Katene Rahui: Governor-General Bill — First Reading 
Katene Rahui: Governor-General Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:665;Page:12453] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 I find it ironic that I am standing here today to support the Governor-General Bill a bill that requires somebody to pay tax when tomorrow I will be standing and getting support I am hoping for my bill which will remove GST from healthy food. But to look at the situation now on Waitangi Day this year our present Governor-General stood on Onuku Marae which was the first place in Te Wai Pounamu at which the Treaty of Waitangi was signed 170 years ago. While he was there this year he referred to the example set by Ngai Tahu as being one that provides us with “a vision in which the Treaty is not a burden but a beacon for all New Zealanders”. He explained what he meant by a beacon in these words: “Although it is right that we should continue to debate and learn from the past we should not let that discussion stop us from focusing on the Treaty’s underlying promise of a partnership. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 
Sir Anand is not of course the only Governor-General who has issued such a challenge to this nation. The relationship between Governors-General and the Treaty has been intimately linked since the very birth of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. If we look at the Treaty of Waitangi or at what is left of it or at facsimiles of it we see that alongside about 40 signatures at Waitangi from the 540 chiefs who signed the Treaty is the signature of Governor William Hobson. When we look at any legislation such as this which tinkers or tampers with the overriding brief for the Governor-General we must as a matter of course look at it in the wider context. That context is firmly based in the constitution of this land. 
We come to the House today to simplify the funding of the office of the Governor-General and to bring the taxation treatment of the Governor-General’s salary into line with that in other Commonwealth countries. At a very rudimentary level the bill determines that the Governor-General must be paid a salary at a rate determined from time to time by the Remuneration Authority and must not be reduced during his or her term of office. It would seem to us that this is an entirely reasonable expectation. In essence this bill is a pragmatic response to the Law Commission’s report. It basically establishes that the Governor-General must be paid an allowance at a rate fixed from time to time by Order in Council for official expenses. 
Although this is no doubt of great significance to those who administer the salary and to those who receive the salary it does appear to me that we are missing an opportunity for there to be an even more important debate about the very nature of the role of the Governor-General. Fortunately the Maori Party believes that there is another opportunity for that debate to occur: through the process of the constitutional review that is set out in the coalition agreement signed in November 2008 between the National Party and ourselves. National agreed to the proposal for a group to be established to consider constitutional issues. This proposal relates to the Maori Party policy to establish a constitutional commission aimed at among other things drafting arrangements that give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi. Within that same framework we seek to appoint as an Officer of Parliament a parliamentary commissioner for the Treaty to proactively promote the Treaty’s commitment to partnership. 
I come back to the bill. Perhaps the most contentious aspect of it is that in the Law Commission’s view it is no longer appropriate for the Governor-General’s salary to be exempt from income tax. Similarly the commission advised that there is no longer sufficient justification for retaining a statutory power to exempt the Governor-General from paying any public or local tax duty rate levy or fee—and I bet he has been paying GST on healthy food anyway. 
Again inevitably I return to the connection between Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Governor-General. I return to the period a quarter of a century ago when on the advice of the then Prime Minister David Lange Queen Elizabeth II appointed Sir Paul Reeves as the 16th Governor-General of New Zealand on 22 November 1985. As a member of the Puketapu hapu of Te Atiawa of Taranaki Sir Paul Reeves was the first Governor-General of Maori whakapapa. At the time many Maori groups welcomed the appointment with Sir James Henare arguing: “It must be a fruit of the Treaty of Waitangi to see a person from our people.” 
For Maori the promise of the Treaty and the direct relationship with the Crown has always been given an immediate association by virtue of the person of the Governor-General and his or her reporting role to the Queen. But although the Governor-General is obviously the representative of the Crown in this land there is no question that the person should be one who knows New Zealand as his or her home rather than some other country. So we think it only appropriate that as a person of New Zealand the Governor-General should also comply with New Zealand laws. Very simply New Zealand’s laws require people and organisations to pay taxes. The Government uses these taxes to pay for Government expenditure including public services in New Zealand such as education hospitals and health care roads and welfare. Almost all New Zealanders make a contribution to these services through the taxes they are required to pay by law—but soon hopefully not from paying GST on healthy food. So we support the intention of this bill to ensure that a Governor-General would pay tax alongside any other New Zealander. 
I return to the constitutional origins of this land and to the period before the Treaty was signed. In 1839 the Colonial Secretary Lord Normanby in his instructions to Governor Hobson recognised that Maori tribes held title to all land in New Zealand: “Maori title to the soil and to the Sovereignty of New Zealand is indisputable and has been solemnly recognised by the British government”. The first two Governors acknowledged that the Treaty recognised Maori title to the whole of Aotearoa and it was not until the late 1840s with increasing pressure from settlers that unoccupied land was classified as wasteland. These early beginnings of our Treaty partnership and the guidance and directions of the Crown’s representative at that time provide a very significant role in the formation and development of this nation. They are indeed at the roots of what it is to be a New Zealander. The payment of taxes as is the case for all other New Zealanders is but one part of consolidating the role of the Governor-General as being inherently and intrinsically part of the history of this land. The Maori Party is happy to support this bill. 
Bill read a first time.