Ardern Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Taxation (Annual Rates Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4227] 
SHANE ARDERN (NZ National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 If there was ever any evidence needed for what I said earlier in the general debate that never before in the history of New Zealand have we had a Government that has had so much yet delivered so little then here is the example. If members need a further example of why we are in such a mess with this legislation today they need look no further than watching an academic with a PhD getting involved in a topic—in this case tax law—that is not relevant to his or her area of expertise. 
I congratulate the Minister on taking a call and trying to explain how he has come to the half-baked conclusion he has come to—that we should have two different tax rates based on race. I acknowledge to the Minister and those present that there are some major issues in terms of multiple ownership in Maori incorporations and of how we should deal with them. I also acknowledge that some of those Maori incorporations are doing well despite all the difficulties they have and despite the Government—particularly this current Government. Today we are debating having two separate tax rates for Maori incorporations. A large chunk of them involve dairy farmers. Some of them are in my electorate where the population comprises 23 percent Maori. We are saying to them that it is fine for them to go out and compete with other dairy farmers of non-Maori descent on a different tax rate. We are saying that is fine and that it is not discrimination. 
I suggest to the Minister to the Maori members present and to those who are heading up some of these Maori incorporations that it is discrimination and this bill will not solve the problem. In fact what is likely to happen is that when we get the nanny State—headed by a socialist Government—interfering these incorporations are likely to fail. That has been the experience of Maori in New Zealand over generations under socialist regimes—led sometimes by National Governments I have to say and sometimes interfered with by National Governments but mostly led by Labour Governments—where Maori have been trapped into poverty steered up the wrong road and told that the nanny State will help them at the end of the day. 
Most of the heads of Maori incorporations have spoken to me and said that they have had enough that they are better than that and that they can foot it on the main stage with the best of them. And they are demonstrating that; there is no doubt that they can. The Hon John Tamihere has said that in recent speeches and I totally agree with him. In my view it is absolutely incomprehensible that United Future member Gordon Copeland could come down to the House and accuse Dr Lockwood Smith of getting it wrong because he has found somebody who is a non-Maori somewhere who will benefit from this tax rate— 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: He didn’t say he was a non-Maori. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: He did not say that? 
Brian Connell 
: He said he was Irish. 
SHANE ARDERN 
: He said he was of Irish descent but he could have Maori blood in him as well. He is saying that he has found somebody who does not fit the description in this bill and here we have the beginning of a rort because there is a group of people that somehow or other may be able to fit itself into this without meeting the criteria as most people understand them to be—and Gordon Copeland has actually said that. 
Obviously United Future members are in a hole here. They have vowed to support the bill and they know it will alienate most of those who voted for them. They know that the bill is absolutely opposed to what they campaigned on so they are trying to dig themselves out of a hole. Well the first lesson in politics is that if members are in a hole they should stop digging—and those members are in a hole. There is no way that United Future supporters will support the type of legislation that is in this bill. No amount of explanation and no amount of gymnastics in terms of trying to find a way around disclaiming what was said by my colleague the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith—who I would suggest has a lot more knowledge on this issue than the Minister himself has—will dig United Future members out of that hole. My advice to them is to stop digging. 
Chen Palmer said that $70 million worth of tax differential would go to the fishing industry alone. I suggest to the Minister that this industry is not headed by poor Maori. So who will be the beneficiaries? As the Hon Winston Peters has said many a time poor Maori have not even seen a snapper out of this industry. 
Rodney Hide 
: That was me! 
SHANE ARDERN 
: It might have been too but I know that the Rt Hon Winston Peters has used that line as well—not even a snapper.