te Heuheu Georgina: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
te Heuheu Georgina: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15821] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 Part 2 deals with the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955. It amends that Act to specify first of all a minimum voting age of 18 for Maori trust board elections. It ensures that past Maori trust board elections are not invalid because of under-age voting. It also reflects changes to the annual payment to be made by the Crown to the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board under a new agreement relating to Lake Taupo. 
Clauses 10 and 13 deal with the minimum voting age. The amendment seeks to align the minimum voting age—under the Maori Trust Boards Act it is 20 years and under the Maori Fisheries Act it is 18 years—in order to eliminate statutory compliance issues for those Maori trust boards that must comply with both Acts. Not all Maori trust boards are in that category but some are and this issue was raised from the outside by a legal representative of some of the affected Maori trust boards. Five trust boards also act as trustees of their iwi’s fisheries settlement entity and they are subject to both their own Act—the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955—and the Maori Fisheries Act 2004. In practice this means that when iwi members vote for members of their Maori trust board they are also voting for the trustees of their iwi fisheries settlement entities. 
There is confusion over who is eligible to vote in these elections. Adult beneficiaries or those who are entitled to vote are not defined in the Maori Trust Boards Act and therefore section 4 of the Age of Majority Act applies making an adult beneficiary under that Act a person aged 20 years or over. In contrast the term “adult” is defined in the Maori Fisheries Act as a person aged 18 years or over. I suppose some young people will be a little bit alarmed to find they will have to wait until they are 20 before they are classed as adults in this respect when for most purposes in our everyday lives as New Zealanders 18 seems to be the more consistent accepted age. 
As has already been said there are some compliance issues for those boards that have to comply with both Acts. Clause 10 will remedy the issue by inserting a definition in the Maori Trust Boards Act that an adult beneficiary is a person of 18 years of age or over. That is a very simple solution. The clause also provides that the new minimum voting age will apply to a Maori Trust Board’s first election after the commencement of the amendment. Clause 13 will update regulations to include that. 
The 15 Maori trust boards were consulted on the proposal. Nine supported the amendment and six did not respond. The Ministry of Fisheries and Te Ohu Kaimoana were also consulted and they support the proposed amendment. It is a very sensible change again requested from outside Parliament and outside the bureaucracy. It is designed to give better overall management for those iwi who are now managing both their traditional assets under their trust boards’ legislation and their fisheries assets under the Maori Fisheries Act. 
The other matters of note in the bill are the changes to the annual payment to be made by the Crown to the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board. This follows the settlement that was forged between the Crown and Tuwharetoa in September 2007. It updates issues surrounding the balance of property rights held by the board in relation to Lake Taupo. The genesis for that was the vesting of the Lake Taupo bed and its tributaries in Tuwharetoa in 1992 under the National Government. This is a similar arrangement to the one we have just finished talking about in relation to the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill where the land in question—in this case the lake bed—is vested back in the name of the iwi concerned. All public access to the lake will be maintained as previously as it always was but there will be a recognition of certain rights now and there will be some division in terms of income made from the lake as well. Responsibility for the daily management of Lake Taupo and its bed is held by a combined committee of both the trust board and officials. 
A colleague of mine was talking about this earlier in relation to how we as New Zealanders can progress these issues where iwi want more than the symbolic return of land as we saw in the Mauao case. Iwi want the land to be vested in them but that is not in any way to impinge on the rights of their fellow New Zealanders. And that is the case here. The changes in this part are designed to address the balance of property rights issues that were not addressed in 1992 and to reflect certain payments from the Crown to the trust board in relation to the rights revenues and rents from the lake. 
I think these issues are definitely more than housekeeping matters as the Minister has so often referred to them in the amendment to the Maori Purposes Act. They go to the heart of that Act. They look minor on the face of it but in fact they are very very important. Like the Maniapoto Maori Trust Board and the amendments there these amendments are also very important to the trust boards concerned in terms of minimum voting rights and in respect of the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board. 
It is also very important that something that was started in 1992 is concluded now is tidied and that overall the enhancement of the relationship between the Crown and the iwi concerned is progressed even further. That is what we particularly the Maori members want to see in this Chamber. I think most of us if not all of us are here to progress these matters—not just on behalf of Maori but because they are good for New Zealand and for New Zealanders. I think the speech given by my colleague Chris Tremain demonstrates the level of understanding that has gone on over the last 30 years in particular with regard to Maori claims and Maori rights and it can only be applauded. We should not forget that New Zealand is watched by other nations that have indigenous peoples who also pursue their rights in the same way that Maori people do—maybe not as well sometimes but maybe that says more about the psyche of New Zealanders and ultimately their fairness and their wish to see things made right eventually. Luckily Maori are very patient people and ultimately something good and just comes out of these changes. These are good changes; we support them. Thank you.