Davis Kelvin: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavis Kelvin: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 05 May 2009. Volume:654;Page:2847. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KELVIN DAVIS (Labour):Tēnā koe Mr Chairperson. Tēnā rā hoki koe e te Minita e Pita. I am happy to stand again in support of the Māori Trustee Amendment Bill and in particular I want to return to new section 5 which I think is an important and essential part of the debate. New section 5 which is inserted by clause 7 states that the Māori Trustee must act independently of the Crown “free from any direction or instruction from the Crown.” This is great news for Māori. This bill which was introduced by the previous Labour Government sought a way for Māori to have resources at their disposal and the authority to make decisions as Māori over those resources.In effect the intent of this provision is to ensure that Māori assume—and rightly so—tino rangatiratanga over the Māori Trustee. This was never going to be the case while the Māori Trustee was attached to a Government ministry. There are many ways in which tino rangatiratanga can be interpreted and this is one of them—to have the ability and resources to make decisions for oneself. So I expect that new section 5 will be welcomed by Māori the length and breadth of the country.The big problem with this bill though is that it does not go far enough. The bill was split in two with the first part of the original bill being about establishing the Māori Trustee as a stand-alone organisation. The second part of the original bill which provided for the establishment of a statutory corporation to further Māori economic development is being left to the side for now.I spoke earlier in the Committee stage about clause 11 which substitutes sections 26 to 26B and refers to money held in a common fund being invested in the fund. New section 26(1) states: “any income derived from investment of the money forms part of the Common Fund.” If Māori were to think boldly and outside of the square we could see the Māori Trustee becoming an integral part of Māori development and financial gains being reinvested in the common fund so that the fund available grew and we could reinvest in more Māori initiatives. This would mean that we could see Māori entrepreneurs and business people investing and supporting yet more Māori to be successful. Success could well breed success and we could lift each other out of the oft-quoted cycle of dependency. We would then be enabling more and more Māori to become financially independent and when we have that sort of independence we take a large step towards tino rangatiratanga. This would be a case of Māori helping Māori. It would mean a giant step away from dependency on other people to fund and support our initiatives.Just this last Saturday I was talking to a person from Te Rarawa up in Ahipara who along with a group of friends has invented a device that will aid recreational fishermen while out boating. These Māori entrepreneurs have had to make contact with non-Māori investors who have poured close to $30000 into developing and improving the prototype of this invention. I congratulate these backyard inventors and I believe that their product will be a success. The problem for these inventors—and for all Māori—is that the investors will expect a dividend to be returned to them and so they should. They have taken on board a financial risk and they expect payback somewhere and somehow. I believe that it would be a lot better for Māori if that dividend were paid back to Māori so that Māori received all profits from a venture like this. Sure there are risks attached but the Māori Trustee should be someone with a nose for investment and the ability to put in place strategies to minimise those risks. If the Māori Trustee invested in that invention then royalties could be paid back into the common fund and the growth of that fund could be used to invest in further Māori ventures. This is progressive thinking.We could be doing a lot to help already established Māori businesses and enterprises. Some say that this is purely a Māori bank. In response to that I say firstly that there is nothing wrong with Māori owning banks—and there is a subtle implication there that we are not actually capable of running a bank—but secondly and more important this is about Māori becoming financially independent and successful. We have the basis here for Māori to develop financial success so why do we not just go for it but put checks and balances in place to make sure those risks are minimised? But true to Māori form instead of having a go we hear the knockers and pessimists spouting off and basically by their backward-thinking conservatism they continue to condemn Māori to being second-rate citizens.New section 6D(1) inserted by clause 7 explains that “The Māori Trustee may appoint the employees … to enable the Māori Trustee to exercise the powers and perform the functions and duties of office … effectively and efficiently.”