Brownlee Gerry: Estimates Debate — In Committee Procedure 
Brownlee Gerry: Estimates Debate — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:618;Page:14405] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 This vote must be one of the truly great embarrassments for the current Government. While there is an overwhelming desire among all sectors of New Zealand to see treaty issues settled fairly and justly and at a speedy pace the Government has not made any effort to progress the great work of Doug Graham during the 1990s. Rather it has slid along on the coat-tails of the work that Doug Graham did and in fact has achieved very very little. What bothers us is that while all of this is happening the Government is about to pass legislation with the help of other parties including the hopelessly directionless New Zealand First to put in place seabed and foreshore legislation that will see the treaty grievance industry considerably enhanced—well not enhanced; in fact it will see it grow at an alarming rate. 
 I ask the Minister whether there is any explanation for the fact that the proposal for next year is to settle just $31 million worth of settlements. That is certainly a lot of money but in the overall context of treaty settlements it is a very very small amount indicating that not much work is being done. I would also like to have some explanation of why the Government claims to have settled so many treaty negotiations when in fact they were started under the watch of Sir Doug Graham. That was 5 years ago. We have had 5 years of Maori being pushed to the back and told that their interest is not that of the Government and that they will simply have to wait for their settlement time to come. Where is the additional resourcing for the Waitangi Tribunal that might see some of these matters dealt with before my children are old enough to vote in parliamentary elections or indeed to stand in this House to consider legislation on these matters? We are simply shuffling things around a bit and leaving them for future generations. 
The question must be how long the fiscal cap will hold in place. How long will it be before various tribes start saying: “What you’re offering us in the year 2005 2006 or 2007 is not enough because it is based on a figure that was struck in 1990 some 15 years ago.”? We learnt recently that the income disparity between Maori and non-Maori in this country is of such a magnitude that if at any point the two figures were to be brought together then over a 10-year period an additional $45 billion would be delivered to Maori New Zealand families—families that would be participating in the wider New Zealand economy. The fiscal parameters around the treaty settlements and any fisheries settlements amount to just on $2 billion. What we cannot understand is why we would not want to get that capital into the hands of those who can make a difference with it so that the whole country can benefit from those larger incomes and so the infrastructure of New Zealand in terms of social services educational services and health services can be enhanced by virtue of fewer people at the bottom end being so far away from the average income. 
So this is a very very sad record that the Labour Government has totalled up. It really does speak of the neglect it has inflicted upon Maori in this country who are well-meaning in most of these cases and simply want to get on with their lives to remedy past injustices and to move forward. 
Darren Hughes 
: Has your leader benefited? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Let us make it very clear that when Don Brash said in his Orewa speech that he wanted to take out undue references to the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation he was very much defining the difference between National and Labour. I tell Mr Hughes that we are not interested in putting flash words into legislation that confuse people; we are interested in making a difference to the lives of New Zealanders who want to get on with it. Treaty grievances are by and large understood. People know when there was a bad deal and they want a better deal. They will not get it of course until this Government has gone.