Hide Rodney: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Hide Rodney: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:607;Page:4810] 
RODNEY HIDE (ACT NZ) 
: 
 The ACT party does not support this bill for the same reasons as were set out in September 2002 when dealing with the bill in the House. We are dealing with a symptom not the problem. I have just checked with my colleague Georgina te Heuheu about the Wellington Tenths Trust. The inquiry into that case started in 1991 and Georgina te Heuheu was on the tribunal when it started hearing that case. I have just checked with Georgina and the tribunal still has not reported. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member may not use a member’s first name only. I refer the member to Speaker’s ruling 6/1 (Supplement). Members may be referred to by their full names their titles or their portfolios. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Thank you. I have just checked with Georgina te Heuheu and the tribunal still has not reported on that case. Georgina te Heuheu has left the tribunal and become a member of Parliament— 
John Carter 
: And a very good one. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: —and a good one—so there is a potential challenge to anything that the tribunal might find. We have the situation of Manu Bennett who was a young 73 years when that case— 
John Carter 
: Very able. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: He was very sprightly and able and was thinking about becoming a National Party MP. But sadly he died at the age of 85 before the case was concluded. So there is a potential challenge there. 
This bill allows the chairman of the tribunal to gloss over that and to change its members. But the problem we have is why those cases are taking 12 and 13 years and are still not heard. That is a problem because how can we have justice if a case before a quasi-court takes a dozen years to be heard and concluded? We could have a situation whereby a tribunal was reporting yet none of the people doing that reporting had actually heard the evidence. How could that possibly be just or fair? We should be speeding up the process not allowing a revolving-door policy because members go off the tribunal and become MPs or sadly pass away. 
I have another concern and it is this. I think that Georgina te Heuheu would agree that there are politics in the Waitangi Tribunal. However we have a situation whereby the chairperson can throw off a presiding officer because of his or her personal circumstances. How can it possibly be just that the chairperson of the tribunal can get rid of someone who is hearing evidence and replace that person with someone else because of his or her personal circumstances? I look across to my Maori colleagues and I ask in which court does that occur in New Zealand? Nowhere! So why are we doing that to Maori people? Why are we not addressing the problem by providing proper resources? The ACT party will be voting against this bill because it denies natural justice. 
Part 2 had me a little confused so I consulted my Ngai Tahu brother the Hon Parekura Horomia the Minister of Maori Affairs. I have been addressing my questions on Maori Sportscasting International to my Ngai Tahu brother believing him to be in charge of Te Mangai Paho—I am getting better at pronouncing it and I see that the interpreter is nodding his head. I am from the South Island and the Minister knows that our dialect is a wee bit different down there. I have discovered that we are to put the Minister of Maori Affairs in charge of Te Mangai Paho here. I am pleased about that because I have been hassling him about that organisation for some time not realising that that was actually the fault of the Minister of Broadcasting. It was the Minister of Broadcasting who caused the problems in the first place but it is Parekura Horomia who is doing the clean-up job on Te Mangai Paho. 
I have a few more things for Parekura Horomia that need to be cleaned up. When Mr Peter Bushnell from Treasury comes across to my office I will reveal a bit more to him and it is along these lines. We have an interesting situation. We have heard about the great capacity-building booze-up when $5400 from a capacity-building grant that was supposed to be used for training went on a dinner and drinks for the Labour Party. 
David Benson-Pope 
: Go and have a lie down and take your medicine. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Those members do not like democracy do they? Let us have a look at this question which I mistakenly put to the Minister of Maori Affairs. I said that Maori Sportscasting International interested me because its commentators watched a game and broadcast it on Sky or on the iwi radio network in te reo and that was great. 
Hon George Hawkins 
: Talk about the bill. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: This is about the bill because the bill is about the Minister who is to be in charge of Te Mangai Paho. I am pleased that Parekura Horomia is to be in charge of it because he is doing the business of cleaning that up. I will make a revelation because Parekura Horomia said to me that Maori Sportscasting International is paid—and I want to read this figure—on average $2111 per broadcast. 
I want to know and ask that Minister to find this out when he is doing his clean-up where that money is going. His executive assistant is one of the broadcasters but she is a volunteer. So how can it cost $2000? The Minister may say that may be because of the equipment. Well Sky has been providing until recently the studio for free. There is no equipment cost. Te Mangai Paho has been paying $2000 per broadcast for volunteers to call a game. In fact Hemana Waaka once called a game sitting at home with the TV on and calling into a microphone. Putting the commentary into Maori in that way is very enterprising but why should that cost the taxpayer $2111? 
That amount is the average. Some of those broadcasts cost $6000. Thousands and thousands of dollars were spent on the civil servant who was in charge of managing the contract. That is why when I look at Part 2 and I see that my good friend Parekura Horomia is taking over the Te Mangai Paho mess from Steve Maharey I am very pleased. The one thing I do know about Parekura Horomia—and I want to pay him this compliment—is that he actually does not go along with that nonsense. Not from the first moment that I raised the issue of Maori Sportscasting International and the usage of that money on a dinner and drinks did that Minister agree with that. He sent a message to Te Puni Kokiri and to Te Mangai Paho that that is not the standard that we in Parliament and the Government expect. 
I did not hear the Minister of Broadcasting say that nor did I hear the Prime Minister say that. I did not hear Dover Samuels and John Tamihere—who were sucking up the largesse from Te Puni Kokiri—say that. But the Minister of Maori Affairs has sent a message to Te Mangai Paho and I make a commitment to him in this debate that now that he will be in law the Minister in charge of Te Mangai Paho I will work with him to help him in sorting that out. [ 
Interruption 
] Oh I know the Minister is so pleased. I will be making more and more revelations but mostly I will just go across the House to him and tell him there is a problem that we need to fix. If we are to spend $12 million on Maori broadcasting let us make sure it works. Let us stop pretending that spending $12 million is an answer because the issue is how that money is spent. The Minister knows that. He is not satisfied with what has gone on with regard to Maori Sportscasting International. He is not satisfied that his colleagues have been taking capacity grant money and enjoying the largesse. 
I say Parekura Horomia is the sort of Minister that we want to have in charge of Te Mangai Paho. I look forward to Peter Bushnell coming over to my office as leader of the review team into what has gone on at Te Mangai Paho and I tell the Minister that I will be sharing my extensive files and pictures with him.