Katene Rahui: Infrastructure Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Katene Rahui: Infrastructure Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:9808. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 The relationship of tangata whenua to roads rails and motorways has been a long and painful one. The member’s bill on the acquisition of Maori land for public works that has been put up by my colleague Te Ururoa Flavell the Public Works (Offer Back of and Compensation for Acquired Land) Amendment Bill cites examples of what we could define as compulsory alienation. To put this contemporary bill into a historical context I want the House to recall that by 1885 Maori land could be taken for roads and railways under the main provisions of the Public Works Act or under the Crown right to take up to 5 percent of lands without compensation. Indeed in a letter of 9 February 1928 to Sir Peter Buck Sir Apirana Ngata suggested that the provisions for taking land without compensation for roads and railways did not end until 1927 when they ended as a result of Sir Apirana Ngata’s influence. 
Other concerns were raised over the last 170 years about the damage that the impact of infrastructure development might have. In reports tabled by John Ballance—Minister of Lands and Immigration Minister of Defence and Native Minister in the Stout-Vogel administration—we hear of many of these concerns. Maori were concerned that traditional food sources such as eel swamps and berry trees might be destroyed. When valuable timber was cut they wanted to be paid for it and they wanted to benefit from participation in decision making over road routes. 
Fast forward 120 years and the concerns are similar but different. We must never forget that the history of this land will carry forward into our discussions of today. This context always shapes the thinking that we undertake in creating new solutions for old problems. The problems of either century are related to the unintended effects of the decisions we make about infrastructure. We all know that a strong infrastructure is vital to an economy that runs well. It is about facilitating the movement of people goods and information around our country and around the world. Effective infrastructure is all about servicing housing and households. It is a primary means of enhancing community life and keeping us all connected. But we must never get into a position where economic growth is of more importance than social cultural or environmental concerns. 
 In this light the Maori Party supports improved public transport rather than investment in roading itself. We want to see more support for integrated public transport networks—buses trains and walking and cycling tracks. We are concerned about the impact of infrastructural decisions on our environment. In particular we want to reduce our reliance on oil in the face of peak oil. We have a preference for transport and roading that is frequent reliable and inexpensive. We will continue to put forward the view that an approach to infrastructure that is focused only on future economic growth will only ever be a limited one. 
Last year we were visited by Morey Wolfson the utilities programme manager in the Colorado Governor’s office. For those whose main association with utilities is through landing on the “Water Works” space in the game of Monopoly utility operators are those who manage electricity gas telecommunications water and waste water. This guy from Colorado had an interesting approach. He was motivated by five “E’s”: environment energy economy education and equity. He described this as the ecosystem of thinking. This type of thinking should be encouraged in all areas of infrastructure development. We are facing fundamental change and we need to be prepared on all fronts. 
The Infrastructure Bill is about reducing inefficiencies in the legislation and preventing the disputes that create project delays and increased costs. It takes into account factors such as the safe and efficient flow of traffic the health and safety of the public and the need to lessen disruption to businesses and the community. Just as in 1885 there were varied and passionate views about the role of Maori participation so too in 2010 we want to broaden the debate so we are talking about building up not only the nation’s hardware—such as hospitals prisons transmission lines and electricity plants—but also the nation’s economic growth potential. It must not be fast tracked at all costs placing stress on our environment or impacting on our capacity to live healthily and sustainably. We will support this bill in the interests of a broader debate.