Clendon David: Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill — Third Reading 
Clendon David: Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:667;Page:14740] 
DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 Kia ora koutou. It is a genuine pleasure and a privilege to take a short call on the Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill and to personally acknowledge the presence of the rangatira and the people of Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa iwi. It is also a genuine pleasure and a privilege to acknowledge and to offer our respect for the work that has been done over generations to bring us to this point. Today we will pass into law recognition of the mana whenua and the kaitiakitanga status of the upper Waikato iwi. 
The purpose of the bill is fairly and clearly stated: “to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River for present and future generations.” That is a very short succinct statement but it is one that encompasses an enormous amount of work and effort. That is particularly so when as Greens and as Maori we recognise that we are talking not only about future generations of people but also future generations of the species with which we share this world. Those species are present but their presence has been degraded. We will endeavour to bring back their presence over time. Fulfilling the purpose to restore the health and well-being of the river and the catchment will be the task of generations. It will be a task of generations given the appalling state of the river and its surroundings. 
One simple indicator of the degradation of the river is that where it starts at Taupo there is something like 14 metres of visibility in the water but at the Waikato River mouth there is perhaps 1 metre of visibility. That is a single indicator of the appalling degradation of the river that has occurred over time. That is the nature of the task that confronts both nga iwi and the Treaty partners—the Crown and its agencies. 
The Greens have been very happy to support this bill as we support other settlement bills through the House because they come very close to a couple of our key principles. They are principles of social justice under ecological wisdom restoring mana to the people to whom it belongs and putting in place mechanisms and tools that will over time improve the ecological and environmental quality of the place. 
It is clear that in order to manage a waterway one must look to the condition of the water and observe it. But also critically one must turn one’s back on the waterway and look at the land that surrounds it. Only by managing the use of the land and the quality of that usage can one restore the quality of the waterway over time. 
We know that in the course of changing land use there will be huge resistance to some of the necessary changes. My colleague Nanaia Mahuta mentioned in passing the importance of shifting to sustainable management practices in the entire catchment of the river if we are to achieve that goal. That is a large task and it will be a demanding task. There will be opposition to the necessary changes but the task is made easier by the fact that we do have existing models and we know it can be done. There are good examples of best practice that enables land use that is economically productive allows and supports communities of people and also enhances and improves the quality of the natural environment which is so desperately needed in this area. 
A couple of key mechanisms or tools are embedded into the legislation. One of them is the vision and strategy. Importantly and to the credit of the drafters of this bill the vision and strategy has been given a very high status in the hierarchy of documents that affect land management land use and the management of the river. It is only by giving that vision and strategy a very high status in the hierarchy that we will be able to break through the resistance because it will have some status in terms of resource management fisheries and biosecurity. I have to say it was quite a courageous move on the part of the Government the drafter of this bill to give the vision and the strategy that level of status and recognition in the bill. 
The second primary tool which is the major tool in the legislation is the integrated management plan. It is a model for the use of catchment management practices that is relatively new to New Zealand. It is an evolving discipline and there are no very robust models so this catchment management will be an evolving task. This is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate in partnership between Maori the Crown agencies and communities of interest that good catchment management is not only desirable and needed but also entirely possible. Not only can we inform ourselves of best practice over time but also that model will be very useful for other areas outside Waikato. 
Critically it must be recognised that Maori have lived of necessity in a bicultural world for many generations. It must also be recognised that settlements of this nature which demand a genuine partnership approach also mean that other non-Maori New Zealanders will need to accept and even enjoy living in a bicultural environment working in the acknowledgment of more than one world view. There are those who will resist. They will insist that we are all one country one national identity. But that would be to deny the ethnic differences the richness of ethnic diversity and the richness and depth of experience that Maori as kaitiaki can bring to this long very important and necessary process of the restoration of the river. 
Co-management is not just a technical task or challenge; it requires acceptance and the blending of two world views. There is a strong thread of Western-based science and practice in conservation and land management and in the management of flora and fauna—and indeed in our productive land—and it is very powerful. Western science has a great deal to bring to the occasion to the table and to the ultimate outcome. 
But there is also an emerging and developing awareness that we must incorporate the Maori world view—matauranga Maori must also be an equal partner in this—and if possible to evolve better practice and better frameworks for management by taking the best in an engaged and cooperative way of the two streams of thought Western science and matauranga Maori. It is encouraging to see work being taken by the Maori environmental research centre at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research along those very lines. It is looking for ways to bring together the best of Te Ao Maori and Te Ao Pakeha in order to get frameworks tools and practice models that will achieve the outcomes that we all so desperately want and need. 
We will all be the richer for committing to embedding the Treaty relationship into day-to-day practice in terms of land management of river management and of bringing together communities of interest knowing that there will be tension that there will be dispute and that people will feel threatened and challenged. They will be forced out of their comfort zone but in the fullness of time it is to be hoped that there will also be an acceptance. I think that all members in this House today have the responsibility given the level of goodwill that there is towards this bill and its provisions to put our weight behind mediating those inevitable disputes the consequences of the implementation of this bill. Certainly for the Greens I can commit to that. We will continue to lend our support to the implementation as well as to the passing of this bill. We will all be the richer for it as will the natural world that surrounds and sustains us. 
Finally I again pay my respects and offer our regards to nga iwi of the Waikato who are taking on this final hurdle as our colleague Tau Henare mentioned. It is most certainly a final hurdle in terms of the legislative process but the real work is just beginning. Again I commit the Greens to supporting that work. Kia ora koutou.