Tisch Lindsay: Maori Fisheries Bill — In Committee 
Tisch Lindsay: Maori Fisheries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15611] 
LINDSAY TISCH (National—Piako) 
: 
 Part 3 is an interesting part. I think we need to go back to some of the comments that Gerry Brownlee made because they put in perspective where we have come from since 1992. If we were to look at the period since the settlement of 1992 which allocated 20 percent of fisheries to Maori we would see that over the last 12 years iwi have had little access to this asset. As we said during the debate on Part 2 one of the problems we found with it was that the asset was actually not able to be accessed by the stakeholder. That was a very important point and was why my colleague Phil Heatley put forward an amendment to allow that sort of access. 
Here in Part 3 Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd in our view has to be able more easily to give advice to give leadership and to promote the opportunity for iwi who can demonstrate that they are viable are commercially sensitive and have business acumen—those things that we would look for in a commercial operation—to be able to take over their own fisheries. In our view Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd has a responsibility to be part of that to be that catalyst to facilitate that change and to build that goodwill which is not there at the moment. At the end of the day what we are looking for is the ability for the asset the quota to be transferred to those iwi who can demonstrate that they have those capabilities. It is my learned colleague Phil Heatley’s assessment that the layers of bureaucracy that are in place do not allow streamlining to take place and that the process has been shackled because of that. 
My colleague Georgina te Heuheu mentioned that Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd should be there to set free as it were those iwi who are commercially viable and can handle the asset. She talked about their being in a cage and I felt that was a very good description. Iwi that want access are stuck in a cage and do not have that opportunity. So the real obligation on Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd is to ensure there is as little delay as possible in the transfer of this asset. It should be showing good faith and should be able to move to transfer the asset as quickly as possible. 
My colleague Wayne Mapp with his Supplementary Order Paper 257 has clearly identified a process that meets that requirement and sets some bars. There is a threshold that has to be met so it is not just a case of giving quota out of giving the asset away. His Supplementary Order Paper looks to help commercially qualified iwi access their offshore quota. I hope the Minister of Fisheries will take a call on it as I would be interested to hear his view. I hope other Government members take a call on it as well. Wayne Mapp’s amendment puts in place some actual thresholds that have to be met and I think that is important because we want to make sure that the asset is protected. If we look at his Supplementary Order Paper we see in subsection (2) of section 119B “Applications for transfer of quota” that a commercially qualified iwi “(a) is recognised by Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited as a mandated iwi organisation: and (b) holds for all relevant quota management stocks registered coastline entitlements as provided for by section 11; and (c) can demonstrate a positive return to iwi members by means of an increase in shareholder value over a period of not less than 3 consecutive years.” I think that sets a hurdle sets a bar which is very important. It is not just a case of giving quota away for the sake of it because it sounds good or because it is expected. If we want to maintain the asset the amendments on this Supplementary Order Paper should be passed.