Samuels Dover: Maori Fisheries Bill Te Ture Whenua Maori Amendment Bill (No 2) / Maori Land Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Samuels Dover: Maori Fisheries Bill Te Ture Whenua Maori Amendment Bill (No 2) / Maori Land Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Volume:620;Page:15771] 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 A tena koe Mr Speaker. Te meatuatahimaku kei te mihi atu ki ngakaumatua e noho mai ra e Koro e Doug Kidd e Graham. Kei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa moteneira tino nui rawa atu mo te iwi Maori. 
I am just acknowledging our three kaumatua Doug Graham Koro Wetere and Doug Kidd. I also want to acknowledge members of the commission and another kaumatua Sir Tipene O’Regan. I think it is appropriate that these kaumatua these gentlemen are acknowledged in terms of the history and the origins of this legislation. It is quite interesting for me to stand here and listen to some of the contributions that have been made by my colleagues across on the other side of the floor. I think when we listen to the contribution made by the Hon Parekura Horomia and the response he got from the other side it shows us exactly the reason why this issue has been on the boil for over 12 years. 
I have listened to my whanaunga Winston Peters—and I acknowledge his whanaungatanga in terms of Ngati Wai—talk about the new net going fishing and how the old one has a lot of holes in it. I am going to tell the House that I am a bit of a fisherman from way back and I certainly know about holes in nets. I think when it comes to the time when there are so many holes it is time not only to patch up the holes or to buy a new net but perhaps for my whanaunga to buy himself a longline. Certainly some of the contributions he has made have been very enlightening to the House with regard to his whakapapa with the National Party; it is very interesting in terms of the origins of the legislation. 
It is a big day for Maoridom. What I would like to advocate for our people is that this Government is delivering for Maori. It has been a long and tortuous pathway for us to get here. I can see the National Party over there frothing at the mouth and squinting and saying: “We have heard about this before.” but the reality is that today we are here at the end of line and we are delivering the goods. Our people will go out fishing. Not only will we challenge this industry; we own over 50 percent of it from the corporate model. We will get it. We will start cooking and not with hangi stones but with gas. We are going to start cooking with gas. We have a corporate model here and I look forward to Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd at the end of the day coming out with a big bottom line and saying that Maoridom has made a big profit. We support that. 
On the other side there is a process to deliver the goods to our iwi through the mandated iwi organisation provisions in this legislation—that is to deliver to mandated iwi organisations that will ultimately deliver what belongs to the people at the grass roots. That gives me great encouragement and this House should be proud of it. It is the only time in the history of this nation that legislation like this has been supported by this House whereby the mechanisms actually deliver to the grass roots of our whanau and our hapu. Since their disenfranchisement in the late 1980s many of our people have been waiting peneii te kawauneiirungai te kohatu—like a shag on the rock. I do not know Mr Speaker whether you have seen a shag on the rock but usually that bird is waiting for a fish to jump—e tatariana kia peke te takeke; waiting for the piper to jump. I say to this House that the waiting is now over. The piper has jumped and the kawau has flown. 
I want to commend to congratulate and to acknowledge the contribution of my colleagues on the select committee and specifically our chairperson Russell Fairbrother. He has been a good chairman and put up with a lot of argy-bargy. I do not want to say that in Maori because somebody might ask me to interpret what I really mean. Russell Fairbrother has been a very fair chairman. I know that my colleague Phil Heatley knows more about this bill than his colleague Gerry Brownlee. I invite Gerry Brownlee to go on to one of the waka one day go out fishing and understand what fishing is all about. I will have to raise the  
Titanic 
 and I am sorry about that but we do not have a waka big enough for the deputy leader of the Opposition. 
This is a big day for Maoridom. I am glad to be here this evening to share this day with our kaumatua colleagues the commission and Sir Tipene O’Regan. I hope that at the end of this session we will all be invited to a bit of a celebration where members of this House can taste the cuisine of the Maori quota—crayfish and its delicacies. No reira me mutuakukorero. 
[ 
So I must end my remarks here 
.] 
I would even invite Ken Shirley. I know that the generosity of our people will invite him even though he wants to sell everything. That is the reason why he does not support this legislation. 
Na reira tu atu ana ki konei ki tenei o nga whare ki te mihi whanui atu ki a koutou katoa. Whakarongo mai te iwi Maori ko tenei te rawhakahirahira whakanuiputanoaitotatoumotu. Huriana tena koutou a tena koutou kia ora mai anotatou katoa. Kia ora tatou. 
[ 
And so I stand here to acknowledge you all broadly. I want you the Maori people to take heed. This is a significant and important day for us throughout our country. So greetings and greetings to you throughout and greetings indeed to all of us. Thank you all 
.]