātau katoa tēnā koutou.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and to us all throughout acknowledgments to you collectively.]The Green Party is abstaining on this legislation and I am going to outline very clearly why alongside my colleague Eugenie Sage. I want to be firstly clear that I am not speaking for Ngāti Paoa but we cannot oppose this bill because we support Ngāti Paoa fully. I too want to acknowledge Hauāuru Rāwiri and his team for allowing us to engage with them on this issue once we heard the submissions. We have come to the second reading in the House having engaged with community with mana whenua and having listened to all sides of the debate on this legislation. We trust Ngāti Paoa more than we trust the Crown—that is for sure. Iwi have a long history of conservation and a better record than the Crown and local government when it comes to taking care of our environment and our people.The historical context is important for the Greens' positioning on this piece of legislation. The Ngāti Paoa land was lost through Treaty breaches and the land was lost for a pittance—an absolute pittance. The Crown in 1841 paid £100 in cash plus £258 in goods to obtain 6000 acres including waterfront—precious waterfront—land. So that is £358-odd for 6000 acres which even at that time was ridiculously low—ridiculously low. I did a rough inflation estimation of what that buying price would look a little like today and at my lowest lowest estimation that is £35000. So even if I am 10 times out that is an absolute pittance and that is the core of the injustice that this legislation gives Ngāti Paoa a chance to rectify—albeit that the Crown is hitching its housing failure to it. The Hauraki Māori Trust Board report which is something I also delved into to learn how that land got lost for such a pittance also suggests that the customary interests that were extinguished—of course Ngāti Paoa did not understand and think that those were going to be extinguished. That was not known to iwi around the country. So the Crown failed to protect Māori interests and paid a pittance for the land with hardly any benefits for that incredibly low cost.We cannot oppose this bill because Ngāti Paoa has a whakapapa connection to the whenua; to the tūturiwhatu the dotterels; to the awa; to its own descendants and uri; and to the local community. The Ngāti Paoa people have an accountability that this Government does not. They have an accountability that means that they will be at the front line of working hard to make sure that the visions and plans that they have will be upheld where people are left living with dignity. They care and I have a huge issue with the Government pretending that that is why it is pushing this legislation through. All of a sudden the Minister stood and praised the vision in the work of the Ōmaru River that might be done through this legislation. Where were you long ago when the Ōmaru River needed a hand? Where was this Government then? What has happened is that the Minister Nick Smith has failed to provide housing for its own citizens for the entire term of its Government and now it is having to do a patch-up job and this legislation is part of that. We support Ngāti Paoa in their visions for what they want to do for their land. This is a last shot for them to have a tiny part of the injustice rectified for what happened in 1841 before that and to this day. That is why we cannot oppose this bill.We too understand that the Tāmaki redevelopment land as an option was not an option—certainly not a viable option; more like a commercial liability. We have seen that happen somewhere before: Invercargill. The Minister made a botch-up of those sales of those houses. We surely can understand why Ngāti Paoa had a look at was being offered had a look at how that was going to play out and it did not look well. It did not look well for Ngāti Paoa. So we understand that that was not a viable option and yes we need more houses. Māori in particular are featuring disproportionately in low homeownership and in homelessness so we want homes to be built and when that programme is led by iwi—that is why we cannot oppose this bill.The Government as I said has hitched its housing failure to this legislation but that means that Ngāti Paoa—this is their chance. This is Ngāti Paoa's chance. We cannot oppose the bill because this is Ngāti Paoa's chance and we are proud of our stand in Te Tiriti as the Green Party.My colleague Eugenie Sage is also going to expand on our valid reasons for not being able to support this legislation. I too heard the submissions from local communities and they were clear. Yes we absolutely support appropriate decision making. Again the Crown botched this decision-making process right up and the community is not happy. The legal process for the normal democratic rezoning of open space has completely been swiped. That outlines the reasons why as the Green Party we also simply cannot support this legislation.I just want to as I start summing up pick up again on how much it displeases me when the Minister and his Government can pretend that pushing this legislation through is a genuine plea to uphold the mana motuhake of mana whenua. Now I believe that of Ngāti Paoa but I simply cannot accept that from the Crown. I cannot accept that after the damage it has done to both environmental and conservation protections and the damage that has happened to communities—lower-income communities and Māori communities—and then it is going to stand there and pretend that that is what it is pushing in this legislation. It absolutely is not. This legislation for the Crown is part of its patch-up job trying to fix the housing failure that it has been a massive part of. So we uncover that—the Greens uncover that. We know what we are voting for and against and that is why we have very clear and valid reasons for not being able to support this bill—we believe in Ngāti Paoa and we support them—and for not being able to oppose this bill.We understand that the community has valid disagreements and fears for how this is going to shape up. I will just finish that—I want to thank Ngāti Paoa for engaging with the Green Party and outlining their clear visions for this land that they in effect want to double the green space that is available by utilising the currently lesser-used parts of the reserve and opening it up to be better for public use. I look forward to the building of the marae on their papakāinga—marae that are always available to everybody in our communities. I am excited by the visions that Ngāti Paoa have and I am disappointed that the Crown has seen this as an opportunity to fix its failures. Thank you.