SpeechMATT KING (National—Northland): Madam Chair thank you very much. I'm going to touch on Māori land and also on the Treaty negotiations side of things. But I would like to kick it off by acknowledging the passing of Pita Paraone a man from Northland a well-respected man from up there on the Waitangi National Trust Board a former member of New Zealand First and an all-round good guy. So I'd like to acknowledge him.I'd also like to acknowledge my friend Rino Tirikatene who is the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. He's a good friend of mine and he's also a very good chair. He runs a very bipartisan and friendly committee. Actually the Māori Affairs Committee is probably the best select committee to be on in terms of friendship. I understand that from the Vote Treaty Negotiations $1.4 billion approximately has been set down for over the next four years—from 2019 to 2023. I'm just wondering whether any of that money is going to be diverted away into Ihumātao. I know that we asked the Hon Grant Robertson if any money was spent on it and he danced on the head of a pin two weeks ago and avoided the answer.But anyway: Treaty settlements. For Northland New Zealand's largest iwi Ngāpuhi—we're still not settled. And I've got to acknowledge Chris Finlayson. I mean if you want to talk about Treaty settlements the National Party beats Labour hands down in the Treaty settlement department by a factor of four. But in terms of Northland—undeveloped land: we've got a lot of undeveloped land in Northland. So I asked the Minister Nanaia Mahuta about where they'd got with Te Ture Whenua Māori Act because in Northland we've got the worst stats in the country for health education crime and infrastructure. A third of our land is Department of Conservation land it doesn't pay rates and a third is Māori land some of which doesn't pay rates. So a third of the land pays the lion's share of the rates. So it's in the interests of everyone in Northland to try and get their heads around getting Māori land into production. So it's essential to the prosperity of Northland.So I asked the Minister what they were doing with that and she assures me Minister Nanaia Mahuta that they are working on a set of amendments that they're going to bring in later this year or early next year. So I look forward to that because we did a lot of the work behind that and our coalition partners the Māori Party led that charge of widespread consultation. I know that the previous speaker said that the Labour Party are leading the charge—well we did a lot of work there: widespread consultation 100-plus hui a six-year exercise draft legislation was presented a first-class dispute resolution service and also a body set up to help them with development. But hello there was a politically motivated misinformation campaign and this bill got set aside—didn't get to it.So that's where we stand. So we put in the hard yards and we did the work and for whatever reason it didn't get there. So I really hope that the current Government are able to progress that law because there are definite and real benefits to Māori land owners and the economy in general.I know that the Hon Andrew Little and the team have set up the Te Arawhiti office of Māori Crown Relations which incorporates the former Office of Treaty Settlements. I look forward to the day that the Treaty settlement is complete for Ngāpuhi. It's a complex negotiation and I know that again we were just about there—we were just about there at the negotiating table. According to Ngāpuhi leaders that I've spoken to it was looking like we were nearly there and then Andrew Little came along and now we're back at square one.So I hope that younger Ngāpuhi leaders step up to the plate and I'm seeing good signs of that. I've spoken with the Minister Andrew Little and I know he is sincere in his approach and I hope that he is able to secure a deal—a deal that all parties can live with. Māori will definitely benefit from this as will Northland. I hope that I am still in Parliament when this Ngāpuhi Treaty settlement goes through. Thank you.