Flavell Te UruroaHon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker kia ora tātau katoa. Ka mihi rā ki te āhuatanga o tēnei rā ātāahua he rā hōu ā ka mutu kai konei tātau ki te kōrero i ngā take o te wā. Kai te rongo ake ki te āhuatanga o te kōrero o taku tuahine a Louisa Wall koinei au i hara mai ai ki Te Whare i tēnei rā ki te āta whakautu i ētahi o āna āwangawanga mō tēnei o ngā kaupapa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and greetings to us all. I acknowledge the situation indeed about this beautiful day; it is a new one and furthermore we are here to talk about matters of the moment. I hear the tenor of my sister colleague Louisa Wall's contribution and that is why I came here to the House today: to make a considered response to some of her concerns to this proposal.]I very much appreciate the sentiments provided by Louisa Wall who got in touch with us to give us the view about this particular clause of the bill. I can tell her that this has been very much discussed with both the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General as we tried to line it up with Te Ture Whenua Māori legislation. So I stand here to give some responses to some of the queries that she has made. I acknowledge that they are well motivated and that it is all about the best intentions of ensuring a part for the Minister for Māori Development and indeed to place all of the Ministers in their right place. So let me offer some explanations to some of the issues that the member has raised. The member's Supplementary Order Paper 202 seeks to add a provision to clause 192 of the Judicature Modernisation Bill that is related to appointing Māori Land Court judges The first point to note is that clause 192 of this bill deals with the appointment of District Court judges; this has nothing to do with Māori Land Court judges. In the context of clause 192 the downside is that the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) is basically meaningless. The Māori Land Court appointments are covered under clause 568 of the Judicature Modernisation Bill. If Supplementary Order Paper 202 were amended to refer to clause 568 it would still be meaningless for the following reasons—I will try to outline those. The appointment of Māori Land Court judges is covered by section 7 of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 which says that judges are appointed by warrant by the Governor-General. There is no mention of any Minister. The equivalent provision in Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill is in clause 427 and is exactly the same as the current Act namely that appointments are made by the Governor-General and there is no mention of any Minister. Although not prescribed in legislation the appointment of Māori Land Court judges by the Governor-General is made on the recommendation of a Minister with the agreement of the Cabinet appointments and honours committee. The recommending Minister is always the Minister responsible for the department that administers Te Ture Whenua Maori Act. That department now and in the future will still be Te Puni Kōkiri. Ministerial responsibility for Te Puni Kōkiri is decided by the Prime Minister. It has always been the Minister of Māori Affairs and/or the Minister for Māori Development. Relating that back to the member's SOP the SOP assumes the Judicature Modernisation Bill makes the Attorney-General the recommending Minister and that is incorrect; it does not. If the Supplementary Order Paper—