Rurawhe Adrian: Māori Purposes Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Māori Purposes Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6632. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru): Ā tēna koe Mr Assistant Speaker otirā tēnā tātou katoa i tēnei rā whakahirahira.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker but at the same time acknowledgments to us all on this wonderful day.]I stand with my colleagues in support of this bill. This is not about us making it difficult or about us not trusting our people; we do trust our people. Our position on this bill is to make it the best legislation it can possibly be. In saying that I too want to talk about the status of land. We are talking in this instance about it being general freehold land at the time that the principal Act the Maori Purposes Act was passed into law which was then transferred and made Māori freehold land. This particular bill changes that and gives the opportunity for those particular lands that were once general freehold land but were transferred under the principal Act to become Māori freehold land to now under this bill become general freehold land again. What I would ask the House and the select committee to consider is what the original intent of the principal Act was in making that determination of changing the status from general freehold land to Māori freehold land. I would suggest that the intent was to protect the land from alienation. We see a number of settlement bills come through this House that address that very issue—the issue of alienation of Māori freehold land. I encourage the select committee to take a very close look at that particular issue.I also want to talk about the governance aspects of this bill. The changes to me look like they will give a lot more scope for the governance of these lands—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): I apologise for interrupting the member but it is kai time. I will resume the Chair at 7.30 p.m.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.ADRIAN RURAWHE: Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Before the dinner break I was speaking about the governance arrangements for the Wī Pere Trust. The thing that I really like about these kinds of bills is that it does give the trustees and the beneficial owners greater autonomy in their governance arrangements. Can I quote from the departmental disclosure statement where it says “These changes include reducing the role of the Crown” which is I think always a good thing. It gives a lot more responsibility to the trustees themselves. That is something that I agree with. It also increases direct accountability to beneficiaries which I also agree with. I think it is really important that the beneficiaries know what the trustees are doing so having a new constitution for the trust is a very good idea.I did hear the Minister for Māori Development in his contribution refer to the consultation that had taken place between the Crown and the beneficial owners. There was a vote for the change to support the changes that are included in this bill. Of those who participated 91 percent supported the changes. I just want to highlight that only 31 percent of the beneficiaries representing 57 percent of the beneficial interests actually participated in this process. Out of those 143 beneficiaries by my calculations 99 did not participate in this. I think it is important that that fact is highlighted and that there is an opportunity through the select committee process for these beneficial owners to make a contribution to this bill and a contribution that hopefully addresses some of the issues that have been raised through this first reading.I think another good thing about this bill is the register of beneficial interests. I think it is important also that the trust runs its own register. It is part of what we would call rangatiratanga. So from a Māori world view it is about taking care of our own interests. I think that having this in there as well is a very good thing.I go back to the status of the lands. I mentioned earlier about changing the status of lands that were once general freehold land under the principal Act to Māori freehold land and then under this change they will return to general land. I want to talk further about that having thought about it a little bit more over the dinner break. There are both positives and negatives to this. I highlighted the negative side of it being that this land could now potentially—turning it back to general freehold land—be alienated. On the other hand it does give the trust the opportunity to invest and to purchase other lands whether it be farmland or any other properties and for the specific purpose of being an investment property. As we all know the true benefits of an investment property are realised when it is sold. In selling that it would give the trust more opportunities to invest further whether it be in property other properties or other kinds of investment. I thought that in fairness to my first comments about the concern I have about alienation of land I would balance that with the acknowledgement that there are situations in the future for this trust where they may be able to purchase land specifically for the purpose of economic development.I think that is all I have to contribute to this debate on the first reading. I look forward to the bill going to the Māori Affairs Committee. I do not sit on that committee but I am certain that it will do a really good job. I look forward to the report back when it comes back to the House. Thank you.Bill read a first time.Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.