Hayes Joanne: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHayes Joanne: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10694. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JOANNE HAYES (National): I stand to make a brief contribution on the Māori Other Populations and Cultural Sector. I just want to talk about some areas around the Treaty settlements because since 2008 when this Government came into power it has dedicated itself to completing as many Treaty settlements as it could based on the number of iwi who wished to settle with this Government. Currently we have 86 percent of claimant groups that are now mandated. We have 79 deeds of settlement with iwi of which 53 have been signed since 2009. The Crown is in settlement work with 60 groups at the moment. We have 10 Treaty bills in the House at the moment and by 2017 we are looking to have achieved our target of settling with all of those iwi who wish to settle.I want to talk a little bit about the Māori economy through the He Kai Kei Aku Ringa which is a group put together by the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister for Economic Development in 2011. It is an independent Māori economic development panel and it is tasked with developing Māori economic strategy and an action plan. While it has been pulling together this particular strategy which was released in 2012—and around about that time the Māori economy was about $36.9 billion. Today as I stand here the Māori economy is worth about $40 billion and rising and it ranges across a number of classes: 40 percent in forestry 38 percent in fishing quota 30 percent in land production 12 percent of beef and sheep units 10 percent of dairy production 10 percent of kiwifruit with further ownership in geothermal digital services education and tourism.This is a Government that has been doing a lot of work with Māori—with them for them—and we should be celebrating that in this Committee today. When I start to look at the Māori farming side of things through the Federation of Māori Authorities—known as “FOMA”—we have as of 30 June 2011 140 members in that group with 568000 sheep 79000—nearly 80000—beef cattle and about 40000 dairy cattle. We have forestry plantations. We have iwi who are part of the central North Island or what they call the “Treelords” deal. There are so many excellent things that have been happening through the Māori sector that have not been actually celebrated in these annual review debates in this House and I stand very proud of the work that has been going on.Let us also have another look at the regional growth programmes. We have regional plans in Tai Tokerau Northland—they have been released—the Bay of Plenty East Coast Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay Manawatū Whanganui and the West Coast. We have digital platforms ultra-fast broadband the Rural Broadband Initiative and infrastructure through Māori through the Mātihetihe Marae in Mitimiti in Northland. There is the Māori Information and Communications Development Fund and the digital literacy initiatives. We have education success happening for our Māori people in this country and it has all been because of the policies that have been going on with the National Government.As I stand here again I want to say that we have a $4 million innovation fund. It is an investment for Māori innovation and Māori-led science and innovation. This fund invests in programmes because we want to see our Māori kids picking up science and technology like any other child in this country. We have it innate and inborn in us. I am a science student myself. I have got a science degree. It is all part and parcel of who we are. It comes naturally. Biological science physics chemistry—you name it we are there. So some of that fund is going into some indigenous innovation around the environment health and also mātauranga—exploring indigenous knowledge.I am pleased to stand here. Again I am pleased to stand here and talk and raise the roof off this Chamber because what we are doing for Māori has been much more than what the previous Government ever did for Māori. Thank you very much.