Sharples Pita: Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: 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:14944. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs): Kua puta māku e whakahoki kōrero ki a rātou kua kōrero mai ki a mātou ki ahau i tēnei rā. Tuatahi kei te mihi au ki te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori. Kua oti pai ā rātou mahi ā tēnā koutou. I rongo au i ngā kōrero ā mo ngā mahi kua oti i a koutou i ā koutou hui. Kua whāia e au tēnā me taku tari tēnā ake koutou.[It is for me to respond to those who addressed us and me today. First I acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee. You have completed your work effectively so thank you collectively. I heard the comments in respect of what you as a collective completed at your hearings. I and my office have addressed that. Thank you indeed.]I was just acknowledging the Māori Affairs Committee for the work that it is doing. To everybody in the House who has raised issues they are all good questions about process and representation and so on and I am very happy to respond to those.Te Pūtahi Pāoho is a group that has been given the management rights of the spectrum. It is essentially an electoral college which involves those pioneers working in Te Reo Māori to contribute to a whole moving forward of Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori. It keeps the kaitiakitanga separate from the operations of a commercial enterprise. This is a common thing for Māori. The electoral college for fisheries represents the tribes in that case. They appoint people on to the board and that is how it goes. Similarly this electoral college involves members from the following organisations: Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori Te Tau Ihu o Ngā Wānanga Ngā Aho Whakaari Te Rūnanganui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa Te Rūnanga o Te Ataarangi kōhanga reo Māori Women’s Welfare League Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i Te Reo Māori and Te Kaunihera Māori o Aotearoa. Those are the organisations that have somebody in that electoral college. The two that stepped down as a result of inquiries—from both within the Māori Affairs Committee and outside—were the National Māori Congress delegate and also Kawea Te Rongo. In addition to that Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau i Te Reo Māori got itself reregistered as an incorporated society—it was incorporated but it let it lapse and now it has reregistered itself—to be in accord with the new Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Amendment Bill that has come out now. That is why Te Pūtahi Pāoho exists and that is how the members on that group are selected.Te Pūtahi Pāoho cannot provide the use of the spectrum to any third party without the consent of the Ministers involved—there are two of us the Minister for Māori Affairs and the Minister of Finance—and without the consent of Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori. So Te Pūtahi Pāoho has to actually get the Māori Television Service to agree with anything it does with this. It provides to Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori certainty of tenure for its operation. In fact Te Pūtahi Pāoho has the same rules and parameters of management of the spectrum as for all other spectrum provided by the Government.On the other question that was asked about the quality of Te Reo I need to tell you that there is one particular clause in this bill that is directed at the growth of Māori programmes for native speakers—ngā mea tino matatau ki Te Reo Māori ngā mea i tipu ake i roto i Te Reo. It is for those speakers so we can have that lot progressing and enjoying and contributing as well as those who are just arriving at Te Reo Māori i tēnei wā. That is definitely an aim in this new bill.On the question of ōna tikanga—ngā tikanga Māori—and I have got to remind you that these are iwi leaders and native speakers and people working in the Reo who are half of the people on the board of Māori Television Whakaata Māori. It was felt that ōna tikanga shows that Te Reo is in fact part of a culture and a way of life as opposed to existing side by side with some customs. That is basically how we have always referred to Te Reo me ōna tikanga [the language and its customs] to show that it is an essential leadership role but it is also part of the whole culture. So some of the comments that were made earlier actually can be explained by what I have just said now about the place of Te Reo Māori and ōna tikanga kei roto i Te Ao Māori [its customs in Māoridom].So it is all a whole.As to the question of the selection of the chief executive officer—when people brought areas that they were worried about to my notice I immediately contacted the chairperson and the deputy chair and they went to see whether due diligence and proper process was being applied to the selection. They gave me their assurance so I am waiting for a report when they have made their examination of the whole process and every event in it. Because I am the Minister I have to stay at arm’s length from that process but as soon as the report is made I can do something about it and have a look at it and I intend to do so.Those are some of the answers to some of the questions that you asked. But I ask you please to understand that Whakaata Māori is part of the Māori world and in the Māori world we sort of own everything. We are sort of kaitiaki katoa mātou o ngā taonga Māori katoa [we are all guardians of all of Māori culture].So it is hard for people to be excluded from anything and that is perhaps why we have these electoral colleges operating—to allow more viewpoints to come in on the running of the thing. That is all I have to say at this time just to answer some of those points that you have raised.