Katene Rahui: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Katene Rahui: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:9790. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 I come to this third reading of the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill with a great deal of joy—in fact almost as much joy as I have in biting into a succulent Bluff oyster or ripping apart a delicious green-lipped mussel from outside Catherine Cove for such form the focus of this bill. It is the same joy that takes me back to 6 June 2009 when the Prime Minister the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples signed a deed of settlement with the iwi of Te Tau Ihu Kai Tahu and the iwi of the Hauraki. 
It is the same joy we experienced in December 2004 when the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act was passed. For those who may have missed the detail the 2004 Act provided for a full and final settlement of Maori commercial aquaculture interests from 21 September 1992. It opened up the opportunity for the marine farming industry to continue to grow while at the same time ensuring iwi access to coastal marine space to develop their marine farming issues. As a direct descendant of Ngati Koata Ngati Toa Ngati Kuia and Kai Tahu I remember the terms of that Act in lucid detail. The 2004 Act committed the Crown to provide the equivalent of the 20 percent of existing aquaculture space in the coastal marine area that was issued on or after 21 September 1992. Importantly the legislation also required 20 percent of all new aquaculture space identified in the coastal marine area to be transferred to iwi via the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement Trust. 
The 2004 Act was one of great promise. Maori enterprises were well placed to capitalise on growth in the fisheries and aquaculture industries and they could see considerable potential for contributing to the export markets in the fishing sector. The Act signalled new horizons that would see increased utilisation of the Maori asset base in economic and social development. There was a call for investment to support potential Maori aquaculture interests including innovative research and development. However it was a horizon that we would wait some time to see. 
Indeed in the years that have passed by since the 2004 Act we have seen as much progress as one would see standing on a bank of the Orari River waiting to spot eels hiding beneath the rocks of the riverbed. We waited and waited and waited and still the tuna never appeared because the trick as any good eeler from Arowhenua Marae would tell us is that the tuna will never come all on their own. One needs to get into the water shift a few rocks to flush them out and be prepared to act and that is what we have seen happening with this Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill. 
When the Maori Party came into the relationship agreement with the Government we inherited a space in which we were well aware that aquaculture policy had stagnated under the previous Government. In particular the costs delays and uncertainties inherent with the aquaculture regulatory process were simply unsustainable. Quite simply the previous Government’s aquaculture reforms did not work with no new marine farming space being populated since 2004 and with little prospect of some being opened up in the future—in fact there have been 9 long years of more inaction I tell Mr Hawkins which is far worse than not being at a select committee hearing. 
 The amendment to the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004 that we are welcoming today provides the Crown with an additional option for complying with its aquaculture pre-commencement space obligation. In particular this bill incorporates into the Act provisions that deal with regional agreements. The bill therefore must be seen in the context of the $97 million early settlement of the Crown’s pre-commencement space obligations to iwi. The bill gives effect to an agreement between the Crown and the iwi of Te Wai Pounamu and Hauraki for an early settlement in the pre-commencement space obligation in these regions. The Crown is demonstrating a genuine commitment to fulfil its obligations to iwi albeit in a limited way given that there is a general consensus that very little space is available for new aquaculture—mainly mussel farming—developments. 
The Maori Party has advocated urgent progress to ensure that iwi will get full value from settlements so in this regard we welcome the intention from the Crown to make up for lost time and previous efforts. Most important of all we welcome the proactive movement of the people. Today I stand in this House to commend nga iwi o Te Wai Pounamu me Hauraki a conglomerate of Ngati Apa ki Te Ra To Ngati Koata Ngati Rarua Ngati Kuia Ngati Tama ki Te Tau Ihu Ngati Toa Te Atiawa ki Te Tau Ihu Rangitane o Wairau Kai Tahu and the Hauraki Maori Trust Board. 
These iwi have come together motivated by two powerful drivers. Firstly they seek to make the difference in enabling early settlement in respect of Te Wai Pounamu and Hauraki. The bill provides a solution to the limited prospects for generating settlement assets for iwi by 2014. The second effect of the iwi initiative is that it will allow the same scenario to be negotiated in other regions. Iwi who are consulted appear to favour regional agreements seemingly based on the fact that there is no new space. The select committee also spoke enthusiastically about this first agreement as a template and exemplar for other regions. Its report also noted the willingness of Te Wai Pounamu and Hauraki iwi to help other iwi to achieve similar settlements. All of this is very positive; I remind the House that some estimates suggest that there is great potential for aquaculture to be a $1 billion industry by 2025. 
The Maori Party fully endorses the response from the select committee which identified the overwhelming support from iwi and industry for the early pre-commencement space settlement provided for in this bill. There are however some issues inherent in the context of mussel farming that I want just to touch on. Mussel farms of course are an artificial construct and some adverse effects must be taken into account as we develop further such as the debris of mussel shells that litter the seabed floor or the loss of juvenile fish that become entangled in the farms and depleted as prey. We must always weigh up the ecological balance and the arguments around sustainability. In this light I recognise the initiative of Golden Bay Cement which is removing debris from the seabed and recycling it as a form of pure lime. We want to support the aquaculture industry to be an ecologically sustainable one and we welcome any initiatives the industry can bring forward to ensure environmental quality and biodiversity. 
This is a great day to celebrate the initiative that iwi have taken in advancing Maori aquaculture development. I acknowledge the sentiments expressed by Minister Smith in respect of seeing that as something we can build on for the foreshore and seabed negotiations. We hope that those negotiations will go as well as this negotiation has gone. We in the Maori Party fully agree with the select committee that the process undertaken to agree the deed of settlement and this bill is an excellent example of cooperation and collaboration between iwi and between the Crown and iwi. We are delighted to support this bill. Tena tatou katoa.