Katene Rahui: Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill — First Reading 
Katene Rahui: Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:11775] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 In the words of the people of Stewart Island the Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowering Bill has been a long time coming. Indeed it would be rare to find anyone on the island who has voiced any opposition to the bill. That in itself makes a pretty good argument to support it. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but maybe she should move to another microphone as there is some feedback. Is that OK? 
RAHUI KATENE 
: How is this? 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: We will try that. I have stopped the clock so you are all right. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. One of the local residents Ngati Kahungunu woman Gwen Neave remembers debates around the proposal to initiate a levy for visitors to Rakiura when she was a member of the Southland District Council back in 1978. It was a debate that reared up again in the 1980s. 
I think one of the dilemmas that confront a community is how to express manaakitanga without exploiting or damaging the quality of their home around them. We are aware of the increasing number of visitors who are making their way to the island. When I was talking to my stepmother just a few minutes ago she said that it was at Rakiura where she first tasted blue cod. She talked about putting the line over the side and getting three blue cod at the same time. It is just as well she learnt to like it because it was their staple diet once she married dad. She also spoke about being able to bring back kina from Rakiura that was the biggest my father had ever seen which must be a record because he had seen a few. She said they only had to walk out knee-deep to get it. She just loves Rakiura. She says it is the island of the gleaming sun and that it is pristine and beautiful there. We hope that it remains that way and we hope that this levy will be one way that it can remain like that. 
On one hand we have busloads of manuhiri exploring Rakiura which is great for the local economy and in particular the tourism industry. But the damage that day trippers can cause must also be taken into account. The toll that fluctuating populations make on the local infrastructure the roading sewerage health services volunteer services and the footpaths has to be taken into account. If we take just the area of roading the unique island life brings with it a host of other implications. Local roading is a lot more difficult to maintain when all of the heavy machinery that is required needs to be transported from the mainland by barge. We are talking about a village that is hit by power prices that are four times higher than across the strait. 
But I have to say again that it is disappointing to read the bill and to see no reference at all to mana whenua and their views on the levy. Under section 313 of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu articulates a special cultural spiritual historic and traditional association with Rakiura and to Te Ara-a-Kiwa otherwise known as the Pathway of Kiwa or Foveaux Strait. In fact Rakiura has an association with all tangata whenua in relationship to the succession of explorers and iwi who travelled around the coastline at various times. It is said that Maui in order to keep his waka from drifting away reached into the sea and pulled up a stone to be used as an anchor which he named Te Puka o Te Waka-a-Maui which was the original name for Rakiura or Stewart Island. For Ngai Tahu traditions and histories such as these reinforce tribal identity and solidarity and continuity between generations. So we would be very interested to know the views of the local families still on the island or indeed of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu on the significance of this levy.  
Another key source of knowledge about the value of this levy would come from Te Ao Marama. This is authorised to represent Te Runaka o Awarua Hokonui Runanga Oraka Aparima Runaka and Waihopai Runaka who hold mana whenua over all ancestral lands in Murihiku. It has a formal memorandum of understanding with Environment Southland the Invercargill City Council the Gore District Council and the Southland District Council so one would assume they would have a particular interest in how this levy will be administered how the funds gathered from the levy will be distributed and for what purposes. 
We know that mana whenua on Rakiura are consulted about matters to do with conservation fishing and Maori land and we hope that this consultation continues with the levy. We cannot forget that the history of Ngai Tahu as laid out at the Waitangi Tribunal was very drastic but we can create a better future for them and a Treaty-based partnership would be a good step forward. Thank you.