Henare Tau: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Henare Tau: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:635;Page:6429] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I endorse what my colleague Christopher Finlayson said and set out to the Committee—that it is pretty obvious that we have the ability to help Ngati Mutunga in terms of the old entity to move seamlessly into the new entity with basically a stroke of the pen. In fact I do not think it will cost the Government at all in financial terms. My colleague Mr Finlayson put it succinctly when he mentioned what had happened in the Te Arawa lakes settlement—moving from the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board through to the new entity Te Arawa Lakes Trust. So I do not think that it is too hard an ask for the Government to support the amendment put forward by my colleague Mr Finlayson. I do have some misgivings about the amendments from my whanaunga my tuakana over there from New Zealand First about the removal of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. As I said in the second reading I was not too sure that it would be good politics at all to try to remove references to the Treaty principles from what is— 
Pita Paraone 
: What are they? The member might be able to tell me. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well basically—I am not really here to help New Zealand First out. If the member really wants to know what they are then maybe he should go home and do some homework. 
However I think it is a bit strange that we would remove references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi from a Treaty settlement bill. I certainly agree with my colleague from New Zealand First that the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi should not be in every bill but I certainly think that references to the Treaty of Waitangi should be in what is essentially a Treaty of Waitangi settlement bill. 
Darren Hughes 
: Except that’s not National Party policy. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That member has just come out of school he had his first drink in the pub not so long ago and now he knows what National Party policy is. 
Darren Hughes 
: Yes I do—better than the member does. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh I see. This is where we get the spin from the biggest spinners out. They are such big spinners they should be on the end of a fishing pole for goodness’ sake! But I digress. 
National Party policy is not to remove the Treaty of Waitangi principles from all legislation—unlike New Zealand First’s policy. I know that it is hard to differentiate between New Zealand First and National— 
Pita Paraone 
: Which legislation then does it apply to? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: This legislation is a Treaty of Waitangi settlement where we have basically bipartisan support for a settlement of a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi. 
Pita Paraone 
: That’s right. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Right? OK! So why would we not have a mention of the thing that has been breached in the settlement bill. 
Pita Paraone 
: It is mentioned—the Treaty. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is all the member wants. He does not even want the principles of the Treaty— 
Pita Paraone 
: No. You don’t know what they are. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well I ask the member what they are. 
Pita Paraone 
: I just want to know. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh come on! It is too easy because it does not have any effect whatsoever on what we are talking about. It is just a play on the old superannuitants who are New Zealand First’s support base and whose numbers are dwindling ever so quickly. 
Pita Paraone 
: Is that the same support base that put you in here? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: No no. You see in those days Maori did not get to be the age of a superannuitant so all the people who voted for me from 1993 to 1999 were actually young people. But I digress again. All we are saying is that we think it is appropriate that we use this legislation for Ngati Mutunga to move from the old to the new.