Paraone Pita: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — In Committee00DBHOH_BILL12851.1Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParaone Pita: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — In Committee00DBHOH_BILL12851.1[Sitting date: 21 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7419. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PITA PARAONE (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Pai atu e noho ana koe i konā kia ahatia![Greetings to you Mr Chair. How wonderful that you are seated there—but so what!]It is a privilege to take a call in this Committee stage of this bill. I have heard it already said a couple of times that this bill changes the concept of the board—well it has been implied that the changes that this bill makes is a major shift in the Act and the board itself. But all it does is it changes the membership. That is all this bill does.Much of the discussion has been around the term of appointment. Having said that I need to say that my great-uncle sat on that board for 49 years. At no time did anyone question his ability and the service that he gave to that board. Can I say that the only mismanagement that occurred during that time was when the Government was responsible for the day-to-day administration of the trust.Before I go on I need to declare my vested interest as the present chair of that board and a representative of the four Māori families that have been alluded to tonight. Can I say that it is a pleasure to serve on that board and to represent those four families. I am delighted that the bill does give the opportunity now for each of those four Māori families to have their own representative. I look forward to sitting at the table with representatives of those other three families.I ought to say that the removal of the ex officio members does not mean that the Government and the ministry that is responsible for this particular trust will be lost to the board because it is the intention to establish an official working group that will act as an adviser and assist the board in its task of caring for that estate.I want to say though that in terms of looking at the present membership of the board—and this must be a very rare thing for legislation that has been in for over 80 years. This is only the second time that it has been amended. The first amendment was in 1958 for a similar reason: to allow an extra family to be appointed to the board. In my mind that suggests that the board over the years has done a very good job.I think one of the reasons for bringing this bill to the House was the increasing commercial activities that the board was becoming involved in. To have Ministers sitting on the board and most of all to have the Governor-General sitting as chairman—should those commercial ventures run off the rails so to speak then that would bring those positions into disrepute. Hence this bill will give the opportunity for the Governor-General to choose whether he or she will take up the position of honorary patron. If he or she does not well then that is fine—we will continue to operate. When I say “he or she” I should point out to the members who have expressed some concern about gender balance that over the years there has certainly been a fair representation of women on the trust as well.When this bill came before the Māori Affairs Committee mention was made of a review. My understanding was that that review was not to be a consequence of this bill passing through the House. I am a little bit disappointed that that review has not begun because in my mind there really is no reason for it not to have started already even though many of the concerns that the review will certainly bring up are already known to officials.I also want to say that some mention was made about—and the word used was “appointment” of members of Parliament to the board representing both the Government and the Opposition. My little concern in that area is that all other members are subject to scrutiny by the board. I am asking whether or not the two representatives from this House will be scrutinised by the board before they actually take their place at the table. I think that is something that we need to consider.The other thing just talking about the membership again—of course during the second reading we heard of the passing of one of our members. I just wanted to reassure the Minister that I have no intention of applying for the vacancy created by the passing of Mr Ērima Hēnare. I just wanted to reassure—I understand that the Minister may have had some concerns in that area.I know that in recent years Governments from both sides of the House have expressed a concern about the length of time members sit on the board.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Order! It is getting a bit noisy over there.PITA PARAONE: I have been on the board for 15 years and probably half of that time has been as the board chair. I have not perceived any conflict of interest of either a personal nature or a political nature but I sometimes think that my political opponents see that as a sort of conflict. I just want to reassure this Committee and in particular the Minister that Waitangi is too important to me and I think that Waitangi is above politics. As long as we continue to see that and to adopt that approach then I think that the nation will benefit from that approach Minister.I also want to say that the board has expressed its support for this legislation. There were a number of other clauses that we would have liked to see included in this bill. However we have accepted that the review will hopefully bring up those concerns because as a board that is restricted by the terms of the deed of gift it is somewhat difficult for us to do the commercial things that we would like to do without contravening the deed of trust. I cannot overemphasise the need for the board to look at opportunities to be able to do the things that any other commercial enterprise has at its disposal.One last thing I want to comment on is the membership of the Māori whānau. The legislation says “Maihi Kawiti”. I am a descendant of Te Ruki Kāwiti Maihi’s father. I come from the older son. I have always wondered—and I have researched it—and I still cannot find an answer as to why the son’s name was put forward ahead of the father. So I just wanted to have that on record again and to say that it is a privilege to represent those families. But we will have some difficulty with a non-Māori institution like the board telling the Māori whānau who they should be selecting or determining the qualities of the person who they put up for appointment—i.e. who are we the board to tell someone like Sir Tumu te Heuheu an ariki whether or not he is suitable to be retained on the board? Those are some of the issues that the chairman of the Māori Affairs Committee alluded to in his presentation. But I just want to conclude by saying that I commend this bill to the Committee.