Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): It's a pleasure to rise to speak on the first reading of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. Under the 1992 Fisheries Deed of Settlement the Crown and Māori agreed to a full and final settlement of all Māori claims to commercial fishing rights. The Maori Fisheries Act 2004 set out a framework for the allocation and transfer of fisheries settlement assets to iwi institutional arrangements and a governance framework for managing fisheries assets for current and future generations of Māori. It required an independent review of the settlement entities to be completed not later than the end of the 11th year after the commencement of the Act. An independent review was finalised in March 2015 recommending significant changes to the governance structure of the settlement entities and simplified processes for trading assets. In accordance with the Act Te Ohu Kai Moana undertook extensive iwi engagement established two iwi working groups to develop a set of proposals from the review consulted widely with iwi on the proposed changes and held a series of meetings to pass resolutions. As a result of the review and consultation with iwi Te Ohu Kai Moana recommended a suite of changes to the Act. The changes are intended to give iwi a greater degree of rangatiratanga over their assets improve benefits to all Māori reduce costs and improve efficiency. As the speaker just before me Arena Williams mentioned the Māori economy is something I think that we don't hear enough about in this country and it's something that I think should be celebrated because it has grown from about $16 billion over 20 years to $68.7 billion as at 2018 and it has notably considerably more matters and is on track to exceed more than $100 billion in assets by 2030. So it's a part of New Zealand's economy that is doing incredibly well and I think that is something we should celebrate and certainly fisheries is a key part of that. The Māori asset base in the primary sector of agriculture fishing and forestry make up about 34 percent of the total Māori asset base so fisheries is a significant and important part of the Māori economy. In terms of the intention of this bill to support a greater degree of rangatiratanga over these assets I think that is a positive step and it is something certainly that is reflected in article 2—tuarua—of Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi. I've been reflecting on that section recently: Ko te Kuini o Ingarani ka wakarite ka wakaae"—which means the Queen of England effectively guarantees—"ki nga Rangatira"—to the chiefs—"ki nga Hapu"—to the subtribes—"ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani"—to each individual person in New Zealand—"te tino rangatiratanga o ratou wenua"—of your land—"o ratou kainga"—of your homes also your villages—"me o ratou taonga katoa."—over all of your treasures combined. So it's useful to reflect on that as we look at the intention behind this bill. As we go through this process the National Party will be taking a keen interest in the select committee process and progress. We want to hear from submitters—all submitters—who wish to submit on this bill and we'll be listening closely to what they have to say. National wants to know from submitters what their view is on the alternative proposal that would see each iwi having one vote irrespective of their size. The other proposal that we're keen to hear on from submitters as well is what should occur in the future if more changes are required will the provisions requiring review not sooner than five years after the current review only if at least 75 percent of mandated organisations agree a review is needed be adequate and any other issues that arise. So the National Party will be keenly interested in what people have to say. We'll be listening carefully to those submissions because this does have some quite significant changes in terms of how matters are structured. Although it has gone through significant consultation there are no doubt going to be various views on that and we definitely want to hear from people in terms of what they have to say. I should just note some of the key components of the amendments. Te Kawai Taumata electoral college system for appointing Te Ohu Kai Moana directors is removed and replaced with a new electoral system enabling iwi to directly appoint and remove Te Ohu Kai Moana directors on a one vote per iwi basis. The intention behind that is to shorten the distance between iwi and key decision-makers. Te Ohu Kai Moana redeemable preference shares in Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd are required to be converted into ordinary shares and distributed to iwi. This change will provide iwi with full influence over key decisions regarding Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd as iwi will have direct control over the appointment and removal of Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd directors. Te Ohu Kai Moana's surplus funds are to be distributed to iwi in accordance with the procedures specified for each iwi in column three of Schedule 3. The bill introduces an ability to implement a compulsory levy model for Te Ohu Kai Moana that can be triggered in future if required. The purpose of a funding levy proposal is to provide Te Ohu Kai Moana with enough funding having regard to its likely other funding sources and reserves to enable it to perform its functions and duties. The current Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd legislative dividend requirement is modified to allow shareholders to set it annually.Major transactions for Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd will require a 75 percent iwi majority voting threshold. With Te Ohu Kai Moana no longer playing a governance role in Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd a change is required to enable iwi to take over this role. The maximum director limit for Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust and Te Wai Māori Trust is increased from three to five with a majority quorum. The appointment term of directors is changed from four years to three years and restrictions are removed on the number of terms that a director can serve. Simpler trading processes have been developed for iwi wishing to sell quota assets within the Māori pool. This change will enable iwi to sell their settlement assets to a willing buyer within the Māori pool without notifying all members within the Māori pool and running a bidding process.There's also a requirement introduced for a future review of governance entities. Te Ohu Kai Moana is enabled to allocate distributions to any entity that has charitable status and is nominated by the mandated iwi organisation. This will allow Te Ohu Kai Moana to distribute funds directly to charitable entities within the mandated iwi organisation or post-settlement governance entities structures without being liable for tax.The bill clarifies electoral provisions in mandated iwi organisations' constitutions. The bill simplifies the process for recognising post-settlement governance entities as new mandated iwi organisations. Current restrictions on mandated iwi organisation directors being appointed as directors of the respective asset-holding companies are removed and the bill clarifies the definition of "freshwater fisheries". There are also some amendments including tohutō—macrons—on words in te reo Māori to reflect current orthographic conventions and some other changes there.This is something that the National Party is pleased to support. As I said we think it does make some significant but important changes that are intended to give iwi a greater degree of rangatiratanga over their assets and improving benefits to all Māori reducing costs and reducing inefficiency which are all things that the National Party is pleased to support. So with that I will just say that the National Party supports this bill and commends it to the House."