Flavell Te Ururoa: Māori Purposes Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Māori Purposes Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6619. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker kia ora tātou katoa e noho nei i roto i tō tātou Whare. Ka nui te mihi ki a tātou.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and greetings to us all seated here in our House. I appreciate us all greatly.]I move That the Māori Purposes Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. This Māori Purposes Bill amends the Maori Purposes Act 1991 to improve the governance arrangements for the Wī Pere Trust. This includes enhancing the trust’s operational capability and removing unnecessary Crown involvement in the administration of the trust. It is a huge privilege and honour to present this bill to the House.By way of some background the Wī Pere Trust was established in 1899 to administer the estate of Wīremu Pere a prominent East Coast politician who graced the halls of this Parliament in his day. In 1906 the trust became a statutory trust and the trust deed has been incorporated in legislation since the early 20th century. The Wī Pere Trust is now governed by the Maori Purposes Act 1991 and has grown to be a successful enterprise. The trust has approximately 460 beneficiaries with land and other net assets valued at nearly $66 million as at June 2014.The Maori Purposes Act 1991 requires the Minister of Māori Affairs—currently the Minister for Māori Development—to be responsible for certain aspects of the trust’s administration. The internal management of the trust is also detailed in the provisions of the Maori Purposes Act 1991. This means that any changes to the way the trust operates must be effected through statutory amendment. The Māori Purposes Bill removes the need for further ministerial involvement in the administration of the trust. It empowers the trust to adopt rules relating to internal management and that can only be good. The bill also replaces the current trustees of the Wī Pere Trust with an incorporated trust board.These amendments will provide more commercial flexibility for the trust in the future. They will strengthen the direct relationship of accountability between the Wī Pere Trust Board and the beneficiaries of that trust. The trust board will be accountable to beneficiaries under the constitution and will continue to be accountable under the Trustee Act 1956 and the amended Maori Purposes Act. The trust’s register of beneficial interests is currently maintained by the Māori Land Court. In line with recognising the Wī Pere Trust’s autonomy over its own affairs the bill allows the trust to control and maintain its own register of beneficial interests. This will help the trust to administer its unique succession rules.The Māori Purposes Bill continues and clarifies the Wī Peri Trust’s longstanding succession provisions as set out in the Maori Purposes Act 1991. Succession to beneficial interest in the Wī Peri Trust is limited to direct lineal descendants of Wī Peri himself. However the beneficiary spouses and children and remoter issue who are not lineal descendants can succeed to life interests. It is important for beneficiaries of the Wī Pere Trust that these unique succession provisions are maintained: firstly to preserve the whakapapa of Wī Pere; secondly to honour his wishes to provide for his whanau; and finally to pass on the legacy of Wī Pere to his descendants.The Maori Purposes Act 1991 provides that all land forming part of the trust property is deemed to be Māori freehold land. Under Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 Māori freehold land is subject to alienation restrictions and requirements that general land is not. These restrictions are designed to promote retention of Māori freehold land by Māori but also to considerably limit the Wī Pere Trust’s use of this land. The Māori Purposes Bill removes the current provision deeming all land held by the trust to be Māori freehold land and enables the trust to hold general land for investment purposes. It reverts land owned by the Wī Pere Trust which was general land at the time it was acquired to its original general land status. These changes will allow the trust to exercise far greater economic autonomy in the management of its landholdings.The Māori Purposes Bill clarifies the relationship between Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and the legislation governing the Wī Pere Trust. It also clarifies the respective jurisdictions of the Māori Land Court and the High Court in respect of the trust. The High Court will have jurisdiction over matters relating to governance and general land held by the Wī Pere Trust. The Māori Land Court will have jurisdiction in relation to Māori freehold land held by the Wī Pere Trust. A new Te Ture Whenua Māori bill has been drafted. These feature future changes that may impact on the amended Maori Purposes Act 1991 though the Act will likely require only consequential amendments to update references to the new Te Ture Whenua Māori bill. The bill provides a framework tailored to the needs of the Wī Pere Trust to govern itself while maintaining key protections for Māori land set out in Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.The amendments to the Maori Purposes Act 1991 can I say were initiated at the request of the representatives of the Wī Pere Trust. Representatives of the trust have been closely involved in the development of this Māori Purposes bill. The trustees consulted formally with beneficiaries in 2009 and again in 2013. I hope that information will be helpful to those considering the bill tonight. Of the beneficiaries who voted on the amendments 91 percent supported the changes to the trust—91 percent—as given effect to by the bill.Finally the bill corrects a minor technical error in the Maori Trust Boards (Transitional Provisions) Order 2012. This order specifies the transition dates for those Māori trust boards transferring to revised financial accountability requirements under the updated Maori Trust Boards Act 1955. The order mistakenly refers to the Tauranga Moana Māori Trust Board as the Tauranga Māori Trust Board. The Māori Purposes Bill corrects this error.In conclusion I want to thank all of those who participated in the consultation on these amendments. I am confident that these amendments will contribute to the autonomy of the Wī Pere Trust to manage its own affairs something that it wants and something that it should be given. It will enable a successful Māori enterprise to operate more effectively in a commercial environment. With those words I commend this bill to the House.