Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): I would like to acknowledge the Minister for Māori Development for his very comprehensive explanation of some of the provisions in Part 3. I want to pick up on the issue of the ability for minors to participate in meetings. I know that the Minister said there is the process for an application to be made for the appointment of a kaiwhaka—Hon Member: Kaiwhakamarumaru.RINO TIRIKATENE: —kaiwhakamarumaru. I have never heard that before. It is a new thing to me. But my question is really if this bill is all about empowering owners and letting them determine their tikanga why has an arbitrary limit been placed that you have to be 18 years or older to participate and actually vote for your ownership interests when key decisions are to be made?My point is I am really speaking up for our rangatahi out there who are two-thirds of the Māori population. OK sure there is an age limit set at 18 but why could it not have been at 16 or even better why cannot the whānau or the hapū be left to sort that issue out themselves in accordance with their own tikanga? If it is good enough for the age of consent to be 16 and this is obviously a separate matter there are many of our whānau and my nieces and that who have many kids and they are under 18 years of age and yet they will not be able to vote at a meeting to determine some very key aspects of their rights to their whenua? It just seems a bit out of alignment because on the one hand the intent of the legislation is yes we want to empower the owners and yet on the other hand we are saying Oh no no. Rangatahi if you're under 18 you have to go and make an application to the court to appoint a kaiwhakamarumaru to be able to vote on your behalf at your meeting. We don't think that you are of sufficient maturity to be able to make that decision." even though there are lots of kids running around. They still will not be able to make that decision.So I just think again it seems out of alignment. It is one thing to say yes tikanga yes we believe in determining tikanga. And yet there is such a highly prescriptive regime and it still involves going to the court. I mean I just think what 16-year-old will know: "Oh there's a meeting on with my uncles and aunties this weekend. I'd better make an application to the court to get my kaiwhakamarumaru so I can go and have my voting interests recognised at this meeting."? It is ludicrous—ludicrous. What 16-year-old would be able to do that? And then they are talking about this Māori Land Service—well that is probably just an extended arm of the Māori Trustee trying to create some more putea and mahi for his poorly performing organisation. But that is another matter.Getting back to this point—I do want to speak up for the rangatahi because this is very important. Eighteen is quite a high threshold and having to go through the rigmarole of the kaiwhakamarumaru—it just seems so unnecessary and so contrary to the intent that you still have to go to court as a 16-year-old or 17-year-old or whatever age to get that appointment made. I question the workability of this clause and I think that has been pointed out by many submitters as well. If they are old enough to have kids they should be old enough to vote at these meetings. We are not talking about just everyday meetings. There are some significant decisions that will be made as the Minister has pointed out with the different processes.The other point I want to make is around those second-chance meetings and the thresholds. I think the Minister has addressed them but there is a serious concern out there among Māori right up and down the motu that even with the very clear thresholds set you can make some very key decisions with a very small number of engaged owners. I guess that is a fundamental concern that iwi Māori have around the rushing of these provisions and ramming them through the House in this attempt. [Bell rung] Mr Chair?The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Rino Tirikatene.RINO TIRIKATENE: Thank you Mr Chair. I will just wrap up this point and I am sure my colleagues will have many more points to add on this Part 3 as well. The concern is that I guess the Minister in the chair Te Ururoa Flavell has not alleviated the concerns of the whānau at large that this is a means for a very—you know those smart cousins or whoever who have been through law school or whatever and who like to hijack the processes who can scheme up a way whereby they can make those key decisions to the exclusion of all the whānau. I guess my concerns are compounded by my concerns that the rangatahi are excluded—under-18-year-olds are excluded—from voting themselves in respect of their own interests in their whenua. I believe that that arbitrary limit of 18 years is wrong and ideally I would like that to be addressed because that certainly does not seem to be tikanga to have such a prescriptive process that excludes two-thirds of the Māori population. Can you imagine how many applications would have been made to the Māori Land Court for kaiwhakamarumaru with two-thirds of our population under 18 years of age all rangatahi? Is that what we want?Meka Whaitiri: Clogging up the court.RINO TIRIKATENE: Clogging up the courts with applications—who are these kaiwhakamarumaru going to be? Where are they going to come from? I mean it just seems ludicrous if the whānau and the hapū say: "Yep they can vote. They should be able to vote." So I would just like to make those points and then hopefully the Minister might be able to address them. Kia ora."