Harawira Hone: Westpac New Zealand Bill — Second Reading 
Harawira Hone: Westpac New Zealand Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:633;Page:4805] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 I te tuatahi me mihi atu ki taku hoa ki a koe Chris e tuku poroporoaki ki to tatou Kuini a Te Atairangikaahu. E mihi atu ano hoki ki to tatou Kingi hou a Tuheitia me tena wawata ano hoki kia tu kotahi ai tatou a nga ra kei te haere mai.  First of all I thank my colleague Mr Chris Tremain for his gracious farewell to our Queen for his best wishes to our new King Tuheitia and for his hopes that we may move forward together as a nation as a result of the events in the Waikato of last week. 
Being mindful of those events I did a bit of research. I found that King Tawhiao had a Cabinet of some 12 Ministers and raised revenue himself through a variety of means—donations taxation charges fees fines and in a big way the tithing of the salaries of Maori who worked for the Government. The idea that big banks should be locally incorporated is consistent with the well-established history of Maori supporting banks that themselves support local practice.  
At the first reading of this bill I talked of the Maungatautiri Whare Uta the Maori bank established in the 1880s because local Maori were concerned that they were being cheated by Pakeha bankers and wanted control over their own economic sovereignty. In Taranaki in the 1800s Te Whiti operated a bank that apparently held many thousands of pounds. Early in the 1900s Rua Kenana established a bank under his council of elders to promote savings and to attract capital. During the 1920s Ratana’s followers also established a bank to advance funds to needy members to gather contributions and also to force the Government to recognise its obligation to provide for Maori welfare. If we fast-forward some 60 years to the very first reports admitted to the Waitangi Tribunal we find a claim by Joe Hawke and others to form the Bank of Tamaki to be administered by Ngati Whatua.  
When Marian Hobbs referred this bill she made the comment that she did not think that the Finance and Expenditure Committee needed to do the detailed work suggested by the Maori Party or the Greens. But why not? Just because my whanaunga the chairman of the committee told the House that consultation meant a fortnight’s advertising and that giving the bill to Westpac the Reserve Bank Treasury and the Inland Revenue Department was enough does not mean that the select committee should not look at positive initiatives to assist Maori development. In fact—and I am sure Mr Jones himself would agree—there are likely to be some very good ideas coming out of some of the big Maori agencies such as the New Zealand Maori Council the Federation of Maori Authorities Ngai Tahu Finance Te Ohu Kai Moana itself the Poutama Trust and even Maori Women’s Development Inc. launched back in the 1980s to provide loans to Maori to help set up and expand existing businesses and to provide financial advice and mentoring services. Interestingly Maori Women’s Development Inc. grew out of the Hui Taumata of 1984 when it was suggested by Mr Jones’ relation Ripeka Evans that Maori should revolutionise the tax system and channel all taxes back into a Maori development bank. Sir Tipene O’Regan himself also supported the call for a Maori development bank to enable Maori to better utilise the equity tied up in tribal lands. Even Denese Henare spoke in support of a Maori bank to administer finance for housing land purchase farming and business development.  
The idea of Maori owning a bank and controlling local savings and investments even came up at last year’s Hui Taumata. In fact this is an idea whose time has come. The Toi - Economic Development Agency which promotes regional development in the Eastern Bay of Plenty is a good example. This group involves economic leaders such as investment banker Taari Nicholas; Rikirangi Gage chief executive officer ofTe Runanga o Te Whanau a Apanui; Joe Mason director forNgati Awa Group Holdings; and others. Since successive Governments have been unwilling to provide the necessary financing for Maori initiatives such as the Toi - Economic Development Agency are important in laying a path towards self-determination.  
We recognise Westpac’s urgency in getting this bill through by 1 November to ensure the vesting of assets and liability to Westpac New Zealand but our support for this bill is because we absolutely support the principle that the rules of this nation should control the banking system of Aotearoa. That support is also in line with the longstanding call in Maoridom for banking to reflect local economic development. We note however that little has changed really since 1984 when Koro Wetere suggested that banks and development corporations look seriously at how to assist Maori to foster commercial and banking skills to drive our economic advancement. 
 There are other areas for improvement before this bill becomes law. Firstly the haste to get this bill through must not occur at the expense of poor industrial relations. As my friend Sue Bradford mentioned at the first reading Westpac the winner of the Roger Award for the worst transnational operating in New Zealand in 2006 has dropped 25 percent of its staff over the past 10 years and has forced the reduced staff to increase their profit output by 110 percent and net profit by nearly 400 percent. Westpac also has a very poor record with the finance workers union in respect of holiday infringements working overtime without compensation high workload pressure to work through sickness injury and pregnancy poor staff support and huge performance expectations that are not matched by performance payments. 
Secondly Westpac might wish to review its lending and investment policies and its assistance to Maori to ensure that investment does not lead to failures such as those that have happened in the past as described by Denese Henare—failures in terms of poor land utilisation inactive trusts underfunded development schemes poor business planning and inadequate lending for housing. 
Finally we note the point raised by Mr Rodney Hide who warned against Westpac customers being forced into a new company without knowing what assets and liabilities would back their investments. Westpac’s record profit of $708 million suggests that it certainly has the money for a simple mail-out to advise companies of the implications of the transfer of assets and liabilities. 
The Maori Party will support this bill at the second reading but we look forward to seeing a huge improvement in Westpac’s employment relations and an equal improvement in its helping to advance Maori interests for the benefit of the whole nation. Kia ora tatou katoa.