Mahuta NanaiaLOCAL GOVERNMENT (RATING OF WHENUA MĀORI) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Local Government): I move That the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 29 June and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 194(1)(b) and 194(1)(c).Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua.People may perish but the land shall always remain.That is a prescient reminder of the role and responsibility that Māori electorate MPs have in this House to continue to advocate for positive change in relation to whenua Māori. A key objective of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 is to facilitate the occupation development and utilisation of Māori land for the benefit of its owners. Rating law and practice has long been recognised as an impediment to achieving that objective. This bill implements measures to remove rates as an impediment to the use and development of Māori land by its owners.In developing proposals for this bill it became apparent that in previous reviews of rating legislation issues around rating Māori land had been put in the too-hard basket. The result is that much of our present law about rating Māori land dates back to 1924 and what was then known as the Native Lands Rating Act. This bill makes some changes to bring rating law into line with the current expectations for Māori-Crown relationships and importantly the unique land tenure system applying to whenua Māori.This Government does not believe that issues relating to use and development of Māori land can be solved by a single measure. This bill is a part of a package of measures designed to assist Māori to develop and use their whenua. Let me briefly summarise other measures this Government has taken which include the introduction of Te Ture Whenua Maori (Succession Dispute Resolution and Related Matters) Amendment Bill that will simplify some of the legal process requirements that Māori land owners face; the allocation of $56.1 million in Budget 2019 enabling the establishment of regional on-the-ground advisory services in Tai Tokerau Waiariki and Te Tai Rāwhiti; the creation of a whenua knowledge hub and the Tupu New Zealand website that I launched in February this year; new and enhanced services for the Māori Land Court and the modernisation of the Māori Land Court information systems; the provision of feasibility and investment funds for Māori land owners through the Whenua Māori Fund; and $100 million set aside from the Provincial Growth Fund for the development of whenua Māori.Returning to this bill that works in conjunction with these other initiatives to stimulate whānau development through whenua. I'd like to now comment on the key proposals contained in this bill. By far the biggest problem for owners of Māori land engaging with local authorities about development is the problem of rates arrears. Under current law the accumulation of rates arrears creates a negative cycle. The ability of owners to pay rates and the inability of whānau to develop their land has prevented them from being able to pay those rates. Existing rates arrears inhibit owners from engaging with local authorities to promote the development of the land. We need to break this cycle. We actually need to change up the conversation because if whenua Māori is developed there are local and regional benefits from growth opportunities.This bill does this in two ways. First land blocks that are entirely unused will be made non-rateable and existing rates arrears on those blocks will be written off. At the same time land which has been set aside under Ngā Whenua Rāhui kawenata will also be made non-rateable. Second local authority chief executives will be given discretion to write off rates arrears on any land where they consider the rates cannot be recovered. In addition they will be able to write off rates where a person has inherited a beneficial interest in a block of Māori land and finds that they have also inherited rates arrears. The bill's third initiative is to create a statutory remissions process for rates on Māori land under development.Some councils already grant rates remissions for developments they see as economically beneficial for their district. Currently each council develops its own remissions policy so there is no national consistency in approach to development remissions but there needs to be. This bill will provide a consistent set of criteria and considerations that each council must take into account when dealing with an application for rates remissions for the development of Māori land. Owners of Māori land have particular difficulties accessing capital for development as the nature of their land titles creates difficulties in securing mortgages. Granting rates remissions or postponements during the development stage recognises this issue and is an investment for a council in obtaining future rating streams from productive utilisation of whenua Māori.The bill's fourth initiative addresses the problem of fragmentation of Māori land titles. Many Māori land blocks are quite small and individually they may not be economic to develop. If owners can agree to manage the blocks as one development is possible. However the combined rates charges for these blocks can be very high because of the application of uniform charges under the local authority rating schemes. The bill provides that where multiple units of Māori land are used as a single economic unit if they were part of the same original block of Māori land they can be rated as if they were one rating unit. The Far North District Council for example did this for the Ōkahu blocks in its district reducing annual rates from $18000 to $8000 per annum. This bill will make this universally available for many Māori land owners.The bill's fifth initiative addresses the rating treatment of homes on Māori land. Where there are multiple homes on a block of Māori land or a home is incidental to other uses of the land the title arrangement means the homeowner is unable to access the rates rebate scheme. In 2018 this Parliament passed legislation granting access to rates rebates to occupants of retirement villages. It is clear that where there are multiple homes on Māori land there is an equally compelling case that low-income homeowners in those homes should also be able to access the rates rebates. This bill will enable that to occur.The bill proposes a number of other changes to the rating legislation. One is particularly important and I know it will have a positive impact in many regions. In 1967 the Government of the day amended the Maori Affairs Act to direct that certain Māori land be changed to general land. This was done without consultation or notification to the owners. The effect of that change was to expose that land to alienation through abandoned land and rating sales under the rating Act. I am aware of cases where such land has recently been offered for sale under those provisions. This bill will stop future sales of that classification of land.Rating matters have been a concern for Māori land owners ever since the practice was introduced in the 19th century. Ironically it was one of the key issues my tupuna Mahuta opposed as an unfair measure when he was an early member of the legislative House. This bill will deal with some of the longstanding issues that have continued to arise in that area. I commend the bill to the House.