Whaitiri Meka: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2015. Volume:706;Page:5008. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Tēnā koutou katoa. I am happy to stand in support of this bill. Obviously we are in the Committee stage and I want to acknowledge I guess the Primary Production Committee and acknowledge a colleague of ours the last man standing. He was so last-standing that he has got himself a yellow card and is not in the Chamber this afternoon but I do—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order! You cannot refer to the absence of members.MEKA WHAITIRI: Apologies Mr Chair. This bill is referred to as an omnibus bill which is provided for under Standing Order 262(1)(e). I will refer to it as a “ROLD” bill. It attempts to make changes to a land status that cannot otherwise be dealt with easily. “ROLD” bills deal with authorisations transfers and validations of matters relating to Crown land reserves and other lands held for public or private purposes. Such bills can be used to correct historic oversights and errors or to clarify and simplify issues regarding land status particularly when determining whether a certain use or method of management is legally permissible.I too want to note that this bill has been around for a long long time. We did see that it was first introduced in 2008 but I think it has a sort of earlier introduction. I understand it is a mechanism to gather up parcels of land to move them to where they are most appropriately set. However I note that it first was introduced in the House in 2008 and that the select committee—when I look at the lists of select committees many of the people have gone—reported back in 2009. Like previous speakers have said it is supposed to be a non-controversial bill. I guess the question I have and hopefully the Minister could answer is that there has been a 7-year lapse between the reporting back of the select committee in 2009 and where we find ourselves today. I query whether there are other land parcels around the nation that are worthy of being considered in this particular bill. I support my fellow member on the select committee Richard Prosser in probably asking whether it is timely to reconsider the bill for that very purpose—whether it has actually picked up existing parcels of land since then.I want to draw the Committee’s attention to a part of the bill that talks particularly—and my colleague Peeni Henare might probably talk about this given that he is from this area—about the Mahinepua Bay reserve. We note in Part 2 of the bill that clause 22 talks about the background of the reserve what has occurred with this parcel of land and that “the reserve land forms part of the bed of Mahinepua Bay. The land formed by accretion is a narrow spit just above mean high water mark. (2) In 1995 the Māhinepua Bay reserve land was declared a local purpose (esplanade) reserve under the Reserves Act 1997 … In accordance with a notice in the Gazette (2005) … it is currently administered by the trustees of the adjoining Māori reservation Māhinepua B1 Block known as the Māhinepua B1 Māori Reservation. (3) The Māhinepua Bay reserve land is accessible only over the foreshore or the Māhinepua B1 Māori Reservation.” It notes that “The local community (including local Members of Parliament local authorities iwi local hapū community representatives and the trustees) wish the Mahinepua Bay land to be a Māori reservation for esplanade purposes for the common use and benefit of the people of New Zealand.”Clause 23(4) of Part 2—and this is the part that particularly drew my attention—states: “The setting apart of the Mahinepua Bay reserve land as a Māori reservation under subsection (1)(a) must be treated as if it had been made under Part 17 of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and the requirements of that Part of that Act had been satisfied.” As we all know consultations with iwi Māori around the country have just concluded.