Rurawhe Adrian; Brown SimeonRt Hon ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour): Tēnā koe Madam Chair. I just wanted to say a few words about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and make a statement about it to the effect that if anyone in this Chamber believes that Te Tiriti o Waitangi does not apply to one part of this bill but to another they're very much mistaken. My question in Part 1 and I'm going to repeat it now because it's also relevant to this is that when we are addressing issues of Te Tiriti o Waitangi—and I'll start by going to 3.2 of the departmental disclosure statement where it specifically asks about the effect of this bill on the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Going back to my question that I asked and that was not addressed: was the iwi of Wanganui consulted about the impact on Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act or not? It seems a pretty simple question to ask. It could be Yes we had a wānanga about it." "We had a hui about it." "I sent them a letter to say 'Hey we're changing your legislation.' " or it could be nothing. I'm going to take silence as being nothing just as I'm sure we take silence on the separation of the balance sheet as "no" as well.I think the Minister of Local Government if he truly believes as I'm told that they're upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi should actually answer that question. Failure to do so means that they're not in my opinion and I'm going to listen very carefully now. I've narrowed it right down to that. And my original questions also included whether he would continue to uphold—and it's in the departmental statement as well—Tupua te Kawa in making those decisions. I think it's critically important for us to know—for this committee to know for the people of Wanganui to know—whether or not those principles are going to be upheld.Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Local Government): Thank you Madam Chair for the opportunity; thanking members for the questions. In relation to the member Hūhana Lyndon's question around engagement with mana whenua and it relates also to the Rt Hon Adrian Rurawhe's question in regard to iwi consultation officials have been directed to consult with iwi who will have their settlement Acts amended by the bill. They have been kept informed. They understand where the Government's direction is going and we will continue to be engaging with iwi throughout the process. The issue is in relation to the existing Treaty settlements and the Act simply amends references to the Acts we're repealing and because those Acts and the entities hadn't come into force the actual impact is negligible but we will continue to engage with iwi as we work through the policy development. We will also be expecting local councils who will have responsibility for water to be having those conversations with their local community particularly where there are existing Treaty settlements and agreements in place.In relation to the question around the chief executive redundancy the issue here was in relation to the salary. That number had actually already been released under an Official Information Act request and it's worth noting that three of the four establishment chief executives were made redundant by the previous Government when they shifted to 10 entities so if they want to complain they should look in the mirror.In relation to international obligations there are no international obligations that are explicitly linked to this bill. New Zealanders will still have Taumata Arowai which will have a very important role in terms of regulating water quality."