Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:607;Page:4410] 
5.  
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Fisheries 
: What is his ministry’s policy on consultation with Maori? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Fisheries) 
: 
 The ministry’s policy on consultation with Maori centres on the need to make informed decisions about the potential impact of decisions on Maori interests. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is there any evidence to suggest that that is anything other than verbal claptrap given that on the 25th of this month the Waitangi Tribunal urged the Government to consult properly with Maori over concerns relating to marine farming reforms and that it went on to say in its report that the Government had failed to consult Maori adequately and actively protect Maori interests guaranteed under article 2 of the treaty; if that is the fact what is he talking about in his primary answer? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The Crown has been aware of the Waitangi Tribunal’s findings for some time and is responding to those findings by undertaking a series of consultation hui in the second half of April. The consultation will focus on the two key areas that the tribunal identified. 
Janet Mackey 
: Will the Government’s aquaculture time line be disrupted by this further need to consult Maori? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: No. The consultation programme has been designed specifically to avoid that problem albeit narrowly. 
Phil Heatley 
: Since there are hui planned to address Maori concerns about marine farming would the Minister also take the time to tell the majority of marine farmers who are not Maori and to tell members of this House when we can expect the aquaculture reform legislation to be introduced and what specifically has held it up for so long to date? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The aquaculture legislation will be introduced after the consultation with Maori has concluded. That has been part of the cause of the delay. 
Metiria Turei 
: While I applaud this consultation with Maori on this particular issue what assurance can the Minister give that the results of the consultation will support the tribunal’s findings that Maori have treaty rights in the coastal marine area? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The tribunal focused on two key areas. Firstly it said that the substance of the reforms including the move to a more planned approach should have been fully consulted with Maori. This was not the case at least in part because one cannot consult on a moratorium that one is not announcing. Secondly the tribunal said that the Crown should ensure that whatever it does it preserves its capacity to provide for Maori interests in marine farming in both the short and longer term. Our consultation process will seek to answer the question of how best might we do that. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: First of all why has his ministry failed to consult Maori evidenced by the Waitangi Tribunal finding but more important why are we persisting with a separatist apartheid-like policy that states that we will consult Maori but nobody else? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Consultation on aquaculture has been occurring right through the 1990s. Consultation on this particular reform began more than 3 years ago. The consultation has been very very extensive. However it failed to meet two aspects of what the Waitangi Tribunal thought it should have met and those two issues will be addressed next month.