Sharples Pita: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Sharples Pita: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:637;Page:7934] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 The appropriations debate is a prime opportunity to remind the House of the constitutional role prescribed in Westminster-based parliamentary systems by which the Crown may tax borrow or spend only as authorised by Parliament. And what could possibly be more constitutionally important than the administration of due justice? We turn today to the Ministry of Justice and in particular the review of the Waitangi Tribunal. 
Twenty years ago in 1987 history was made in the Court of Appeal when in the case of the  
New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General 
 it found that “The duty of the Crown is not merely passive but extends to the active protection of Maori people in the use of their lands and waters to the fullest extent practicable.” In reviewing the progress towards the duty of active protection the Justice and Electoral Committee looked critically at the Ministry of Justice’s key objectives for 2005-06 in order to strengthen the relationship between the Crown and Maori. And so it should. 
To get a sense of how well the ministry has done one had only to turn last week to the 5-yearly report of the Human Rights Commission that reviewed progress in race relations. And what does the report state that the key challenge for future years should be? It is to strengthen the relationship between the Crown and Maori as stated by Mr Finlayson. That is exactly what the Ministry of Justice intended to do but it failed abysmally. 
We in the Maori Party know that ever since the settlement process began claimants and lawyers have been expressing grave concerns about the process itself the terms of settlement the amount set aside for settlement and the agency charged with managing the settlements. Those concerns have come from nearly all claimants and their lawyers from all parts of the country. Indeed even the Justice and Electoral Committee pointed out and Mr Finalyson mentioned this that it was concerned that a number of reports were still taking a long time to complete including the report of Te Tau Ihu—Wai 785—the hearings of which took 4 years to complete. There has been no report. The committee went further and declared that some Waitangi Tribunal hearings and reports were still taking too long to complete. 
Tribunal hearings are often long and costly affairs. Iwi have also told us that because of the lengthy nature of the tribunal hearings and the fact that their rulings have no value claimant groups are being pressured into direct negotiations with the Crown. 
But it gets worse. Last Monday Cabinet in its infinite wisdom noted that “there is not currently a process for ensuring relevant Ministers are advised when Landcorp properties are being considered for sale”. Then to make matters worse by the end of the week Labour had announced that everything was going into the mix—that land banking section 27B memorials and protection mechanisms were all going to be put up for scrutiny. In other words everything is a mess and it is not just a case of the policy wheels falling off. For we know that all is not well in the Labour camp with the Maori caucus referring issues to the “Minister Who Knows Everything” and a great yawning chasm opening between the Maori caucus and the Ministers in the know. If this Government cannot even brief its own Maori members what chance do whanau hapu and iwi have? 
The select committee report rather weakly recommended that the ministry will improve on its satisfactory ratings in the near future. Well the Maori Party is not satisfied with that. We cannot sit by and idly watch the Crown settle claims at about 2 percent of the real value of the claims thereby forcing Maori to accept far less than their claims are worth. Yet we do not see the same standards being applied to the high country farm leases when those settlements occur. One law for all? Yeah right! We also know that signing off on unfair settlements means that we sabotage the futures of our up and coming generations by getting them to finish what we could not do. 
Under these circumstances then we believe it is time for us all to reflect on the settlement process and to urgently review the terms the quantum and the agency managing Treaty settlements. The Government’s crisis call to put a halt to the sale of all properties owned by Government departments and agencies has made this financial review an urgency. 
If the hearings and reports take too long and are too costly if one branch of Government does not advise the other and if one faction of Government will not consult its own members then how can anyone have any confidence in the Minister Mark Burton or in the Ministry of Justice? In the light of all these fatal flaws the Maori Party is calling for a total review of the Treaty settlement process.