Fox MaramaMARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Along with the other parties that have acknowledged the work of the previous Auditor-General Lyn Provost we too would like to offer our thanks to her and her team. Indeed the Office of the Auditor-General has been professional in recent days given that it has had no office to operate out of but has still performed its duties here assisting the members of various select committees.We want to welcome the appointment of Martin Thomas Harold Matthews as the new Controller and Auditor-General. We note his extensive public service as has been mentioned but there is an even more interesting story to be told about Mr Matthews and his connection to the Māori Party—that is right specifically to one of the founders of our party. Yes the former Māori Party co-leader Sir Dr Pita Sharples might not have known it then when he organised a youth conference some 30 years ago but it was there that Mr Matthews first set his eyes on Heather the woman who would eventually become his wife. Thirty-three years later they have three children—we call that whakapapa in action". So we would like to welcome the new Auditor-General and his family to this most auspicious role.We also note that Mr Matthews has links to the Hawke's Bay having grown up in Napier and ties to Te Wai Pounamu through his parents and wife who are from there. So we extend to them our aroha for their friends and relatives who may have been affected by Sunday's earthquake.Mr Matthews has a huge job ahead of him as our country's top public-spending watchdog keeping a close eye on more than 4000 groups that administer taxpayer and ratepayer dollars. We encourage him to widen the scope of how his office audits taxpayer-funded entities to ensure that it is including two further points in their work: whether those groups are giving effect to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and whether they are recruiting a diversity of staff that reflect our community.The Māori Party views all Government departments and local government entities as agents of the Crown and therefore they have an obligation to give effect to the principles of Te Tiriti—not just in those organisations that have a Māori name or a specific role to play for Māori but across all public sector services which Māori are high users of. We cannot escape that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our founding document. Just some of Te Tiriti principles we encourage the new Auditor-General to look at are whether those Crown agents are working in partnership and good faith with Māori living up to their duty to actively protect Māori interests allowing Māori to retain rangatiratanga over their resources and taonga and properly consulting with Māori.The Māori Party believes that if the Office of the Auditor-General gives more credence to Te Tiriti we will be able to assess whether the spend is fit for service to all communities as well as to Māori. For years the party has been calling for all legislation to be measured against Te Tiriti as a value-add to the legislative framework. We believe there is space to be made for our country's founding document in the work of the Office of the Auditor-General.We also think that the Office of the Auditor-General should be asking the groups at audits how many staff they have of diverse ethnicities that better reflect their community. Our party believes that there is an unconscious bias across out public sector—this is the palatable term; the other term is "institutional racism". We know that the only way to tackle that is by ensuring the principles of Te Tiriti are upheld.Motion agreed to."