Turia Tariana: Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:636;Page:7079] 
TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
Tena koe Madam Speaker. Tenatatou katoa. Yesterday the Crown commenced its presentation of evidence on the Wai 262 flora and fauna case to the Waitangi Tribunal. That is the inquiry concerning the indigenous flora and fauna and cultural intellectual property right claim lodged by NgatiKuri Ngati Wai Te Rarawa NgatiPorou Ngati Kahungunu and NgatiKoata. Over the next fortnight all ears will be on that hearing as the Crown responds to the claim by presenting evidence on the environment conservation lands intellectual property laws health contemporary policy and legislation. Yet here we are just over the road and at the same time debating the Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill in which there are issues central to that very claim. 
The Maori Party has been well aware that Maori have been so concerned about the proposed agency for therapeutic products and medicines that they called for an urgent application to the Waitangi Tribunal specifically around the consultation process. Concerns were expressed that the claimant groups were not consulted during the 3-year development period for this bill. Instead they had to call an urgent meeting with the Waitangi Tribunal in order to get their comments on the record. On 3 October this year the tribunal confirmed that the interest claimed by Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi was legitimate and well within the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga represented in article 2 of the Treaty. It is profoundly disappointing again that this Government has been found seriously lacking in its capacity to truly deeply and fully engage in the process of consultation. 
So the Maori Party comes to this bill with some mixed feelings. On the one hand we want to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the impressive approach taken by the Minister Annette King and her officials throughout the long gestation period of this bill. Although it is not usual perhaps to name officials I want to commend Selwyn Katene of Ngati Toa and Ngati Tama for his excellent advice. The Minister has engaged with Maori Party members over the last year providing us with copies of the draft rules listening to our views and providing us with comprehensive briefings. Indeed it has without exception been the type of process that we would like to engage in with every bill—being able to be fully informed about the detail long before it is on the Order Paper. We have greatly appreciated those efforts that were made. Indeed I reiterate the comments made earlier by the Minister of Health Pete Hodgson in commending the Minister for Food Safety for her tireless commitment towards progressing this policy. Tena koe Annette. 
That level of involvement however has been eclipsed by the intensity of concerns expressed by tangata whenua about the probability of an Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Authority. As recently as yesterday over 30 rongoa practitioners affiliated to NgaRingaWhakahaere o te Iwi Maori travelled from all over Aotearoa to share their concerns from our matua tupuna about those taonga. Their concerns—concerns we have frequently expressed to the Minister—are that the specific rights that flow from article 2 demanded that there needed to be dialogue and agreement between the Treaty partners. In its findings the tribunal concluded that the Crown’s efforts so far to establish dialogue were disappointing. Indeed it described them as creating the conclusion that “the consultation process is little more than procedural damage control”; rather than the oft-quoted principles established in law for the dialogue to be genuine open-minded and aimed with a solution in sight. 
 This House needs to start talking seriously about the nature of consultation. Consultation is not about rubber-stamping at the end when all the decisions have been enforced. To be real about consultation tangata whenua must have access to all relevant documentation. There must be a willingness to meet face to face and to know that their views are respected. Indeed as I have heard it said by another political party there is nothing to fear from tangata whenua and maybe that is a message the Government may be prepared to accept. 
I sat with the rongoa practitioners yesterday and I can say that their concerns are clear. They are concerned that the Therapeutic Products Authority will be above te Tiriti o Waitangi that it will set down its own guidelines that it will be above New Zealand parliamentary authority and that it will not recognise indigenous interests. They fear it will cut at the very heart of sovereignty. They are concerned that rangatiratanga will be further compromised by decision making moving offshore. They are angry that there has been no consultation with hapu and iwi Maori and that consequently there are no mechanisms in this bill to protect the appropriation of Maori and indigenous knowledge. Their concern is that there are no Treaty of Waitangi provisions included within the agreement and that the regulation of rongoaMaori their taonga tuku iho will be made by a non-Maori body. 
Tangata whenua have spoken passionately about the threat that the bill poses in undermining the claim of kaitiakitanga made by whanau hapu and iwi claimants. I have been very clear with them as the Minister has been clear with me that non-commercialised rongoaMaori will be exempt from the proposed scheme. In saying that I am firmly of the view that all medicines and rongoa whether commercially prepared or not should be deemed to be safe. Accountability and health protection should be our paramount concern and we must never compromise on public health. However I cannot hide the truth that there are a number of crucial qualifiers around this exemption that create uncertainty. The tribunal noted that the current exemption of rongoa under the Medicines Act could not be guaranteed to continue. It described the exemption as ad hoc and certainly not discharging the Crown’s Treaty obligations to rongoa producers and practitioners. The draft medicine rules do not guarantee such exclusions to a satisfactory level and for this reason the Maori Party wanted complementary medicines including herbal medicines and other nutritional supplements traditional medicines such as rongoaMaori and traditional Chinese medicines homeopathic medicines and aromatherapy oils removed from the Trans-Tasman therapeutic goods authority. We wrote to the Minister recommending this. 
The nub of the issue for the Maori Party is the question of whether we can have faith in the Government let alone the Australian Government to adequately protect rongoaMaori when those same Governments have not been able to support the rights of indigenous people at an international level. The Crown has advised that Maori will be able to have input into the regulations that will determine the actual operation of the relationship. But the issue is really around trust. Can we be sure that the New Zealand Government will have the authority to continue to enforce the exemption on non-commercialised rongoa and to uphold this in the future? This Government’s own Maori health strategy  
He Korowai Oranga 
 explicitly acknowledges rongoa—herbal remedies—as being a valued component of Maori traditional healing. It is therefore disappointing that the policy intention has not yet benefited from the resource to enact the commitment into real tangible strategies to support their developments. 
I was interested in the comments of the New Zealand Health Trust which saw the Government being determined to ram the legislation through. We are concerned about the establishment of a regulatory entity to manage the development of medicinal and intellectual property rights for rongoaMaori. Rongoa is the manifestation of our tikanga and our kaupapa. It has been handed down by our tupuna. It has mana and tapu and that is why it demands respect. A trans-Tasman body would have limited capacity to appreciate what is meant by mana and tapu; that is not a judgment but merely a fact. Rongoa is a total way of life upholding tikanga Maori to achieve holistic health. It is a healthy mind a healthy body and a healthy spirit and it springs from an absolute belief in total well-being. The preservation and protection of rongoa and traditional medicines is of such critical importance to Maori that we cannot take the risk of supporting a bill when some fundamental questions are still uppermost in our people’s minds. It is that uncertainty that has led us to oppose the bill. Tena koe.