SpeechHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe tēnā koutou katoa. Tuatahi ake ka tika me mihi ki a koutou a Ngāi Tahu me ngā maunga ngā awa ngā whenua o Te Wai Pounamu kei te mihi kei te mihi.[Greetings Mr Speaker greetings one and all. First and foremost it is appropriate that I should acknowledge you of Ngāi Tahu and the mountains the rivers and lands of the South Island of New Zealand greetings greetings.]I'm really pleased to take a call on behalf of the Green Party on the third reading of the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill. Can I congratulate the bill's sponsor Rino Tirikatene for his work in shepherding it through Parliament and can I acknowledge the very strong presence in the Speaker's gallery of Ngāi Tahu whānui representatives of the Papatipu Rūnanga and the rangatira and New Zealander of the Year Tā Tīpene O'Regan. Can I also acknowledge the chair of Environment Canterbury Jenny Hughey; the Tumu Taiao Iaean Cranwell and Yvette Couch-Lewis; the delegation of councillors from Environment Canterbury; and support staff from both Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and Environment Canterbury.The Green Party is really proud to support this bill because it recognises and helps implement the Te Tiriti partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand's largest and second-most popular region of Waitaha Canterbury—the 45000 square kilometres of Canterbury. It provides for representation of Ngāi Tahu as mana whenua as a decision maker and not just an adviser at the table and it's critical because it strengthens democracy. It doesn't diminish it as the National Party is alleging. It strengthens it because it's adding two additional representatives at the council table ensuring that there will be a strong voice for Ngāi Tahu and active participation in decisions there. Having mana whenua at the table is critically important for regional councils because of course they've got statutory responsibility under the Resource Management Act for management of te taiao—fresh water—the awa the lakes coastal waters the soils land and also the air. So given the significance of te taiao in Te Ao Māori for the identity of mana whenua for their culture traditions and for providing mahinga kai it's critical that Ngāi Tahu as mana whenua have a strong voice in decisions about the management of te taiao and of course as the previous speaker Tāmati Coffey noted the whole Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act—the apology that the Crown made—affirmed Ngāi Tahu's special association with Canterbury's natural environment. This bill and the representation it provides recognises that special association. It is nonsense for National MPs to claim that this is diminishing democracy or that it's advantaging Ngāi Tahu because as the Attorney-General noted in his report no other comparator group is currently recognised by Government as having the association that Ngāi Tahu has with the Canterbury region. So there's no other person or group that is going to be materially disadvantaged by this bill. It's also nonsense for National to claim that there hasn't been consultation. There were some 1600 submissions to the Māori Affairs Committee and the committee very carefully considered the bill and those submissions. So the whole—Hon Gerry Brownlee: What was the balance?Hon EUGENIE SAGE: What was the balance?" Mr Brownlee is asking. The National Party is whipping up misinformation and misrepresentation about this bill. It is scaremongering. That is diminishing democracy; not this bill. The spam campaign that the National Party has been involved in with over a million emails coming into members of Parliament—being fearful about this bill is what diminishes democracy and I have said in response to some of those constituents who have emailed that they should go and read some history. They should understand that in Canterbury we are on land that Ngāi Tahu ended up having taken from them. That's the basis of the claim. People need to learn the history of colonisation the impacts of colonisation and what this bill is doing to shape a democracy a future for Aotearoa that is based on Te Tiriti as our constitutional foundation. I really acknowledge Tā Tīpene O'Regan who has spent his life building biculturalism building the connections between Te Ao Māori and Te Ao Pākehā. This is at the heart of this bill. It's collective amnesia on behalf of the National Party for failing to recognise that. Of course the only good thing that came out of their stripping away of democracy in 2010 was the appointment of two members of Ngāi Tahu as commissioners to Environment Canterbury. It has been the work that those two representatives did and that the Tumu Taiao have done since which should reassure anybody who has concerns about this bill because this bill is about ensuring that we don't have decisions such as those made by the former Banks Peninsula County Council at Takapūneke to have a waste-water plant and a rubbish tip sited on a place that is so significant in the history of Aotearoa and where hundreds died. Those decisions were made because there was no Ngāi Tahu voice at the table.This bill is about strengthening democracy. It's about making good decisions which represent the mosaic the cultural diversity of our society and culture and is about building a stronger future. I was one of the regional councillors that was removed by Ministers Rodney Hide and Nick Smith in 2010. The only good thing that came out of having the commissioners that were appointed because the National Government was concerned about how the council was increasing the flows in rivers like the Waimakariri to better restore their mauri and their health was the active involvement of Ngāi Tahu. We have also seen it in the rebuilding of Christchurch after the earthquakes and the strong involvement of Ngāi Tahu in creating a new identity for our city which recognises our diversity and this bill is part of that. The Green Party strongly supports democratic representation through elected councillors and effective representation. The National Party gets hung up on equal representation not effective representation. So we need options like the one this bill is creating to ensure that we've got that fair and effective representation of Māori constituents and we ensure that the views of mana whenua are considered and a vital part of decision making. It will lead to better decisions. It will recognise that Ngāi Tahu once owned all of the land in Canterbury and that will strengthen and not undermine democracy. Nō reira ko mātou o te Pāti Kākāriki e tautoko ana i tēnei āhuatanga te mahi tahi me ngā mana whenua mō te oranga o te taiao. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa kia ora mai tātou katoa.[Therefore we of the Green Party support this aspect the collaboration with the people with authority over the land for the benefit of the environment. Greetings greetings greetings one and all be well one and all.]"