Nakhle RimaRIMA NAKHLE (National—Takanini): Thank you Mr Speaker. I too rise in support of this bill the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. This bill before us today—we're at the third reading the final stage for the benefit of those watching and listening from beyond the ceremonial walls at the final stage of this bill. As mentioned by my colleagues across the House before us the inception or rather the genesis of this bill was not here in this 54th Parliament but rather in the previous Parliament and I would like to acknowledge the former chair of the Māori Affairs Committee who—am I allowed to acknowledge her even though she's not here? Yes I can—Arena Williams the former chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. I acknowledge her passion and her tenacity in how she approached this bill and she argued for what she thought would benefit Māori as a whole.As I said we're here in the third reading of this bill the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. In essence the changes the amendments that will be made through this bill will ensure that iwi have more control and input against the backdrop of rangatiratanga over their fisheries assets all the while improving the benefits for Māori and also reducing costs.I'd like to just take us back to the third reading speech of the Hon Shane Jones that happened a month and a bit ago before we adjourned on 28 May 2024. This was a really important day actually: it was also the day of the final reading for the Whakatōhea settlement bills which was a very emotionally charged day but also there was some good that came out of that as well. What the Hon Shane Jones said which I would like to repeat here today is that This bill assigns to Māoridom a greater autonomy over their fisheries assets. It's designed to boost productivity and efficiency". And I think that's a really good encapsulation of what this bill is trying to achieve.I'd like to if I may just delve into a comment that was made earlier by one of my colleagues across the House. She referenced the Ōpōtiki region and how different regions around the country including Ōpōtiki—I think she said including Ōpōtiki but she referenced Ōpōtiki and the fact that they need certainty around aquaculture. I feel quite blessed that under the leadership of Dan Bidois the MP for Northcote and chair of the Māori Affairs Committee and our colleagues across the House we were able to visit Ōpōtiki earlier this year as part of our travels with respect to the Whakatōhea claim but yes since Ōpōtiki was referenced we were able to visit there and we heard loud and clear that they also were hoping to gain certainty and had faith in our fast-track bill and that this would go a long way towards helping that region over there get certainty around the Ōpōtiki Harbour development. So I'm looking forward to that.My colleague also referenced the huge potential that there is in aquaculture and what I would love to highlight to the House today which I highlighted in my former speech as well on this bill—Tim Costley: Great speech.RIMA NAKHLE: —thank you very much Tim Costley—is that the Māori economy is estimated at about $70 billion here in Aotearoa New Zealand and fisheries I'd like to highlight makes up a titan amount of this—pun intended if anyone picked that up. And I would also say that fisheries is the muscle of the Māori economy. [Interruption] OK yep—someone picked that up.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Well done—well done.RIMA NAKHLE: Yep thank you very much for acknowledging that. [Interruption] Thank you yes—thank you very much. Under the principal Act the Māori Fisheries Act a governance framework was set up to manage and administer settlement assets on behalf of and for the benefit of iwi and Māori. And so to achieve this objective—and I'm going to get a bit technical but that's OK because we're hearing beautiful submissions from around the House so I'll delve into the technical side of it—the Māori Fisheries Act established several statutory entities including Te Ohu Kaimoana Trust; Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Ltd to act as a corporate trustee company in which iwi were shareholders; Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trustee Ltd to represent urban Māori interests which was raised earlier as well; and Te Wai Māori Trustee Ltd to advance Māori freshwater fisheries interests.The Act also required an independent review and that independent review was completed in March 2015 and it recommended substantive changes to the governance structure of the settlement entities and it essentially simplified processes for trading assets. Now Te Ohu Kaimoana consulted iwi about the review's recommendations and iwi passed several resolutions at general meetings of Te Ohu Kaimoana's shareholders which brings us to our kaupapa here today the third reading of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill.As I said the main objective is to ensure—as many of us have said—that iwi have more control and say over their fisheries assets. Change in the governance arrangements of the aforementioned statutory entities make them consistent with standard corporate governance practice and proactively encourage mandated iwi organisations to take more direct control of Te Ohu Kaimoana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd by removing intermediary decision-making bodies.I think it would be remiss of me as a National Party MP to not kind of acknowledge that there was a National Party minority view that was discussed back then in the Māori Affairs Committee. That's OK I won't delve into it but I feel it's important to just acknowledge it in this final speech that I give on this final stage of reading for this bill.Mr Speaker if you don't mind I'd also like to just reiterate if I can and perhaps sum up that National supports this bill that getting our primary industries and fishing sector back on track is all part of the Government's plan to rebuild the economy and get it working for all Kiwis. It's only through a strong economy that we can solve the cost of living crisis lift incomes and afford the public services we all deserve.I personally—as someone that's not Māori but I love Māori friends and people I consider family that I do know—am proud of the fact that the Māori economy is about $70 billion and that fisheries makes the muscle and titan part of this. This bill will help in boosting our Māori fisheries sector to rebuild our economy. I commend this bill to the House."