Finlayson Christopher: Urgent Debates — State-owned Energy Companies Sales—Delay of Mighty River Power Sale 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Finlayson Christopher: Urgent Debates — State-owned Energy Companies Sales—Delay of Mighty River Power Sale 
[Sitting date: 11 September 2012. Volume:683;Page:5061. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 I will need only a 5-minute call to deal with that rant. I think Mr Peters has been waiting for years to turn up and give that speech on the foreshore and seabed. After he got tossed out in 2008 he simmered at home as we fixed up the foreshore and seabed legislation after the Labour - New Zealand First stuff-up. We are quite happy to stand and say it was entirely right to give Maori the right of access to justice something that he and “Auntie Helen” took away from them. But at least that was an entertaining speech which is more than I can say for the predictable contribution from “Comrade Norman” who simply recited all the same old arguments against asset sales. Look this debate raises two important questions. The first one is do Maori have rights and interests in water and if so what are they; and secondly does the partial sale of shares in Mighty River Power impact on the Crown’s ability to recognise those interests? So the general philosophical ranting about not liking asset sales is really a thing of the past. That issue was taken to the people in 2011 and the Green Party the Labour Party and New Zealand First lost. Tough luck! 
So we move on to the second question that I have raised this afternoon. The first is of course Maori have rights and interests in water and we have been recognising those over the last 4 years be the river the Waipa the Waikato the Kaituna or the Rangitaiki. We have tried to address legitimate issues in relation to Taniwha Springs. These are the sorts of issues that this Government will continue to address including Ngati Wai and I know that Ngati Wai are very keen to have their Treaty settlement and I am looking forward to dealing with the right honourable member’s brother Wayne Peters as we negotiate a good settlement for Ngati Wai. At some stage there will be a very interesting debate about the effect of legislation since for example section 21 of the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 which says that the sole right to dam any river or stream or divert or take natural water or use natural water is vested in the Crown and there will be a very interesting debate about the effect of section 354 of the Resource Management Act which carries over those provisions and says that nothing in the Resource Management Act affects any right interest or title to water acquired accrued or established by or vested in the Crown. We will have those debates but this Government is keen to do the right thing and to look at legitimate rights and interests in water. 
The second question which is particularly relevant for this afternoon’s debate—although it may have escaped the attention of the previous two speakers—is whether the sale of a minority shareholding in Mighty River Power impacts on the Crown’s ability to address the legitimate rights and interests of Maori in water and we say no. There was a hearing before the Waitangi Tribunal and the Waitangi Tribunal agreed with us in every respect but it introduced the issue of “shares plus” into the equation and this Government believes that it is right and proper to go and have a consultation with affected iwi to determine whether or not what the tribunal has raised could possibly have any merit. It was an argument on “shares plus” that was raised at the eleventh hour by counsel for the Maori Council in the course of the hearing. The tribunal has picked up on it and so we are going out to have a consultation. Over the next 10 or so days I will be meeting with people like Ngati Raukawa Tainui NgatiKorokiKahukura and so on and we will have that discussion because we are a Government that believes that consultation on those issues is right and proper and then in good faith we will make decisions about where we go to from there. 
So this is not a general debate—although I imagine that we will have another new left contribution from the pretender to the throne Mr Cunliffe in a minute or 2—about the merits of asset sales. They are the issues that need to be addressed. It is a very narrow question that is before Parliament this afternoon—raised amongst all that cloud and mist of nonsense by Mr Cosgrove—and it is about whether or not the potential sale of Mighty River Power impacts on the Crown’s ability to address legitimate rights and interests of iwi in water. We will be dealing with that issue in a calm and non-confrontational way—something of a surprise I am sure to Mr Peters—over the next few weeks before we make a decision on the issue.