Korako Nuk: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3488. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National): E mihi atu ki a koe e te Mana Whakawā ā huri noa i te Whare ka mihi. Before I begin I too would like to acknowledge the passing of Ērima Hēnare and in particular his service on the Waitangi National Trust Board since 2007. Nō reira e te rakatira o Te Tai Tokerau haere atu rā. E haere atu rā ki te pao o te whakawairua. E takoto mai takoto mai takoto mai. Nō reira e te rakatira okioki i roto i rakimārie. Nō reira moe mai moe mai. E te whanau pani ā ki a koe Peeni ka nuinui te mihi ka nuinui te aroha. Kia kaha kia māia ā kia manawanui.[Therefore farewell to you revered one of Northland. Depart as the ditty of spirituality resonates. Lie down lay down and lie there; rest in peace. So close your eyes and sleep. To you the bereaved family and to you particularly Peeni many many condolences and empathy to you.Be strong brave and resolute.]I am proud to stand as a member of this House and as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee for the second reading of the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. I tautoko the previous speakers who have done a sterling job of giving a very good overview of the bill to date. I want to keep it high level but I want to talk about two important things that were covered by the Māori Affairs Committee and also acknowledge the wider review that will pick up a lot of what the previous speaker highlighted.Many consider the first Waitangi Day to be 6 February 1932 although Waitangi Day was not celebrated annually for another 15 years after that and even then there were no Māori present. So 1932 is a special year in Waitangi history. It was on that day that the then Governor-General Lord Bledisloe gifted the former home of James Busby where the Treaty was signed to the nation. The house and surrounding grounds were dedicated as a public reserve and placed under the guardianship of the Waitangi National Trust Board.We have come a long way since 1932. Waitangi Day is now widely recognised as our national day—the day that marks the birth of our nation. The historic Treaty grounds now play a central role in our annual celebrations. If Waitangi Day marks the birth of our nation then the Treaty grounds are indeed its birthplace. As such it is appropriate that we stand here today in this House having recently marked the 175th year since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi to consider a bill that updates and modernises the arrangements for guardianship of this great taoka this national treasure. That was 79 years ago.The Waitangi National Trust Board was legally established by the passing of the Waitangi National Trust Board Act 1932. The Act appointed two types of members to the board. Under the original Act the trust deed there are seven members representing the following groups: the family of Archdeacon Henry Williams the families of Hone Heke Maihi Kāwiti Tāmati Waka Nene and Pōmare Māori living on the North Auckland peninsula Māori living in the rest of the North Island Pākehā living in the Bay of Islands Māori and Pākehā living in Te Wai Pounamu—the South Island—the family of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the eighth member is to be a prominent person in the life of this country Aotearoa. In addition there are four ex officio members: the Prime Minister the Minister of Conservation the Minister for Māori Development and the Governor-General if he or she chooses.This bill is the result of a review of the Waitangi National Trust Board Act 1932 undertaken by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage between 2006 and 2008. That review concluded that there is a risk of an actual or perceived conflict of interest between the constitutional roles of members of the executive and the roles they serve on the trust board. So that is the first point particularly about part of the make-up of the board and the roles. It would not be good enough to just remove the Governor-General and Ministers as this would sever an important link a very important link between the trust board and the Crown. Instead the Prime Minister the Minister for Māori Development and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage will make up a Crown representative group. This group will ensure continued communication between the trust board and the Government. In addition the Governor-General may choose to be an honorary patron of the Waitangi National Trust and this preserves the historic link between the Treaty grounds and the Governor-General stretching back to the original donation by Lord and Lady Bledisloe.To replace the ex officio members on the board two members of Parliament will be appointed. One will be chosen by the Prime Minister and the other by the Leader of the Opposition. Of course members of Parliament can also be members of the board in representative roles and I acknowledge Pita Paraone for his work as chair of the Waitangi National Trust Board.The bill as it was sent to us on the Māori Affairs Committee also introduced terms of 3 years for board members with a limit of 3 years to be served by each. This was the second point particularly around tenure. This provision will also be applied to current members of the board. The current term of each member will effectively end on the next 3-year anniversary of their appointment. If on that date they would have served for 9 or more years on the board they will be eligible for one further term. It was suggested to us by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage that we amend the legislation to prevent current members from serving an additional 3-year term. We did consider this change. However we decided that the transitional provisions in the bill as originally proposed do strike a sensible balance between complete retrospective application of the three-term limit and allowing current members to serve a further 9 years.I come now to the significant amendment that was highlighted by our Minister which we on the Māori Affairs Committee have recommended. We received a submission from Arapeta Hamilton who pointed out the disparity between Pākehā and Māori members on the board. There are seven families represented on the trust board. The families of James Busby Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Archdeacon Henry Williams are represented by one member each—three members in total for these three Pākehā families. The families of Hone Heke Maihi Kāwiti Tāmati Waka Nene and Pōmare are represented by one member for all four families. Of course the member currently in that role is Pita Paraone. Although he is the chair and some may suggest he is as good as three other people there is an obvious disparity in the representation between Māori and Pākehā.This sort of disparity in Pākehā and Māori representation may have been a normal thing in 1932 but it certainly would not be accepted if such a trust board were established today. Members of the Māori Affairs Committee took the view that this situation is serious it is unfair and it should be addressed soon. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage suggested that this representation would be best considered as part of a planned wider review of the role and composition of the board. The Hon Maggie Barry has been clear in her commitment to hold such a review. We are grateful to her for engaging with the committee and for providing us with the details of what the review will cover. Given the wide-ranging nature of the planned review the Minister of course could not be specific about when any changes resulting from the review would come before this House to be passed.Given the seriousness of the inequity that we believe currently exists in the make-up of the trust board and the uncertainty as to when the proposed review process would make changes to the structure there was a strong feeling within our committee that we should take the opportunity we currently have to correct this anomaly. For that reason we have recommended that when Pita Paraone’s current term comes to an end his position is replaced by four positions that represent those Māori families.We acknowledge that this change is not perfect. We do acknowledge this. It will increase the size of the Waitangi National Trust Board to a size that some would suggest will make it even less effective. And we acknowledge that this may mean that members representing these families serve on the board for a short period only before changes resulting from the review change the make-up of the board yet again. That is really crucial. Finally I thank my committee the Māori Affairs Committee and the Minister for all of the hard work that we have done to get the bill to the second reading. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.