Mahuta Nanaia: Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill — Second Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:667;Page:14397] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 Tena koe. Tenei e tapiri atu i era o aku nei whakaaro ki nga iwi mai i Te Hukahuka a Taheke o Taupo-nui-a-Tia tae atu ki Arapuni ara Karapiro. Tenei e mihi ana ki a ratou katoa Ngati Tuwharetoa Te Arawa Waka Raukawa a tenei ano te mihi atu ki a koutou. 
[ 
Greetings to you.  
I add my sentiments here to the people from the Huka Falls of Lake Taupo including L 
ake Arapuni and Lake Karapiro.  
I acknowledge them all 
; 
 Ngati Tuwharetoa the Canoe of Te Arawa Raukawa greetings once again 
.] 
It gives me great pleasure to be able to speak in favour of the Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill. This is the second reading so it is an opportunity to highlight some of the issues that the Maori Affairs Committee considered. I am heartened to be able to again highlight that this particular bill builds on the Waikato River settlement and I am especially heartened to hear that the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations intends to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper that makes that explicit within the bill. I think it is a very good amendment and it is very helpful in understanding the whole intent of how this and the previous Waikato River bill stitch together to ensure that the ambition of achieving a clean Waikato River will be an enduring solution going forward. 
I listened very carefully to the presentations made in the House and I will at some point go through each of the points that were raised because they are of some interest to me personally. 
Firstly in order for this settlement to be enduring it is absolutely critical that central and local government continue to be long-term interested and committed partners in ensuring that the successful implementation of this bill and the Waikato River bill continues. We cannot afford for any Government to abrogate its responsibility of ensuring successful implementation by saying that now the river authority is there it can do it all and by stepping away from the process. I propose that it is absolutely critical that this Government and future Governments remain committed partners in achieving the successful implementation. 
In the local government elections and especially for Environment Waikato the Rates Control Team ticket actually won a great proportion of the seats on this new regional council. There will have to be a period of re-educating those new councillors about the aspirations of the river settlement. Their ambition will be not to spend any more than absolutely necessary on this settlement but for the settlement to be successful it will require commitment from Environment Waikato which may mean that ratepayers will have to continue to be engaged in contributing towards the successful implementation of what this bill and the river settlement bill are all about. That is the type of leadership that will require the Minister in charge and the Minister of Local Government to give greater direction and leadership on achieving that aspiration. I was concerned to hear the contribution of the current Minister of Local Government. He seems to be shying away from his leadership as Minister in committing to bills like this. This bill sets a framework that I believe many other iwi will follow. If he continues to be the Minister of Local Government it is absolutely necessary that he supports the direction and intent of the Waikato River settlement and this bill because it sets the type of ground that certainly Whanganui iwi and other river iwi might consider. 
More particular to the terms of this bill I pick up very briefly the issue that was raised by Tau Henare in terms of the Waikato River Authority membership. There is a saying back home that goes “Taupiri is our mountain Waikato is our river Waikato river of a hundred taniwha”—at each bend a taniwha. In the previous settlement under Labour a number of statutory boards were proposed and the reason for that was that Waikato-Tainui was not about to presume to dictate to other iwi in the upper catchment what should be happening in their rohe. With the current Government proposing a streamlined process iwi in the upper catchment saw an opportunity to consolidate their interests. However let the House be reminded that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Successful implementation will mean that there may be a few wobbly bits at the front end in trying to smooth out how the river authority operates and in balancing interests in the upper catchment vis-à-vis priorities set in the lower catchment. As politicians we need to be mindful that if there are a few wobbly bits at the front end it is to be expected. We must remain engaged and continue to work with upper catchment iwi and lower catchment iwi to ensure the successful implementation of this settlement for the Waikato River. 
Secondly on the membership of the authority I believe that for Ngati Koroki Kahukura it is absolutely imperative to work out the interests from Arapuni to Karapiro. The intention of the river settlement is that the river be treated as an indivisible entity and where interests are not quite resolved I believe that it would be prudent and of sound judgment to ensure that there is no gap in the picture. For that pragmatic reason I urge urgency in trying to resolve some of this alongside the people of Raukawa and Ngati Koroki Kahukura. 
Thirdly on the issue of the upper Waipa River I am pleased that Minister Turia and Minister Finlayson mentioned the signing of the Maniapoto deed of settlement because without a clean Waipa there is no hope of trying to do anything on the Waikato River. In fact the presentation that Russel Norman for the Greens gave about non - point source runoff absolutely applies to the Waipa River. So it is of concern that for the upper catchment of the Waipa River there is no consideration whatsoever of a clean-up fund in their agreement. I am hopeful and remain optimistic that the current Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations will understand the pressures going forward to try to get urgency in relation to cleaning up the Waipa so that the real ambition for Waikato can be realised. 
Indeed there are very strong whakapapa connections between Raukawa and Maniapoto but the bill itself should not rewrite the nature of that history. In explaining that I just want to say that for my part in good honesty to my own representation to say that Raukawa exercises equal influence on the Waipa akin to that of Maniapoto in current day terms is to misrepresent and misunderstand first the whakapapa link but second what the reality is on the ground. Again I see that the Maori Affairs Committee has stayed away from trying to determine that in the legislation. I think that is absolutely right but I want it noted in  
Hansard 
 that the bill should not be justification for rewriting history. Very practical considerations will have to be made and negotiated directly between Maniapoto and Raukawa. I am pleased to see that the intent of this bill will elevate an opportunity for those iwi to be involved in co-management and co-governance arrangements. The ability for joint-management agreements to be implemented is I think a positive thing and can only serve to support and strengthen iwi participation at the front end of planning policy and decision-making processes culminating in better resource consenting. 
Fourthly I want to comment briefly on Russel Norman’s contribution. If his proposition was that there should be greater regulation in terms of the farming industry then I would have to offset that comment with some practicalities. Raukawa Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa are all involved in farming activities. I think they would want to see themselves as leaders in this industry promoting best practice. Yes I recognise that partial regulation may help achieve urgency in relation to better farming practices and introducing technology but I do not want there to be any misrepresentation of the interests of iwi in the upper catchment who are doing well in the farming sector and contributing and want to do more. They may well be the leaders as a result of decisions made in this space and I would absolutely promote and support that. 
Finally I am pleased to see greater progress being made on river settlements per se and a clear direction of intent from the Minister that something will be done in Whanganui. It should not have had to take as long as this for something to happen. I know that it is through no fault of the Minister but his ambition to see Whanganui iwi reaching a settlement will I think be well supported on this side of the House. No reira kia koutou katoa. Tena koutou.