Williams ArenaMĀORI FISHERIES AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingDebate resumed from 28 May.ARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Well it is a joy to speak on the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill which this side of the House is passionate about because we want to see economic development for our regions and te iwi Māori who are heavily invested in our primary production sector particularly in fisheries and agriculture. This is an important bill more important the Government would say than their last bill which they tried to introduce to this House but could not because the Minister was not ready to take the call. But on this side of the House we are ready and willing to speak to this important legislation that we want to see progress through the House.This is enabling legislation which means that there will be economic development in the regions which we need to see because Kiwis want to see the Government building bridges building roads building assets that will enable primary sector development and these aquaculture assets have been locked up for too long. We need to be able to invest in them and we need to see the Government backing it. But we also want to see the Government investing in other key infrastructure which unlocks economic development potential in the regions elsewhere. We need to see for example the Government committed to a rail network and to a ferries network that gets these aquaculture assets that we are setting up today in the Māori Fisheries Bill into the hands of exporters that send them overseas. Because to be able to allow for this economic development we also need the key infrastructure in place to be able to send things like mussel assets things like salmon farms things like aquaculture and fisheries assets overseas. And to be able to do that the Government must be able to invest in the key things that do that; things like this Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill that will unlock the potential of the Ōpōtiki fisheries and the Māori mussel assets held in that area; we need to see things like coastal shipping through the ports enabled there.This bill unlocks the growth potential there but it does nothing to guarantee to those investors who are interested in those assets that the Government will back aquaculture and will back the primary industry growth in that area. We need to see that the Government is serious about aquaculture serious about fisheries assets and so will put investment into the hands of those communities and will back ports developments in that region.We also need to see in the Marlborough region where Ngāti Koata and the eight iwi mana whenua of that region are heavily invested in different kinds of aquaculture assets particularly salmon growth that there will be Government investment in that area. On Monday I was just down in the Marlborough district. I met with the mayor Nadine. I met with the port CEO Rhys. They told me that they are not seeing certainty in Government investment and infrastructure in the area and that will hamstring aquaculture assets there because we need the ferries to be a Cook Strait connection which is resilient in that area for the aquaculture industry there to thrive. We need to know that rail from Picton to Christchurch will be backed by this Government. But currently that region has no certainty that there will be Government investment in those assets. The region has no certainty that the Government won't put 3000 more trucks on their regional roads and make the ratepayers there pay for the damage that those trucks will do to support the aquaculture industry.And so when we talk about investing in Māori fishery assets when we talk about unlocking the potential of iwi Māori who own fisheries assets in the Marlborough region or in the Ōpōtiki region we must also talk about the key infrastructure investments which the Government is responsible for and which on this side of the House we will always back. We will back those regional communities to unlock economic potential. We will back those communities to put jobs on the ground in their regions. We will back those people. Will this Government? Will this Government front up with the capital investment that is needed to drive jobs growth in those regions? Or will this Government go back to the days where there was no certainty in investment in the ferries and no certainty in the rail industry in Marlborough and house prices in Picton plummeted? Where for a decade no one could sell their Picton homes because there was no certainty of jobs because their construction industry was bottomed out because their builders and tradies could not rely on any work and so investment and from that region fled. We need to see this Government putting its money where its mouth is and doing useful bills like this but also making sure that there is investment flowing into those regions and where we're crowding in private capital alongside Government investment.I'm really proud of this bill Madam Speaker. I'm really interested in the way that it has progressed because it has been something that has garnered bipartisan support where there was not bipartisan support in the select committee stage. But we have come to a position where we can all agree that this is something that's important for not only Brand New Zealand but our economy and our regional growth. And for that reason I commend it to the House.