Davis KelvinKELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau): Tēnā rā koe Mr Assistant Speaker tēnā rā koutou e Te Whare. [Thank you indeed Mr Assistant Speaker and acknowledgments to you collectively in the House.] It gives me pleasure to speak on the Māori Purposes Bill a bill that Minister Flavell has so eloquently described in terms of the way it is going to help assist the Wī Pere Trust to fulfil its obligations to its beneficiaries. Just a bit of background around Wīremu Pere or Wī Pere as he was known—a man born on 7 March 1837 3 years before the Treaty of Waitangi. He went on to become a leader of his people and a member of Parliament elected for the first time in I think the ninth Parliament in 1884. He lost his seat in the subsequent election and the next election to Turi Carroll  but when Turi Carroll stood down to contest the general seat of Gisborne Wī Pere won his seat again in I think the 12th Parliament and carried on for four terms. When he passed away Sir Apirana Ngata said there was no man who had done more for his people and that is a huge accolade. In 1899 he established the Wī Pere Trust to protect his land and interests for the benefit of his descendants.The trust 117 years later is still going strong and the changes in this bill will help the trustees and the incorporated trust board to continue the great work that he started all those years ago. The Māori caucus of the Labour Party was honoured to be hosted by the members of the Wī Pere Trust about 5 or 6 weeks ago. We were able to see and visit the landholdings. They took us around two blocks where they are farming sheep and cattle on I must say some fairly rugged East Coast country. We came across shepherds mustering huge flocks of sheep on horseback and you have to take your hat off to the conditions that those guys work under. Obviously they enjoy their job and the freedom of the outdoors. We also visited the persimmon orchards and the kiwifruit orchards. We saw the vineyards that they have an interest in.Hon Ruth Dyson: Persimmon? Wow. KELVIN DAVIS: Citrus—did I say citrus orchards? The Wī Pere Trust also has interests in marae. Some of the benefits that are distributed to its beneficiaries: for each year there is a $30 payment there are education benefits and there is an age grant. Everyone over 60 years of age who is a beneficiary gets a $200 grant everybody who is over 80 years of age gets a $300 grant there are tangi grants to assist with the substantial costs of tangis and these are all part of the legacy that Wī Pere left for his descendants. I believe that the Wī Pere Trust stands as an example to other whānau and other hapū and other iwi right throughout the country as a way to administer lands for the benefit of the people. So I have to stand and applaud the trust and of course applaud the ancestor Wī Pere who began it all.The bill was not without its critics and I will just go through a couple of the issues raised in submissions. There were concerns that the trust's consultation with beneficiaries on amendments was inadequate or rushed there were submissions that the amendments in the bill do not align with the purpose of the trust there were submissions that the board will become more corporate in administering the trust there were concerns about potential loss of land if the trust is used for investment purposes and there were a few other issues raised as well.There is one issue and it is in terms of the—there is a bit of friction between the use of the High Court and the Māori Land Court and I will just refer to this one submission where the submitter said: I am concerned about the limited jurisdiction of the Māori Land Court and the powers conferred on the High Court in the bill to be the preferred court that interprets and applies the law for the Wī Pere Trust." This is first seen in new Part 2 section 5(2) and 5(3) inserted by clause 9 of the bill where it states: "The High Court has jurisdiction to determine any dispute relating to the administration and governance of the [Wī Pere Trust]." and "… the Māori Land Court has no jurisdiction to determine any dispute relating to the administration and governance of the trust". The submitter goes on to say: "In my opinion the Māori Land Court should be the preferred judiciary to determine any dispute relating to the administration and governance of the trust. I say this on the basis of two key points: firstly the Māori Land Court has expertise in Māori customary law whereas the High Court does not and secondly the costs associated with lodging a dispute before the High Court is cost-prohibitive which will severely limit and disadvantage the ability of shareholders to access justice."So just to explain the High Court is the court that costs more money. The cons of using the High Court is that it costs more money for people to put their foot through the door; the pros of using the High Court is that a decision is made a lot more quickly. For a trust like the Wī Pere Trust it is a business. It wants decisions made quickly around its business. It wants them to be made as speedily as possible. Of course the Māori Land Court is a lot easier financially for people to get their foot in the door—I think it is about $50 plus GST to get in the door of the Māori Land Court. However decisions are made a lot more slowly so there is a friction there between a business doing business quickly getting decisions made quickly whether the decisions go in favour of the trust or against—it does not really matter. I guess what they want is decisions made so that they can carry on with business in whatever decision is made however it goes. For whānau though who may not be all that well-resourced this does mean that their access to courts may well be jeopardised.That is the real friction in terms of using the High Court or the Māori Land Court. To that extent during the Committee stage the Labour Party intends to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper under the name of Meka Whaitiri that would remove sections 5(2) and 5(3) inserted by clause 9 so that the Māori Land Court has jurisdiction to determine disputes related to administration and governance. The High Court still has jurisdiction over general land acquired by the trust but we do not believe it should have jurisdiction over the corpus land. It would ensure easier access to the court for whānau but dispute resolution processes are the preferred avenue of course. In the dispute resolution process it is always best to resolve any disputes at the lowest possible level instead of having to get to the situation where you need to go to court. There is a disputes process which is set out very clearly in new schedule 1.To briefly go through it in the time I have the first step is to notify the board in writing of a dispute then there needs to be face-to-face dialogue to try to resolve the dispute at that level. If that does not work go to mediation. If that does not work there is a process through the annual general meeting or to hold the special general meeting. Then and only then if those do not work the court would be the next option. We believe that whānau that would have fewer resources actually need to have access to the Māori Land Court despite the fact that it would take longer to get a decision. We do not believe that this is going to impact hugely on the overall running of the Wī Pere Trust.As I said it is an organisation that has done extremely well. It has 460 or so beneficiaries with assets in land of some $66 million. It has done very very well over the 117 years the trust has been going. I believe that as I have said already it is an example to all of Māoridom for the way to run the affairs of whānau hapū and iwi so that everybody can be successful. Kia ora."