Henare Tau: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Henare Tau: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I will not take too much of the House’s time tonight. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Thank goodness! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I am just trying to work out which bozo spoke because they all look the same. 
Simon Bridges 
: Phil Goff’s chief adviser. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yes—well that brings me to an interesting point. When this bill went through— 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Hangai ki te kaupapa! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I should stick to the kaupapa? Well that is rich coming from “Richie”— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: As a matter of interest I was just reading some Speakers’ rulings on decorum of the House. I do not think we have started this contribution very well from either side and I just ask for a better level of decorum. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: OK. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by the other side—not by the Assistant Speaker—I was saying that this is one of the first bills I have seen go through to select committee without even a hint of dissent from anyone around the table. First of all I congratulate all members of that pretty good select committee. 
Basically this bill amends the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004. It allows certain iwi to go ahead with what are in their opinion some pretty good economic development opportunities that are just around the corner. I am reminded of a song “What the World Needs Now is Love”. Well it may well need love but one of the things it really needs is food. Food is always a constant need around the world and if iwi can get their hands on a means of production they can be big players in the world. God only knows that there are a couple of billion Chinese people out there wanting food and one-point-something billion Indian people wanting food and we have not even touched the other markets in the world. So I think that the opportunity that this bill allows is very very great. 
I did not want to be controversial. It is not my nature to be controversial— 
Amy Adams 
: However— 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: —however I must say before I get to the controversial bit that my colleague from the Green Party David Clendon spoke of new ways of doing things. The interesting point is that I have just been looking through some of the research in terms of an iwi in the North the Waiariki people who are based around the Ngunguru-Tutukaka region. There was an application in the 1880s from one of the settlers to have an oyster farm. That was in 1880 so it is not particularly a new idea. Maybe we have come to see it as a new idea but these ideas have been around for a long long time around the world. So I make that point of behalf of the Waiariki people. 
I will also make a couple more points. We the National Party got a pasting from the Opposition on the so-called sweetheart deal in the emissions trading scheme which basically gave I suppose a right to certain iwi and which opened up—so certain people in this House have said—full and final settlements. Well if somebody was to really have a look at this bill they would see that that is exactly what this bill does. It opens up what was a full and final settlement back in 2004 because it suits the purpose. It is because of other things that are happening with legislation that we have needed to do this. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: He wai! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh that is right—he wai. In Maoridom whenever someone calls out that phrase there are two reasons why. The first reason is that the speech is boring—and I can stump up to that and cop that sort of criticism—but the other reason is that the person does not want to hear the truth. 
What I am saying is not too controversial. I just want to remind Phil Goff—and Shane Jones who is a great supporter of Phil Goff at the moment—that sometimes we have to go back look at what we have done and for the betterment of a settlement and for its longevity open the purse again to see whether we cannot squeeze some more out of it in order to get that sort of longevity. So I make no bones about this settlement or the emissions trading scheme because I see them as being the same. 
Both are a means to an end. The end to this legislation is the ability of Maori to have an opportunity. The legislation will not solve a whole heap of problems; it will give an opportunity. It is up to those iwi who are part of this settlement to take that opportunity and not only to take it for themselves but also to enrich the nation in terms of productivity and the earning of the dollars that our country so needs. I absolutely fully support the measures in front of the House tonight. Kia ora.