SpeechHon SHANE JONES (Minister of Forestry): Thank you very much Madam Chair. I'd like to make a few contributions about this challenging area of Māori affairs. I'm really encouraged to stand after the northern parliamentarian Matt King of the white elephants decided to give a very distorted version about Minister Andrew Little's carriage of the claims as they pertain to the North. Now there is another term the pink elephant that's actually associated with people who hallucinate because that account to the detriment of the standing of our colleague Minister Little was nothing beyond simply a set of political hallucinations. However let me get to the topic at hand. It was the Waitangi Tribunal and their unwanted intrusion—which is why I'm incredibly enthusiastic about reining them in insofar as they are having a hobbling effect on Māori development but more about that later in the year. But this was a consequence of the last regime led by Mr Key and Mr Finlayson acquiescing with the troubled defective recommendations put forward by this body whose writ is spreading like a kumara vine. So it is not correct to say that this side of the House has not seized the Ngāpuhi issue. Now there is a term in Ngāpuhi: Ngāpuhi kōhao rau. Ngāpuhi arero rau. Ngāpuhi taniwha rau. [Ngāpuhi of many chiefs. Ngāpuhi of many speakers. Ngāpuhi of many leaders.] That simply means that the house of Ngāpuhi is made up of many voices. But as the Minister has said there are some issues that pertain to the entirety of the iwi. It's heartening to hear the Minister say in public that those issues will not be atomised and they will not be discombobulated in such a way that we don't make progress.I want to continue a little more on the role in Māori development of agencies such as the Waitangi Tribunal. The Waitangi Tribunal has been a key agent of change and us coming to terms with our history but it is slowly but surely exhausting its relevance in terms of being a driver for Māori development which is what this segment of the Budget discussions is about. So it's important that those people who are looking to actually grow their profile and the hua—the fruits—of development stop utilising that organisation.On the question of employment which I'm sure other members will speak about extraordinarily positive things have happened under the rubric of Māori development for the purpose of developing our most important talent: he tangata he tangata he tangata. That is something that has come about as a consequence of imagination innovation—actually there are three things that are driving this and they're quite evident as Mr Rino Tirikatene's report shows: number one leadership. And the quality of leadership is fully on display amongst those Māori Ministers and their supporters within the broader Government community.Secondly mandating. Beyond cavil beyond a slither of doubt the Māori members especially those in Labour have an unfettered mandate to drive this kaupapa forward. Now that was something that hobbled the last regime because they had the outhouse approach. Now that was my old head boy at St Stephen's School Te Ururoa Flavell a great friend of mine but it was very unfortunate how he was marginalised—and that is not happening in terms of those who hold the Māori mandate under this Government. And the third thing is execution. Now we are very well aware that in the absence of decent delivery execution becomes perilously close. That is why in areas such as land development such as employment and such as expediting the pace at which we bring to completion the Treaty claims and especially the Ngāpuhi claim it will be done by thinking outside of the box. It will not be completed with any unnecessary levels of attention or excrescence with the warblings coming out of the Waitangi Tribunal—the less I hear from them the better I'll feel. Thank you very much.