Ririnui Mita: Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14577] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I take the opportunity to take a brief call in support of this bill which is aptly titled the Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill. I also look forward to the bill being directed to the Maori Affairs Committee because that will provide the opportunity for public submissions on the bill itself. I think that is important at this stage because a lot of the comments I have heard made in this House by earlier speakers give me a feeling that they have not bothered to read this bill they have not bothered to take note of the number of consultation hui around the country and that they are simply just out of touch with what is happening in Maoridom in terms of Maori business and economic development. 
I would also make the comment that I feel a number of contradictions were made by earlier speakers who on the one hand are very very knowledgable in terms of the history of the establishment of the Maori Trustee and of the contributions the Maori Trustee has made to Maori social and economic development over a number of years but at the same time they have said in this House that they will not support this bill. I get the feeling that some people will support something when they are in receipt of the benefits but when it comes to a benefit that they themselves do not have the intellectual grunt to take advantage of they are totally opposed to it. 
Maori economic development is the way into the future for Maori. People cannot stand in this House and say that they want Maori to be independent and at the same time in their lifetime they have bled the Maori Trustee dry when it comes to a benefit that would elevate the status of all Maori. They are totally opposed to it. But I will give them one thing: they do know their history but they have very selective memories when it comes to recalling it. 
I want to speak a bit more about the consultation hui that were undertaken around the country. There is an assumption in this House that Maori who attend these types of consultation hui have no interest in the unclaimed moneys in the Maori Trustee. These are unclaimed moneys and they have been held in trust for beneficiaries in the hope they would come forward one day and claim them. That makes a lot of sense surely. So why are those members so opposed to that? 
I know of a number of people who did attend the consultation hui and wanted to know a number of things. Firstly they wanted to know why the functions of the Maori Trustee have been incorporated into Te Puni Kokiri and it has been difficult to understand. They do support the Maori Trustee being a stand-alone organisation with a wide range of services being provided to Maori and not just holding money for the sake of holding it because the only ones who are benefiting from that money being held in the general purposes fund are the banks; they are the only ones. Maori are getting no benefit from that. Why are they so concerned with the interests of the banks and not the interests of Maori? Listening to the debate in this House tonight it does not make a lot of sense. 
The people from my particular area in the Bay of Plenty who went to the hui want to see an enhancement of the acceleration of Maori economic development and they see the Maori Trustee playing an important role in that. They are not saying that funds should be set aside. They are saying that the Maori Trustee should play an active role. If it has been there since 1921 and it has been accumulating unclaimed moneys since that time it needs to be set free. It needs to be utilised for the benefit of Maori going into the future. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: It needs to go back to the areas it came from. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I listened to the Hon Georgina te Heuheu making her comments. Maybe she should go and have a good read of the bill. Maybe she should go and learn a bit from her people because a lot of the moneys that are unclaimed come from the Ngati Tuwharetoa area. Nobody knows why that is but there is certainly not a lot— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Why don’t you leave it alone then? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Nobody knows where these people are and that is why the money is held there. Rather than letting the banks keep making money out of Maori interests we should let the Maori people themselves enjoy those benefits. 
I heard the Hon Tau Henare a former short-term Minister of Maori Affairs make a number of comments about this particular bill. I was a regional senior manager for Te Puni Kokiri at the time he was Minister and I do not recall anything passing over my desk from him suggesting any way forward for Maori economic development. In fact I saw the money going the other way back into the Crown bank account. People have very selective memories as I said earlier on. 
I did say that my call would be a very short one. I am looking forward to sitting down in the select committee and listening to what the people have to say about the utilisation of these unclaimed moneys. Unclaimed moneys—they do have this title even though they have been held in a general purposes fund. Georgina te Heuheu said there is a list of beneficiaries. In fact there is not. If there were the Maori Trustee would have the legal responsibility to ensure those beneficiaries received a return from the Maori Trustee. These moneys are unclaimed and have accumulated interest. The suggestion that the intention is to misappropriate those moneys is totally ludicrous. This money is going towards Maori development and what is wrong with that? Why is National opposed to that? Surely every Maori in this House—although entitled to ask questions about the technical aspects of this bill—supports Maori moving forward even if there are a couple of members who cannot bring themselves to support this bill. Once again I say I am looking forward to the select committee process to hearing from Maori from all around the country and to convincing those two members that this is good for Maori. Kia ora.