Smith Murray: Budget Debate 
Smith Murray: Budget Debate 
[Volume:608;Page:5920] 
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
: 
 United Future was delighted to see the provision of $895000 in this Budget for a second claims development team and to see that this provision is not just for this coming year but for subsequent years as well. I was also very pleased to see there was a commitment in the Budget to claim development and pre-negotiation as important focuses of the Labour Party and the Government. United Future specifically requested that those claims funds be put into the Budget and we are very pleased that the Government has responded to that request from us. However I note that the Office of Treaty Settlements significantly underspent its budget in this financial year. As I said in a speech last week it is important the office is now proactive—especially now it has a second claims development team—in bringing iwi and other significant Maori groups to the point where they can negotiate and finalise treaty settlements so that we can get the process speeded up. 
The second thing that United Future is very happy about is the increased funding for the Waitangi Tribunal. Again that is something we have been pushing for. The sums of $320000 this coming year and $500000 in subsequent years will go some way towards helping to spread the case management system that has been trialled to other case management solutions. Even as recently as last week I was calling for more to be done to speed up the process and therefore we are very happy with the commitment the Government has made to that. However this does represent an astonishing turn-round by the Labour Party and I think that that is due to some extent to United Future’s pressure on and influence with the Government both publicly and privately to have that process speeded up. I have given many speeches and asked many questions over the last year to that end and it is nice to see those labours bearing some fruit. 
Labour has been vague and woolly with regard to the treaty settlement process up until now. In its manifesto Labour says: “The process must maintain its integrity. Labour will not compromise the integrity of the settlement process by speeding it up beyond the capacity of those involved to a point where the fullness and finality of settlements must be brought into question.” The Minister for Courts last year on 17 October in response to a question from me about funding for claims involving research planning and casebook research said: “Even if research funding was available for all those claims at once the resources required in terms of personnel and counsel etc. would not be available to hear all those cases at once. The claimants themselves would probably not be ready.” 
In response to that answer in a speech later in the House I asked: “Why does the Minister simply dismiss the underfunding of the tribunal by saying that even if the research was completed the claimants would probably not be ready to proceed? How can she know that? Surely if the Crown were able to go to the claimants and say ‘We’ve got our act together; when will you get your act together?’ it would provide a substantial spur to the claimants to get going. However as it is” I said “the claimants say: ‘Oh well the Government has not done its part yet so there is no urgency on us.’ How serious” I asked “is this Government in trying to get the settlements through? Moreover why does the Government not provide the funding that is necessary in order to see all this process through into the tribunal and to get these matters out of the way so that they can be discussed negotiated and settled?” . 
We have now seen a turn-round from the Government. Members may like to contrast the response from the Minister quoted earlier with the answers she gave last week to questions I asked her in the House. I asked: “… will she commit herself to doing all that she can to ensure that enough resourcing is provided to the tribunal to implement the new approach for all claims given her promise to the House on 17 October 2002 that if the Government could resolve historical grievances before 2010 it would?”. Her answer was “Yes.” I asked: “Given the Minister’s commitment to assisting the tribunal to complete its investigations by the 2010 deadline is she willing to commit herself to a target date of 2015 by which to have 90 percent of historical treaty claims fully settled;”. She said: “… yes we will put forward our best endeavours to be able to achieve that target.” I think that that is an amazing turn-round in terms of policy and I am delighted to see it. I will be holding the Government to account on that commitment so that we can see all historical treaty grievances settled by 2015. 
United Future has undoubtedly had a significant impact on this Government’s priorities and policy implementation. In this Budget alone $140 million has been spent on United Future initiatives and requests. In contrast to the role played by the other minor parties United Future is making MMP work.