Goudie Sandra: Maori Fisheries Bill — In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: Maori Fisheries Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:620;Page:15610] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 Supplementary Order Paper 257 is about our having iwi interests at heart and about iwi being able to exercise their rights. I fully support my learned colleague Dr Wayne Mapp’s Supplementary Order Paper. If it passes—due to intelligent recognition of it by others which cannot always be guaranteed—then the constitution of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd would enable it to set some of the parameters by which this matter could happen in an organised fashion. 
Although one could suppose that it is a transgression of the Treaty of Waitangi one could also liken it to some conditions that exist within the dairy industry where the same sorts of models apply. One sells and trades within the industry and that to some degree protects the industry. One can go outside the industry and one can transfer from one company to another; all the companies’ constitutions allow for that within certain parameters. There is no reason why that could not be allowed for here and this Supplementary Order Paper would support that. The conditions would be prescribed in the constitution and it could be allowed to happen as it does in the commercial world as it exists today. As I said the dairy industry is an excellent example of that. 
This issue is about our having iwi interests at heart and supporting their aspirations. However National recognises that the current Government likes control and does not like to see those sorts of aspirations actually being given some support. Sure some iwi may fall by the wayside but they should be given the opportunity to succeed and I am sure they would succeed if they had that support. 
There is the opportunity as my learned colleague the honourable Gerry Brownlee has said under clause 104 for other entities to be created under Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd. I am interested in the accountability provisions in relation to that. Again those would be through the constitution of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd. One concern I have is around the tax provisions. If we look at the commentary on the bill we see that with regard to income tax: “As with all settlement legislation the first transfer of settlement assets to an iwi has been exempted from tax.” So the assets are exempted in the initial phases. I imagine that Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd pays full tax but from there on I am uncertain what level of tax would be required to be paid by Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd. As has been pointed out it can create subsidiaries and they can have what we in the dairy industry would call retained earnings but any surpluses can be used for other purposes. 
I would be interested in the Minister of Fisheries taking a call and explaining to me just where Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd sits in terms of tax payment and whether it comes under the Taxation (Maori Organisations Taxpayer Compliance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act which introduced new definitions of a Maori authority. The definitions include a company established under Te Ture Whenua Maori Act the Maori Trustee Maori trust boards etc. I would like to know from the Minister what sorts of taxation rates all the trusts and trustees identified in this bill—Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd Te PuteaWhakatupu Trust Te PuteaWhakatupu Trustee Ltd Te Wai Maori Trust and Te Wai Maori Trustee Ltd—will be paying. I am sure that a significant range of others will be established as a consequence of this bill. Could the Minister please explain to me what sort of taxation rate they will be paying? Will they be paying 19.5c in the dollar or will they be paying full taxation rates or are there any other exemptions? It is unclear to me whether they come under the Maori organisation definitions.