Katene Rahui: Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Katene Rahui: Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill — Procedure Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6202] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 I stand to speak to Supplementary Order Paper 47 in the name of my colleague Te Ururoa Flavell which inserts new clauses 5A and 5B into the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill. These amendments are critical to strengthening requirements for all persons to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi in the implementation and administration of the Resource Management Act. We will be putting forward these Supplementary Order Papers; I will speak to them now. 
The House will no doubt recall the advice of Sir Robin Cooke in 1990 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He said of the Treaty: “no matter precisely how it should be categorised in law it has taken on in fact a vitality and a potency of its own … it has become part of the essence of national life … it is a foundation document. It is simply the most important document in New Zealand’s history.” The amendments we hope the Committee will support today are in essence the commitment to uphold the Treaty as simply the most important document in the land. The amendments address the concerns of whanau hapu and iwi that resource management appropriately reflects obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi. 
Currently section 8 of the Resource Management Act 1991 requires that the exercise of functions and powers under the Act take into account the Treaty principles. These three words—“take into account”—are part of a suite of concepts and phrases that constitute the menu of Treaty clauses in legislation. Other legislation includes phrases such as “to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” as in section 4 of the Conservation Act 1987; “to give particular recognition to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” as in section 10(o) of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind Act 2002; “have regard to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” as in section 4 of the Crown Minerals Act 1991; and “Ensure … full and balanced account is taken of—(iii) The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi;” as in the preamble to the Environment Act 1986. 
The Government has a responsibility to uphold the Treaty relationship and tangata whenua rights. Throughout the select committee process there was a very strong theme in the submissions from Maori that the Crown guaranteed to protect the special relationship between tangata whenua and their landscapes and natural environments through te Tiriti. The Government has agreed that the Treaty of Waitangi is the basis of resource management law and practice. The Maori Party was extremely pleased to be able to safeguard the Treaty provisions earlier on in the process of the bill. 
We propose these changes now in light of feedback from the select committee stage in order to strengthen the provisions. We propose a new clause 5A to the effect that this Act now binds the Crown in respect of “The Treaty of Waitangi relationship between hapu and iwi Maori and the Crown.” We also propose to add new clause 5B which repeals section 8 and substitutes the following: “In achieving the purpose of this Act all persons exercising functions and powers under it in relation to managing the use development and protection of natural and physical resources shall give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi).” We look forward to the debate as we introduce these provisions to strengthen and uphold the Treaty of Waitangi.