Mahuta Nanaia: Maori Trustee Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Mahuta Nanaia: Maori Trustee Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2766] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 I will pick up from where I left off. In terms of the opportunities provided by this bill and the associated mechanisms that may help to support the development of unproductive Maori land which I think falls on the Maori Trustee to try to aid the real issue is trying to review Te Ture Whenua Maori Act to look at how the role of the Maori Trustee can support the development of unproductive Maori lands. Many of these lands might fall under his purview. I think further thinking can happen in that space. It was interesting to listen to the speaker on the other side of the Chamber Paul Quinn. Not once did he mention a lot of the detail of Part 1 but then as a new member he may not have read the full part of the bill. 
There are obviously some practical issues in respect of setting up the Maori Trust Office. At the moment the Maori Trustee exists under Te Puni Kokiri. They co-locate in many regions. Their office spaces share resources. The new opportunity that is afforded here is that the Maori Trustee will be set up as a corporation sole and it will have in its own right the capacity to employ people. It will continue to have deputy trustee officers who will have certain delegations. I think that is all well and good and it is really important. My only concern in terms of the transitional issues that the two parties will have to consider is the fact that we are in a recession. I hope they do not lose the opportunity if and where useful to continue to co-locate. There are some very sound financial reasons why I think that is really important. 
The other aspect that could be considered—and I am not sure whether the Maori Affairs Committee deliberated on it—is that of the annual reports. Given that the trustee is to be set up as a stand-alone entity that will be fully accountable for its operations I hope the annual reports provide greater clarity to the beneficiaries of unclaimed monies. Those are exactly the kinds of things that the Maori Trustee will undertake on their behalf. The devil will be in the detail and in the reporting. 
I welcome under schedule 2 the insertion of “the Maori Trustee” to schedule 4 of the Public Finance Act which will give a level of accountability that will be very important to many of the beneficiaries who have a right to know what the Maori Trustee is doing on their behalf. The explanatory note and some other information I have read suggest that some beneficiaries will choose or elect to retain their small shareholdings within the Maori Trust Office. That may well be the case and that is why greater transparency around annual reporting will be helpful to them. 
The other aspect of Part 1 that I want to comment on in particular relates to the termination of appointment of the Maori Trustee. I will take some time on this because I have some questions to ask. The criteria for terminating the appointment of the Maori Trustee are well set out in the bill. Essentially there could be a situation whereby the Maori Trustee is appointed for 5 years and rolls over for another 5 years or the trustee could be terminated according to express criteria in the bill. If the Minister chooses to terminate the employment of the Maori Trustee who then carries out the functions? It is not clear. Although there are deputy trustees who have specific written delegations if the Minister is required for some very public reasons or based on some very public criticisms to suspend the office of the Maori Trustee what happens to those delegated functions in that time period? In the way the legislation reads one must have express written delegations to the deputy trustee. 
I ask the Minister in the chair the Hon Georgina te Heuheu to clarify that particular question for no other reason than to highlight that there could be a bit of a difficulty there. Often with appointments like this the consideration of termination or suspension of time in office is carried out purely for political reasons. That presents a difficulty in terms of the smooth functioning and running of the office. I would like the Minister to take a call to clarify that.