Mahuta Nanaia: Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:16715] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 Given the contribution of the MP for Te Tai Tokerau—soon to be replaced—Hone Harawira I was not prepared to give him the charity of my silence on a number of issues that were raised in the House in relation to positions taken by Labour Maori Government MPs. In fact although the MP for Te Tai Tokerau may be happy to mislead the House—and people listening to the debate could very easily be misled by that contribution—it really is important to set the record straight. Let us look at the issue of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill which was introduced by New Zealand First. Yes that bill was supported through the first reading stage to be sent to a select committee. The clear understanding given by Labour Maori MPs at the time was that although that is a view held strongly amongst New Zealand First we were not prepared to stifle any debate on the Treaty of Waitangi at any point because it is a debate that every New Zealander has an interest in. That is why the select committee process becomes so important. 
I now move on to the Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill. For any person listening to a considered debate on issues in this House if one were listening to the contribution of the MP for Te Tai Tokerau on this bill—and again sending it to select committee can be a positive thing because the submission process in itself starts to inform this House through its select committee members about the public view on issues that are hotly contested across all sectors of this House—it would be wrong to think that Labour Maori MPs do not support issues regarding Maori. In fact it was the Labour Government that established the Waitangi Tribunal. It was the Labour Government that allowed retrospective claims to the tribunal and it was the Labour Government that continues to advance Treaty settlements in this House. In fact if people were to listen to the considered debate on just how Labour Maori MPs and this Government advance and support Maori development they would be very interested and concerned to hear that many of the Maori Party MPs have not voted for Treaty settlement legislation—and that is a fact. So the charity of my silence would be misplaced on this particular issue because this House is informed on good political debate. 
The Green Party member made the point that although understandings apply across the House much of the Green Party legislation that has gone through has done so with the support of this Government on similar understandings of a different nature. But we cannot take the moral high ground too much in terms of the nature of the relationships that exist in this House. 
I come back to this bill because it is an important issue that was well considered by the Justice and Electoral Committee. I think the most cogent part of its consideration was expressed on page 3 of its report 
 
 which brings the crux of the matter into a nice sharp crisp statement. That is the reason why we will not be supporting this bill in its third reading. The report states: “It is not unusual for Judges to be able to sit in more than one jurisdiction: for example High Court judges sit on the Court of Appeal District Court judges and Maori Land Court judges may serve in the Environment Court. There is no suggestion that any inherent conflict of interests arises in such situations and we see no reason for considering the situation of Maori Land Court judges and serving High Court judges to be any different. We were forwarded advice issued by the Crown Law Office in 2001 which supports this conclusion.” I think that if anyone wants to get to the nub of the matter and understand the full consideration of the select committee that really is a very clear statement and it is well put within the context of this report. I am happy we have had the debate and I inform the House that Labour Government members will not support this bill.