Kaye NikkiHon NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central): Mr Chair when the Minister makes a number of comments in response to this Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) I think I do have the opportunity to respond to those comments. The first comment that I want to make is that he has referred to uncertainty around contractual processes. That is not a legitimate argument from my perspective because what we also know is that he is not someone who should be lecturing us about contractual processes given that he actually publicly announced the termination of all of the schools before he had even gone through a legal process. That's the first point that I would make.The second point that I would make is that the schools themselves have already made the decision to go into a designated character model. They're very aware of what the processes are in terms of transition. There is no argument around the fact that they do need that certainty. They have that certainty; that's been made public. They're communicating with the Ministry of Education. But I do want to raise that I am aware that there are some multiple issues whereby the ministry has said one thing and now the schools are having to go back and ask for clarity around aspects of where schools are going to be located in the future and what they were promised financially. So I don't agree with the Minister around the fact that somehow we need to pass these provisions for some certainty for schools given they've had uncertainty for a period and also given his actions previously around the contractual issues.The third point that I want to make is: let's talk about the tradition. The reality is that he knows very well that Ministers have in the past commented on Waitangi Tribunal claims. That is not correct. They have commented on Waitangi Tribunal claims. The second thing that I would say is that this is a Government that has argued for a new era of Crown and Māori relations. The reality is that he has been negligent as has already been set out around the process of this claim and all that we're asking—even if he doesn't want to comment on the nature of the claim—is whether this claim is progressing from the Crown's perspective even a vanilla statement that says why the Crown wants to pass a law in the midst of that claim being considered.The reason New Zealanders need to understand this is that if my SOP does not pass New Zealanders need to understand there is a strong likelihood that the grievance of the people who have made the claim will be significantly more. That is the reality. The Crown has an obligation to consider this claim in good faith and what members of the committee need to understand is that the action of not even meeting with the claimants but also having negligent issues around process and then passing a law in the midst of that claim being considered could cost the taxpayer additional funds. That's the reality. That is what the hard cold reality is of the Minister deciding to progress with the legislation at this time. We have not had a satisfactory answer about one what other Ministers may be doing in relation to this claim. And there is no argument that they can't say they are considering the claim they're meeting with the claimants they've got a time frame whereby the Crown is going to respond—that does not at all jeopardise the nature of the basic elements of the claim. And also I think there's a basic decency that they need to know that.The other point that I made—and again I would like the Minister to respond specifically to this—is totally separate to a normal claim that's going through the Waitangi Tribunal process. As I understand it there has been an application for urgency. So does the Minister have a view around this? Because ultimately this Minister's warrant will be in question if the taxpayer has to pay an extra $20 million to the schools and to iwi leaders as a result of the Minister deciding to push the legislation through rather than wait for the legislative provisions to be considered properly as part of the Waitangi Tribunal claim. Then people in this committee need to understand that and properly consider my SOP which says Why don't we wait until that claim has been properly considered and then effectively let those provisions go through?" We don't agree with the provisions; we believe the schools have been doing an amazing job for vulnerable young people. We completely disagree with the Government's actions in this regard but at the very basic level why not show respect and mana to those iwi leaders and allow due process? It's not OK to hide behind a claim that somehow Ministers have never commented on Waitangi Tribunal claims."