Davis Kelvin: Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill — In Committee 
Davis Kelvin: Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:670;Page:17405] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 Earlier we heard Paul Quinn say that David Parker was talking gobbledegook. How appropriate; there is no member in the Chamber who is more qualified to recognise gobbledegook when he hears it. Paul Quinn is the member of the Maori Affairs Committee who takes 3½ minutes to ask a question that requires a yes or no answer and in the course of that 3½ minutes he will answer the question three times himself and then he will still contradict himself. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I seek the leave of the Committee for all ACT amendments on this part to be taken as one question. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Leave is sought for that. Is there any objection? Objection is taken. 
Hon John Boscawen 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I would like to express my disgust that that motion was moved as another Labour member of Parliament asked me to leave the Chamber in order to have a private discussion. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: That is not a point of order. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: As I was saying about Paul Quinn there is no better member of Parliament qualified to recognise gobbledegook when he hears it and the glazed and dazed and tired expressions on the faces of members in the Chamber are not because they were up until midnight last night voting they are because we are still trying to figure out the last question that Paul Quinn asked in the Maori Affairs Committee. So I thank Mr Quinn for his contribution to the debate on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill. It has been going on for 3 days and that was the most intelligent comment he has made so far. 
I come to the application for recognition orders as set out in Part 4 which is about applying for recognition of customary rights. The more I think about what a customary right is the more irrelevant it seems to this whole bill. There are very few examples of what a customary right is other than the launching of waka and the collection of hangi stones. Where I come from up north we collect hangi stones on the land; we do not collect hangi stones out at sea. I come from the Bay of Islands where there are a lot of old volcanoes so there is a lot of scoria and we certainly do not need to go diving for hangi stones in order to collect them. Regarding the launching of waka we take our boats out all the time every weekend so why is it that we would need to go through the process of applying to be able to launch our boats? It would take time it would take effort and it would take money—I would say—to make an application to launch our boats and to collect hangi stones if we wanted to go diving for them. Diving for hangi stones would certainly do away with the need for lead weights on one’s diving belt; one would just need to hold on to the hangi stones. 
The process for going through an application is that people have to come up with the contents of an application for customary rights which in itself is a process that I will go through with members. The original Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill includes clause 100 “Registry for filing application” although that is omitted by Supplementary Order Paper 207 and clause 101 “Service of application”. Clause 101 states: “The applicant group applying for a recognition order must serve the application on—(a) the local authorities that have statutory functions in the area of the common marine and coastal area … and—(b) any local authority that has statutory functions in the area adjacent to the area of the common marine and coastal area … and—(c) the Solicitor-General”—the words “on behalf of the Attorney-General” are inserted by Supplementary Order Paper 207. What is the Maori Party thinking about wanting to put our people through this? I have gone through only half of the process just to launch a waka or to launch a 14-foot aluminium dinghy to go fishing. 
The next part of the process is set out in clause 102 “Public notice of application which states: “(1) The application group applying for a recognition order must give public notice of the application. (2) The public notice must include as a minimum—(a) the name of the applicant group and its description as a hapu or iwi … and (b) a brief description of the application … and (c) a description of the particular area of the common marine and coastal area … (e) in the case of an application for recognition of a protected customary right a description of the right; and (f) a date that complies with subsection (3) … and (g) the registry of the Court …”. This is a nonsense process just so that hapu and iwi and applicant groups can go to get the hangi stones they can get on land and launch waka. I cannot think of any other customary rights that one would need it for. Last night I mentioned getting pipis and diving for scallops and I was corrected by my colleagues who told me that is all covered under the Fisheries Act so we do not have to worry about that.