Ririnui Mita: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRirinui Mita: Māori Trustee Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 05 May 2009. Volume:654;Page:2871. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour):It is interesting that since the beginning of the debate this afternoon members who have spoken including the Chairperson have said we need to narrow our comments to relevant aspects of the different parts of the bill. I am surprised Mr Chairperson that you did not pull the Hon Tau Henare up on a couple of occasions because he talked about a part of the bill that does not exist. That discussion may have taken place during the process in the Māori Affairs Committee but certainly his comments were not relevant to the bill.However the bill is aptly titled the Māori Trustee Amendment Bill and that title covers a lot of the debate this afternoon about what Part 1 means in terms of setting up a stand-alone Māori Trustee Office free of the shackles of Te Puni Kōkiri and free of the encumbrances that come with the position of Māori Trustee in the current legislation. This amendment bill which is going through the parliamentary process will set up that stand-alone organisation once the bill is enacted.In listening to the quality of the debate and some aspects raised it is interesting to note that both the previous Government and the current Government have supported this bill. It is important that we take another look at the way in which Māori-owned assets that are held in trust are administered and whether we can put in place a regime that will help the Māori Trustee do the job better. We believe as we have since the bill was introduced by the previous Minister of Māori Affairs under the previous Labour-led Government that it is an important bill to bring about those necessary changes. It was really pleasing to see the present Minister of Māori Affairs stand in the Committee stage and commit his total support to the bill. He also provided some clarity around some of the issues that were raised during the debate on Part 1 and also Part 2 in terms of the transition process where it concerns not only the transfer of assets from one entity to another which technically tends to be the same organisation under separate legislation but also provisions that affect employment-related issues for Māori Trustee staff. I believe there are not too many of them but if the Minister picks up the challenges that were put before him this afternoon by a former—three times removed—Minister of Māori Affairs the Hon Tau Henare I am sure he will have an incredible task ahead of him.As I said earlier on members on this side of the Chamber are committed to improving the quality of trusteeship over Māori-owned assets so we will work with the current Minister of Māori Affairs put our political differences to the side and have the best interests of Māori at heart. However having said that we have high standards and high expectations. We will be reminding the Minister on a regular basis should we go down this pathway of what those expectations are.I did not leap to my feet to respond to the unkind comments of the previous speaker but I need to clarify some of the things that he raised because they are relevant to the good work of the previous Minister of Māori Affairs under the previous Labour-led Government. As I said the present Minister of Māori Affairs is certainly showing leadership on this very very important issue. Thank you.