Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): I want to address new clause 140(4) in this Part 4 inserted by Supplementary Order Paper 279. I agree with the overall intent of this part around limiting as much as possible the disposition of Māori freehold land or Māori land interests but I am concerned about an individual's freehold interest in any Māori freehold land under new subclause (4)(b): To avoid any doubt the sales or gifts to which this section applies include … a sale under a power expressed or implied in a mortgage:". Given the special importance of Māori land and the fact that we want to encourage as much of the retention and also utilisation of that land as possible I am concerned that those interests can be sold by way of mortgage or implied in a mortgage. I can just picture some unscrupulous lender accepting a mortgage over numerous freehold Māori interests of an individual and then unbeknownst to that individual they have the right implied in that mortgage to be able to sell that interest. Sure they can sell it to the actual classes of preferred folks they are obliged to sell to but I would like to ask Minister Flavell why there is an implied right for a mortgagor to be able to sell the land. Surely it should be only if it is expressed in the mortgage—that should be the law; that should be the requirement. It should not be just an implied right for a mortgagee to be able to sell that particular interest of a certain individual. I guess this gets back to the point whereby there is talk about renewing and revamping these laws and we are talking about tikanga talking about those big lofty provisions in clauses 3 and 4 and yet so much of what the Minister has talked about tonight has been: "Oh the general law says 'Te mea te mea (so on and so on etc. etc.) this is how it is done' and so we are following the general law." Well I thought this was about Māori land law. Regardless of what might be the general law in relation to mortgages given over Māori freehold interests I believe given the special importance of Māori freehold land interests that there should not be an implied right in a mortgage.If there is that right to sale it should be expressed. So I just want to ask the Minister—and I do not think it is good enough to say: "Oh but the general law provides that there is a right." We are actually passing a law for Māori land. We should not worry about what the general law provides. This is why we are putting a Māori land law in place. Otherwise what is the point of those big provisions in clauses 3 and 4 about the mana and the tino rangatiratanga—you know? It is meaningless. I would like the Minister to address that point because I do not want to see any Māori land owner have to forgo their interests through some unscrupulous loan shark who has given them a loan and then all of a sudden they find that all of their interests are gone.The second point I would like to raise is in relation to the general provisions about dispositions. There is a lot of talk in these provisions about registrations on the title—what is in the Māori land register and what is to go into the land transfer register. All I would like to inquire about is how robust those systems are going to be because I am only familiar with cases whereby the wishes of owners have been made in the court and the Māori Land Court has made a decision in regard to those lands but because those orders were not transmitted and noted or registered on the land transfer titles they were of no—[Bell rung] Mr Chair?The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Rino Tirakatene. RINO TIRIKATENE: Those decisions made by the Māori Land Court were never ever noted or registered on the land transfer title so were of no effect. In many instances Māori land has been lost through the fact that there was no information sharing or record of those decisions having been made in the Māori Land Court and never reflected on the title. So a purchaser of a title without notice is entitled to clear title. I know that that has happened on numerous occasions. I would like to have some reassurance and some comfort that the records or the decisions that are being made that are put into this Māori land register will indeed have close alignment with the land transfer system because that has not been the case in the past. Those are the main points I would like to raise and I hope the Minister might be able to address them. Thank you."