Flavell Te UruroaHon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Kia ora anō tātou katoa. Part 4 of the bill as I have been explaining in previous speeches—I will try to lay that out first so as to give members a good kick-start into it and the key parts from my perspective about the bill. This one here sets out the proposed regime for dispositions in dealing with Māori land. This part ensures that retention and protection are the core features of the Māori land regime and it continues to regulate transactions where retention may be placed at risk. An important part of this bill is that there is a robust framework and a stricter set of requirements before owners can offer Māori freehold land for sale. At present Māori freehold land can be sold with 75 percent support from shareholders. Not only do we have the current regime being retained but in fact the bill makes it harder if not close to impossible to sell some land depending on the outcome of the discussions of those owners. The threshold can be lifted up to 100 percent from 75 percent and therefore basically as I say alienation of Māori land would pretty much not be able to be achieved. The bill continues to protect the right of those with a tikanga-based association and of course tikanga has been given a fair thrashing in terms of interpretation throughout this debate. Those who do have a tikanga-based association with the land will have the first right to acquire it in any sale and that strengthens again the process for the retention of land. Unlike the current Act the bill prevents Māori freehold land from being gifted to anyone who does not have a tikanga-based association with the land. The Māori Land Court and its place has been given some consideration in this legislation while the Māori Land Court will continue to have a role to ensure these protection mechanisms are complied with. I have talked about that in Part 3 of the bill. The court will also be able to prevent people from partitioning or changing the status of their land to get around and circumvent some of these protections. In response to the submissions the bill now provides the straight oversight role for the court over whether Māori freehold land status can be removed and whether partitions will assist owners of Māori freehold land to retain occupy or develop their land. The Māori Land Court does indeed have a significant role in particular in improving applications to amalgamate land such as ensuring that the allocation of the beneficial interest is fair and equitable to all owners. The court will also be required to confirm applications to exchange a parcel of Māori freehold land for another piece of land if that is the wish. In such cases if the other piece of land is not already Māori freehold land it will automatically acquire that status following the exchange. Part 4 of the bill ensures that governance bodies will not be able to permanently alienate freehold land without either an agreement or in the case of a land rationalisation an order from the Māori Land Court allowing the change of status. The bill enables owners to determine which other transactions require governance bodies to obtain their specific agreement. There has been a lot said in respect of any possibility of alienating Māori land. I have said it and I will say it again: the thresholds have not been changed but they can be strengthened by the decision-making process made by those people who own the land. They can shift the thresholds up to 100 percent absolutely guaranteeing no more alienation of Māori land. So to those who say that this is another land grab I am sorry but it is not. These protective mechanisms reinforce the principle of taonga tuku iho and will ensure that Māori land will be retained for the benefit of future generations.