SpeechDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green) (remote): Tēnā koe e te Māngai. I speak on behalf of the Green Party to support the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill on its third reading. Many thanks to the Minister—tēnā koe te Rangatira—and the Māori Affairs Committee for bringing this to the House. Long before Te Tiriti o Waitangi guaranteed iwi and hapū tino rangatiratanga over our lands forests and fisheries long before European settlement and the subsequent colonisation of those lands and long before Captain Cook claimed to have found us when we were in fact not lost whānau and hapū have exercised their fishing practices and our ancestors practised local forms of stock translocation for pāua for toheroa for tio and other shellfish. As Takutai Trust the Māori Commercial Agriculture Settlement Trust identified—and I quote—As descendants of Tangaroa [God of the Sea] Iwi Māori have the obligation and responsibility to tiaki—to care for Tangaroa so that Tangaroa may continue to care and provide for Iwi. Ka ora ki tai ka hu ki uta." So events have certainly overtaken us since then and while the obligation and responsibility may remain the authority is a little less so. So the original bill provided for the full and final settlement of Māori commercial agricultural claims since September 1992 but it was never one settlement. It was always multiple regional settlements. Those assets were transferred to Te Ohu Kaimoana to facilitate agreement between what they called "IAOs"—iwi aquaculture organisations—and settle with them. There's so much wrong with that system. We think it's a different version of large natural groupings that have been used in Treaty settlements that the Greens have consistently and adamantly spoken against. In this case it breaks iwi and aquaculture interests into regional council boundaries. However our iwi leadership is visionary and nothing if not pragmatic so they make it work. Extensive consultation was undertaken with iwi prior to this bill being introduced and the positive submissions certainly attest to that. So iwi see that the powers given to Te Ohu Kaimoana to allocate and transfer assets to iwi advance their interests and the opportunities but more importantly it enables iwi to uphold their tino rangatiratanga over their own moana and fisheries. That works really well when the iwi within the respective IAOs agree but what this amendment bill does as others have identified is enable Te Ohu Kaimoana to make a decision when they don't agree. That is a big deal and I think it's going to be quite a good incentive to come to consensus. A priority for the Greens is that iwi hapū and whānau have a say in the issues that affect them. So we agree with submitters such as Te Whānau-a-Haunui Ahuwhenua Trust and others who suggested that hapū should be directly represented and we're disappointed that this is outside the scope of the bill. However as Minister Little Tāmati Coffey and others in the House have identified the select committee heard that iwi were just impatient to get on with things to access the assets after years of waiting. Again as my colleague Tāmati Coffey specified Te Arawa Fisheries was one of them. They raised in their submissions that approximately half of all those IAOs that should have received their assets by now have faced indefinite delays because of the current constrict of the Act which has not allowed the Bay of Plenty or Northland to settle. They're hoping that as soon as this bill gains Royal assent Te Ohu Kaimoana will use that new limited discretionary power to resolve allocation issues in the Bay of Plenty and Northland areas to stop any further delays and enable iwi to just get on with their work with the aquaculture assets that let us remember were already theirs. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members this debate is interrupted and set down for resumption next sitting day. With thanks to everybody who works within and around this Chamber including the sound guys and Chamber staff and clerks—everybody—including members. The House stands joined until 2 p.m. Tuesday 5 April.The House adjourned at 4.59 p.m."