Ririnui Mita: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Ririnui Mita: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9695] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 A kati ra e tu tautoko ana i nga mihi ki tenei o o tatau whaea rangatira e takoto atu ra i te mahau o tana tipuna whare. Na koia ra kua huri ki tua o te arai kua piripono atu ra ki tana hoa rangatira kua mate noa atu i mua i a ia. Koira e Raiha haere atu ra e koe i runga i to huarahi wairua kia tae atu ra ki nga ringaringa mahana o to rangatira e tatari mai ra mou. No reira koinei te tu ki te tautoko i nga mihi aroha ki a koe. No reira haere atu ra haere atu ra haere atu ra. 
[ 
I stand to support the acknowledgments to our matriarch who rests on the verandah of her ancestral house. She has passed away to be with her husband who died long ago. So Lady Raiha go on your spiritual journey to the warm arms of your husband who awaits you. Therefore I rise to endorse the loving tributes accorded you. Farewell farewell farewell 
.] 
I join earlier speakers today in honouring the passing of Lady Raiha Mahuta and I endorse the complimentary statements that have been made about her in this House this afternoon. Certainly she was a very very strong-willed and determined person when it came to the interests of her people and that has to be applauded by all particularly in this House this afternoon. 
We are in the Committee stage of the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill. Specifically this afternoon we are discussing aspects relating to the purpose of the bill itself. My colleagues the Hon Parekura Horomia and the Hon Tau Henare have covered many of the aspects involved in that particular clause. Later in the debate on the bill I am sure we will cover the necessary amendments to bring about the particular changes to the legislation but I will put those matters aside for now. 
What has not been raised up to this point in time is the history around the aquaculture settlement and in particular the Maori fisheries settlement reached some years back. It is important to make it clear to the Committee that the aquaculture interests of Maori were set aside to be settled separately from Maori fishery interests in general. Many former Ministers from both sides of the House considered these matters to be very difficult and to require considerable time for consultation before they could be properly settled or should I say properly defined in terms of how Maori were to not only enter the industry but also become a force to be reckoned with within it. 
I see that the Minister in the chair Nick Smith is not the Minister who brought the issue to the House on behalf of the Government. I want to take the opportunity to congratulate the former Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley because I said at the time of the first reading debate that he had tackled this issue very quickly. I was very surprised that he was prepared to act so early on in his ministerial career on the challenges that this legislation places before any Minister. So I take the opportunity now to congratulate that Minister. 
In particular as the previous speaker Tau Henare raised this bill is about iwi-to-iwi relationships in a very competitive industry. When I say “competitive” I mean not only in aquacultural terms but also in terms of mana moana the water space that is required for Maori to enter the industry. Where there are rich areas of water space there certainly will not be too many difficulties for Maori in entering the industry. But that space is not always of the best quality. It is very much like land. In some parts of the country the land is pristine. I am not talking about the conservation estate; I am talking about farming land up and down this country. That situation is very much the same with regard to the aquaculture industry. There are areas of water space that are rich and would certainly promote Maori success in the aquaculture sector which is already happening. But there are also other areas where there is perhaps not the same sort of richness in the water space. 
I recall one former Minister putting a moratorium on aquaculture development simply because the race was on the battle was on to secure good water space. Although some concerns were expressed at that time it was understood that a moratorium needed to happen and it did happen. As I recall matters the Minister having placed a moratorium on the aquaculture industry gave us the opportunity to rationalise the use of the water space because there were many stakeholders involved in the use of the water space not only in the commercial sector but also in the customary sector. A lot of areas of water space that Maori consider to be their traditional or customary mahinga mataitai areas were also being exploited and plundered and were under pressure from various iwi and commercial groups that wanted to develop certain areas. 
There were also environmental issues. I recall sitting on the Primary Production Committee and hearing submissions on the moratorium. I think that was in 2002. Although there was strong opposition in some cases to the moratorium there were also strong concerns from the industry that the environment in which it worked—I am talking about water space—was showing problems in terms of tidal movements erosion water quality and also the quality of the marine produce. In this case I am talking about the mussel industry. 
So a lot has happened in the aquaculture sector and it has brought us to the point where now we not only have a strongly regulated industry—for want of better words—but we also have agreements in place that hopefully in the near future will prevent inter-tribal conflict of a commercial type and also encourage iwi to work collaboratively with each other to promote their own involvement in the aquaculture industry. That is all I have to contribute to this part of the debate. I am mindful that we are talking about clause 4 and I have probably wandered way beyond that but I thank you.