Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. It is indeed my privilege and honour to participate in the third reading of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill. If there is any particular part that I think we as politicians enjoy the most in this House it is always the third reading. This is a non-controversial bill which Labour supports wholeheartedly. The intent of the bill like the member who has just resumed his seat Alastair Scott said is to modernise the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board in terms of the original intent of why it has been set out and I guess to modernise it in today's context. I just want to touch briefly on the four objectives that the trust attempted to do and that the Māori Affairs Committee addressed. The first objective was to better describe the relationship between the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika and the tangata whenua o Wairarapa—that was objective one. Objective two was to establish a more robust nomination process for board members. Objective three was to provide a fairer distribution of funds for tangata whenua o Wairarapa and fourth was to facilitate a long-term development of their lands. When you look into the bill those two front-end objectives—i.e. the relationships and the nomination process—are explained further in the bill. Once upon a time they had 10 members appointed through various mechanisms; under this bill it is eight members who will be appointed. Four will be selected by the bishop and as the bill says: The Board must have 8 members consisting of (a) 4 members appointed by the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika"—and just so that we have no ambiguity on that we are talking about the bishop as defined as appointed under the title by the Anglican Church in Aotearoa / New Zealand and Polynesia commonly known as the Church of England or the bishop of any replacement diocesan. Where the rubber hits the road in terms of empowering the tangata whenua o Wairarapa they get to choose the other four members of the board and advertise the process that they are going to follow in a public way. Those two objectives if that was the intention of the trust I believe have been met. The third objective around the fairer distribution of funds—to say that the trust will apply its funding and no longer limit distribution just to Anglican Church schools. Can I just pause there? As an Anglican myself and also to the iconic Māori Anglican boarding schools that this trust has helped I want to acknowledge Queen Victoria School and Hato Tipene College St Stephen's College which unfortunately have both closed; Hukarere Girls' College in my electorate; and of course Te Aute College. These are iconic Māori boarding schools and I know that the trust along with many many other educational trusts was instrumental in supporting many people so I just want to acknowledge the contribution of the trust in terms of schooling many of our secondary students. The fourth objective which I just want to comment on briefly is to facilitate the long-term development of lands. In so far as the bill goes it covers that the board may sell the Clareville land but not the Papawai land or Kaikōkirikiri land. In our previous contributions obviously the corpus land which is the Papawai land—we want to make sure that that is protected and that is done under this bill. In terms of the Clareville land and giving the trust board more flexibility to make decisions around how that is leased managed or sold on I think that is a good compromise; so we support that. It says further in the bill: "To avoid doubt the Board may not consent to the sale or otherwise permanent alienation of the Papawai land or the Kaikokirikiri land." That is again a very important aspect of the bill. So those are the four objectives that the trust I understand sought in presenting the bill to the member for the Wairarapa. I want to just quickly note that the trust I do believe wanted the bill presented in both languages. We have traversed that issue. There just was not enough time. It is a commitment. I want to acknowledge my colleague Nanaia Mahuta who mentioned during the Committee stage that if we are going to move down that track—and I do hope this House considers that seriously—we do plan for it through the Parliamentary Counsel Office. I think it is timely that we are actually acknowledging the three official languages in this country but particularly for Māori and English to be set aside. I want to just move to the acknowledgments. To the member who has brought this bill to the House Alastair Scott: ngā mihi ki a koe. Thank you very much for bringing this local bill to the House and for the commitment that you have obviously presented in terms of supporting this particular trust that sits in our electorate. Ngā mihi ki a koe. I want to also acknowledge the hard-working Māori Affairs Committee ably chaired by Tutehounuku Korako. Thank you very much for the work that you have done and all the members of the Māori Affairs Committee. The submitters—and at this point I do want to acknowledge Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā Trust which in its submission talked about the use of Te Reo and of ensuring that the whakapapa to Wairarapa was also adequately recognised in the bill. I do believe that has been achieved. Fourthly I want to acknowledge the Labour members who contributed during the Committee stage. It was interesting reading their contributions to that Committee stage. I know there were some issues that my colleague Peeni Henare talked about in terms of the Reo and whether it was correct or not. Rightly so Mr Assistant Speaker Trevor Mallard you reminded him that that was not the time to address it but it is a timely reminder for us that accuracy around the use of Te Reo needs to be managed and observed much more closely—reiterating the point made by the trust around Te Reo and I have made that point. I guess in closing my comment is to the trust members who I know may be in the gallery. I want to acknowledge them the current trustees plus all the previous trust board members who may no longer be with us who have served gallantly the original intent of the Act and more importantly I acknowledge their absolute financial contribution to the hundreds if not thousands of Māori around this country which enabled them to attend those schools. On a personal note my mother attended Hukarere Girls' College in the late 1940s—1948 to 1949 and finished in Hukarere in 1953. I mentioned this particular bill when I was back home with her recently and she recalled receiving financial assistance back in those days to attend Hukarere. So just from me to the trust I want to make that acknowledgment. I also want to acknowledge the trust and thank the trust which also contributed to the education of my two sons who went to Lindisfarne College. It is not an Anglican school I must admit it is a Presbyterian school. But for me it is important to acknowledge those who help our people to further their aspirations and their dreams of a good quality education. So on that closing note again I want to thank the trust. I want to thank the member for bringing this bill to the House. It is as we have said a very non-controversial bill. Labour supports all legislation that empowers people who do really wonderful things in our community and the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts have shown that they have done it for many years. The passing of this bill to modernise the trusts will ensure that that service to our people in the Wairarapa particularly will continue. I commend this bill to the House."