Flavell Te Ururoa: Resource Management (Enhancement of Iwi Management Plans) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Resource Management (Enhancement of Iwi Management Plans) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 21 July 2010. Volume:665;Page:12600. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Kia ora ano tatau katoa. E te tuahine ka mihi ra ki a koe mo te ahuatanga o to pire e wanangatia nei e te Whare i tenei po. Kia mohio mai koe ka tautoko te Pati Maori i tou na hiahia ahakoa tera pea ko te ahua nei ka kore e eke. Hoi ano me mihi ra ki a koe ka tika. E tika ana kia korerohia tenei pire i tenei wa tonu nei i te taenga mai o te tangata me ki te kaituhi mo nga take iwi taketake o te Runanga Whakakotahi i te Ao ara the United Nations special 
rapporteur on indigenous peoples’ rights 
  
a 
Professor James Anaya 
kua tae mai ki Aotearoa nei ki te ata titiro i te ahuatanga o te noho o te Ao Maori nga iwi taketake ki konei. E tiakina ana ae ranei kaore ranei ka mutu ki te kimi rongoa. 
[ 
Greetings once again to us all. I acknowledge you sister parliamentarian in respect of your bill being debated by the House tonight. I want you to know that the Maori Party endorses your desire even though it seems likely that it will not succeed. But we must congratulate you all the same. That is the least we can do. How timely it is that this bill is being debated at this very moment with the arrival of the special rapporteur of the United Nations Professor James Anaya who has arrived in New Zealand to take a close look at how Maoridom the indigenous people exist here— whether they are they protected yes or no and further to that to seek remedies. 
] 
Kua hara mai na runga i te ahuatanga o te whakaputanga o te Runanga Whakakotahi i nga Iwi o te Ao mo nga Tika o nga Iwi Taketake. Professor James Anaya has arrived on New Zealand shores. He does so in the context of the New Zealand Government’s support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 
Ko taku e pirangi nei ko te whakatakoto i tetahi wahanga o tera Whakataunga ara ko te article 25. Article 25 of that document states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands territories waters and coastal seas and other resources and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.” 
No reira kei reira tonu te tuara o taku korero he tautoko he mihi tonu ki te Honore Nanaia Mahuta mo tana hiahia ki te whakatakoto i tenei pire ki mua i te aroaro o te Whare Paremata. We congratulate the Hon Nanaia Mahuta on taking the initiative to put the Resource Management (Enhancement of Iwi Management Plans) Amendment Bill into the ballot—an initiative that we believe serves the intent of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to keep our natural resources and environment healthy safe and intact for future generations. 
The Maori Party will certainly support the initiative taken by this bill to elevate the status of iwi management plans as they relate to the setting of regional policy statements and district plans. It is a bill that has been a long time coming. It responds to the poor integration of iwi management plans into local authority plans and policies by strengthening the provisions that enable iwi management plans to influence planning and policy. In doing so it fits with the key policy position of the Maori Party which is to promote whanau hapu and iwi as kaitiaki and support moves to restore this role to them. 
So we are even more determined to acknowledge the initiative of this bill in putting into legislation aspirations and commitments that will ensure that the intent of the Resource Management Act is honoured. We would go so far as to make a suggestion to the Hon Nanaia Mahuta if by chance the bill was lucky enough to go through. It would be that she strengthen the provision in clause 6 that allows councils to state issues of significance to the iwi. There is no specific or compulsory requirement to include issues of significance to iwi but merely a provision for councils to act only if they want to. We know how the notion of “voluntary” works in relation to compliance especially compliance with the Treaty. The opportunity for mana whenua to be involved is a key ingredient that we would say needed to be put into the bill. 
We also would speak about the new models of negotiation and I would recommend that we consider the recent Te Atiawa Ngati Toa and Ngati Raukawa initiative to form a regional ropu to collectively liaise with all of the councils in their rohe. That is the sort of stuff that I am sure the Hon Nanaia Mahuta would be putting up and it should be supported by the rest of the House. 
Another well overdue amendment that might go a long way to assist in addressing some of the issues that she is after would be to elevate the Treaty of Waitangi section to a preamble in the Act similar to that in Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 or perhaps to move it to Part 2 of the Act and make it a matter of national importance. This is another suggestion that might be helpful. We are close to the vote now so we will know shortly whether the bill will progress. 
The idea of the changes I have just suggested is to give the Treaty greater status in the Act so that decision makers would be compelled to recognise and provide for hapu as the Treaty envisaged. All in all we support the initiative from the honourable member. I am happy to say that the Maori Party is pleased to support this bill and hopes that in the short space of time left the bill is voted on and supported. Kia ora tatou.