Mallard Trevor: New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — In Committee 
Mallard Trevor: New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15551] 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 My contribution on this I think will be relatively brief. If at all possible I want to ask the Minister the Hon David Parker about clause 2 first and that is whether he thinks it is appropriate for this bill to come in on a particular date or whether this is the sort of bill that should come in on a date to be decided by the Governor-General as part of the Executive Council. It is a discussion that we have often. Often it is a question of whether—and this is a relatively minor bill and therefore having a fixed date is probably OK— 
Shane Ardern 
: This is a critical point! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The member might one day learn something about it— 
Hon Member 
: I doubt that. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I doubt it too with Mr Ardern whether he ever will. Questions of principle are involved in the type of clause that is used for the commencement date and I would be interested in the Minister’s views as to why this is a fixed-date bill as opposed to one that comes into force by way of Order in Council. 
But the more substantive question- I would like to ask—and I would be particularly interested in the contribution from members of the Maori Party and even from my Maori colleagues from the National Party as well as Louisa Wall—is about the style of the title. This bill in fact looks like it was styled on an approach taken by my former colleague the Hon Koro Wetere in I think about 1986 or 1987 when he made a decision on the naming of Taranaki. He said it could be Egmont - Taranaki Taranaki - Egmont or Egmont or Taranaki which provided a fair range of choice for people to adopt the name they thought appropriate for the mountain. I find it slightly interesting in respect of the member for Taranaki - King Country that people have taken a different approach in this. I think the vast majority of younger people from outside Taranaki call the mountain Taranaki but it seems to be that the closer people get to the snow and the closer they get to the mountain the more likely it is to be called Egmont. The approach taken by New Zealanders just in that area is a fascinating thing. 
However putting that to one side it is clear that the title of this bill in the way it is shaped is quite unusual in that it has picked up that style. It is called the New Zealand Geographic Board (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill and it may also be cited as either the New Zealand Geographic Board Bill or Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa Bill. I want to ask colleagues the Minister Georgina Tau Tariana and Mr Flavell who are in the Chamber today as well as Louisa Wall whether they think that this style of approach is one that could be more generally used for the titling of bills in New Zealand. This is an interesting approach; it has not only bracketed Maori but also uses Maori as an alternative in the title of the bill. It seems to me to be an interesting and useful approach. But one of the things I am wondering is whether it should be applied only when it is so close to naming things or whether it is a more general style that could be applied around other legislation as well. It is an interesting question. 
Shane Ardern 
: You used to be a good filibusterer Trevor! 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I would be very tempted to say if I were filibustering that there is quite a nice guy who actually lives in Wellington but is running for Parliament in Hutt South—a guy called Paul Quinn. I was interested to hear John Key on the radio say that Paul Quinn could go in the top 20 on the National Party list. If I were Tau Henare or Georgina or even Pita Sharples and there was a discussion about who might be Minister of Maori Affairs in the long term—if the National Party ever got to Government—and I heard that Paul Quinn was going to be parachuted over the top I would be a little bit annoyed. I am not sure when we translate Paul Quinn what we actually get but it is— 
Brian Connell 
: Madam Chair— 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: That is a case of the member being just too slow in seeking the call which is not particularly surprising as far as the member is concerned. He is too slow they all say he is too slow and he is even too slow to run away from television reporters on occasions. 
Getting back to the bill I am actually trying to stimulate some interest on the part of the Maori Party in the titling of this bill and to get a reaction as to whether this is the sort of form that they think we should adopt more generally. To me it seems logical but there is a choice. The choice is whether we include the Maori translation in the title or have it as an alternative citation—to have either the English title or the Maori title or a combined title that has both. There is a real question about whether that is the right approach. It is one that I have not seen. I have been here for a number of years and I have not seen a title in quite this format before. I introduced a bill this afternoon and it was titled only in English. [ 
Interruption 
] The member might say that is disgraceful; I do not think it is. It is the normal form when introducing a bill. We do not normally have this sort of approach when a bill is introduced. 
I ask the Minister David Parker whether he consulted the Minister of Maori Affairs or any other person on this matter whether parliamentary counsel are using this bill as an experiment and whether it is an approach they are likely to take in the future in the drafting of legislation of a more general type that does not go into naming. I think this is an important bill but as part of an important bill there are some principles involved around the style of the titling. My inclination is to say the style of titling could be more generally extended to other legislation if there was support around the Chamber for that sort of approach but it would not be something that I would want to impose on members without broad discussion.