Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (National): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I'm very pleased to be able to speak to this Te Ture Whenua Maori (Succession Dispute Resolution and Related Matters) Amendment Bill. I'm very interested in the comments from the member Rino Tirikatene. What he said was true about National's bill Chris Finlayson's bill—it was comprehensive it was complicated it was a very big bill but actually I see that as an advantage rather than as a disadvantage. The issue with this bill is really—although it's taken the eyes out of that bill we will support it because that was the work that was done in the past and the member did point out the amount of consultation and submission that was done on that bill. We will support it because of that but this is a truncated pale version of that bill and in that case it's particularly disappointing. As I've said it has picked up several of the issues that were addressed in our bill and I just want to point out as the member has said that that was voted down by Labour. These issues in that bigger bill were voted down by Labour. We will also support it because we see it as a first step. It is a small first step but it is absolutely a step towards unlocking the economic value of Māori land and this is something that is particularly important to New Zealand and to all Māori and all New Zealanders. I just want to flip back and look at the original Te Ture Whenua Maori Act because that was passed back in 1993. While that was really focused on the retention of Māori land in Māori ownership it wasn't a perfect Act. It was only within five years of that Act being passed that there was agitation for reform and in fact there have been at least six different panels advisory groups and discussions considering changes over that time. In 2011 the Hon Chris Finlayson began an update of that Act and he began that update because he was asked to do that. He was asked to by Māori and iwi leaders because they expressed a real concern that the Act was not delivering the way that it should and as I say the Hon Chris Finlayson spent three years working on that Act. They wrote a bill they took it out for consultation they took it out for submissions and it culminated in a bill that was designed to ensure that Māori land owners had the right to decide about their land and how it was used. They also had the right to take advantages of opportunities to develop that land for themselves and for future generations. It also provided a very clear and accountable governance framework including the dispute resolution that we're looking at today and mechanisms to overcome fragmentation to help unlock that value. At that time the value that they were looking to unlock was $8 billion—$8 billion towards the Māori economy which is a significant and important thing to do. Again I note that that bill was never passed and Labour voted against it. I also want to note the member was talking about the Hon Meka Whaitiri and the fact that she was an expert in this area. I just want to note what she said about the bill: she couldn't vote for it because it was not comprehensive—well actually that's exactly the opposite of what we've just heard—and it didn't deal with the issues in particular landlocked land paper roads and land acquired under public works and rating. None of those things are in this bill so I'm wondering if she's actually going to support the bill and if she's actually going to vote for it. But if we go back to this bill as I said it doesn't provide for real reform the real reform that Māori have been wanting and needing. This Minister herself Nanaia Mahuta has said that it is a small and targeted amendment and it's only stage one. There's also going to be stage two and stage three I believe but no one has any idea at this stage what they are going to look like. So as we've already heard this bill merely tinkers around the edges and doesn't provide the reform that will make a real difference. I think a complete revision of this legislation is essential and I think it's essential. As Rino Tirikatene said Māori freehold land is extensive—between 5.5 percent and 6 percent of all of New Zealand. Most of that—95 percent of that—is in the North Island and that's about 12 percent of the whole land in the North Island. Actually that's interesting because much of the area where this land is located is crying out for new opportunities to make their land more productive and the thought that they can open up this land that they can create jobs and that people who want to return to these areas—return to their land—have an opportunity for work have opportunities to develop their families and to move into a brighter sort of future.Just looking back on the laws in relation to land there's been 180 previous laws dealing with Māori land—180 of them—and some of those in the past have actually led to the reduction of Māori land ownership and the fragmentation of that landownership. When we look at that now there are over 2.5 million ownership interests in Māori freehold land—2.5 million people have an interest in a particular piece of Māori freehold land. This is particularly problematic when we have enormously large numbers of people with an interest in an individual piece of land. There have been examples of single blocks that might have 14000 landownership interests and on average right across the country each block has over a hundred people interested in it.So we do need better mechanisms to protect the rights of the owners of Māori land to protect their rights so that they can retain control so that they can occupy that and also so that they can develop their land for the benefit of the present and future generations. I'd like to reflect on a whakataukī from Ngāi Tahu: Mō tātou ā mō kā uri ā muri ake nei—for us and our children after us.So as we've heard this bill proposes a simplification around succession processes a tikanga-based dispute resolution service—and that's very similar to what Chris Finlayson had been talking about—and changes to the Māori courts. None of those ideas are new or very controversial. However there are issues around the inheritance of whāngai and adopted children and I think that's going to require a little bit more debate.As I've said the difficulty for us in supporting this bill is that it doesn't deal with the big tough issues. It takes out the small discrete things that we can deal with—which is a good thing—but it hasn't tackled the stuff that we really have to do if we're going to open up and protect Māori ownership and open up the land for development. So although it's limited and it doesn't do that National will support this bill to select committee. Kia ora.