Katene Rahui: Environmental Protection Authority Bill — Second Reading 
Katene Rahui: Environmental Protection Authority Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17895] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 The Maori Party is pleased to speak on the second reading of the Environmental Protection Authority Bill. As Mr Davis said the Maori Party has not spoken on this bill at second reading but we are taking the opportunity to do so now; I thank Mr Davis for the invitation. 
We welcome any consideration of the protection and preservation of our environment as it is in keeping with our long-held traditions and values. Any steps that actively seek to take responsibility for caring for our environment are in themselves an expression of kaitiakitanga—the spiritual and cultural guardianship of Te Ao Marama. Tangata whenua view such responsibility as an obligation and a privilege derived from whakapapa. We see that this bill provides the opportunity to breathe life into this responsibility elevating many of the proposals of national significance and issues that were called in under the Resource Management Act 1991. 
Consultation on this bill was undertaken with Maori and iwi leaders and advisers through Te Puni Kokiri. I was advised that the key themes to emerge from Maori consultation were that Maori representation on decision-making boards should be increased to at least two representatives that there is support for the establishment of a statutory Maori advisory committee that the committee should not be seen as a substitute for local iwi engagement and that iwi had a preference that the Environmental Protection Authority be established as a stand-alone Crown agent. Each of these consultation themes could of course warrant further analysis and debate and we hope to do so through the Committee stage of the bill. 
We want to raise some issues for further consideration at this reading. As we understand it the Environmental Protection Authority will undertake all of the functions currently performed by the Environmental Risk Management Authority under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act. It will also undertake administrative and registry functions for the emissions trading scheme under the Climate Change Response Act. These are weighty functions in their own right. But it might be important to also consider the opportunity for a wider mandate to provide advice on issues such as wider environmental management the Resource Management Act water and suchlike. 
What is unclear in this bill is precisely how the establishment of the Environmental Protection Authority will affect Maori environmental committees advisory boards and governance groups currently operating. We are certainly interested in participating in further discussion with the Minister for the Environment about the nature of the Crown-Maori engagement processes on natural resources within the Ministry for the Environment and how that engagement will input into the structure of the Environmental Protection Authority. 
We note too that the Local Government and Environment Committee has recommended that the Environmental Protection Authority board members not be eligible for appointment to the Maori advisory committee amending clause 17 in Part 2 by inserting new subclause (2A). We will be actively seeking comments from whanau hapu and iwi about this particular proposal. We understand that the Environmental Protection Authority board will consist of six to eight members of which at least two members are required to have knowledge of and experience in the Treaty of Waitangi and tikanga Maori. The board is also required to appoint a statutory Maori advisory committee and to agree to its terms of reference. 
I note our significant support for the appointment of Anake Goodall to the Environmental Protection Authority establishment board which the Minister announced last month. Mr Goodall has acquired a very distinguished reputation as chief executive officer of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu. He was chief executive officer from November 2007 until February this year when he announced he was standing down—a huge loss to Ngai Tahu. He has 35 years’ experience in management and organisational leadership with particular strengths in environmental protection and enhancement and community capacity building. The Maori Party is very pleased with this appointment and believes that through Anake’s membership on the board there will be considerable leadership from tangata whenua in the establishment phase. 
We note also that establishment of the authority will not prevent Maori from having a direct relationship with the Crown on policy and other strategic matters related to natural resources. Of course a complex and sophisticated policy methodology is already in place which enables early policy engagement with iwi leaders and their advisers. This has been a key plank of Maori Party policy: that we encourage the Crown and promote opportunities for Ministers to seek advice from iwi leaders and their advisers across Government policy. We already see in place iwi advisers on fresh water from Ngati Tuwharetoa Waikato-Tainui Ngai Tahu Te Arawa and Whanganui. We see both technical and cultural advisers from whanau hapu and iwi across the resource management reforms and in the development of the national policy statement on biodiversity. We know that there is a Maori reference group on climate change and the emissions trading scheme including representatives of iwi from 13 regions right across the country. 
One piece of feedback we have received is that Maori found that they were able to engage more directly with Nga Kaihautu Tikanga Taiao as established under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act. The explanation is that direct engagement appears to have been enhanced by the fact of the committee’s independence from Government. Finally throughout all there are legislative requirements to engage with Maori or to recognise the Treaty of Waitangi under such forms as the Resource Management Act or the Climate Change Response Act. 
To make it entirely clear I advise that the Maori Party will be introducing at the Committee stage a Supplementary Order Paper that will propose to include a Treaty clause in the legislation. Mr Davis has sort of taken our thunder by asking why we have not done that. In fact we are doing so. We believe that the number of obligations that Government has with iwi groups is likely to increase over the next few years and it is the absolute intention of the Maori Party to continue to monitor and actively advocate for this to occur. 
In sum therefore there is already a very complex set of arrangements through which iwi have a direct relationship with the Crown on policy and other strategic matters related to natural resources. The question in our mind however is whether we can absolutely guarantee that this new Environmental Protection Authority Bill will improve and advance the quality of engagement currently available to iwi and Maori. The answer to this question will form the basis of our votes at subsequent stages of the bill but for today in recognition of the progress made to date we are happy to support this bill at its second reading.