Scott AlastairPAPAWAI AND KAIKOKIRIKIRI TRUSTS AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa): I move That the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill be now read a second time. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board in getting this bill to the House. This bill was brought to the House to amend the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Act of 1943 so that the board can better manage its functions. The trusts have a long history in the Wairarapa going back nearly 170 years when two blocks of land were donated to establish a school in the Wairarapa. It involved the Lord Bishop of New Zealand as part of that Act and since that donation those trusts have managed a Māori boarding school from 1860 to 1865; then the Papawai Native School which was opened in the 1930s; and then a further piece of land was added to the estate which was purchased for Hikurangi Primary School which operated for a few years from 1930 to 1932 which was then destroyed by fire. So that is a little bit of the history of the trusts. The Act came into force in 1943—the Act that we are talking about today—to extend the powers of the trusts so they could better manage the practical use of the funds to advance specifically the education of the tangata whenua of Wairarapa. The Act is extremely archaic it is out of date and it is quite patronising in its terminology and what it is doing. So for example the Act required the trusts to donate two-thirds of their income to a post-primary education fund for scholarships for Ngāti Kahungunu first then for children of Māori descent on the East Coast and then for Māori descendants anywhere in New Zealand—but controlled by the Anglican Church. So that is two-thirds that had to go to schools specifically around the Anglican Church. The remaining third was to be paid out for the use of any post - primary school scholarship for books clothing equipment assisting parents and even residential costs but it was specified. This bill changes all that. This bill gives greater flexibility to the distribution of the funds by allowing scholarships for the post-primary education of children who have whakapapa in relation to the tangata whenua of Wairarapa. So it is not iwi-specific. It is for a wide range of uses—not specific uses—relating to education and educational support and the requirements for scholarships to go to schools as I say conducted by the Anglican Church are outdated and archaic. The current Act—this is to do with the governance changes proposed in the bill—requires 10 members of the board one of which must be a representative of the Ministry of Education one appointed by the Māori Land Court and four Māori descendants. So it is very very prescriptive. The bill will establish a far more robust nomination process for board members. There will be eight board members consisting of four members appointed by the bishop and also others appointed or elected by tangata whenua of Wairarapa in accordance with the process adopted by them and publicly notified as you would expect. So this change will empower tangata whenua of Wairarapa by giving them the authority to decide whom they would like to see manage their trust funds and to decide on an appointment process that meets their needs. So there will be none of this patronising dictatorial specification that is currently in the Act. The Act also restricts the powers of the board by requiring all leasing of land to be in accordance with the Public Bodies Leases Act. The board could sell the land only with the consent of the Ministry of Education but the Minister could not consent to the sale of land that had been required from any Māori tribe unless the Māori Land Court had been involved and given consent. So again it is very specific and very archaic—without giving any trust or any delegation to the people who are running the show. The requirement is unnecessarily complicated and needs updating. The bill will warrant the selling of the Clareville land if the board wishes but not the Papawai land or the Kaikokirikiri land without going through this process that I outlined. I would like to acknowledge the board. The board would also be able to lease the three pieces of land that are available to them as they see fit—so again the bill is giving the trustees a lot more scope in conducting affairs as they should. I would like to thank the Māori Affairs Committee members across the House for reviewing the bill and suggesting some changes. They have suggested the bill be enacted in Te Reo Māori as well as in English. Clause 5 will be amended to be consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and that was quite interesting because the original Act said that a trustee had to be of sound mind and have mental stability or some such words. That actually breaches the Bill of Rights Act so that wording is being changed. Of course if those words were still there half of us would not be able to be trustees of that board! There is a new section 4A in clause 5 to specify the term of office of board members and there have been some minor amendments to replace references to 2015" with "2017" to ensure that the bill passes before that date. The bill will modernise the current Act to establish a more robust nomination process of trustees remove the unnecessary restrictions on the distribution of funds and the use of the Clareville land and allow for a much more flexible distribution of funds by the board as they see fit. The bill can be achieved only through legislation which is why we are here today. I commend this bill to the House."