Flavell Te Ururoa: Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10991. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): I move That Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. Kai aku rangatira o Te Whare tēnā tātau katoa! Tēnā hoki tātau i te āhuatanga ki ō tātou mate e hingahinga mai ana i ō tātau marae maha huri noa i Te Motu. Kua tangihia kua mihia rātou kua ea te wāhi ki a rātau. I tō rātou matenga mahue mai ana ko tātau hei pīkau i ngā mahi i mahia e rātau hei tohe hei tohe tonu i ngā take i tohea e rātau. Waihoki ko te tohe nui ko Te Ao Māori i roto i ngā ngahurutanga tau ko te tohe o Te Whenua.[And so my acknowledgments to us all oh noble ones of the House. I greet us as well in the circumstance of our dead who have fallen on our many marae throughout the country. They have been mourned and tributes have been accorded to them and suffice to say we have fulfilled that. As a consequence of their deaths we have been left with the responsibility of carrying out the tasks they had set out for them to meet and debate and now it is our turn to continue what they have put in place. Therefore and in like manner the land has been Māoridom’s great debate for decades.]Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 was arguably one of the most groundbreaking pieces of legislation of our generation because of the seismic shift it made in Māori land policy. This bill we are considering today is one of the most important measures for Māori that this Parliament will consider in our time and I am proud and humbled to be the steward of it into the House this afternoon. Arā noa te kōrero: “Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua”—[there is the saying: “As people perish and disappear from sight the land remains”.] This is one of the many whakataukī that illustrate our connection to the land. To Māori land is everything. Land provides our sense of identity of belonging of continuity. Whenua is our link to our tūpuna and to the future generations.It was the 1975 Māori Land March that completely changed the legal framework for Māori land. It shifted from one that assimilated and alienated Māori land to one that promoted retention. Along came Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993. The Act is far from perfect. We know that because the first attempt to reform it started in 1998 5 years later and there have been at least six panels to consider the changes over time. It is inconsistent in how it treats the retention and utilisation of Māori land. Retention had a clear focus with detailed provisions about alienation. The utilisation provisions however are unclear and ambiguous. Its time has come—its time has come.Over the years numerous reviews of Te Ture Whenua have emphasised that the law for Māori land needs to be an enabling law so that the participating owners can make decisions without having to get court approval; the law needs to be a protective law so that Māori land is retained in Māori hands; the law needs to give Māori landowners a clear and accountable governance framework for their land; the law needs to include better dispute resolution support for Māori landowners; and the law needs to have options to overcome fragmentation. This can happen only by replacing the current Act not by tinkering with it.This bill addresses those issues and responds to the 392 submissions; the views of technical experts and practitioners; feedback from numerous hui workshops and wānanga; and the advice of the ministerial advisory group. In that regard I want to acknowledge the advisory group: Linda Te Aho Traci Houpapa Spencer Webster Sacha McMeekingMatanuku Mahuika Dr Tānira Kīngi and their chairperson Kīngi Smiler. E hoa mā you have done a magnificent job of consolidating advice amongst yourselves and amongst Māori communities and organisations.Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou ki tēnā ki tēnā! [My huge appreciation to each and every one of you.]I also want to acknowledge the Associate Minister for Māori Development the Hon Chris Finlayson who in 2012 with the support of the former Minister of Māori Affairs Dr Pita Sharples initiated a review of this Act. I want to thank Minister Finlayson for his leadership and continued support. That support is hugely appreciated. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe. I also want to acknowledge the team in the gallery today Te Puni Kōkiri officials for the extraordinary effort on this bill. E hoa mā you have done a magnificent job—ka nui te mihi.This bill is underpinned by a set of significant and important principles that all decision makers will have to recognise: Māori land endures as a taonga tuku iho by virtue of whakapapa; tikanga Māori is central to matters involving Māori land; Te Tiriti o Waitangi is central to the application of laws affecting Māori land; owners of Māori land have a right to decide how their land is used; owners of Māori land have a right to take advantage of the opportunities to develop their land for the benefit of present generations and future generations of owners their whānau and their hapū; and disputes involving Māori land should be managed in a manner that maintains or enhances relationships between owners and members of their whānau and hapū. This bill expressly defers to tikanga Māori on a range of matters such as the way associations with Māori customary land are determined the way preferred recipients of Māori freehold land are determined the way relationships of descent are determined and the way disputes are resolved.Another central feature of the bill is that it not only keeps Māori land retention as a primary focus but goes further to strengthen those protections. Can I state absolutely clearly this: this bill will not lead to the loss of Māori land. The thresholds that have to be met to protect Māori land from disposal are as strict as ever. If owners want to make the thresholds even higher the bill gives them the means to do so. There are also thresholds with clear safeguards. The court will have a critical role in preventing abuses of process.One of the major features of the bill is its new governance framework for Māori freehold land. Under the bill appointing and forming governance bodies is a matter for the owners themselves through a process of decision making and registration. This will replace the current system that requires a judgment from the Māori Land Court—a process that involves an application hearings adjudication with all of the litigation risk and cost that goes with that. This change is consistent with the principle of rangatiratanga. It contributes a new framework in which Māori land utilisation is determined by the aspirations of the owners.Māori freehold land today is reduced to about 5.5 percent of all land in Aotearoa. Ninety-five percent of Māori freehold land is in the North Island and makes up approximately 12 percent of all land in the North Island. More than 180 previous laws dealing with Māori land have had a major role in the dramatic reduction in Māori landownership. Those same laws have led to a vast multiplicity of highly fragmented ownership interests. There are now more than 2.5 million ownership interests in Māori freehold land where we have well over 14000 ownership interests in one block and an average of nearly 100 owners for each of the blocks. This bill contains a range of mechanisms to try to stem the high rate of fragmentation. Any remaining Māori customary land will no longer be able to have its ownership individualised. It must remain in collective customary ownership.There will be new dispute resolution support for Māori landowners. It is based on the concept of“mātauranga takawaenga”. This process will “assist people and groups to resolve disagreements and conflicts [based on] tikanga values and kawa” of relevant hapū and whānau. It is designed to reflect this principle of rangatiratanga and to enable parties to achieve their own solutions and outcomes rather than accepting an outcome imposed by the court. This does not mean that there is not a role for the court. The bill provides the Māori Land Court judges with a new power to hold judicial settlement conferences to assist parties to negotiate their own settlement.Recently I announced a new Whenua Māori Fund—$12.8 million over the next 4 years. This fund supports owners and trustees who are looking to improve their existing operations diversify or prepare for new opportunities. I have also announced other new measures that will give councils more workable tools to deal with ratings of Māori land when it is unused and unoccupied. That will provide a more equitable approach to rates of exemptions for marae urupā and land that is set aside under Ngā Whenua Rahui covenants and will improve the rating valuation for Māori land.We will be looking at solutions for landlocked Māori land the effects of paper roads and how the Public Works Act could work with the unique characteristics of Māori land. A new Māori Land Service will be developed to support Māori landowners in all of their land matters so that they can achieve their aspirations and so that they can take full advantage of the new legislative framework contained in this bill.I want to conclude as I started with the purpose of this bill. The purpose of the bill is to recognise and provide for the mana and tino rangatiratanga that since time immemorial Māori have exercised and continue to exercise over their lands resources and taonga in accordance with tikanga Māori and consistent with the guarantees given to Māori in Te Tiriti o Waitangi to protect the rights of owners of Māori land to retain control occupy and develop their land as a taonga tuku iho for the benefit of present and future generations of owners their whānau and their hapū. If we can achieve this purpose then this will unquestionably be one of the most important measures this Parliament will consider for Māori in our time.I am proud of the work that has been done. I am proud of this bill which is available to the country after today. I hope that they will engage with the process to ensure that when this bill comes back it will be exactly what we want: the ability for our people to make the best use of their land and yet for it to be retained in the hands of our tamariki mokopuna. I commend this bill to the House.