Jones Shane: Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Jones Shane: Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 13 June 2012. Volume:680;Page:2958. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 Kia ora ano tatou. Tena koe Mr Speaker. I arise to support earlier speakers. We will support this piece of legislation the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill but there is an element that crept into Mr Flavell’s contribution that suggested that effluent drew a distinction between brown white yellow and black people. The reality is that a number of these changes over the years have been egregious but a number are absolutely necessary. If we are to have civic works and if we are to retain essential services that all of us in the community are going to be the beneficiaries of and pay for then that must not be lost sight of.  
I actually know quite a bit about the history of the hapu Nga Potiki-a-Tamapahore the ancestors who moved into that area several generations before my ancestors went through the area. Nga Potiki have been right to remain vigilant. They have been right to challenge both the Crown and sub-national levels of government. But at the end of the day it is to the benefit of all groups in our community if essential works are to take place.  
I am the first to say that the takutai moana seabed and foreshore piece of legislation was certainly the nadir of that particular time and our contribution as Labour politicians in response to a furore that had developed but we have moved on beyond that. This legislation—fortunately brought forward by Te Ururoa Flavell—does endeavour to correct some of the effects of that legislation. But there are two elements to be borne in mind here: there is the importance of ancestral land and there is the importance of balancing the scales of justice. But if you want to live in a modern society there is the importance of enabling those who were put in power to proceed with the creation and the maintenance of essential services. I do not think it is very sensible that we allow those two issues to be mixed up because there is always going to be a trade-off.  
It is good to see that the Tauranga City Council is working effectively with this group of tangata whenua a hapu of Ngai Te Rangi. It is good to see that they have moved on from the very bleak time when the library was ransacked and—if I recall accurately—was almost burnt down as a consequence. I actually attended that particular protest in the 1980s by Ngai Tamarawaho—if my memory serves me correctly. A lad from St Stephen’s School—Hugh Sayers I think was his name—was playing some sort of role there. It is good to see that Tauranga Moana District Maori Council has moved on from those times.  
Although we want to actually support this bill this is a part of Aotearoa where there is a great deal of growth and where there is a great deal of attractiveness of wanting to live there so essential services are required. And this is a timely reminder. Let it not fall disproportionately on groups such as Nga Potiki. But I also say to those of us in the Maori community that we have got to take a balanced approach as well because we are the beneficiaries when civic infrastructure is expanded. 
 Not only has Tauranga Moana got a rich history in terms of Maori but also it is now turning into such a successful port that it eclipses the Port of Auckland. I will not say too much more about that for fear of being seen to have lobbied for the expansion of Marsden Point the diminution of the Ports of Auckland and the restoration of the Auckland port back to the citizens of Auckland but that is another matter. I seem to remember a famous Labour parliamentarian Mr Mallard wanting to improve the quality at that time but—[ 
Bell rung 
] I presume that is a signal for 1 more minute and it is not what I fear it could be.  
We will support this bill. It is an important area of Aotearoa but two things are to be borne in mind: sure be sensitive to those concerns of ancestral land claims etc. but bear in mind that no city no country and no nation can advance itself in the absence of an evolving improving civil infrastructure. Kia ora tatou katoa.