Hereora Dave: Maori Purposes Bill — First Reading 
Hereora Dave: Maori Purposes Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:3968] 
DAVE HEREORA (Labour) 
: 
 I take the opportunity to take a brief call to speak in support of the Maori Purposes Bill tabled by my colleague the Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Parekura Horomia. As chairman of the Maori Affairs Committee I look forward to receiving this bill and to the opportunity for that select committee to review it and to report back to the House. 
The Standing Orders make it clear that a Maori Purposes bill is a bill that amends one or more Acts relating to Maori affairs or deals with authorisations transfers and validations in respect of Maori land and property. This bill certainly does that. The Maori Purposes Bill 2006 that has been tabled provides for amendments to Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 the Maori Fisheries Act 2004 and the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004. From my reading of the bill I will comment on each of the amendments. 
Firstly in relation to Te Ture Whenua Maori Act and particularly those amendments that affect the Maori Land Court this bill will mean that Maori will have improved access to justice as provided by that court. Amendments include increasing the statutory cap on the number of permanent judges that can be appointed to the Maori Land Court from eight to 14. That will allow more Maori Land Court judges to be appointed to handle the increasing workload of the court as the need for extra judges arises. The bill will authorise the Chief Judge to delegate his or her powers and functions to the Deputy Chief Judge which will allow the court to function more efficiently. In line with longstanding practice this amendment will ensure that minor and necessary corrections can be made in a timely fashion. In relation to the validation of the decisions of Judge Norman F Smith in November 2000 when he was acting outside the the term of his temporary judicial warrant this amendment will ensure that the judicially determined rights of applicants to the Maori Land Court at that time are protected. 
The bill will clarify the role of the court in the resolution of disputes arising under the Maori Fisheries Act and the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act. This relates to the disputes resolution process used by the court for disputes arising under those two Acts. This amendment will ensure that Maori Land Court lawyers and applicants will understand how the disputes resolution process is to work. These amendments will provide clarity and certainty to aspects of the operations of the Maori Land Court over the last few years and for the future given the importance of that court to the processes that are now under way to provide for the better utilisation of Maori assets. These amendments are important and I urge all members of this House to support them. 
In relation to the amendments to the Treaty of Waitangi Act I am pleased to note that the bill will implement this Government’s election pledge to set a closing date of 1 September 2008 for the submission of all historical Treaty claims to the Waitangi Tribunal. A statutory date will give Maori the Crown and the Waitangi Tribunal the certainty of knowing that the historical inquiry process will be completed in a timely fashion. A time limit will allow Maori to concentrate on reaching settlements with the Crown. 
The Maori Fisheries Act will be amended to allow Te Ohu Kai Moana to take account of section 28N rights in allocation. The section 28N rights are the preferential allocation of quota share to the holders of those rights. The Act will also be amended to ensure that the processes for deciding harbour quota claims are technically appropriate and are resolved by agreement between relevant iwi in line with the original policy intent. 
Finally in the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004 the definition of “pre-commencement space” will be amended to exclude areas not intended to be included in that definition. I commend this bill to the House and look forward to considering it at the select committee.