Horomia Parekura: Maori Trustee Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Horomia Parekura: Maori Trustee Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:653;Page:2320] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 E mihi kau ana ki te Minita Maori mo te take nei. E tika tonu ki te tautokotia atu nga mihimihi i puta a-waha i a koe Hekia mo to tatou kaiwhakahaere a Helen. E mohio atu tatou e tautokotia atu te katoa o Maori. No reira tena tatou. 
[ 
I acknowledge the Minister of Maori Affairs in respect of this matter. It is fitting indeed that I endorse the acknowledgments expressed by you Hekia about our leader Helen. We know that all Maori are in total support. So greetings to us 
.] 
I recognise the Minister of Maori Affairs for bringing the Maori Trustee Amendment Bill through to this stage. Hopefully after further discussions he might clip on the other part of the bill that has been cut off because this was a whole package. I certainly want to recognise the Minister for doing that. 
The Maori Affairs Committee stated in its report: “The bill as introduced addresses two distinct subjects. First it would introduce changes to establish the Maori Trustee as a stand-alone organisation. … the bill sets up a new independent statutory corporation to further Maori economic development”—and I repeat “Maori economic development” which seems to be the buzz in the air at the moment—“by utilising the resources available to Maori. Having considered and heard submissions on the bill [the committee] concluded that the first intention of the bill to establish the Maori Trustee as a stand-alone organisation has considerable merit and support. We believe however that the arrangements proposed for the statutory corporation to further Maori economic development are contentious and deserve further consideration.” I further quote the select committee: “The new bill which would establish the Maori Trustee as a stand-alone organisation has been renamed the Maori Trustee Amendment Bill. The new bill to set up the independent statutory corporation to further Maori economic development will continue to be known as the Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill.” and the committee has recommended changes to the bill. 
This has been a long drawn-out exercise. There have been reviews and more reviews in relation to the Maori Trustee to those aspects that align with Te Ture Whenua Maori Act and to the complications I suppose of both ownership tenure and intergenerational adjustments by new lots of Maori who may not have the old tikanga in relation to land tenure and what happens to it. There have been complications. Multiplicity has brought some of those about. There have been complications with legislation in the sense that sometimes only 75 percent has to be in agreement to do any development. That is why I again recommend to the Minister that he should consider the tail end of this bill which should really be the front end and the issue of a revolving fund to ensure that the enterprise generated off the land is aided and abetted. 
We support the changes introduced to establish the Maori Trustee as a stand-alone organisation. The bill provides for robust accountability for public funding by including the Maori Trustee on the fourth schedule of the Public Finance Act. This will have the effect of applying appropriate reporting and other accountability provisions that were not there before. In respect of funding provided by the Crown one of the things that was never really understood by the nation was that the Crown continually purchased certain aspects that the Maori Trustee managed on its behalf. That money was paid in and it was supposed to be returned. It accumulated to a fine figure of nearly $63 million and the previous Government had agreed to write that off in exchange for other developments. That is something that needs to be tidied up and I was pleased to hear that the Minister will continue to tidy that up. There has been a long debate between successive Governments and the Maori Trustee about whether it is a true debt a loan or a fund of ours. I think that it needs to be tidied up. The fourth schedule of the Public Finance Act is quite interesting; other organisations have similar arrangements. The Maori Trustee will be given autonomy but also be allowed to do those things it is struggling to do within confining legislation. 
The bill provides that the Maori Trustee will be appointed by the Minister of Maori Affairs—and that is right because it is the Minister’s responsibility—for a renewable term of up to 5 years. Further amendments will enable the new stand-alone Maori Trustee to employ his or her own staff. The previous Maori Trustee was part of the ministry of Te Puni Kokiri. This bill splits the Maori Trustee apart from Te Puni Kokiri giving it its own entity and the opportunity to choose staff. On the staff matter then that should give the Maori Trustee the flexibility to get those skills and expertise we need around a very large opportunity in the sense of enterprise development on the land. 
The bill also makes changes to the way in which interest on money held in trust in the common fund is determined. It has been the past practice that interest earned by the Maori Trustee was split and banked and the minimum which at times was between 3 and 4 percent was returned to owners. This legislation will give more opportunity for owners to have a more participatory role in the sense of the fund so that it can help to trigger the capital needs they may have. 
One of the real flaws tensions and strains—no different for Pakeha or Asian businesses—is the availability of capital. One thing we had been discussing which was discussed at length at hui around the country was the attempt to put together a revolving fund accumulated up to about $200 million. That is real because it would have been Maori money whether it came from the Poutama Maori Business Trust the Crown Forestry Rental Trust or the Maori Trustee. The Government was prepared to make a commitment of $40 million. I recognise encourage and understand what the Minister of Maori Affairs has now done with his commission and so on but I strongly recommend to the Minister that that revolving fund should be reconsidered. It has a whole lot of answers that we would struggle to go and find elsewhere in the sense of chasing and buttering up to people to give Maori some money. We are talking about Maori money—real Maori money—in a revolving fund. I thought I would mention that seeing that the bill is being split. 
The common fund is where the difference has been—between banking the interest or using it. This bill now gives the Maori Trustee the flexibility to be more innovative and at least to have a template so that people can understand what they can go along and get support for. I see the Maori Trustee in the future as being one of the key conduits in relation to enterprise and development because again those seem to be the buzzwords everywhere else. We should understand that a lot of Maori are already there whether in kiwifruit or beef and cattle. It is no mean feat that Maori are the biggest exporters of meat in this country—the single biggest. They are heading towards being the single biggest forest owners and they have a huge say in the kiwifruit area. 
The real question is whether the bill goes far enough. Maori were consulted on proposals to set up the Maori Trustee as a stand-alone organisation as well as on the changes to reporting arrangements. During consultation with Maori on the proposals for a stand-alone trustee a wider discussion emerged at hui in relation to the revolving fund. Maori are feeling the sharp edge of the recession and I hear the Prime Minister and his Ministers continually saying that they want to engineer and engender an economy that is strong and that can be sustained in this country. This bill is one way to do that. By utilising the Maori Trustee and the assets there Maori can really help themselves and ensure that their contribution to the economy is of their doing is from their capital support and is not from having to wait cap in hand for everybody else. 
The operation of the accumulated debt to the Crown write-off is important. Section 41 of the Maori Trustee Act 1953 allows the Minister of Finance to recover amounts paid for the expenses of the Maori Trust Office—that is before 1 July 2008 which is when the previous Government moved to have the debt written off. The money held in the common fund needs to be invested. I suggest that the fund is a great platform for Maori. Everybody else tries to use it—for example major companies in this country with the products that come from them. This is a major opportunity and here is one of the rare examples we have of Maori having money in a fund. 
I am certainly encouraged by the Minister of Maori Affairs’ continuation of this bill in ensuring that it gets to a place where it is better off. I certainly want to recommend it. We will be supporting the bill.