Carter John: Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
Carter John: Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:608;Page:5588] 
JOHN CARTER (NZ National—Northland) 
: 
 I want to take a call on the schedules because there is an important issue still to debate. The Government has now accepted the changes around the issue of spiritual cultural and ancestral landscape. That was to be part of the bill. The National Party especially represented by Nick Smith and other parties as well took strong exception to that and argued in the committee against the inclusion of those terms. I am pleased that the Minister and the Labour Government have accepted the amendments to take those out. However it is most unfortunate indeed that the amendments did not include the words “wahi tapu” because that is already causing and will add to consternation around this sort of legislation in New Zealand. It will cause much anxiety. It has already caused much anxiety but it will get worse as a consequence of this legislation. 
I have not come across anyone in New Zealand who does not respect burial grounds. There may be some but I have not come across any. 
Shane Ardern 
: Does the Minister? 
JOHN CARTER 
: I am sure the Minister respects burial grounds. I am sure everybody in this Chamber respects sites where the dead are buried. It is not an issue that belongs to one culture alone. It is a fact that around the world people have burial areas—whatever they are called—and they are respected. With rare exceptions they are supported right across the nation. 
What worries me is the definition of wahi tapu in this legislation with regard to the Historic Places Trust and its interpretation of that term. We have seen examples of that already over in Tauranga where a wahi tapu was considered not just to be an area of an acre or a hectare. Eight hundred hectares? A wahi tapu? You have to be joking! [ 
Interruption 
] Look we had the same thing in Northland with the Maori land claim around Dargaville. There were five farms comprising over 5000 hectares. The argument was made that the land needed to go back to the iwi because the whole lot was wahi tapu. What a nonsense! That is just idiocy that causes consternation and anguish among the majority of New Zealanders because it gives them a wrong perception of what wahi tapu is and the value of it to our Maori race. I worry when we have legislation like this that it ends up causing dissension amongst the races because it allows wrong interpretations to be put on and as a consequence causes racial disharmony. 
This sort of legislation does exactly that. We should not be in this Parliament passing legislation that will cause dissent amongst races. But I tell the Minister that this bill will. This bill inevitably will affect somebody who has a genuine resource application before the local authority and the Historic Places Trust or somebody on its behalf will come along and say: “Sorry forget that it’s wahi tapu.” and the whole thing will be dismissed. What will happen is that the community will get to hear about it and will rail against it. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: What about the Maori community? 
JOHN CARTER 
: Let me tell the Minister that the unfortunate result of this will be a backlash against the Maori race and that is unfortunate. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: It is already against them. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Yes that is true but the Minister knows that I am genuine on these matters. I worry about them. I do not want to see disharmony amongst races in this country. I do my best to ensure that there is harmony where I can. I stand here genuinely and work on all sides in Northland to help people. The last thing I want to be is part of a Parliament that passes legislation that in the end could cause dissension. I say genuinely that I believe personally that this legislation will cause dissension. I am pleased that we have a  
Hansard 
 that records these words because in time I will be able to look back and say I was right.