Soper Lesley: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Soper Lesley: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13980] 
LESLEY SOPER (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to return the House to the seriousness of the Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) and to take a short call on the bill of which my colleague the Hon Parekura Horomia very ably moved the first reading today and on which the Minister of Foreign Affairs has also spoken very ably.  
The bill is one that is largely technical in nature and perhaps not one that many Pakeha have paid much attention to. I note that it will be broken up into four separate parts during the Committee of the whole House stage of the bill. There are two parts that I would particularly like to speak on. The first is the bill’s provision for an increase in the membership of the Waitangi Tribunal from 16 to 20 members. The Labour Government is committed to settling all historical Treaty claims by 2020. The closing date of the submission of historical claims to the tribunal is as we all know 1 September 2008. Four of the current 16 warranted members of the Waitangi Tribunal are historians. Of course the increase in the number of historical claims and the time frame in which they will need to inquire and report to the tribunal make it essential that there be more provision for extra members of the tribunal. Even more important we have to consider the fact that many of the current members are part-time and that there are questions about whether they can serve on every case. It is essential that this work is done clearly straightforwardly and with provision for reaching the date of 2020.  
It seems to me that an important part of reaching the goal of the ability of the tribunal to inquire and report fairly and openly is that we increase the number to 20. Many Pakeha will not have realised the significance of this but the fact is that those four additional members should assist the tribunal in achieving that goal of inquiring into and reporting on the historical Treaty claims by 2015 contributing to the Labour Government’s goal of settling all those historical Treaty claims by 2020 which is something that has been well received throughout this country. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 
LESLEY SOPER 
: Before the House rose for the dinner break I was speaking on the Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) and I had dealt with the increase in numbers for the Waitangi Tribunal which is a very sensible move in the bill.  
The second matter I was interested to take a short call on is that of voting ages. The bill will align the minimum voting ages under the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955 and the Maori Fisheries Act 2004. This is a very good thing. Some Maori trust boards of course also act as trustees of their iwi fisheries entity. This means in practice that when iwi members vote for members of their trust board they are also voting for the trustees of their fisheries settlement entity. So we can understand some confusion over who is eligible to vote. Under the Maori Trust Boards Act iwi members must be 20 whereas under the Maori Fisheries Act 2004 18 and 19-year-olds can also vote. This inconsistency in the minimum voting ages causes statutory compliance issues for trust boards. If trust boards let beneficiaries aged 20 years and over vote they will find that they comply with the Maori Trust Boards Act but are in breach of the Maori Fisheries Act. Equally if trust boards let 18 and 19-year-olds vote they will comply with the Maori Fisheries Act but will be in breach of the Maori Trust Boards Act.  
The bill will change the minimum voting age under the Maori Trust Boards Act to 18 years bringing the Act into line not only with the Maori Fisheries Act—a very good move on the Minister’s part—but also with society’s common understanding of the age of maturity and the voting age for general and other elections. Considering the many different legal ages for various things in New Zealand any move to align ages of entitlements is a very good action and will be of general interest to the New Zealand community. 
Bill read a first time.