Clendon David: Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClendon David: Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 31 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12200. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID CLENDON (Green):Kei te mihi nui ki a koutou. I am pleased to stand for the Greens to make a brief call to speak in support of the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Bill. When I first read the bill my thoughts went to the Māori Affairs Committee and I was not sure whether to envy its members the work they have ahead of them or to feel sorry for them for the work they have ahead of them. This bill is unique in my experience and I suspect it is unique in many ways. It does break new grounds. The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations referred to it as being an ambitious piece of legislation and it is ambitious in a good way. I think that the challenge for the select committee members will be to navigate their way through the submissions through the many many interests that will be expressed and the many parties who will take an interest in this legislation and to get an outcome that is satisfactory for everyone. I certainly in a sense envy them because it will be I think a fascinating process to hear the submissions to hear from the various interest groups. But also because of its complexity and because it is novel I think there is the potential for things to go horribly wrong but I am sure the committee will guide the process and get a satisfactory outcome for everyone. We certainly will be supportive of that outcome anyway.I think that the reason why this bill will attract a great deal of attention is the level of attachment to the various landscape features. The maunga the motu the land and the waterways around Auckland around Tāmaki-makau-rau carry a considerable burden of attachment not only for Māori but for Pākehā New Zealanders Pākehā Aucklanders and all of the other extraordinarily diverse and interesting cultural mix that now makes up Auckland’s population. For that reason I think the level of attachment to the maunga and to the various other landscape features does make this somewhat fraught as I have said. That level of attachment could easily roll over into distrust suspicion and a concern that the outcomes will not be ideal and that is something the select committee will need to deal with.One of the great strengths of this legislation is that it talks about co-governance so that all the people around the table—all the members of this collective Māori Auckland Council and the Crown representatives—are working at a strategic level. They will be making the key decisions about the future of this landscape and of these places. It is not just co-management. Not to decry the value and different contexts of a co-management model but this is a co-governance model that is being talked about. Allof the various parties—the 13 rōpū who make up the collective from the Māori side the council the Crown through the Department of Conservation and other agencies—are the governors of this land. That will carry a considerable burden of responsibility but also provide an opportunity to make it better to reveal the richness and the complexity of that landscape and the interactions that human beings have had with it over time. That is going to be something that will be an extraordinarily interesting set of developments both for the participants at the legal level at the legislative level and indeed for the people of Auckland as we progress through.There is considerable scope within the legislation and within this model of co-governance for having this collective act with authority and with responsibility for the maunga in particular. We only have to look at Maungauika or North Head as an example of what can be done in terms of bringing alive both the ancient and the modern history of a place—the work that the Department of Conservation has done in revealing and interpreting the Māori history the pre-European history and then of course the extraordinarily interesting military history of North Head with the restoration of the old fort bringing people on to that mountain and opening their eyes to both its historic and contemporary significance. There is considerable opportunity under this model for the richness of the other sites identified in it to be revealed over time to be brought to Aucklanders and to open people’s eyes to what has happened there. I think that will make Auckland a better place a more interesting place and it potentially will even enhance that attachment that Aucklanders feel to this extraordinary landscape and everything within it.In terms of the islands there is Rangitoto of course. If there is a single iconic symbol of Auckland it would have to be that mountain that island. Put aside the Sky Tower and the harbour bridge; all of those things will come and go. But Rangitoto is probably the single identifying motif for the Auckland area for Tāmaki-makau-rau to the extent that the management the governance of that island will be affected by this bill. I think there will be a level of concern about that and we hope that the select committee and the people will inform themselves about the positive potential. Similarly with Tiritiri Mātangi Island there has been an extraordinary investment of people’s time money and energy and considerable emotional investment in converting that island from a basically degraded pastureland with a few ramshackle buildings to what would have to be one of the jewels in the crown of the conservation estate restoring the vegetation and the natural ecosystems on that. I was privileged to be on Tiritiri Mātangi Island on the day that the tuatara were returned a number of years ago. Tuatara were brought back to that island as a secure place for them to breed and to continue.So there is this history of engagement of involvement and of emotional attachment to many of the sites that are dealt with in this bill. It will be a major challenge for this governance authority for this collective group to make sure that the people of Auckland do feel engaged with the future development and use of these sites which are important to all of us. It will be a complex task. I do not think we should underestimate how complex it will be. There are historic and existing relationships between the members the Māori rōpū who make up this collective; there is the council interest of course which seeks to represent now something like a million people; there will be the Crown interest—and all of these multiple layers of relationships will not be easy to navigate. I think it will be a major challenge and an opportunity for the collective to ensure that we do get the preferred outcomes.Essentially one of the key ingredients to getting good outcomes will be time—simply allowing decisions to be made at a pace and in a way that does not scare the horses that does not give people concern that their Auckland is being taken away from them. I come back to the point that I believe that with the potential within thislegislation and the governance body that will come out of it there is an opportunity to really enrich people’s experience both people who live in Auckland and those who are fortunate enough to visit it.That is probably as much as I need to say. This is an ambitious piece of legislation and I add my congratulations to the people who conceived it and to those who have done the work to bring it to this point. I wish the select committee well in its deliberations. They will be difficult but this will be an extraordinarily interesting piece of work it has before it. I wish it well in getting a good outcome for that. Kia ora.