Quinn Paul: Maori Trustee Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Quinn Paul: Maori Trustee Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:3027] 
PAUL QUINN (National) 
: 
 Firstly I take the opportunity in this call to express my condolences and the condolences of the 2008 fraternity and the whole of the National Party to the Parata family. As members probably know Hekia’s mother has passed away. Her tangi is taking place as we speak and her burial will be on Saturday. So I think it is appropriate and important that we acknowledge that sad occasion. 
I like some of the previous speakers congratulate the Minister of Maori Affairs on expediting the Maori Trustee Amendment Bill on showing his stewardship in his new role and on the leadership he is bringing to his portfolio. Although I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the previous Minister my friend and colleague Parekura Horomia I say that sadly he was unable to expedite the passage of this bill at the same pace that the new Minister has. 
I will just explain the sort of pressure that my friend and colleague the previous Minister worked under. In preparing for this debate I thought it appropriate that I go back to the first reading debate and Committee stage of this bill to make sure that I was fully informed as to how it came to this stage. It was interesting for me to note that this bill was introduced by Dr Cullen. He overrode the then Minister of Maori Affairs took the floor and introduced and moved this bill. I felt sorry for my friend and colleague because he worked under the enormous shadow of Dr Cullen as we saw again and again with for example the foreshore and seabed legislation. Even the negotiations with Maori over the emissions trading scheme were led by Dr Cullen. That was the big burden that my friend and colleague Parekura Horomia had to work under. It is great that he can now come before us released of that burden and be able to show his true leadership. He is able to contribute much more and represent Maori in greater capacity. 
The second point I make in terms of doing my research for this third reading where I canvassed the summary and the issues as to how we got here is that as both the previous speakers for the Opposition have alluded to this bill was part of a much larger piece of work—a much larger bill. As part of that bill the working title Maori Business Aotearoa New Zealand was introduced. The problem was that when the bill went to the Maori Affairs Committee Maori Business Aotearoa New Zealand was exposed as being a little piggy bank. The sort of moneys that had accumulated in the Maori Trustee were going to be taken and used. I think we heard the phrase “party hacks” bandied around a couple of days ago. Well there was no doubt in my mind that the Government of the day had every intention of creating this little piggy bank under the name and guise of Maori Business Aotearoa New Zealand and putting a whole lot of party hacks on its board—and I can think of some of them: Wayne Butson and Gregory Fortuin. Gregory Fortuin is on the boards of the Families Commission Crown Forestry Rental Trust and New Zealand Post. I tell members that every time I see this guy Gregory Fortuin he is mana-munching around the marae and the hui trying to get to the front row. He never speaks but he loves getting on to the front row and doing a bit of mana-munching. 
The important thing about this bill is that it is focused on the Maori Trustee and its operation. It is not focused on creating piggy banks for our friends lackeys and hacks. The first principle to remember is that this is someone else’s money. It is not a slush fund. The Maori Trustee has accumulated earnings and accumulated cash that belong to specific beneficiaries. Under any public trust law—or any law of any land—money belongs to the beneficiaries. Because of the outstanding contributions of the Maori Party members and the National Party members on the select committee the committee was able to pull back the purpose of the bill to the true fundamentals: to drag the Maori Trustee into the modern 21st century. 
That was the fundamental purpose of this bill and that is what the select committee said. It said that we should just focus on modernising the Maori Trustee and that we should give it the capability of electronic transfers so that it does not have only the ability to sign handwritten cheques. The Maori Trustee was almost using a quill and blotting paper as that was how it used to operate. But the select committee focused on modernising the bill and dragging its operations into the 21st century. That was first principles that is what the select committee did and that is what this Government will do in passing this bill. That is what the Minister wants: he wants to modernise the Maori Trustee so that it can focus on things like finding beneficiaries administrating getting better money and getting better returns for the people. 
I agree with the previous speakers from the Opposition benches that Maori economic development is important. Aspirations are important; we are at one on that. We talked about it throughout this debate on this bill and through the first reading—not that I was here but I read about it—the Committee stage and the second reading. It is important. We will deal with that with the passage of time under the great stewardship and leadership of the current Minister of Maori Affairs who will take us forward and bring growth to Maori. 
For this bill we need to focus only on the issues. As a consequence the bill is in two parts. The first part deals with the operational framework to take the Maori Trustee into the modern 21st century. There are clauses around independence disclosures and reporting. My friend and colleague the Hon Parekura Horomia has canvassed a lot of those issues. But he forgot the second part of the bill which allows for the transitional arrangements. 
It is with great pleasure that I offer my full support and join with my National colleagues—and hopefully our Labour friends on the Opposition benches—in pushing through the Minister’s first bill. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Barker.