Heatley Phil: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Heatley Phil: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:9786. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei) 
: 
 E nga waka e nga mana e nga reo tena koutou katoa. I acknowledge the South Island iwi and the Coromandel-Hauraki iwi involved in the process of bringing this legislation to the House. The previous Government did an awful lot of work with them looking for a unique solution to address a settlement that needed to happen with regard to the aquaculture space that had been claimed by mainstream marine farmers in this country for a number of decades. The previous Government did a lot of work. Our Government team carried on that work but we could not have done it without the cooperation and smart thinking of South Island iwi and Coromandel-Hauraki iwi so I acknowledge them. 
It was somewhat of a highlight in my career as Minister of Fisheries to be at Te Papa for the signing ceremony with the Prime Minister where we all gathered and celebrated a unique settlement a settlement that meant cooperation and finding a unique solution. It was a delight for me to be there because it was the first time that I had ever signed a settlement. It was a joy and I cannot say much more about it than that. 
The reason it was necessary to come up with this legislation and with it a financial settlement of a sum of $97 million - plus—a whole lot—is that when the original aquaculture reforms were passed under the previous Government in late 2004 in time for the beginning of the 2005 year it was decided that Maori would receive two things. The first was 20 percent of historical space—that is 20 percent of the space already farmed for aquaculture prior to 1992—and the second was 20 percent of all future space that would come on stream. The figure of 20 percent was chosen presumably to reflect the 1992 fisheries settlement that had been passed whereby 20 percent of quota would go into Maori hands when fish stocks were brought into the quota management system. The difficulty was that the 20 percent of space already farmed pre-1992 was to be gained by getting space that would be farmed in this country in the future or by purchasing sums of the space that was being farmed contemporarily. Unfortunately no new space has come on stream since the legislation was passed. Because no new space has come on stream there has been no ability to uplift some of it and pass it to Maori as part of the settlement. There was an option to hand over a cash equivalent. However that could not occur before 2012-13 under the 2004 settlement legislation. 
Many members will know these details and I am speaking broadly because there is a fair bit more to it than that but generally speaking that was the case. Maori had the smarts to approach the Government and say that they appreciated the fact that no new aquaculture space was being generated or was coming on stream and that they wanted to look at the option of having a cash settlement instead whereby they could take that payment and do with it as they wished. It might be to invest in the fishery in aquaculture or in something else but they would be free to do that. The Government of the day decided that that was a very good idea and I congratulate it on that work. This legislation where that amount of money those good wishes and the right to take the settlement will happen is being passed today and we are celebrating it. We are pleased about that. 
However this represents only about 92 percent of the debt owed to Maori under the 2004 settlement. About 8 percent of space still needs to be settled upon either with space or with a cash settlement and we send our good wishes to those iwi involved in that process. We hope that progress can be made in that process in light of the progress that is being made here today. 
I acknowledge one group that very rarely gets acknowledgment in the fisheries sector—I do not know why that it is—and that is Te Ohu Kai Moana and its team. Those people have done a tremendous amount of work over the last 5 or 6 years which is when I have been particularly involved in fisheries and I have seen it. They have gathered together whanau hapu and iwi across the country and have worked to establish which iwi are mandated iwi organisations with regard to both the fisheries settlement and the aquaculture settlement. They have worked tirelessly to bridge arguments over boundary issues and other aspects. Those are not easy problems to work with at all. I am sure that the Te Ohu Kai Moana team does not claim always to have got it right or to have necessarily done it the right way but those people are still in there and are still working tirelessly. The same characters are still involved after many many years. Given the bruising that some of them have been through I think it is important that we acknowledge their work. 
The important thing today though is to move on. I think there is the will in this House and across parties whether it be Labour National the Green Party the ACT Party and all others—with the Maori Party included of course—to see that aquaculture progresses in New Zealand because it has not done so for many many years until this point. All of us want to see it progress. We want to see the rules unbundled and to have some sort of streamlined process whereby marine farmers can get on with producing marine farm products on the space that they already farm in a much better way and to get on with producing marine farm products on new space in large and sensible areas. We want them to continue to do that respecting those who are concerned about the environment respecting the rights of those who currently fish recreationally commercially or customarily and respecting the rights of other New Zealanders to use the water. We want to set marine farmers free to better farm the space they already have and to farm new space as well. 
I congratulate those who have put the final touches on this legislation and I thank them. I commend the process to the House and to my parliamentary colleagues and I ask them to show a dogged determination to support more reforms that will come through to set marine farmers free to farm fish responsibly. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.