Flavell Te Ururoa: Maori Purposes Bill — Procedure Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Maori Purposes Bill — Procedure Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 13 September 2011. Volume:675;Page:21257. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa. He pai tonu te whakarongo ki nga korero katoa i te po nei. Ko te ahua nei katoa o te Whare kai te tautoko ake i te ia o tenei o nga kaupapa. Ko taku i te tuatahi he mihi ki nga Minita ki te Minita mo nga Take Maori ki a Pita Sharples raua ko tana Hoa Haere ko Georgina te Heuheu. Kai te rongo ake i te ahuatanga o te korero o te taha Reipa i a ratau e ki ana a i timata mai ai i te wa i a ratau a me mihi ka tika.  
Me mihi ano ra ki te tiamana ki a Tau Henare nana tonu matau i arahi i roto i nga korero o te wa. I tae atu au ki roto i nga korero mo tenei pire me ki te wa i eke atu ai te whanau o te kuia ra me ki ko nga uri o Pukepuke Tangiora. I reira au e whakarongo ana ki nga korero.  
Ki taku mohio taihoa ake nei ka hoki mai ki tera o nga kaupapa engari ki taku mohio i tona whanuitanga he pai tenei pire. Ara no ona painga ahakoa kua whakawehewehehia ki nga mea e wha. I tona mutunga mai he painga ano ra o nga mea katoa. Mena ka timata ano ra i roto i te Maori Trust Boards Act 1955 
 
 he tika ta te Honore Shane Jones e no te ao kohatu ke tera o nga pire ara no na te hunga kua ngaro atu i noho nei i raro i te ahuatanga o nga poari o nga koroua te nuinga he tane i tera wa. No reira kua eke ki te wa me ki ki te titiro ki te ao hou. Ki taku titiro ara no nga raruraru kua puta i roto i nga poari a-tawhito nei engari i tenei ra no te ao hou ara no nga kaupapa kua ahua rereke ki era i wanangahia e nga koroua i te wa i a ratau. No reira me titiro ki tetahi huarahi hei whakatikatika i era raruraru. Ko tetahi mea ohorere ki a au ko te noho o nga poari nei i raro i nga here o te Minita otira o te Kawanatanga mo te whakaaetanga ki te tuku putea a ko te mana i hoki mai ki nga Minita. Ka mutu penei i ta te pire e ki nei me huri me tini te ture kia whai ko ta te ao hou e pirangi nei.  
Na mo te wahanga e pa ana ki Te Ture Whenua Maori Act me nga koporeihana me tautoko ka tika te whakangawari mai ai te whakahaere o era o nga ture ka mutu kia whakatikatika etahi take kua roa e noho tarewa ana.  
Mo te taha ki te Maori Fisheries Act 2004 he painga ano ra o tenei wahanga i te mea ko etahi o nga ropu hou penei i nga runanga penei i etahi o nga poari kua puta i roto i nga take a-tiriti he hiahia no ratau ki te whakakao mai i nga rawa katoa i raro i te korowai o tetahi ropu ana ko Ngai Tuhoe tetahi e whai atu i tenei tikanga.  
Ka mutu ko te wahanga o nga rawa o Pukepuke Tangiora ahakoa he uaua tera take i te mea he taukumekume i waenganui i te whanau i tona mutunga mai ki taku titiro i kite matau i tetahi huarahi hei whainga. Ehara i te mea ka rata mai te katoa ki tenei huarahi engari i te mea ruarua noa iho kotahi tonu te mea e toe ana ka riro mana e whakatau te tikanga kua eke ki te wa kia whakatau i tenei take i tenei wa tonu nei. No reira koinei taku e ki nei ki te katoa o tenei o nga Whare. 
[ 
Greetings Mr Deputy Speaker and greetings to us all. It is great to listen to all the speeches tonight. It appears that the whole House supports the tenor of this policy. First I want to acknowledge the Ministers namely the Hon Dr Pita Sharples Minister of Maori Affairs and his Associate Minister the Hon Georgina te Heuheu. I note the comments by Labour that the bill started when it was in Government. I acknowledge that of course. 
I must acknowledge the Hon Tau Henare the chairman of the Maori Affairs Committee as well. He guided us at the time through the deliberations. I joined the committee when submissions on this bill were being heard at the time when the family and descendants of that elderly lady Pukepuke Tangiora were making their submissions. I was there listening to the talk. I understand those talks which I will come back to later.  
This bill in its entirety is a good one. Its benefits are enormous. Despite it being divided into four parts in the end everything has its positive aspects. If we begin with the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955 the Hon Shane Jones is right in saying it is one from the Stone Age. A vast number of those who served on boards—ancient ones the majority of whom at the time were men—have long since died. Therefore the time has come to look at the new world shall we say. From my perspective many many problems came out of the old trust boards but in this day of the new world matters are somewhat different from those discussed by the old ones in their time. Therefore we must look for a way to address those problems. What alarms me is the fact that these boards are accountable to the Minister and indeed to the Government in terms of agreements around the release of funds and that the mandate must come back to Ministers. In the end it is like what this bill says: the law must be changed to accommodate the needs of the present world.  
In terms of the part dealing with Te Ture Whenua Maori Act and incorporations support must be given to ease the control of those laws. This would eventually lead to some matters that have been suspended for a long time being amended. 
In respect of the Maori Fisheries Act 2004 this part has benefits as well because new entities like tribal councils and some boards that have emerged out of Treaty matters want to bring together all of their assets under the cloak of a single entity. Ngai Tuhoe is one tribe aiming to do this.  
Finally although the part that deals with the Pukepuke Tangiora assets is a difficult one and there is tension among the family in the end—and from my perspective—we have found a way forward. Not everyone will be satisfied with this because there were not many options; there was only the one option left to resolve this issue at this present time. This then is what I advocate to everyone in this House. 
] 
We are looking for some benefits to come out of this particular legislation and I say that from my perspective and the Maori Party’s perspective we are very pleased that there will be benefit across the board. Mr Jones might have the view that it does not get everyone and that is probably correct but as far as I am concerned the legislation was fairly focused on fixing up legislation that had long needed to be considered and fixed up. I think that the Maori Affairs Committee has done a good job of addressing those issues. As I say I acknowledge the leadership provided by our two Ministers the Hon Georgina te Heuheu and Dr Pita Sharples and by our chair the Hon Tau Henare who did a good job of keeping us on track and keeping us focused. Ka nui te mihi ki a ratou. 
[ 
I acknowledge them greatly. 
] 
Will this bill benefit Maori? I think that it will. It improves accountability arrangements between Maori trust boards and their beneficiaries—that is one thing. It removes Crown involvement in the estate of Pukepuke Tangiora and provides the beneficiaries with sufficient time to make decisions on the future governance entities for the estate. It improves the administration of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and the Maori Incorporations Constitution Regulations 1994 and removes an unintended consequence of the Maori Fisheries Act 2004. 
I will touch just briefly on those four Acts. Firstly there are the changes to the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955. As other speakers have said we are in a new world. The old traditional Maori trust boards as Mr Jones outlined come from a time when they were mostly male-dominated. They had their time they had a place but things have moved on. We can reflect on some of the good things that have been done by those trust boards but also we recognise that times have moved on and we need to make some changes. 
For example the bill provides direct accountability between the trust boards and beneficiaries which has got some of the boards into hot water in times gone by. For fear of getting myself in hot water I had better not mention any of them but a number have got themselves into some real clashes with their beneficiaries. This bill requires them to hold a hui-a-tau—an AGM—and report back to their people. I am sure that those people will appreciate that. 
The bill removes the requirement that trust boards have their financial information approved by the Minister of Maori Affairs and audited by the Office of the Auditor-General. The Minister now has to receive just their accounts and an annual budget for information which is a really big move for some of those boards. Again as I say—I cannot remember but the Hon Tau Henare might be able to remind me—it seemed to me that the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board was restricted to signing off only a certain amount of funding. It had to come back to the Minister to get approval for more and I think the limit was only a small amount. How much was it? 
Hon Member 
: A couple of hundred. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: It was a couple of hundred dollars. It had to come back and get sign-off for more than a couple of hundred dollars. That is crazy. It might have been good in 1955 but these days it just does not cut it so I think there are some good things there. 
As others have said in relation to the changes to legislation affecting the estate of the Pukepuke Tangiora whanau this bill removes the role of the Crown in the administration of the estate of Pukepuke Tangiora. We agreed pretty much with that; it was not appropriate that the trustees were appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister. We kind of thought we should put that administration back in the hands of the whanau and let them sort it out. We will give them some time and the Maori Land Court will hear matters relating to the administration of the estate including the appointment and removal of trustees. 
The bill extends the time at which the estate must be distributed to 5 years after the death of the last life beneficiary—which some might not agree to but I think that was where we got to after a good discussion—to enable the estate to have time to make decisions about future governance entities to hold and manage the estate assets. Consultation hui as we heard were held with the beneficiaries and trustees of the estate about those matters and although there might have been a little bit of disagreement in general terms they came with it. 
I will not touch too much on the changes to the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act other than to say that minor technical details will improve the administration of the legislation—for example clarifying situations whereby Maori landowners are required to send copies of documents to the Maori Land Court. 
Finally there are changes to the Maori Fisheries Act. As I said the time has come for us to open up the door to allowing our iwi entities if they decide to to draw in those mandated iwi organisations under one banner for the benefit of getting better leverage from the asset. In my particular case in Waiariki I know that the Tuhoe nation have been looking forward to the ability to pool together their fisheries— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Tuhoe nation? Why a nation? New Zealand’s the nation. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: That is according to that member. The Tuhoe ones reckon they have their own nation and I too am happy to say they do. But anyway I am just saying that it is a good idea that they are able to pool together all of their assets into one bag and therefore get maximum leverage in that regard. As I say he painga ano ra o tenei o nga pire mo te hunga i rongo nei i tona kakara. Te tikanga ia ka puta nga painga a ko ake nei. Kia ora tatau. 
[ 
This bill has positive aspects for those touched by its effects. Hopefully its benefits will emerge in good time. Greetings to us all 
.]