Tirikatene Rino: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — In Committee00DBHOH_BILL12851.1Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — In Committee00DBHOH_BILL12851.1[Sitting date: 21 October 2015. Volume:709;Page:7419. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Picking up from where I left off I am very proud to be a member of the Māori Affairs Committee. We gave very close consideration to this very important bill which amends the Waitangi National Trust Board. Everyone knows that the trust board administers the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and associated lands and it is administered under a deed which is part of the enacting legislation. That original legislation dates right the way back to 1932 so if my maths is right that is 84 or coming up to 85 years since the enactment of this legislation. So that is a long period of time in which this important trust has been in operation.We know that the Minister through the Ministry for Culture and Heritage conducted a review between 2006 and 2008 that wanted to update and modernise I guess the composition of the trust. That is effectively what this piece of legislation does. It does update a few of the provisions. We are supporting this bill but to my mind I do feel that the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi—and the mana of the national trust is somewhat diminished by the amendments that are included in this bill. Let us bear in mind that there is very very little in the way of historical bricks and mortar of such significance that we as a nation own collectively and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds are to Tai Tokerau and to us Māori very sacred grounds. So the amendments that are included in this bill change the ex officio membership of the Prime Minister and I believe the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of Māori Affairs who were by virtue of their position ex officio members of the board and now through this piece of legislation those Ministers are going to be part of a Crown Representatives Group. So they will not be formally part of the trust board but they will maintain relationships with it and the board will maintain a positive relationship with the Crown.As I mentioned 84 years this trust has been in operation and there have been no difficulties with the ex officio appointments of the Ministers on to the board in all of those years. Yes there is reasoning that the board needs to modernise but where does that leave ex officio positions of Ministers? I cannot think of any off the top of my head but I am sure that there are ex officio appointments for ministerial positions in other bodies right through our statute book. So I guess constitutionally—[Interruption] That is Paul Foster-Bell on the other side there. I know he is very much an expert on these matters. But where does this place ex officio Ministers now that this piece of legislation will be removing them into a Crown appointers group? It was deemed that there was a conflict between the constitutional roles that the Ministers have and their trustee roles as being on the board but as I said it has not been a problem for 84 years so I do not really see how that is a big issue.As I was saying I do feel that the mana of the trust is being somewhat diminished by these changes. We are now taking away having the Prime Minister the Governor-General and two Government Ministers as members on the board and having backbench MPs appointed by the Government and the Opposition. That is quite a step down I guess from the esteemed positions of the Governor-General the Prime Minister and Ministers. Although we are modernising the trust we know that the work of the trust is very important and we would want to ensure that very close relationships are maintained. I also notice that the Governor-General now has the role of being an honorary patron of the trust board which is new. But that is only if the Governor-General takes up that position. It is at his or her pleasure. Again I feel that it is diminishing the mana somewhat by no longer having those esteemed office holders as part of the trust board. But be that as it may that is what the new composition of the board will look like.Briefly—and I know other speakers will go into this—a major point of amendment that the select committee considered was around the four Māori whānau having the right to appoint their own representative to the trust board. We know that the three Pākehā whānau of the trust have always had that right but the four Māori whānau—Tai Tokerau; chiefly rangatira whānau—currently have to appoint only one board appointee. I am pleased that through the Minister and the select committee process there has been an agreement that that amendment will now be put into the legislation.I would also like to acknowledge the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage for her willingness to undertake a review of the operations of the trust which was another aspect that came out of the select committee. The Waitangi National Trust Board is a very very important body. It has a long history. It has treasured taonga that it administers on behalf of the whole country. We do support these changes. We do lament the diminishing somewhat of the mana through the positions that will no longer be on the trust board. However these are changes that are being made to modernise the trust’s activities. I know that other members in this House have a lot more knowledge and history and connection to this trust board. I am sure that they will be able to elaborate further—my whanaunga from up in the north.Other than that I want to make just one last point if I may if I have got time. I understand there is no provision in the trust deed for gender composition gender roles gender balance is there? I understand there is not. Perhaps that might be something that could be considered. As we are looking a whole lot of modernisation of these boards perhaps consideration of gender balance and representation on the board could be something to be considered also. Kia ora tātou.