Paraone PitaPITA PARAONE (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker tēnā hoki tātou e noho tahi i roto Te Whare nei ā tēnā koutou ngā kaiwhakahaere o Te Rōpū nei arā ko Alan me tō Rōpū i haere mai ki waenganui i a mātou ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero i puta mai mai i ngā mema Pāremata e pā ana ki tēnei pire. Ēngari i mua te haere tonu i rongo au ngā kōrero a Te Minita kia tū kaha rawa ngā mihi ki a koutou ngā tauira tawhito o Te Kura o Tīpene. Horekau he raru ki tēnā ēngari ko taku pātai ki a koutou kei hea tō koutou Kura i āianei nā? Moumou tāima! Kia ahatia! Ēngari ā horekau e hiahia ana kia whakamārama he aha nā tō take i pēnā! Ēngari Mr Assistant Speaker hiahia ana au ki te mihi tonu ki tēnā tetahi o ngā kura māhita o taua kura a Betty McPherson. Ko ia i rūpeke ki tua o te ārai. Horekau he raru e pā ana ki tēnā mihi ki te pire nei nā te mea i roto i te pire nei ki tēnei tetahi wāhanga e pā ana ki tōna iwi a Te Rarawa. Nā reira e te whāea haere hoki atu. Karekau kē e mimiti te puna kōrero mōu. Nā reira haere haere hoki atu! Hoki mai ki a tātou te hunga ora tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora mai anō tātou.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and acknowledgments to us also seated together here in this House and to you collectively the administrators of this organisation namely Alan and your group who came here to be amongst us to listen to the contributions that have emerged from the members in relation to this bill. But before I go any further I heard the sentiments by the Minister to be upstanding and to acknowledge you strongly the former students of St Stephen's. There is not a problem with that but my question to you is: where is your school now? A sheer waste of time. What can be done about that? Mr Assistant Speaker I really want to pay a tribute to one of the teachers of that school Betty McPherson. She has assembled beyond the divide. There is not a concern about paying a tribute to her because there is a part about her Te Rarawa tribe in this bill. And so to you beloved matriarch go forth return; the pool of tributes for you will never diminish. Therefore depart travel on return. I come back to us the living; acknowledgments and accolades to you collectively with my appreciation once again to us all.]I rise to contribute to the debate in relation to the Māori Purposes Bill before us. Can I just say that when it was originally introduced into the House it should have been called the Wī Pere Trust Bill". But because of certain technicalities and if you want to make a change without introducing a new bill then this is what the Māori Purposes Bill is all about. Since then the bill has been extended to make technical amendments to three other bills at least including my reference to Te Rarawa and creating a particular mandated iwi organisation.I also want to place on record my acknowledgment to the trustees for the work that they have done in assisting Minister Flavell in bringing this bill to the House and commend them for their influence in determining what should be included in the bill. People have said that this bill is all about increasing the value of the assets of the Wī Pere Trust. Can I say it is more about streamlining the administration to allow the trustees to do things that they may not have been able to do prior to this bill. People have used the word "corporate" and I think it is very applicable that in a real sense this bill is all about corporatising the trust to a new level.Having said that when the bill was first introduced New Zealand First did have a question as to why we needed to make these amendments. Be that as it may the amendments have been made. One of the concerns that we had was in regard to the involvement of the Māori Land Court. I referred to clause 27 of the proposed constitution where the wording is that the "Māori Land Court may determine who is lineal descendant of Wi Pere."Can I say that New Zealand First took some time to discuss this amongst ourselves and in fact we actually prepared and proposed a Supplementary Order Paper to amend the word "may" to "must". However our legal advice was that it would not make any difference so in regard to that particular concern we felt that we did not need to carry that on any further. Of course the reference to dispute resolution and the use of the High Court—New Zealand First expressed a view during the committee stages of the bill about the possibility of the trustees making more use of the High Court to settle disputes using trust resources as opposed to the people who had a differing view and wanted to enter into a dispute having to use their own resources.Apart from that we in New Zealand First feel that this bill recognises a former member of this House—someone who has certainly left his mark in the annals of this House and of this country. This bill certainly acknowledges that contribution in a way. I also want to acknowledge the efforts of the trustees. While they may draw some criticism from the very beneficiaries whom they represent at the end of the day they know what their responsibilities are. They know that if they do anything untoward it is something that they will have to face. Of course like all corporates they will probably have liability insurance to cover them.I also want to acknowledge that from the inception of this trust to now having an asset base in the region of $66 million is certainly a testament to the way that this trust has been administered over the years. It contributes to its local community not only to its beneficiaries but to its local community in terms of the communal activities. I certainly support that notion.Also they have increased their commercial interests and I think it sets a blueprint for a whole lot of other Māori trusts that are in similar circumstances but do not have the same opportunity of having a special Act to set up their constitution and how they should operate.In conclusion again we in New Zealand First want to commend the Māori Affairs Committee the officials who assisted the committee and all those who made submissions to assist the committee in reaching the decision that it did make in supporting this bill. Kia ora."