Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:630;Page:2353] 
7.  
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
 to the  
Minister for State Owned Enterprises 
: Ki tana whakapono e tika ana ma Kaporeihana Whenua e hoko te whenua ki tetahi rangatira tumataiti ara te whenua i murua mai ra i te hunga Maori hei pa tuwatawata; mena ae he aha ai mena kao he aha ai hoki? 
[ 
Does he believe it is appropriate for Landcorp to sell land that was taken from Maori for defence purposes and then transferred to Landcorp to a private owner; if not why not? 
] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for State Owned Enterprises) 
: 
 I expect all State-owned enterprises to comply with the State-Owned Enterprises Act and the Public Works Act. I am advised that Landcorp’s policy is to alert the Office of Treaty Settlements before commencing any sale. If the Office of Treaty Settlements does not want the land then it is offered for commercial sale subject of course to the caveats in the State-Owned Enterprises Act. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: What consultation took place with the hapu of Tuwharetoa Hikairo and Whanganui about the sale by Landcorp of the Taurewa sheep station which is part of the seven Tawhai north and Okahukura Maori land blocks taken by the Crown in 1913 as a defence training ground? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Although I am not briefed on all operational matters to do with Landcorp it is my understanding that the procedure is as I referred to previously. From memory there would have been a section 27B memorial placed on the land so that if in the future a claim is successful then it would be resumed by the Crown and offered through offer-back provisions to the original owners. I am also aware that Tuwharetoa led by the leader of the member’s party’s new friend is doing a lot of work in that area. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Government intend to learn the lesson of Paraparaumu Airport which was taken from Maori was eventually sold on to private interests despite the policy and the legislation requiring other action and was the subject of a select committee examination which all happened under the National Party when it was last in power? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I am one of those who hope we can learn the lessons of history from that case. I think it is fair to say to both members who are asking about this particular issue that the relationship between the Minister responsible and the purchaser of the land is not quite as close as it was in the case of Paraparaumu Airport. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: Did the Minister not think it unusual that the land was advertised for sale a week prior to hearings of the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into the national park taking place at the Chateau Tongariro which is only 5 kilometres away from the Taurewa Station? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I was not aware of that timing. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: Why has the protective mechanism for surplus Crown land failed to protect the surplus Landcorp property at Taurewa particularly in terms of the possibility of land-banking that property? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is my understanding that as with a number of other cases of this type before the land was disposed of the Office of Treaty Settlements was notified. Even if it had not been the section 27B memorial—the caveat that sits on the title—makes it clear that the land can be resumed into Crown ownership if there is a finding of a sort that the member obviously wants. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Why were the Okahukura and Tawhai land blocks not offered back to the original owners when the Government decided it no longer needed them for defence purposes and can we take it that the lack of due process followed is an indication that the Government is prepared to have one law for all dogs but many different laws for Maori land law? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I have no idea of when that land was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to Landcorp. Landcorp obviously has hundreds of thousands of hectares and many many blocks around the country and unless I am asked questions that detail a particular block I cannot answer those questions. I do not carry the details in my head of how those thousands of land blocks were obtained. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. It now seems to be a practice of Government Ministers simply to say that not enough detail has been provided in questions so they cannot give the answers. In this case the question is pretty clear. It is about Landcorp selling land that was taken from Maori for defence purposes then subsequently transferred to Landcorp prior to the sale. It would seem to me that a Minister looking into this issue in the 4 hours this morning that he had to look at it might have simply asked the question of how many blocks taken from Maori for defence purposes Landcorp has sold. I do not think the number would be a particularly large one. For the Minister to say he is unaware indicates that he is completely uninterested. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I thank the member for his point of order. The answer may not have satisfied the member but the Minister certainly did address it. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: As a matter of precedent to be followed in this case how was the much-vaunted one law for all applied in the case of the Paraparaumu Airport sale? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: It is a long bow. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: My understanding in that case— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Point of order— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Yes I have some sympathy with you Mr Brownlee actually. I know that the question is being asked in the context of an ongoing series of questions but maybe the specific supplementary question could tie it back please. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. With respect there is a recently passed law in this country that states that if the Government is selling any land that was procured under the Public Works Act then it must first offer it to the owners or family who first had that land taken from them. It is a pretty fundamental principle I am trying to enunciate here. We have a question about one law for all and I want to know whether as a precedent for the future the Government intends to follow “the” law or the one applied in the Paraparaumu Airport case. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I thank the member. That is a clarification and it does relate to the principal issue. Would the Hon Trevor Mallard please address the question. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Obviously the Government will follow the law and encourage all State-owned enterprises to do that. The one caveat I should make clear to members is that these laws have been passed at different times and I am not sure when this land was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the Department of Lands and Survey or to Landcorp. Therefore if the particular block had been named I would have been able to get the history of it. Of course as the Minister for State Owned Enterprises I can say that these are operational matters and that it would be absolutely wrong for me to tell Landcorp who to sell the land to and who not to sell to. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: Is the Minister aware that the land taken during World War II for a military airfield at Raglan was turned into a golf course in 1969 which resulted in a massive dispute for the people of Tainui-Awhiro led by Eva Rickard and does he not think it ironic that the Taurewa Station is also being sold for the purposes of developing a golf course and grand apartments? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I certainly am well cognisant of Eva Rickard’s work around Raglan and I would not count on a non-Maori owner doing that development yet.