Mapp Wayne: Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Mapp Wayne: Maori Trustee and Maori Development Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:645;Page:14582] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 We certainly heard a confession tonight did we not. It was that the revised superior model Maori Trustee that the previous speaker referred to will be receiving funds from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. I want to examine the implications of that particular statement because it is fundamental to the reasons why National is opposed to this bill. 
Earlier today Louisa Wall of Tuwharetoa was inducted into this House. Much of the funds in the Crown Forestry Rental Trust actually belong to Tuwharetoa. So what does the Minister propose? He is going to put it into a general fund to benefit all Maori. What is that? That is expropriation. I am not surprised that many members of the Labour Party would think to expropriate assets that clearly belong to a particular group of people and then spend them for the general benefit. But I must say I am surprised that Mr Shane Jones with his understanding of private property rights and the rights that people accrue to property would want to do that. He was the only member today who confessed to the Government’s real intent here and I think that should make Maori people very concerned about the intentions of this Government. 
Shane Jones said that the bill would be passed into law. I have a prediction to make for members on the other side of the House: this bill will not be passed into law. Yes it will go to a select committee but is that select committee going to report back in the next couple of months? Will there be a passage into law by say July or August or September of this year? Unless the Government is going to shove it through with no consultation the answer is no. Therefore I predict that this bill will never pass into law. 
I turn to this issue: the whole concept of the Maori Trustee referred to by members across the House is a relic of paternalism. The whole idea that the Maori Trustee can get a general fund of $35 million essentially expropriated from beneficiaries to go into general causes absolutely reflects the paternalistic nature of the Maori Trustee as it was originally enacted. I know members will say “Ah but this is the modern trustee with modern purposes reflecting the needs of a modern community.” If that is so why is the Government passing a law that would effectively continue a paternalistic expropriation approach to Maori assets? When we on this side of the House say it is thievery the other side proclaims shock and horror that we would use such a term but we are using it because it means that the property of particular people is transferred to the general class of people at large. That is why we say thievery. Taking the property of an individual or group of individuals and transferring it to other people without their consent or will is not the modern way. 
Quite clearly the role of the Maori Trustee needs to be reformed. There has been an opportunity over the last 8 years for this Government to have done that very thing—basically to get back to the fundamental principles and work out why we have the Maori Trustee and what modern purpose it forms. How does something that essentially originates out of paternalism fit the modern and contemporary world particularly when so many iwi are getting substantial settlements and there is an opportunity to look at those assets and ask who they really belong to? Even if we cannot identify individuals we certainly can identify iwi groups. Surely in an age of modern settlements it would be appropriate to return those assets to those large iwi groupings that are now very definitely empowered to benefit their own members. That would be a much more sensible way. We could have respected the approach of the Government if it had done that. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Denese Henare agrees with this. 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: The member is not supposed to do so but I heard him refer to members of my family. I know full well that members of my family want iwi not Government agencies to be empowered. I know full well that when my wife reviewed the Maori Trustee back in the 1980s that was exactly the intent she had in mind. Frankly it is inappropriate to bring family members into the debate and I would have expected Mr Shane Jones to know better if he has greater aspirations. 
I draw members’ attention to this point: National believes that the role of the Maori Trustee needs fundamental revision. National believes that it is time to have a deep think about how Maori land should be reviewed particularly the assets involved with the Maori Trustee. It is fundamentally wrong to have this approach 8 years into the Government’s term which simply perpetuates paternalism. It simply transfers assets that could have been transferred to iwi back into a centralised approach. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: The power of modernisation. A modern Minister! 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: I hear the Minister say it is a modern approach. I say it is a paternalistic approach and frankly the Minister of all people should know better than that because of his particular experiences dealing with assets that belong to particular iwi. I ask whether the Minister has learnt nothing based on his commercial experience which members on that side of the House are always saying he brings to their side. All I can say based on the speech we heard him give before is that he has apparently learnt very little at all. I am not surprised that Louisa Wall will be breathing down his neck and the necks of his other colleagues because they need her to sharpen up their act. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Gone beyond Muldoonism. 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: Yes that is exactly the point Mr Minister. We have gone beyond Muldoonism. National believes that assets that belong to beneficiaries or to large groups of beneficiaries should be returned to those people. This is not an opportunity to expand on the paternalistic approach that this Government has. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: They are deceased! 
Dr WAYNE MAPP 
: I say to the Minister that that is exactly what he is doing. Indeed that is one of the very questions being asked by New Zealand First members and frankly I am disappointed that based on the questions they asked they are voting for the bill. Based on the speech I heard from Pita Paraone the New Zealand First Party should be voting against the bill and giving a proper opportunity for a full and complete review of the role of the Maori Trustee. It should be a review that would respect the ownership rights of beneficiaries and large collections of beneficiaries and return assets to where they properly belong—that is not with the Crown and not with some Government agency but to the people who actually own those assets.