Horomia Parekura: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
Horomia Parekura: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15827] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 The Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) is important legislation. It brings together a number of amendments that are critical to Maori and each part shows that. As a result this bill’s passage into law will be a significant milestone for Maori and it will be well appreciated. 
For example in Part 1 the amendments formalise the establishment of a seventh regional management committee in Kawhia . This amendment will allow the five marae in Kawhia to cluster together to ensure that they fully participate in decision making related to their area. Part 2 provides for a new annual payment from the Crown to the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board under a new agreement relating to Lake Taupo—something that has been outstanding for a long long time. This is an important event for Ngati Tuwharetoa who as a result of this bill can get on with business and realise the potential of their settlement. This part of the bill will also allow as speakers have pointed out our rangatahi to be fully involved in trust board matters by allowing 18 and 19-year-old beneficiaries to vote in trust board elections. Once this bill is passed our rangatahi will be legitimately involved in deciding who will manage the governance entities and the management of and distribution from the fisheries. 
Part 3 will provide the Waitangi Tribunal with up to four additional members. This Government takes the role of the Waitangi Tribunal in our nation’s progress towards the settlement of Treaty claims very very seriously and we are well on track with that. I really want to mihi to that great member Matiu Rata; I think anybody who is nonsensical enough to talk ill of the dead needs to get his or her facts or marbles together. It is this commitment that has led us to respond quickly to iwi. If members travel the roadways of this nation they will understand that several iwi are in tandem with the Government that the Treaty settlements are well progressed by the Deputy Prime Minister in his role as the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and that iwi are flocking in to get finality and to be as serious as this Government is about achieving that. 
This bill represents the Government’s latest efforts to ensure the Waitangi Tribunal is adequately resourced by providing it with the people to power it. This Government has increased the tribunal’s funding—I would like those members to listen to this—by 60 percent since 2001. The previous Government thought ill of the tribunal and did not even give it any funding. Most recently the Government in Budget 2007 injected a further $7.7 million into the tribunal over a 4-year period. This latest boost saw the funding of the tribunal rise by a further 25 percent. That is how serious we are about it. 
In relation to the membership of the board I say tena koe to Mr Paraone for his very supportive korero. There are currently 15 members of the tribunal. One member has resigned—Sir Paul Reeves—for a host of reasons and we are currently appointing a new member to replace him. 
Hon Member 
: Who’s that? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It will not be the member. It is very very serious and important that we get the other four members because there is a lot to do in this business. A hang of a lot is going on whether one is in Heretaunga talking about one’s awa Tutaekuri or whether one is up in Tuwharetoa revelling in what the Government has done in relation to Taupo-nui-a-Tia. Wherever one is this Government is serious about the tribunal and the finality at the end of September brings things forward. We will most certainly cherish that Maori are appreciated in this great nation. Kia ora tatou.