Davis Kelvin: Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavis Kelvin: Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10998. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau):Tēnā rā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tuatahi māku hei ‘hakapūaretia i aku kōrero e tautoko ana i ngā mihi ki a rātou kua whetūrangitia me te maumaharatia hoki taua kōrero“rārangi maunga tuia Te Ao tuia Te Pō rārangi tangata ka ngaro ka ngaro ka ngaro.” Nā reira ko taua kōrero ka tū honohono i a tātou te hunga ora ki ō tātou whenua.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. The first thing for me in opening up my sentiments is to endorse the tributes accorded to those who have become immortalised as stars in the heavens and for me as well to reflect upon that aphorism: “Mountains aligned bind the world and the void while people aligned will be gone lost and will vanish forever.” In like manner that wise old saying is the element that will bond us the living to our lands.]Therefore I would just like to acknowledge first of all the acknowledgments that Te Ururoa Flavell made to our departed. He raised a whakataukī and I also started off with another whakataukī that says: “A line of mountains will stand day and night; a line of people will fall will fall will fall.” In that way we acknowledge our connection as those who are living to the land.As Meka Whaitiri has so eloquently said in her speech the Labour Party is going to oppose this bill. Let me just say that we oppose it because somebody needs to speak for all of our constituents across Te Tai Tokerau Meka Whaitiri’s constituents across Ikaroa-Rāwhiti Peeni Henare’s constituents through Tāmaki Makaurau—many of whom are absent landowners—Nanaia Mahuta’s constituents through Waikato-Tainui Adrian Rurawhe’s constituents through Te Tai Hauāuru Rino Tirikatene’s constituents through Te Wai Pounamu and even the Minister’s constituents through Waiariki.I have seen through a lot of the documentation the claim that there has been broad-based support for this bill. There is broad-based support for this bill depending on who you are talking to in Māoridom. Let me tell you now about the consultation hui. There were 22 in February of this year of which Labour had representation at 14. Let me tell you about the two that I attended one in Kaikohe and one in Whangarei. The one in Kaikohe there were about 100 people. I got there; the hui had already started and all I saw was a line of officials talking at the people. The people around me did not know and did not understand what was being said. They could not comprehend it.I believe that there were workshops where a 64-page document was handed over. This is separate from the consultation hui. The 64-page document did not include the 370-page bill and I ask: how are the people of Tai Tokerau of Tāmaki Makaurau of Waiariki of Te Wai Pounamu of Tai Hauāuru—all our constituents—meant to understand what this bill means for them? They do not understand. They were spoken to—they were spoken at I should say. And of course as could only happen in Ngāpuhi the people who were there jumped up criticising yelling shouting and basically they told them—some guy behind me said “You can stick that bill where the sun doesn’t shine”. Of course he was a ring-in from down south because in Ngāpuhi we do not speak like that. But the reality is that is the extent of the feeling of the people in regard to this bill.That afternoon I went down to Whangarei. The Minister turned up and he addressed the hui and I have to say I rang him afterwards to say: “Good on you for turning up and fronting the bill.” The reality is the reaction at the Whangarei hui was no different to the reaction at the Kaikohe hui. There were about 120 people at the Whangarei hui and again there were motions from the floor asking for this bill to be thrown out there were people jumping up and down—it was basically chaos. And those are the people—those are the people whom we are standing up and speaking for who do not understand what this bill is going to do for them.The thing is that the Minister has not articulated to them a case for change. He has not articulated it so that they understand what is going on. If a case for change is not articulated how are people meant to understand whether it is good or bad for them? The way to do it would have been to go in with the bill and break the hui down into little groups and get people to explain. The way that the consultation hui were held was just one big forum and people did not really have the opportunity to ask the in-depth questions and to get a personal reply. That is one of the things that needed to happen in order for people to understand exactly what is in this bill. But that did not happen.How are people like forestry workers freezing workers linesmen people working in The Warehouse and at Pak ’N Save and beneficiaries meant to access a copy of this bill? How are they meant to spend time to try to go through it and engage with it sit down with people and ask questions around it and even just engage with their whānau? How are all the people up in Tai Tokerau meant to print out a copy of this bill and then pull it apart and really work out what it means? They did not have the opportunity and having a bank of officials standing there explaining why this is going to be so good for them without them actually understanding how it is going to be good for them—or even if it is going to be good for them—just does not work. So we are standing up and we are talking for our constituents the people who voted us in and whose voices we need to represent and whose thoughts we need to reflect on this.There has not been a case for change as to why the 1993 Act does not work because as Meka Whaitiri said there are any number of Māori trusts and incorporations that are doing perfectly fine. They are doing very well. We have got a $40 billion Māori economy under this Act and all of these Māori trusts and incorporations that are doing really really well. So if it is a matter of capacity and capability why do we not address the capacity and capability? If it is a matter of leadership why do we not address it? If it is a matter of governance why do we not address it? Instead we are changing this bill.The Minister said that the bill requires a wholesale change—why could it not just be that the parts that needed to be amended be amended? Nobody is convinced—sorry I should not say “nobody”. Those who are convinced that there is a need to change operate at that sort of Māori corporate level but the people whom we represent the vast majority of Māori the broad base of Māoridom the people at the bottom of the Māori pyramid—not the people at the top—do not understand what this bill is all about. They see it as a bit of a land grab—whether it is or not that is how they see it. And that is why I say we are reflecting the voices of our people because we mix with the people in the streets. The people in Kaitāia or Kerikeri Kaeō Kaikohe Kaiwaka Dargaville—Pita Paraone: Mōtatau. Don’t forget Mōtatau.KELVIN DAVIS: —they do not understand. The people of Mōtatau they do not understand. If there were a handful of people from Mōtatau at the engagement hui—and Pita Paraone was at the engagement hui—would they understand? Are they any wiser after attending the consultation hui?The Waitangi Tribunal came out with 16 recommendations. I have seen in here that five of those recommendations have been addressed. Māori have a lot of time for the Waitangi Tribunal; they have got a lot of respect for the Waitangi Tribunal. The Waitangi Tribunal does not always come out on the side of Māoridom as we have seen recently with the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement but Māori look forward to these recommendations and they would like to have seen these recommendations actually changed and enforced. But only five of them have had any changes made to them. It shows that the voices of the people are not actually being heard—not properly—and the real changes that people want to see have not been made.As I say there has not really been a case for change articulated. I disagree with the assertion that there is a broad base of support for this because when we are talking to the people in our communities out on the streets they do not see the case. Therefore I believe that this bill should not pass. I get the feeling that it will go on to select committee and there I hope that everybody out there listening and watching who has concerns actually does submit and make the changes so that it does meet their needs and that they can be satisfied that it is good for them and their whānau and their whenua. Kia ora.NUK KORAKO (National):Kia ora e Te Mana Whakawā mauri ora. Tēnei te mihi me te īnoi ki Te Whare nei e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. [Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and good tidings to you. I wish and plead of this House good tidings to you all.]One of the most powerful concepts for Māori is tūrakawaewae. This is often translated as “a place to stand”. It highlights the fact that at the centre of our identity as Māori is our connection to the land. When the Europeans came to New Zealand they viewed land as a commodity to be owned by people and Māori viewed land as Papatūānuku the mother who gives birth to all. Land provided an important economic base for Māori. It allowed them to provide all the resources they needed to feed and shelter their whānau. But land means much more than that to us. It is much deeper culturally and particularly within these connotations. Land represents our identity our history and our future.Traditionally Māori did not own plots of land. Rather ownership rights of various kinds extended from the relationships between hapū and the resources of the land. The years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 have seen huge and drastic changes to Māori land. We are all familiar with the massive alienation of land that occurred with less than 5 percent of all land remaining in Māori hands by 1987. In fact until 1993 Māori land law focused on providing a legal framework to transfer land out of Māori control. Te Ture Whenua Maori Act / Maori Land Act 1993 changed that and put the focus on retention of Māori land. That Act also highlighted the importance of utilisation—how Māori land is used to maximise Māori economic development—but actually the focus of the law is on retention and on preventing any further alienation of land. That is what is being done under this Act.Since 1993 we have seen a huge number of Treaty settlements progressed mostly under the two National Governments to date. This has resulted in a great deal of land returning to Māori ownership—over 190000 hectares by 2012 and largely under this present Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. There is now a need to update the legislative framework for Māori land and to correct the balance to bring a bigger focus on to the utilisation of Māori land. Retention is still important but that is what we have seen already and it has been done relatively well. It is the utilisation of our land where the current law has been letting us down. Many large areas of Māori land are underperforming because the current legislation does not give owners of that land the freedom or the decision-making powers they need to be able to use that land to its full potential.Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill has undergone a very extensive process before coming to this Parliament today. I want to acknowledge the work of the Hon Christopher Finlayson who in 2012 put in place a panel to review Te Ture Whenua Maori Act / Maori Land Act 1993. I also acknowledge the members of this panel consisting of Matanuku Mahuika Dion Tuuta Toko Kāpea and Patsy Reddy our Governor-General-in-waiting. I acknowledge the work of Te Puni Kōkiri as well and all of the other agencies iwi and hapū that have participated in the consultation process to date.I want to particularly pay tribute to the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell the Minister for Māori Development. When I look at this Minister I am reminded of Sir Apirana Ngata another man who stood in this House as a leader amongst his people. In the same mould as Ngata I believe that Te Ururoa Flavell will be remembered as a man of foresight a man with the vision to see what could be achieved for Māori and a man with the intelligence to choose the right solutions and the drive to carry them through. This bill may well go down in history as his greatest achievement. It is a groundbreaking piece of legislation with far-reaching effects on Māori well-being—on Māori well-being—in this country. At times the Minister has had to put up with a great deal of nasty stuff from our own people—from those who have perhaps not understood the great strengths this bill will bring to our people. Through it all he has captained this waka to this point and I look forward to working with him to see this bill through the rest of the process.As the two Ministers have already outlined this bill has the potential to provide massive benefits to Māori unlocking the commercial value of so much underutilised land. I hope that this House can be united in our desire to reform Māori land law for the benefit of Māori and of New Zealand. The Māori Affairs Committee looks forward to working on this legislation with our usual principled and pragmatic demur. As the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell and also Meka Whaitiri said: “Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua.” [The land remains while the people have disappeared.] I also say with regard to the Minister that this one is for the Minister: “He tuka mata anō tō te taoka.” [Fortune as well favours the brave.] On that note I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.