Davidson Marama: Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavidson Marama: Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:11001. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Kia ora. Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Huri noa ki tēnei Whare tēnā koutou katoa. Yes Māori have always known that whenua literally is life. Whenua is also placenta. “Whenua” is the word for land and is also the word for placenta. When Māori babies are born—indeed when all of my babies were born—we return the whenua to the whenua such is the inherent link that we maintain through whakapapa through wairua through tūpuna and through rangatira. Whenua absolutely is our taonga tuku iho.So this bill is incredibly important then. Any law regarding ture whenua any law regarding whenua Māori is incredibly important—too important to get any part of it wrong. Māori land and the rules that govern it are too important to get wrong and for a long time the Green Party has also acknowledged that we have had problems starting right back with our land. Starting right back with the huge amount—we lost nearly all of it through confiscation through straight-out theft through administrative means and through law. So it should come as no surprise then to this House that there is also widespread concern from Māori about ture whenua law. That should come as no surprise.I do acknowledge Minister Finlayson getting quite upset over any opposition. Why? Why is he upset that there are any concerns about this law? Regardless of whether they come from the Opposition—but actually they are also coming from our ordinary Māori. Why should we be surprised at that? For far too long we have been done over in our whenua by many means—by straight-up theft and by administrative and legal means—so we have to take concerns seriously and not dismiss them as party politics and not dismiss them as raging up conspiracy theories. We cannot do that to our people. We cannot do that to our people and for that reason the Green Party will not be supporting this bill. We are opposing its referral to a select committee. I stand here strongly as our Māori development spokesperson to talk about us opposing this bill’s referral to a select committee.I want to talk about the opposition again. Yes the Waitangi Tribunal itself did not consider the consultation efficient enough. I just want to stop there. The indicator of good consultation should have nothing to do with how many meetings were held there and for how long. The indicator of proper consultation is whether or not our Māori have broadly and collectively understood absolutely what is going on with reform. That is the measure of proper consultation.Again I do not want to be told about how many meetings were held where and how long we have had to look at a piece of legislation. I want to hear that Māori have broadly and collectively understood what is being proposed for our land—for our precious last bit of land that is left. For that reason again we cannot support this bill to the select committee. Yes the point of these reforms was that they were supposed to address the underutilisation of Māori land. Again the Waitangi Tribunal even agreed there has not been the proper research—the research by observation and experience to determine exactly what the barriers are to land use. That research was not done. Why would we rush ahead with reforms when we are not clear what the very barriers to land use actually are? And not just research but research by observation and experience to tell us what those barriers are.We know very well what one of the main barriers is. It is development funding. It is development funding. The amount of development funding currently proposed in this reform as my Labour colleague Kelvin Davis said is a packet of corn seeds for each hectare or so. The Green Party has policies that are simple and clear and address this part of the underutilisation of land. That is actually a simple reform—just that alone. Just investing in development funding alone would remove a barrier without this controversial reform that is before us in the House right now.There are clear principles the Green Party agree need to be upheld as we take any land reform law forward. It absolutely needs to be driven by Māori. I agree with the tribunal that it was not the Crown driving all of this change but it certainly was not all Māori driving this change. I think we need to be very clear about that. The tribunal has even said and agreed this is not solely being driven collectively by Māori. That in itself should put the brakes on any reform. There is a whakapapa. Yes Māori have long been demanding an easing up of admin for our land use and so forth so that we can retain mana motuhake over what we do—absolutely. But the whakapapa of that starts to get a little bit muddy when we see at some point the Crown started having too much to do in there about driving those reforms.I want to know I want to be guaranteed that when Māori way back were asking for reforms that was not then picked up and exploited by the Crown to drive some changes saying: “Oh look Māori are wanting changes. Let’s do this as well.” I want to be guaranteed that is not what is happening. Not even the tribunal is clear that it is not. It needs to be solely driven by Māori.I have got concerns but one of the other concerns I wanted to raise today is the Māori Land Service. It is a critical aspect of this reform but it is not included in the bill. The details of it are unclear. How can we put something before the House—something as critical as the Māori Land Service—when we know too little about it? The Green Party agrees with the Waitangi Tribunal that we cannot advance any law reform while something so critical to the running of this legislation has details that are unclear. The work on this has not been done yet and that is clear. The Green Party cannot support this reform in light of such a critical aspect of the bill being yet to be done.Again the Green Party policies absolutely uphold the vision for Māori to maintain mana motuhake over our land. It needs to be driven by Māori and the concerns need to be taken seriously. We have a right to be concerned about any law reform. We have historically been validated in our concerns about any law reform. So yes mana motuhake for Māori land; not this bill at this stage. Thank you. Kia ora.PITA PARAONE (NZ First):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tēnā hoki tātou o Te Whare nei. Ēngari te mea tuatahi e kara e Te Minita kei te tautoko au i ngā mihi i mihingia e koe ki tēnā o ngā hunga i ngaro atu ki te tirohanga kanohi i te rā nei. E tika ana kia mihi tonu ki a rātou nā reira kua ea ka hoki mai ki a tātou ngā mahuetanga ō rātou mā nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and to us also in this House. But the first thing is to say to you fellow colleague and Minister for Māori Development that I endorse the tributes you accorded to that one of those who is lost from our view today. It is fitting that our tributes to them continue to be accorded and in like manner that has been satisfied. And so we come back to us the ones left behind by them. Therefore I acknowledge commend and greet each of you collectively]I stand on behalf of the New Zealand First Party to participate in this debate and to express a number of views that we hold in relation to this proposed legislation. One of the questions I want to ask is why it has been so important for the Minister for Māori Development to introduce this piece of legislation—as Minister Finlayson said it is a fundamental land law reform—in such haste given the number of our people who have expressed concerns about the introduction of Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. Although we might support the intention of this bill i.e. to ensure the retention of the bill and to develop Māori land—the Minister made the comment that under this bill no land will be lost; no further land will be lost—I would like to ask the Minister how much land was lost as a result of the present legislation?Marama Fox: Much much.PITA PARAONE: No no. You have got to be clear about this. OK there was Māori land lost but was it as a result of the present legislation?Marama Fox: Yes.PITA PARAONE: If you have got examples as to the reason for that as a consequence of this present legislation then why do you not just amend that part of the legislation?Marama Fox: We have.PITA PARAONE: But no you have gone and introduced a new bill and it is new given that there are a number of concerns that certainly are not in the present bill like tikanga Māori. We make reference to tikanga Māori but this is one bill that does not include tikanga Māori in the interpretation. I wonder why.Marama Fox: It’s in there.PITA PARAONE: No it is not in there.Marama Fox: It’s in the first clause.PITA PARAONE: You tell me what clause.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: I’ll go and get it for you.PITA PARAONE: I will stand corrected if it is there. I could not find it. But anyway that aside if that is to be an important element of this bill the question is how that will be ruled upon by both the Māori Land Court and the proposed entity that is yet to be established. I would suggest to this House that much of the intention that this present bill has can be done within the ambit of the present Act. I can recall when I worked in the Māori Land Court and I am sure that there are very few people in this House who can make that claim we were able to do things like help families deal with their succession—how they wanted their tūpuna’s land to be distributed amongst their whānau. So why do we have to introduce a new bill to establish a new entity to do all that?The problem is that over the years the Government has not supported the Māori Land Court. It has not given the Māori Land Court the resources it has needed over the years to do the very thing that the Minister is wanting from this bill. And to be excited about a fund of $12.4 million over—how many years?Meka Whaitiri: 4 years—peanuts.PITA PARAONE: It does not make much money available for development and in the north a lot of land is landlocked because of the geography of it—because of the size of those blocks—and more importantly because of the wish of the owners. They want to retain the land as it is. And I can recall a time when Māori owners were asked to clear their land of scrub—of mānuka of tea-tree. Is it not ironic that today in this day and age economics are telling us to grow mānuka because honey is such an important commodity wanted by the world?I am suggesting to the Minister that he should pull back this bill like he did with his former colleague’s Te Reo bill—put it on hold—and then go back to our people.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: We’ve done that.PITA PARAONE: Well I do not know. In the north—Mr Davis made a comment about the hui that we attended and quite clearly the people who attended those meetings were not happy and asked that consideration be given to putting this bill on hold.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: I went to Kaitāia and they said it was all right.PITA PARAONE: Ah! Yes I wanted to make reference to that Kaitāia hui. The other hui in the north were all held at night-time so those who work—and in the north there are very few of my relations who do work—were able to attend and to express their opposition to the bill. But the Minister went to Kaitāia and only because the people of the north said that they should have a meeting in Kaitāia because it was not planned originally. The Minister turned up and all our kaumātua turned up as well because it was held during the day. It was too cold at night. All the kaumātua turned up as well as some young people. Some young people wanted to object but under the tikanga their kaumātua told them to sit down and now the Minister has come away from that hui with the impression that the people in Te Aupōuri in Muriwhenua actually support the bill and in fact they do not. And so Minister I would ask you to seriously consider pulling this bill back and having a look at it because at the end of the day if you do not have the people with you then we will be back in this House asking for amendments to the legislation.Again I ask the question: why the rush? All of this is against the objection of many Māori particularly in the north. Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 was a major piece of legislation affecting Māori and their land. As the Minister said the Act is not perfect and so we had amendments to address that issue but what the Minister is saying about this bill is that it is better not easier. And I would suggest to him that time will show that this bill is not the bill that he envisaged. Quite clearly the people who know about this bill are those who are operating in that corporate area. But the Joes the Hōhepas and the Heenis of Māoridom do not know the actual content and the implications that it will have on them and in terms of their ownership of their land—what this bill will have on that. New Zealand First will not be supporting this bill. Kia ora.MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Ā tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker nei te mihi atu ki a koe otirā ki Te Whare! [Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and at the same time to the House.]I rise to support the sentiments of my co-leader the honourable Minister for Māori Development Te Ururoa Flavell. Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill provides the platform for Māori landowners to assert rangatiratanga over their whenua if they so choose. This bill shows that this party the Māori Party and this Government in support of this party have faith in our people—that they can be the determinants of their own destiny—by providing them with a vehicle by which to do that.Yes this bill will not answer all the issues of landlocked land of ratings of paper roads but it is the vehicle and the catalyst by which we will do that in the supporting work programme. Now the members of the Opposition know that and yet they still choose to pull out the stick with which to whip us about in order to politicise this argument. I say that this argument is far too important for politicising and game playing. Yes we can be concerned that we do it right which is exactly—exactly—why you put out an exposure draft.What other piece of legislation in this country in recent history—or if ever; I am not sure that I know of one—has had an exposure draft; puts out a draft piece of legislation and says “Here pick it apart. Tell us what is wrong with it so that we can make the necessary changes to put it back into the House.” and then again have further consultation through submissions? We welcome those submissions as we welcomed the submissions previously that have helped refine this bill to the point that we have it at today.This is about mana motuhake. It is about putting the power back in the hands of the people and not having a Government whip them into shape the way we whip up the conspiracy that goes on around the place—that oh my goodness we are doing this just so that foreign corporates can come and take our land. Why? Why would we do that? What foolish party would ever put its hand up and do that? And yet that is the very argument that has been purported by people who say we should not be politicising it that we should not be talking about conspiracy theories and who actually stood up and said the Māori Party was doing this to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership.Well that is a load of hogwash if ever I heard it. But let us not get too defensive because actually there are fantastic things in this bill. This bill is going to help realise the dreams and aspirations of our tūpuna—our ancestors—so that we can realise potential for our people to assert their aspirations in this country. The principles in the foundation of the new bill—mana motuhake taonga tuku iho and whakawhanake; this bill is supported by those things.And here are some principles—six important principles. Māori land endures as a taonga tuku iho by virtue of whakapapa. No one is taking that away. No one is trying to overturn that. We are upholding that. Tikanga Māori is central to matters involving Māori land and yet we debate and argue about how we are going to determine whether tikanga Māori can be adjudicated in a court of law. Well I say: “Who cares actually?”. Because it is about time that tikanga Māori did lead our law. It is about time we challenged the very nature of this Government through our tikanga and not be apologetic for doing so but find a new way. So have some faith in yourselves people. That is what this bill is about.Te Tiriti o Waitangi is central to the application of laws affecting Māori land. Māori landowners have the right to decide how their land is used. Māori landowners have the right to take advantage of opportunities to develop their land for the benefit of present and future generations of owners and their whānau and their hapū and that is a good thing. We should celebrate that. This last principle is that disputes involving Māori land should be managed in a manner that maintains and enhances relationships between the owners and the members of whānau and hapū. And this is what this bill endeavours to do.Our people have mourned the loss of their land. Our people cry over the loss of their land. And yes I have been in those hui where our people have come in and told us story after story after story of how they have been disenfranchised from their land but that did not happen under this new bill; that happened under the previous legislation and that is why we are trying to change it. Actually the very honourable Koro Wētere tried twice to change this legislation. My very own whanaunga Ben Couch tried to change this legislation but the leadership at the time would not allow him to do it. Finally we have a party with an independent voice and the guts enough to try to make the changes necessary so that our whānau can have real rangatiratanga realised through this bill. It is a vehicle. It is the beginning; it is not the end.Now let us take a little walk down history lane. The first hui to discuss the changes to Te Ture Whenua Maori Act was held with a wānanga of kaumātua in 1999—1999. Have we rushed into this process? I say no. That hui was attended by Annette Sykes Api Mahuika Ben Hona Bishop Muru Walters George Thomas Harry Satchell Sir Hugh Kāwharu Joe Rua Koa Murdock Mārama Henry Matiu Wiki Mauriora Kīngi Mike Smith Naka Taiora Piri Sciascia Rangi Manuel Rākihia Tau Rikirangi Gage Ruka Broughton Jr Te Auē Davis Toko Rēnata Topsy Rātahi Toro Waaka and William Blake. That is a pretty awesome line-up.I am going to quote verbatim the things that they said for the benefit of this House. These are the things that they expressed 20 years ago: “In reclaiming the Māori land tenure system it was recognised that the autonomy of whānau hapū and iwi must be respected. It is for those communities to decide for themselves how they will operate and by what means they will control the development strategies for their land use.” As one speaker stated: “Waiho mā ngā ariki o ngā whenua hei kōrero mō taua whenua.”[Why not leave it to the aristocrats of the lands for them to speak on our behalf about the lands that belong to you and me.]“The recent trends of iwi to legislate their constitutions were considered to be attempts to have their mana over their taonga tuku iho recognised and enforced. It was felt that these attempted to ensure whānau hapū and iwi carry out their role as kaitiaki and to ensure that this would override Pākehā law.”—I am still quoting. These are not my words these are not Te Ururoa’s words these are the words of our old people who gathered to tell us what they wanted to be done with Te Ture Whenua.Meka Whaitiri: That’s an old trick.MARAMA FOX: It goes on. Should we dismiss them because they are old? I think not. “It was also considered that the Māori Land Court should recognise the mana of descent and kinship groups over their taonga tuku iho. Accordingly the role of the court should be reduced in direct correlation to the strengthening and development of mechanisms to reconstruct a Māori land tenure system.” Not my words not the words of Mr Flavell but the words of our old people 20 years ago. We have debated from that day to this the changes that we propose under Te Ture Whenua.Find a new stick because this is too important for the politicising and game playing. Our people’s lives depend on whether or not we can support them into jobs into employment to pull ourselves out of poverty to pull ourselves out of hardship so that we are not co-dependent on this Government but independent of it. And Ture Whenua land reforms are a vehicle only and it is the beginning. Reading No. 1—you have still got 6 months submissions and the Māori Affairs Committee to pull it apart and make sure that it is the robust document that will help provide that future for our people. I commend this bill to the House.