Brownlee Gerry: Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Brownlee Gerry: Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:627;Page:21892] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 I note that the Minister has not yet taken a call to answer the questions that were put to him earlier not only by me but also by Mr Pita Paraone. I also want to make some comments about the two clauses that refer to schedule 12. We raised these issues at the Maori Affairs Committee—they are the subject of a minority report attached to this bill—and we raised them again during the second reading debate. So there would be some expectation that the Government by now might have a clear explanation of why this particular schedule exists. 
I have looked at other settlement legislation and I can tell the Committee that none is as clear and explicit as this bill. It makes the extraordinary claim that those who are of Nga Rauru descent and presumably all of those who might be adopted by those of Nga Rauru descent are of both divine and human parentage and therefore I would say by my understanding are making a claim to be demigods. The question for the Minister is: if this is to be in the law should a judge in a court ignore it? 
Metiria Turei 
: No. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Well the member for the Green Party says that no the judge could not. I would ask the member to explain what a judge is to do if someone goes along to a court somewhere and says: “My mother is that bit of land and the law says so.” 
Metiria Turei 
: It’s no different and the member knows that. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: No no the member is not right. It is actually not for the member to debate; it is for the Minister. So if someone says: “I don’t want that bridge going there or that road going over there or that sports ground or that housing subdivision going over there because that land is my mother.” the law says that that is to be respected and that that is fact. It is that sort of utter nonsense that New Zealanders are thoroughly sick of. I cannot stop anyone believing anything they want to believe. I have no right to. And no one can stop me believing what I want. No one can take away someone’s identity and no one can give it to them. So Mr Paraone is quite right. That should not add or detract from the settlement as far as the claimants are concerned but I think it detracts from the settlement as far as we are concerned because it makes us look foolish. I cannot understand why the Government is so keen to pass it. I have to say that if I stood up before an audience anywhere in this country and read out that particular schedule and told people that the Government had just passed it into law they would not believe me. Well actually they would. If I said it was a Labour Government that did it then yes they would believe me. 
That simple question is something that I asked before and that the Minister should answer. I asked whether a judge should ignore this piece of law because like any other piece of law it will have a consequence somewhere. I think it is absolutely amazing that we should be saying to a group that as part of their treaty settlement the courts will afford them the status of demigods. The courts will say that the law of New Zealand recognises the relationship between that individual and the physical geographic assets of the part of New Zealand described in this bill. That is extraordinary! [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Cosgrove over there might think that there is no problem with it but I ask him to read schedule 12. He probably has not and I have to tell him that on the street corners of the Waimakariri electorate this particular clause would cause outrage.