Korako Nuk: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 01 March 2016. Volume:711;Page:9232. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National): Ā kia ora e Te Mana Whakawā; tuatahi ka maumarahatia Te Rakatira Tākuta Ranginui Joseph Isaac Walker. Nō reira e Te Rakatira o Te Whakatōhea e Te Rakatira o Te Iwi Māori e haere atu rā haere atu rā ki Te Pā o Te Whakawairua e takoto mai takoto mai takoto mai e moe mai moe mai rā![Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. In the first instance I reminisce about the noble Dr Ranginui Joseph Isaac Walker. Therefore to you esteemed one of Whakatōhea and Māoridom depart and move on to the spiritual place. Lie there lie down and lay there. Rest and slumber on.]I stand to take this split call to support the Prime Minister’s statement. I want first of all to highlight the work of this Government to improve Māori well-being of individuals and communities. We continue to resolve the historical Treaty of Waitangi claims settlements and we have the whakaaro—the idea is that we do want to settle with all those iwi that are willing and are able by 2017. Also there is Te Ture Whenua Maori Bill which will unlock the revision of that Māori land legislation which has huge potential to unlock the huge economic potential existing in Māori land.Kelvin Davis: Which version? There’s been 18 rewrites.NUK KORAKO: Well wait for it. When it comes to the Māori Affairs Committee you will see it. I also want to reflect on the debate surrounding Waitangi this year. Waitangi our national day was hijacked by opponents of free trade. It was hijacked. Up and down the country we have seen Māori being fed misinformation about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. We have seen this right across the country. Two major things that they have been fed: the first one is consultation and the second one is this idea that the TPP agreement would infringe on their rights under the Treaty of Waitangi.Let us look at the consultation process because the truth is that the consultation process for the TPP agreement actually started in 2008 and for Māori there were specific consultations with the Federation of Māori Authorities individual Māori businesses and also iwi. Throughout the process the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade actually updated iwi and Māori businesses every 6 months so this misinformation that they were never consulted—that is misinformation. The next part of it is about this infringement of rights—Meka Whaitiri: Were you there? I was there. It’s not consultation.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I just ask the member to take a seat for a second while I remonstrate with one of my colleagues. I was not there and the member should know not to address the speaker in that way.NUK KORAKO: Kia ora. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. The misinformation around the TPP agreement actually infringing on the Treaty of Waitangi—nothing in the agreement prevents the Government from honouring the Treaty; nothing in the agreement. When we look at the trade agreements that have been negotiated since 2001 all of those in those trade agreements since then they’ve always had those provisions in it that there would be no infringement under the Treaty of Waitangi.Finally at the beginning I acknowledged Dr Ranginui Walker. In one of his books Struggle Without End—he was a man who saw there was far from doom and gloom regarding the development of iwi Māori—he called Māori development “the most powerful cultural renaissance […] of a colonised people in the world.” One of those cultural achievements he highlighted was Māori entrepreneurship. Māori own nearly 30 percent of our primary industries and stand to be the biggest beneficiaries of the TPP agreement. Māori care about the same things that other New Zealanders care about. They want jobs they want better wages and quality public services.That is why the Government has pursued and will continue to pursue the TPP agreement and other opportunities for economic growth. We are about wealth creation as opposed to about wealth redistribution. Kia ora.