Ngāti Awa Claims Settlement Bill

Madam Speaker, on the motion of Gerry Brownlee you have been recalled to facilitate, or otherwise, a request he will put to you. This matter arose at the commencement of debate on the Ngāti Awa Claims Settlement Bill. No debate has been taken directly on any of the questions. We have been dealing with the matter that Mr Brownlee raised. I leave it there.

I am sure the desire of the House overall is to see a bill such as this pass with a fair degree of unanimity of the whole Parliament. That is the intention with which we approach this particular matter. However, there are a couple of matters that are of concern. The first one has to do with the Supplementary Order Paper put on the Table yesterday by the Minister. We discussed the matter last night, and an undertaking was given to circulate today material relating to that Supplementary Order Paper. I understand that it was circulated to some members but, most certainly, it was not circulated to me—and I was the member who raised the matter. That may be of no account in the general scheme of things, but it calls into question the reasons for the Minister’s office making such an obvious error.

Leaving that aside, we now have the issue of the Supplementary Order Paper tabled by Mr Pita Paraone. That Supplementary Order Paper calls into question the appropriateness of a settlement bill that will create two new hapū through legal statute. I would have thought it quite obvious that if a group has hapū status it is granted by Ngāti Awa, not by this Parliament—recognised, of course, in a settlement bill if Ngāti Awa so wish, but not created as a hapū.

If we look at the whole process of this bill, we will see that last October a very substantial Supplementary Order Paper was dropped on the Table by the Minister, sent to the Māori Affairs Committee, and in a very short time completely incorporated into this bill. The concern there is not only the speed and haste of that but also the fact that we are having to take up members’ days to pass a Ngāti Awa rūnanga bill—a bill, we are told by the Leader of the House, that has to be passed separately from the claims bill. The claims bill itself sets up legal entities for the receipt of claims moneys in relation to the three claims, or sub-claims, that were dealt with in the October Supplementary Order Paper. It is only appropriate that the House consider whether it was appropriate for the Minister to handle this matter in that way. A process of handling settlement bills has been established, and to have that process undone so unilaterally seems to me to be quite inappropriate. So I am moving that this House recommit this bill back to the select committee for a period of 2 weeks for full consideration to be given to Mr Paraone’s Supplementary Order Paper and the consequences of passing a settlement bill that establishes rūnanga authorities where, in every other case, that has been done quite separately.

The member needs to seek leave. He cannot “move”; he needs to seek leave.

💬 GERRY BROWNLEE: I seek leave to so move.

To address the matters the member raised, in order: firstly, last evening I gave an undertaking as the Minister in the chair to circulate physical information to explain a Supplementary Order Paper. I did that. The document was reproduced in my office and distributed via the parliamentary messengers. I note that one of the member’s own colleagues handed him a copy—not a Labour member, a National member—during the course of the earlier debate in the House. The member implied that he was left out, or for some other reason did not receive a copy. It is equally possible that the member simply did not clear his mail, or that his staff failed to do so. Whatever the explanation, I think he does himself and the House a disservice by the comment that he made.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: Don’t be so pompous.

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Minister is speaking to the point of order. There will be silence.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: He should stick to it then.

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: I was ruling on that. I ask Mr Brownlee to please stand and withdraw that remark.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: I withdraw the remark. I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker.

💬 Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, we are in the middle of a point of order.

Secondly, the matter the member raised beyond that is a matter for debate. Mr Paraone, quite legitimately, introduced it into the debate by way of Supplementary Order Paper, but it is a matter for debate. I repeat what I said to the Committee before you were recalled, Madam Speaker: the newly created urban hapū were established by Parliament on the advice, and with the full agreement, of Ngāti Awa in the Te Runanga o Ngati Awa Act. The member suggested that somehow that is a new creation.

I would also like to assist the member, because he made what I think is a very pertinent comment in his previous contribution: that this matter is ultimately one for Ngāti Awa. I have a communication, dated today, sent directly to me on behalf of Ngāti Awa in the name of Professor Hirini Mead, the chairman of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa. He said that Ngāti Awa: “… has adopted a more open and inclusive attitude towards the establishment of hapū. More importantly, how Ngāti Awa determines its internal structures is a matter for it to decide. There is no one classical iwi model to follow.” Professor Mead made that comment in support of the proposal in this legislation, because it constitutes part of a carefully negotiated settlement. We are being asked to respect the will of Ngāti Awa. That is what is being put in front of Parliament, and it is the will of Ngāti Awa. I agree with the member that it is for Ngāti Awa to decide. They have decided. Now the question is whether that member, and all members, will respect their wish and the negotiation that has been concluded.

I have heard the two speakers and I am ready to proceed. The Speaker is recalled under Standing Order 178 to give a ruling on a matter of procedure. Whether or not a note was circulated is not a matter of order on which the Speaker can rule. The member has correctly sought leave that the bill be returned to a select committee. It is his right to do that. I am now putting that leave matter to the House.

💬 Gerry Brownlee: That is not the leave matter.

The member has sought leave—

💬 Gerry Brownlee: Might I say what it was? I sought leave to move a motion to send it back.

That is right, the member has sought leave to move a motion. That is exactly what I said. I am putting that leave now. Is there any objection for the matter to be put as Mr Brownlee asked? There is. That is the end of the matter.

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I make the point that in the contribution you listened to from Mr Burton, you allowed no point of order to be raised but provided him with an opportunity to engage in the sort of debate that should have taken place had the motion been moved. I think that from that point of view, the disservice to the Opposition is quite notable.

I say to Mr Brownlee that he was heard in silence and put his point. Mr Burton was certainly entitled to be heard in silence. That is the end of the matter. That is my ruling.

In Committee

Debate resumed.

Preamble