Henare Tau: Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Henare Tau: Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14566] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 First of all I congratulate Louisa Wall on her wonderful party political broadcast. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Looked good too! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It looked good as well. 
We first got notice of the Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill when it was included in a Maori Purposes Bill—something that is supposed to be non-controversial. The Minister thought that he might be able to slip this one through no worries and get it passed. But it was the National Party that saw through this. This is nothing more and nothing less than what should be called the “Maori Trustee Theft Bill”. Although I think that Dr Cullen has expertise in a lot of areas I wonder why he led off the debate and not the Minister of Maori Affairs. This bill is in the name of the Minister of Maori Affairs. It is not the Deputy Prime Minister’s bill; it is not the Minister of Finance’s bill. 
We have worked out that this is nothing more than the theft of $35 million. I will tell the community now and the members of the Maori Party if they are listening that I expect those Maori Party members to stand in the House tonight and do exactly what they did with the foreshore and seabed legislation which was promulgated by the same Minister—that is to vote against the theft of $35 million of beneficiary money. This is money that does not belong to every Maori in this country. It is money that belongs to beneficiaries who are beneficiaries of trusts and who are owners of land that has been put in the hands of the Maori Trustee to look after. 
What we have in this bill is nothing more than the development of an old idea—a Maori bank. But this is not a Maori bank like the Poutama. The Hon Shane Jones used to be the chairman of the Poutama Maori Business Trust and not a skerrick of any of that money went to the community for the development of any business ideas or towards any development ideas. What is the Minister doing about Maori development? He is preparing to thieve $35 million out of the back pockets of beneficiaries and use it for Maori development! 
I have here a little piece of paper about this that was pushed through to us and it says that the bill will establish a new independent statutory corporation. Well it cannot be independent because all the appointees to this corporation are appointed by the Minister of Maori Affairs and the Minister of Finance for goodness’ sake. It is nothing more than a Labour Party slush fund for Labour’s mates. 
The Minister of Maori Affairs has that little grin on his face that he gets when he has been found out. The Maori world is very small. There have been fellas who have come up to me and said: “Hey bro what’s this thing that Parekura is on about? You know this corporation—he’s asked me to serve on it.” One should not try to keep secrets in the Maori world because they get out. They dribble out now and then at different hui around the motu. So I asked this fella whether he knew that $35 million was being thieved out of the back pockets of Maori and given over to a corporation basically to do what is a State obligation. It is not a Maori obligation; it is a State obligation. The next thing we know Maori education will be being paid for out of the back pockets of beneficiaries who have a little bit of the 6 percent of land that is now in the hands of Maori. Up on the East Coast there is quite a bit of land that comes under the Maori Trustee. I wonder what those people would say about their money going out of their back pockets to fund some idea that this corporation has. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: It’s his own people. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Absolutely. They are the Ngati Porou people and the honourable Minister is a member of that tribal district. 
Mark Blumsky 
: He’s looking uncomfortable. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: He always looks uncomfortable. It may not be this bill. He always looks uncomfortable. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I will quote from a report that was done ironically by Richard Charters Annette Sykes and Tama Nikora way back when the Rt Hon Winston Peters was Minister of Maori Affairs. The report states: “The Maori Trustee must not provide funds for the Maori Education Foundation philanthropic purposes or the Maori Council.”—that is anything else other than the beneficiaries of this money. It states further: “These activities are affairs of State not beneficiaries.” 
I also point to the report of the Controller and Auditor-General in his report of I think 2004 in which he said: “The Trustee’s main role is to manage Maori land on behalf of its owners mostly through leasing for conventional farming. … The trustee also disburses rental funds and invests client funds when requested.” The report of the Auditor-General goes on to state that the trustee’s purpose is to “protect the interests of Maori clients and their land …”. That basically says that this is not an issue about Maori development. That can happen; that is the State’s responsibility. This is about a property right and the use of a property right that does not belong to all Maori. It does not belong to me; it belongs to the beneficiaries. In the same way that the Maori Party was created out of the furore of a property rights issue—the foreshore and seabed—I would suggest that everybody including the Greens vote against—[ 
Interruption 
] I say to Ms Turei that it is OK to have one view on one property rights issue but it is not OK to have another view on another property rights issue. 
At least New Zealand First has the principled approach of sending things to a select committee. It does not buy into this carry-on of having one view one day and the next day having another view on pretty much the same thing. At least New Zealand First sends things to a select committee and then things are discussed there. 
For the Government to put its hand in somebody else’s pocket is absolutely wrong. This is about property rights. This is about the theft of $35 million of beneficiary money. It is not for all Maori. It does not belong to all Maori. How dare the Government get up on its hind legs and say that this money belongs to all Maori. It does not. I cannot wait to get around the traps and say to Maori: “Here we go again.” A couple of years ago the Government tried it and the birth of the Maori Party happened. This time there will be more people who look at the DigiPoll and say: “Yeah I thought so. Labour isn’t doing anything for us.” 
Pita Paraone 
: The “Dodgypoll”. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh that is right—the “Dodgypoll”. The fact of the matter is that Labour has been behind in every poll since March last year. At the end of the day that is all it is about. Whether we see this bill go to the select committee is another story. The fact of the matter is that it is not long to go before we see the back end of this Government. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I call the honourable Minister Parekura Horomia. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a matter of order. The Minister was meant to take his turn earlier in the piece and I actually called you before he did. I am sorry—Dr Cullen took his call. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Can I just advise the member that it is not a race about who stands up first and gets the call. Dr Cullen rightly took the first Labour call and the Hon Parekura Horomia is taking the third Labour call which he is entitled to do.