Ferris TākutaTĀKUTA FERRIS (Te Pāti Māori—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā tatou.[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.][Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]So let me just turn to English so everyone gets the rest of the speech. Māori have a very clear right to water. This bill doesn't recognise it; many bills haven't. There've been previous attempts to try and recognise Māori rights in water. Many people have spoken about it. I see it's continuing to be debated in this House and new laws are being made as we speak. How many of these laws aim to take those rights away from Māori?Let me just get way back to how Māori view the water. There's a great saying that encapsulates this idea and it comes from a place called Te Kāhui Maunga all the way down the Whanganui to where it meets the sea. The saying goes:[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.][Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]Loosely translated it means: from the gathering of mountains all the way down to the lapping of the ocean I am the river and the river is me. It's a famous quote from Whanganui. It encapsulates not only Māori rights to water but the Māori ethos and thinking and philosophy around water which is an idea called mauri ora and it's what Te Mana o te Wai Te Taumata Arowai Te Tai Kaha and many other initiatives that have aimed to preserve the quality of our water have been based on.But here we go in this House we'll just forget all of that stuff and we'll worry about legislation that gets water from one place to another and see some crowd control it and some other crowd not.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): That's good Mr Ferris because let's concentrate on the bill now—that's some good context.TĀKUTA FERRIS: There are a couple of examples—I'm completely talking about the bill as far as I'm concerned. There are two parts to the bill—Hon Simon Watts: It's the third reading mate.TĀKUTA FERRIS: Yeah OK—OK. Kia ora. Well back to the conversation.Māori rights continue to be stripped out and the loss of Te Mana o te Wai Te Tai Kaha and Te Taumata Arowai are a continuation of that. Whilst the discussion may be around local ownership and infrastructure and how that gets paid for at the end of the day—I just reflect on the submissions that we heard through the Māori wards legislation—whether they stay or not. The resounding support from the local mayors and CEOs of the country who actually prefer to have Māori at the table because—āe āe—Māori are a long-term financial partner in the local regions of this country. And when it comes to delivery of water and when we get down to it the fight for who owns water they would be better off having those Māori around their tables instead of talking to them across the courtroom. Many of them talked about that and the long-term view is that Māori assets Māori capital and Māori people are more committed to their regions and more likely to leave their investments in those regions which could be a helpful thing when you think about paying for long-term water solutions. But let's not worry about that.So where to go—where to go?ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): To the bill—to the bill.TĀKUTA FERRIS: You know water seems to—the bill. Oh yeah I'm still talking about the bill. I'm still talking about the bill.Steve Abel: Point of order Mr Speaker. A large part of the bill is explicitly to do with Te Mana o Te Wai and to ensure there is no co-governance of our water system—it's getting rid of the three waters legislation. I believe the speaker is speaking directly to the bill in the subject matter and I take issue with you suggesting that he is not speaking to the bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Sit down Mr Abel. That is a decision for the chair. Carry on.TĀKUTA FERRIS: Happy to continue.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): Restart the clock from when the point of order was taken please.TĀKUTA FERRIS: Kia ora. Kia ora tātou.[Authorised reo Māori text to be inserted by the Hansard Office.][Authorised translation to be inserted by the Hansard Office.]So context is key. And without a doubt getting Māori concepts across in this House is quite a challenge when this House expects all of the conversation to be conducted down one lane. Well there's two lanes in this House but the Māori lane is often just you know never given its rightful place. But I will persist; we'll persist with that.So let me get back to the bill and its aspiration to deliver good quality drinking water. And we all know that this comes down to a poor water event that happened in Havelock North a little while ago. But at the same time—at the same time—there were kuia in places like Pānguru—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The member's time has expired.