Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Kia ora e Te Mana Whakawā huri noa i Te Whare nei e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. Before I begin I want to acknowledge the passing of a rangatira from Kāi Tahu a rangatira from Rāpaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa. He was the first cousin of a late member of this House the Hon Ben Rīwai Couch. I want to acknowledge the passing of Dudley John Couch who was a really big leader particularly within Rāpaki the small village on Banks Peninsula. No reira e Uncle e haere atu rā e haere atu rā ki te pā o te whakawairua e takoto mai takoto mai takoto mai e moe mai. Nō reira uncle e haere atu rā e haere atu rā ki te pā o te whakawairua e takoto mai takoto mai takoto mai e moe mai! [Therefore uncle depart. Go forth to the gathering place of the spirits; lie there lie there lie there rest!]I would like to speak in the second reading of the Māori Purposes Bill just to cover the Māori Affairs Committee process and particularly around the submissions. The Māori Affairs Committee considered this bill very very carefully. We received 225 submissions in total including a number of form submissions and we heard 20 submitters—we went to Gisborne to do that. As the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee I want to focus on the submissions and the resulting changes we have recommended be made to this bill.The bill as originally drafted would have limited the jurisdiction of the Māori Land Court over the affairs of the Wī Pere Trust. In most cases we think this change is justified and we recommend that the High Court continue to have jurisdiction over disputes relating to the administration and the governance of the trust. There was a concern though from some submitters that this would make the process prohibitively expensive. However we were comfortable that only very serious matters unable to be resolved through the trust's constitutional dispute resolution procedures would end up before the High Court. We were comfortable with that.We did think though that a change was warranted in the settlement of lineal disputes particularly around whakapapa. The Māori Land Court has particular expertise in these types of issues—and we all know that—so we recommended moving the responsibility of lineal descent disputes back to the Māori Land Court.There were also some concerns raised with us about the difficulty beneficiaries had in influencing board decisions and the lack of accountability the board had to the beneficiaries. So to combat this concern we have recommended that the trust board's constitution be reviewed within 5 years of the new Act coming into force. We also recommend changes that would allow beneficiaries to propose changes to the constitution of the new board through special resolution. Around the composition of the board we have also recommended an amendment to ensure that the trust board comprises at least five members but no more than seven. This will ensure that the minimum quorum is three removing the possibility that a situation could arise where the quorum was only two.We have also recommended a minor change to clause 6.2 of new schedule 1 which would add the word materially" to clarify the effect of the clause that requires disclosure of board members' interests in business before the trust board. We have also recommended another clarification which ensures that decisions at board meetings "must be" rather than "may be" decided by simple majority of the members present. We have also made recommendations that will ensure that there are no adverse and unintended tax consequences of establishing the new incorporated trust board or of the resulting transfer of trusts assets and liabilities. This is one point that we have seen in a number of instances about that transition period when there is a change in the constitution of the trust. This is one of the reasons why we have made this recommendation.I want to thank the Wī Pere Trust board members and those beneficiaries who contributed to the select committee process. The trust as we know is a longstanding and very successful Māori enterprise. The good thing about this trust is that it actually is a trust that is all about regional development in that area. Even though this bill is small and has a direct effect only on a small number of people it is right that we should be debating these changes which will make the trust board more accountable allow it to adopt its own rules for its management and remove the current ministerial involvement from the governance of the trust. On that note I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora."