Tisch Lindsay: Maori Fisheries Bill — In Committee 
Tisch Lindsay: Maori Fisheries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15603] 
LINDSAY TISCH (National—Piako) 
: 
 As the debate on Part 2 has proceeded it has been interesting to see the inequities that will occur with different layers and structures advocated by the legislation. One concern National has with this legislation is that it separates the shareholders from the asset—because there will be different layers and different levels of directors and those who will appoint the directors—so thatat the end of the day it will be difficult for them to have a say in the outcomes. We have an asset that belongs to iwi. Yet when we look at the process that goes through a number of different levels of bureaucracy we find that the real power is not back at the level of the member or the iwi it has been circumvented and taken over by the directors of some major companies. 
That first part is just tokenism. Levels of bureaucracy have been put in place to make it look good and as though there has been a consultative process. Is there some reason why there are the different levels? It was interesting that the Minister for Small Business supported this legislation and talked about compliance costs and how the Government was doing something to reduce the regulatory burden red tape and compliance costs but what does this legislation do? It actually brings in layers. In fact it brings in five different layers of requirements legislation and a means by which the asset is separated from the shareholder. 
The important point here is that there is a method and a solution to the dilemma we find ourselves in and that has been advanced by my colleague Phil Heatley. He has taken a keen interest in all fishery matters he understands the issues and his Supplementary Order Paper—[ 
Interruption 
] If that member were to read what my colleague Phil Heatley was advocating he would see that one of those levels could be reduced we could streamline the process and that would be of benefit to all. 
I would hope that the Minister in the chair will take a call to support that. We are supporting the bill. However we have concerns and we believe that there is an opportunity to streamline the process. At the moment it is just levels and layers of bureaucracy. If we look at the compliance of the whole process we find that it will be a waste of money and time and people will be disadvantaged. Individual Maori around the country will have to select their iwi representatives and that is the first process to go through. Then the representatives will select who will be trustees on the electoral college. The trustees will form an electoral college and that will be another committee. That is really where the rules conditions and compliance will come in. 
Those trustees will then appoint the directors of Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd which is really the flagship of the organisation. We are saying that those five different layers are not needed to be able to achieve the end result that National is supporting. We believe that it is important but there is no need to have those different levels. Phil Heatley’s Supplementary Order Paper is very succinct. He is able to crystallise and articulate the argument very well and the speeches that he has given on the subject over the last hour or so have really been focused. That is why we support the legislation.