Flavell Te Ururoa: Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 07 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6375. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker ka nui te mihi ki a koe otira tatau katoa i tenei ra. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker. I acknowledge you greatly and indeed all of us today 
.] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Kai te pai ahau. 
[ 
I am fine. 
] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: Ka pai. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe. Me huri te titiro ki runga ake nei ki a korua kua tae mai e whakakanohi nei i te ahuatanga o Te Tahuna o Rangataua a tena korua i hara mai ai i te ra nei me te ahuatanga o nga mate e kawe haerehia nei e tatau i te ra nei. Waiho ratau kia moe ko korua e whakakanohi nei i a raua. Tena korua haere mai haere mai haere mai. 
[ 
Wonderful. I acknowledge you greatly. 
Allow me to look upwards to you two who have arrived here and are putting a face to the Rangataua Sandbank situation. Acknowledgments to you two who came and to the deaths that we bear with us today. Allow the dead to rest there. So welcome to you two the face of those two situations welcome welcome welcome here. 
] 
I move  
That the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill be now read a third time 
. I want to firstly acknowledge the members around this House who supported the recommendation at the Business Committee that the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill does not require consideration in Committee and that it be set down for third reading as permissible under Standing Order 295. Coming to that decision is in itself an important endorsement of the power of community ownership. I also want to point out that from whoa to go this process has been wrapped up in 5 months which is pretty commendable and I acknowledge the outstanding work done by the Local Government and Environment Committee in this regard. I thank those members very much. 
This is a bill that represents a significant collaboration between Tauranga City Council working with the relevant iwi to have land that was confiscated returned back to the people. Of course I refer in this case to Nga Potiki who are present in the gallery this afternoon. I want to also acknowledge those who have not been able to come down and who may well be listening back home in Tauranga Moana. This legislation will pass through the House today as a significant milestone for the people of Tauranga Moana and particularly Nga Potiki who have borne the insult and the offence of actions taken 40 years ago. 
The history we have heard during the passage of this bill takes us back to 1975 when the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act allowed the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board the authority to transfer authority for part of the seabed to the Mount Maunganui Borough Council which then used it for sewerage and other purposes. I have also said in the House that local leaders of Tauranga Moana at the time were very vocal in their protest and made their concerns very very apparent. Through the submission of the Nga Potiki-a-Tamapahore Trust we learnt about the close relationship that Nga Potiki felt to Te Tahuna o Rangataua also known as the Rangataua Estuary. This relationship is expressed through the many rich pepeha whakatauaki and waiata of the people of the land the mana whenua and is demonstrated by the location of the marae in close proximity to the shoreline. It is now up to this House to see that this bill is passed into law giving mana and kaitiaki back to mana whenua and influencing greater power-sharing with Maori. 
I want to mention the insight and initiative of the Nga Potiki-a-Tamapahore Trust which entered into the process with two key platforms as a part of its long-term and local vision. It is committed to doing what it can to support strong healthy and sustainable Maori communities and secondly to participate in a regional workforce development plan with a view to improving Maori economic status. That vision overlaps with the ambition of the Tauranga City Council as cited in its whakatauaki: “Rapua te huarahi whanui hei ara whakapiri i nga iwi e rua i te whakaaro kotahi.”—seek the broad highway that will unite the two peoples towards a common goal. I have to say that the dealings between some Tauranga iwi and the Tauranga District Council have not necessarily always been of a positive flavour but this is a sign that the times are moving to change and indeed the melding of the two visions is an important sign of that. 
It is important to note that legislative provisions for Maori involvement at a local government level exist to a certain extent yet the reality of how local authorities carry out the implicit balancing act required say by the resource management system indicates that legislative provision is not in and of itself a sufficient mechanism to protect Maori interests. It needs commitment and it needs common will and that is what we are seeing with this particular bill: a unique collaboration between the Tauranga City Council and the Nga Potiki-a-Tamapahore Trust. This bill is the embodiment of that relationship. 
I want to just contextualise this bill in  
Tauranga Moana 1886-2006 
 a report on the post-raupatu claims published by the Waitangi Tribunal in 2010. In that report it says: “The general provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991 are Treaty-compliant. The sting is in the detail: kaitiakitanga for example can be narrowed to those resources where the two cultures have a common mind; relationships to wahi tapu can be weighed up against other matters and set aside; the principles of the Treaty can be taken into account and then outweighed by other criteria.” I think what the Waitangi Tribunal has alluded to is that local government must do what it can to maximise participation and engagement of relevant Maori groups and representatives. A clear policy agenda on the role of Maori who may be collectivised as I suppose iwi hapu whanau or mana whenua from pre-planning through to the planning and implementation phases of the system is absolutely essential. 
The  
Rena 
 disaster taught us a number of lessons. There is a certain resilience I believe in Aotearoa when our lands are threatened by disaster. People come together for a common cause and Maori played an important part in the clean-up and the recovery of communities following this disaster. That is a natural reaction because of the close relationship we have with Papatuanuku and Tangaroa. 
Within the rohe of Tauranga Moana we learnt particularly that having mana whenua involved in decision making is a major plus as we have the resources the know-how and the people power to make a significant contribution. But it was at the decision-making level that it really counted. I am very pleased in this regard to be sponsoring this bill because I really do believe that it is demonstrating an effective example of collaboration that is worked at the local authority level and we can learn a lot of lessons from that. 
The Maori Party believes that any growth in the formal recognition of iwi in local decision-making has come about as a result of those particular Maori groups involved having the necessary capability and capacities to maximise their own involvement at that strategic level. We are mindful that much work and collaboration are needed to implement the required changes for improved Maori involvement at a local government level. If the foundations are laid properly the construction that stands upon these foundations will for ever remain stronger and for much longer. In the context of our country’s natural resources it is imperative that we do work together now to ensure the health and wealth of those resources into the future. 
The Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill is establishing a new environment for the relationship based on mutual respect. We are hopeful that in establishing a new legal understanding this bill will help to strengthen the relationship between Tauranga City Council and Nga Potiki. It also represents the vindication of the many Nga Potiki kaumatua who upheld protection of the ancestral landscape and cultural values including the late Paraone Reweti MP for Eastern Maori and Wiremu Ohia chairman of the Tauranga Moana Maori Executive. 
Finally for Nga Potiki the reclamation of the foreshore and seabed the existence of the oxidation ponds and the discharge of effluent all represent a failure by the Crown to protect Nga Potiki and the ancestral heritage. This bill protects the pataka kai it preserves ancient Nga Potiki urupa and it upholds the sacred respect the people hold in their wahi tapu. 
For all of these reasons the Maori Party is proud to support the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act Repeal Bill. Can I thank as I stand all of those from the Tauranga City Council who led this initiative with Nga Potiki people—as I say some of whom are in the gallery today. I could mention names but I fear that I may miss people out who worked behind the scenes and they may not have their names read out. Some are however as I say in the gallery and I thank them for being here today and for coming down from Tauranga Moana. It has indeed been an honour for me to usher this bill through the House and the Maori Party commends this bill for its passing. Kia ora tatou.