te Heuheu Georgina: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
te Heuheu Georgina: Maori Purposes Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15826] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I want to take a short call on Part 3. I really want to echo the point the honourable member Pita Paraone has just raised. I have certainly raised it on previous occasions. One of the provisions in this part which is an important measure—it is important though only if we recognise what ought to follow—provides for the membership of the Waitangi Tribunal to be increased from 16 members to 20. The point has been made that increasing the human resource—that is the people—is great but yes I would like the Minister to take a call and tell us whether the current 16 places are filled right now. If they are not then what is the point of this measure? I certainly can see the point of it given the way National will deal with Treaty settlements when we get into power which will be quite soon. There is no point in just raising the membership of the tribunal if we do not have the financial resources to accompany that. The Minister needs to tell us whether he will bring a bill to this House or at least get some policy going that will see a funding provision for the daily fees for four extra members and for the increased sittings that one might assume will accompany the increase in membership. Also there will be reading fees and report writing fees. If the Minister knows anything about these things he can show it by taking a call and telling us that he has all those matters in his sights and that yes he will get some additional people and that yes he knows exactly what funding resource and support is required to make this increase in membership a reality. It is very important and I wait with anticipation for the Minister to take a call. Perhaps he can tell us that he has put in a Budget bid for this very thing. 
The membership of the tribunal is to be increased by four members which is a small number but it does require a certain amount of additional funding. We do not want to have to conclude that this is just a bit of window dressing and that the Government is trying to look like it is doing something because it has made provision to appoint more of its mates to another organisation. 
The Waitangi Tribunal is an important organisation. Over the past 9 years the tribunal year on year has had to scale back its forecasts for its hearing days and scale back the number of reports it can produce in relation to the hearings. Basically part-way though its financial year the tribunal has had to rejig the activities it thought it was going to carry out and in the end found it would not be able to fulfil them. 
I appreciate the opportunity to take a call. These are very important matters and I would very much request that the Minister stand and give some assurance to members of the House and to New Zealanders who frankly are in support of seeing this process completed in a just durable and timely way. He needs to assure us that he has all these things in his mind and that the addition of four members if required—and we still do not know whether the current 16 places are filled—will result in a flow-on of additional resources and support to make sure that the tribunal is able to increase the speed with which it can deal with very very complex issues. Thank you.