Ririnui Mita: Budget Debate 
Ririnui Mita: Budget Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:20822] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) 
: 
 I sat listening for a few minutes to the previous speaker as he made his contribution to the Budget debate. I can tell when I am listening to a party that does not have a policy because it does everything it possibly can to find something that is going wrong in the world but does not come up with one solution—not one solution. 
Dr Paul Hutchison 
: What do you know? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not sure whether you picked up that the member Dr Paul Hutchison said “What do you know?”. I am sure you know quite a lot Mr Speaker. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you. I remind members that they must not bring the Speaker into the debate. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I am sure he would not do that deliberately. Once again this is another brilliant Budget from Dr Michael Cullen. It is his sixth Budget and is again focused on New Zealand families. New Zealand families are the backbone of this country—something that some people tend to forget from time to time. 
I wonder whether the previous speaker would be aware that today is World Smokefree Day. He did not make one mention of it. I happened to be at a celebration in my electorate in Tauranga this morning at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. Young people were celebrating what they called Mana Maori. 
Their definition of Mana Maori is being in control of one’s circumstances. They are taking control—not looking at the Government for every solution and criticising anyone including the Government or the Opposition when they do not find it. They go out looking for solutions for themselves. At the occasion this morning a lot of young people were uptown and upbeat. They were celebrating with singing and entertaining anyone who came to the event to listen to what they had to say about being in control of their circumstances. Certainly they do not need habits like smoking. 
Throughout this Budget debate all the Ministers have touched specifically on their portfolio areas so I will not go into every area of this brilliant Budget of Dr Michael Cullen. But I will spend some time looking at an area in which I am very very interested for obvious reasons—the area of treaty settlements for which I am the Associate Minister. Settling historical grievances is one way of accelerating Maori development. We have seen that in the past with Tainui in the Waikato with Ngai Tahu and with a number of iwi around the country who have gone through this arduous but necessary process. We have seen that with their achievements—the economic initiatives they have put in place since they received those settlements. I will recap on a few things that have happened in the last year and also look forward to the 2005-06— 
Darren Hughes 
: All those good Maori health initiatives too. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Yes I will get to that. I do not want to brag about the brilliant things that this Government is doing. I do not want to go over the top. There are so many brilliant things and there is so little time to talk about them. I will talk about the three main issues that revolve around treaty negotiations: firstly what has been achieved in the past financial year; secondly the money that has been sought through the estimates and how it is intended to be used over the next year; and thirdly the achievements that we anticipate in the coming year. 
I congratulate the Office of Treaty Settlements on the brilliant work it did in 2004. Not only did it meet its targets for the last financial year but it exceeded them because it worked very well with this Government. I am confident that the office can keep up this work in the future. There have been a few settlement milestones that I will touch on. The Office of Treaty Settlements was expected to have two settlement bills ready for introduction to Parliament in the last year. Two bills have been passed—regarding Ngati Awa and Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty—and a third was introduced regarding Nga Rauru Kitahi. So the office is as I said exceeding all expectations. Two deeds of settlement have been initialled to date—Ngati Mutunga and the Te Arawa lakes. The Te Arawa lakes group that we met over the weekend has had its claim ratified by the claimant group and signed. We were fortunate enough to join with them in celebration earlier this year. 
Of course in the far north the deed for Te Roroa part of the Muriwhenua claim is also very close to being ratified. Two agreements in principle have also been signed with Te Aupouri and Te Roroa. Although I would have hoped for a third the two that we do have are major breakthroughs in negotiations. We have been working with these groups for some time and will continue to do that. 
The Crown has signed terms of agreement with four groups bringing the number of groups negotiating towards an agreement in principle to a total of 10. Fifty-five percent of the vote or $15.5 million will be spent on the purchase management and depreciation on improvements on properties held in the Office of Treaty Settlements land bank which I will talk about a bit more later on. The remaining 5 percent will go towards interest on the Nga Rauru Kitahi Te Arawa lakes and Ngati Mutunga settlements and advance payment on notionally accrued interest. These are technical aspects of any claim but it is important to highlight those matters in the House so that members get a better appreciation of the process. 
In 2005-06 the next financial year we will be concentrating strongly on policy advice and negotiations. Settlement and implementation is measured by a number of factors as members will appreciate. They are set out on pages 54 and 55 of the statement of intent which I advise members to read as it is an enlightening document that we all need to be aware of. The achievement of a specified number of settlement milestones is a major and tangible factor as I am sure members will appreciate. 
In the coming year the Office of Treaty Settlements aims to recognise three deeds of mandate. The office is already in pre-negotiation discussions in Tauranga with my people and with Ngati Toa in Wellington and at the top of the South Island and we are looking to achieve quite considerable milestones with those groups. Those groups whose mandates were recognised in the past year will be preparing themselves for negotiations. The Office of Treaty Settlements aims to sign three terms of negotiations with them. 
I also want to look further into the future. There are other areas of Dr Cullen’s Budget this year that we also want to highlight in the House: the areas of Maori employment Maori health Maori tertiary education Maori education in general kohanga reo Maori television and Maori broadcasting overall. We acknowledge the achievements of the Ministry of Maori Development Te Puni Kokiri and also the hard work of the Minister of Maori Affairs who spent some time during the adjournment travelling the length and breadth of this country and explaining in detail what the Budget package would mean for families in the various urban and rural areas around the country. 
Although I have heard considerable unfounded criticism of this Budget it is important for the House to note that Maori unemployment is at 8 percent and falling. In the 28 years since we have been gathering this type of data Maori unemployment has never been as low as that. 
Ron Mark 
: They’ve all gone to Australia. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: There are more Maori in tertiary education than ever recorded in this country. The member on the other side of the House called out that they have all gone to Australia. Well I have been to Australia and come back. Many people go to Australia to do their OE and come back. They travel around various parts of the world but they always come back. I know that Ron Mark has spent a considerable amount of time overseas and he came back. So there is nothing unusual about New Zealanders travelling the world enjoying what other countries have to offer building on their own experiences and bringing those experiences back to this country. 
Ron Mark 
: They came back to fix it. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I don’t know about fixing it but it certainly adds to the richness of this country. A lot of positives have happened over the last 6 years of this Government. This Budget tells us that New Zealand families continue to grow stronger and stronger. Into the future they will still grow stronger.