Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Āe e mihi atu ki a koe e Te Kaiwhakahaere huri noa i Te Komiti nei e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. [Yes I thank you Mr Chair and acknowledge you all throughout this Committee.]I want to address the four Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) in the Māori Purposes Bill's Committee stage which propose amendments to this bill. The first three SOPs which the Government will be supporting are from the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell. They amend the Te Rarawa Claims Settlement Act 2015 Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and the Māori Television Service (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) Act 2003. The SOP on Te Rarawa Claims Settlement Act first of all simply recognises the intention of Te Rarawa iwi for the mandated iwi organisation status of the charitable trust Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa. Under the Māori Fisheries Act 2004 this is to pass to the post-settlement governance entity also called Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa. This change tidies up the issue and appropriately ensures that Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa's mandated iwi organisation status applies retrospectively. The second SOP is to Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and will ensure that smaller Māori incorporations do not have the same onerous financial reporting requirements as large incorporations. Our other legislation around financial reporting for charitable organisations recognises that different reporting requirements should apply to organisations of different sizes and it is appropriate that this be reflected in the requirements for Māori organisations under Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993. The third SOP makes changes to the Māori Television Service Act 2003 and removes the soon to be redundant requirement for Māori Television to set money aside for operating costs of Te Pūtahi Paoho. Te Pūtahi Paoho will soon be replaced by Te Mātāwai which receives its funding directly from the Government and therefore this provision does not need to be transferred to the new entity. We have another SOP that addresses the primary purpose of this bill the Māori Purposes Bill and that is the changes being made to the Wī Pere Trust. Meka Whaitiri's SOP proposes to remove the part of this bill that clarifies the jurisdiction of the High Court and the Māori Land Court over the Wī Pere Trust and wants to return it to the status quo. Currently the High Court and the Māori Land Court hold jurisdiction but there is no clear demarcation of what the jurisdiction is that they actually hold. This bill as drafted clarifies that the High Court has jurisdiction to settle disputes relating to the administration and governance of the trust and excludes the Māori Land Court from having that jurisdiction. The argument that Meka Whaitiri has put forward in favour of her amendment is that the Māori Land Court has the appropriate expertise to deal with all of these matters. In one way she is right—the Māori Land Court has expertise in matters related to Māori freehold land. This is why this bill still gives it jurisdiction over matters related to Māori freehold land. However there are some other matters related to commerce administration and governance where the High Court has the appropriate expertise particularly as the trust assets—and this is a really important part of it—are not limited to just Māori freehold land. So I would not expect to see many disputes related to the Wī Pere Trust ending up in the High Court. It is only for very serious matters that cannot be resolved through the disputes process—and this is within the bill itself—that there would ever be the situation where it would end up in the High Court. What is more important is determining where the appropriate expertise lies and this bill as currently drafted clearly and correctly determines the appropriate jurisdiction for the different types of issues that may require court proceedings under the Act. I just want to finish by saying that out of all of that particularly with the demarcation situation—the different roles of the Māori Land Court and also the High Court—it is very clear that this should not be changed; therefore we cannot support the SOP of Meka Whaitiri. Kia ora.