Korako Nuk: Hawke’s Bay Regional Planning Committee Bill — In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Hawke’s Bay Regional Planning Committee Bill — In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5690. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker ā huri noa i te Whare Pāremata nei ngā mema e me mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. Tēnei te mihi o te whanauka o Te Waka o Tākitimu ki a Ngāti Kahungunu me koutou rā ngā iwi katoae mihi atu ki a koutou.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and to the members of this House of Parliament I acknowledge you all. I this relative of the canoe of Tākitimu acknowledge you Ngāti Kahungunu and all other tribes; greetings to you collectively.]I am pleased to speak in support of the third reading of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Planning Committee Bill and I want to acknowledge the representatives of both iwi and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council who are here today. I also acknowledge those who have worked so hard on this bill but could not be here today. The establishment of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Planning Committee was mandated by the deeds of settlement with Ngāti Pāhauwera and Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū but it incorporates many other iwi along with representatives of Ngāti Hineuru Iwi Inc. Ngāti Tūwharetoa Hapū Forum Trust He Toa Takitini Mana Ahuriri Inc. and Te Tira Whakaemi o Te Wairoa.The committee is already in operation and by all accounts is working very well. It was clear to us on the Māori Affairs Committee that there was a strong relationship between the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and local iwi. The relationship developed through an understanding on the shared goals that Māori and non-Māori have for the Hawke’s Bay region. With the establishment of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Planning Committee—the final step as this legislation is passed is to give it legal standing—that relationship will only become stronger.Another thing that was clear to the Māori Affairs Committee when we considered the bill was the innovative approach to a very very complex problem in some ways. None of the existing models of natural resource management would have worked for Hawke’s Bay so a new approach was indeed needed. This is a new way of collaborating a new way of putting into practice the relationship between iwi and local government and it is working successfully. It is a great example of how iwi and local government can and should work together in partnership. This bill does not give iwi the right to mandate certain outcomes or overrule the elected council. Its purpose is not to move decision making away from the regional council but to bring iwi into the process.Although the committee has been operating successfully without a formal legal mandate since 2011 the bill is important to the ongoing operation of the committee. First of all it ensures that the committee is a permanent committee—just to address the previous speaker Stuart Nash—of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and is therefore not dissolved before each local body election. This permanence ensures that the committee and its work continues regardless of election cycles although some of the membership will change depending on the outcome of the election. This enables the committee members particularly the iwi representatives to undertake long-term planning over multiple years and across election cycles. The bill also enshrines in law the entitlement of post-settlement governance entities to appoint representatives to the committee.I would like to once again acknowledge the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. Our Minister has acknowledged the many people who have been involved in the bill and the workings of the committee to date. I just want to acknowledge though the committee co-chairs Fenton Wilson and Toro Waaka—tēnā koe—and everyone else who has served on that committee since its formation for the success they have had in the first years of the committee’s operation.Finally in a lot of ways there is not a lot of change with the passing of the bill because the committee is already in operation but the bill enshrines in legislation what is already happening and ensures the committee’s future. This is an excellent bill and I commend it to the House. Kia ora.