Hayes JoanneJO HAYES (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand to take a call on Te Ture Whenua Maori (Succession Dispute Resolution and Related Matters) Amendment Bill. I'm really pleased to see the bill come into the House. We have been waiting a little while for the bill to get here but it is with heavy heart really because we had an opportunity at the last sitting period to get this bill across the line and unfortunately it was Labour that kept blocking the opportunity for that to happen. It does concern me a little bit that Minister Nanaia Mahuta talked about some minor changes in the bill and that's what we've actually seen on reading the bill—that it does tinker around the edges. It was an opportunity for the Labour-led Government to take this bill and really upgrade it to where it should be today rather than adding more amendments and more amendments to Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and that's what this bill that's been put before us is actually doing. It's tinkering around the edges. It's adding more amendments to an Act that should have actually been upgraded and brought into this time and up to this year. I want to let the Minister know that the part around the landlocked lands—and that is great. But I didn't see anything within the bill around how the Government is going to address those who own land ahead of the landlocked lands—so big farm stations that have private ownership—and whether they will agree to easements being put across their land to access the landlocked lands in the back. One farming area that I am referring to is Mōkai Pātea's land that sits at the back of Ngamatea Station. Would Ngamatea Station agree to an easement being put across their land so that Mōkai Pātea whānau could actually access that land and start to get some good economic development opportunities there for their whānau rather than leasing it out to private deer hunters? So I think that's where I'm talking a little bit around lost opportunity in this bill and the weakness of the landlocked lands area. Around the mainly judicial changes where the whānau can actually go to the Māori Land Court and have some of their issues technical changes complexities etc. addressed within the Māori Land Court I think that really we need to take a step back and work with whānau about how they're actually going to get to that place in the first place. Around whāngai now I'm obviously part of Māori land ownership and that's one of the issues that we have had around whāngai and who is a whāngai and who is not. I think allowing iwi or hapū to try and sort that for a whānau does actually limit the whānau. It doesn't support the whānau to make that decision and I know that for my whānau in the Wairarapa they will be quite disappointed around the ability of the Māori Land Court to dictate as to who is a whāngai and who is not a whāngai. So I'm disappointed that the Labour-led Government just didn't pick up the whole of the National Government bill and use that because new Part 3A that's being inserted around dispute resolution was actually extracted from the National Government's Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill as well as the succession part in our bill and that just tells me that Labour did see some good in our bill. Actually the whole bill was really good and why they didn't just pick it up I have no idea. Finally this side of the House will be supporting this bill in the first reading to send it to the select committee. I do look forward to the submissions coming. It will be interesting to see how those submissions are different to the ones that we received in 2016 and are there going to be many changes within those submissions? Will we get submissions coming in stating that this Government could have done a lot more in this bill in giving power to whānau? Around the occupational parts of this bill which the Minister talked about occupation on Māori land—that's great. However there are issues—as the Minister talked about—in being able to access funds from the banks. Well that's great. However it's about being able to repay that loan as well. So there's a whole lot of other things that sit in behind this bill that actually haven't been brought out through this bill including the difficulties that some whānau may have with being able to build on their land and their ability to be able to pay those bank loans back. I don't know whether this bill is actually a voice for Māoridom whether it is an empowerment for Māoridom; we'll just have to see how we go. Personally where I stand I don't think it is a very good bill. I think that a lot more work could've been done on it and that's why we're supporting it to select committee. That's why we will do exactly on this side of the House what Labour did to our te ture whenua bill: we will make sure that we scrutinise it in depth and that we will debate it with vigour on this side of the House to make sure that we turn every single stone over to make sure that it is a solid bill going forward for our people. So without any further ado on this side of the House we support the bill and commend it to the House. Kia ora.