Davis Kelvin: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Davis Kelvin: Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:4130] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 I support the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement (Regional Agreements) Amendment Bill. Iwi and the Crown have formalised an agreement over pre-commencement aquaculture interests in Te Wai Pounamu and the Hauraki Gulf. The deed of settlement signed at Te Papa covers the vast majority of New Zealand’s aquaculture development areas including the Marlborough Sounds Tasman Bay and the Hauraki Gulf along with the rest of the South Island. The bill gives effect to a pre-election agreement in principle signed in October last year. The bill seeks to simplify and settle the process for Maori to enter into the aquaculture industry and amongst other things offers cash payments in lieu of aquaculture space.  
I congratulate and acknowledge the former Ministers who have worked to get this bill to the stage it has got to. The Hon Phil Heatley has acknowledged Parekura Horomia Dr Cullen and others who worked on this bill in order to get it to this stage. It is only fair that those Ministers from the previous Government are acknowledged along with the Hon Phil Heatley. For me it does not matter that the National Government has come along and got the signatures on the bottom line of the last page of this deal; what matters to me is that Maori have opportunities to develop and grow not just in the aquaculture industry but in all industries.  
Maori have been sustained by kai moana or mataitai as we also call it since time immemorial. It has fed and nourished us. Therefore it stands to reason that Maori should be able to enter into the aquaculture industry and continue to sustain our whanau hapu and iwi. I noted in schedule 2 of the principal Act that the first nine harbours listed are from up in the north. Not only have my tupuna sustained themselves and our whanau hapu and iwi from the mataitai of those wahapu but I too have an intimate knowledge of a number of those harbours from fishing diving and gathering kai moana.  
The Waikare inlet in the Bay of Islands in particular I know very well. Before the oyster farms up there succumbed to the disease and pollution that ruined not just the farms but also the livelihoods of a number of the oyster farmers we were able to gather literally sacks of oysters for our marae. When every Bluff oyster season came around we used to laugh when we saw people paying $20 for a dozen oysters when for next to nothing we could get a dozen sacks of oysters. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: And they’re bigger. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: They were a lot bigger and in our opinion they were a lot sweeter. We could literally go along the banks of the Waikare and Taumarere rivers and gather up sacks of oysters. 
My tupuna Pomare build a pa on that very river by the name of Otuihu. Being the entrepreneur that he was he ran a few grog shops and a few other dens of iniquity until the day the British ship the  
North Star 
 came along and shelled the pa and British troops set the whole settlement on fire. Then we had to move off and head up to Karetu. But in those days and right through until even as recently as the 1970s my whanau from Ngati Manu have gathered pipi and tio which are oysters and kutai. We have caught tuna tamure—which is snapper—patiki herrings mullet and many other fish to sustain us not just for our marae hui but for our daily sustenance. So I support this bill which enables Maori to again derive sustenance for the whanau through the development of the aquaculture industry and I support all the jobs that will be generated for Maori because of it. 
This bill has been developed to enable the Government to deliver a one-off cash payment of $97 million in full and final settlement of all Crown obligations for pre-commencement aquaculture space—that is aquaculture space approved between 21 September 1992 and 31 December 2004 under the previous marine farming regime. This settlement covers the vast majority of New Zealand’s current aquaculture development areas including as has been mentioned the Marlborough Sounds Tasman Bay and Hauraki Gulf. This settlement will give a financial boost to iwi as well as help to give certainty to the aquaculture industry. I commend this Government for continuing the work of the previous Government. I commend it for the sense of urgency it is giving to the settlements. Maori deserve settlements to be made as quickly as possible so that we can get on with the business of being successful of footing it with non-Maori in industry and of working in industries that appeal to us by virtue of their nature and through our heritage. 
The aquaculture industry will create employment for Maori near their homes. They will not necessarily have to uproot their families and settle away from home. Aquaculture is an industry that will suit our people in the north because no matter where one lives in the north one is not more than an hour away from a harbour where aquaculture industries exist. I think of the Sanford factory in the small town of Kaeo in the beautiful Whangaroa where the aquaculture industry is the biggest employer in town. It draws employees not just from Kaeo itself but also from across the north from Kawakawa and Kaikohe. People are able to travel to and from work daily from their home towns. There will be even more employment opportunities for Maori and all others in the far north when the other harbours there also begin to develop fully their aquaculture industries. 
The proposed changes in this bill allow a practical solution to the outstanding issues in the principal Act without having to renegotiate the underlying intent of the settlement. I support this legislation which secures a sustainable future for New Zealand’s aquaculture industry. That industry is a growing one and New Zealand is recognised internationally for it. The quality of our seafood is famous worldwide. I have a friend who owns his own oyster farm in Te Hapua in the very very far north. His business cannot keep up with the demand and he employs a number of locals. 
I recall being in Canada 5 years ago and ordering a plate of Canadian scallops. Having been away from home for a couple of months I was desperate for a feed of seafood only to have my plate arrive in front of me and be bitterly disappointed with what I was served. I later found out that Canadian scallops are made from the flaps of fish that have been stamped with something akin to a biscuit cutter but they are about one-fifth of the size of a biscuit. That is not seafood. Feeding fake seafood to a Maori is tantamount to an act of treason. It is a criminal act. I am not sure whom the restaurateur thought he was feeding but I was not going to let him get away with feeding me counterfeit scallops. Unfortunately Canadian seafood restaurants do not come under this Parliament’s jurisdiction but if there was ever a case for bringing back the punishment of hanging drawing and quartering somebody it would be for selling fake kai moana to a hungry Maori. 
I look forward to seeing the aquaculture industry develop further and having those Canadians buy up our seafood in bulk so that if I am ever fortunate enough to be over there again they can serve me the real McCoy not imitation kai moana. I am especially eager for my whanaunga to be right there in the thick of the aquaculture action creating businesses and financial success for themselves creating employment in our Maori communities and contributing fully to our economy and country. This bill will go a long way towards assisting that to occur and again I congratulate all the Ministers who have brought this settlement and this bill to this point be they Ministers from the current Government or from the previous Government. Tena koutou.