Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:620;Page:15787] 
3.  
Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: What involvement have officials from her office or from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet had in the ongoing meetings between the Government and Tainui; and what implications do those meetings have for the seabed and foreshore legislation? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Officials from my office have not been involved in such meetings. An official from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet did attend a meeting between Ministers and Tainui representatives in June. Those discussions focused on treaty settlement issues. Ministers have made it clear that such issues are separate from the seabed and foreshore legislation. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Can the Prime Minister confirm that her Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations wrote a letter approved by the Prime Minister to Lady RaihaMahuta on 10 May 2004 assuring Tainui of a special deal in relation to the outstanding Waikato River and west coast harbours claims—as a consequence of which Nanaia Mahuta withdrew her threat to leave the Labour Party—and can she confirm that as a result her Ministers and officials are now involved in discussions with Tainui? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: All I can confirm is that a letter went to Lady RaihaMahuta on 10 May. It was released to the member under the Official Information Act and to me no reading of it would suggest a special deal. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is the Prime Minister aware that at the original settlement of the Tainui deal—done by Doug Graham Jim Bolger and 11 members of the current National Party—the issues of the foreshore and seabed and the Waikato River were left open by the National Party? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: My understanding is that what the member has said is absolutely correct. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Does the Prime Minister accept that the public are entitled to know if she and her officials are privately negotiating a deal for Tainui that is different from the arrangements that will apply to the rest of the country under the foreshore and seabed bill simply to shore up the Government’s parliamentary majority; if not why not? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: As the previous questioner pointed out Tainui have been trying to negotiate these matters for about the last 10 years. They did not get off first base with the last Government. They have not started negotiations with this Government because there are still mandate issues. I also point out that any treaty negotiations that result in settlement end up with legislation being brought to this House for consideration. 
Rodney Hide 
: In light of these treaty settlements is the Prime Minister confident that the Waitangi Tribunal assessments are reliable; if so why is she? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I would not want to put hand on heart and say that absolutely every detail that ever came out of a Waitangi Tribunal report was strictly historically accurate. Who would? 
Dr Don Brash 
: What is the point of a select committee hearing thousands of submissions in good faith on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill when her Ministers and officials are negotiating a secret deal that will exempt Tainui from provisions in the bill—provisions that will apply to every other New Zealander? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: Firstly I have told the member that negotiations have not started because there are mandate issues. Secondly I have told him that any settlement that results in legislation coming to this House would be the most open secret in the world. Thirdly I point out to him that there is quite a difference between historical claims that Tainui seek to negotiate and the foreshore and seabed legislation which is not about what has been lost but about what might have survived. 
Dr Don Brash 
: I seek leave to table a letter dated 10 May from Margaret Wilson to Lady Mahuta stating that the Government’s legislation will not include the Waikato River. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Dr Don Brash 
: I seek leave to table an answer to a written question given by Helen Clark in which she confirmed that she received a draft of the letter from Margaret Wilson to Lady Mahuta. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that. Is there any objection? There is.