Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill

I move, That the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill be now read a third time. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the presence of the trustees and the supporters of the trust up in the gallery. Welcome, folks—this is your House. Thank you for your support. I thank you for your initiative in driving this bill through the House. It is has been a little time coming, but this is the third reading.

Secondly, I would like to acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee, particularly around what could have been a hiccup—what could have been a delay—when the idea of translation into Te Reo was brought into the discussion. I know that, ideally, that would have been the case. Ideally, we would have had the two languages side by side in this bill, but I do thank the committee for seeing the pragmatic, practical, and real solution to the issue at the time, which was to stick to the one language. There is an opportunity down the track to have Te Reo Māori at a later date. I appreciate the pragmatic decision made by the select committee.

I would particularly like to thank the chairman of the committee, Nuk Korako, for his leadership and guidance and assistance to me through the process. I would also like to particularly mention Meka Whaitiri and Marama Fox, two local MPs who have also supported me and contributed to the process of the bill through the select committee and through the House. I also look forward to their contributions when they relate and talk about their whakapapa back to Papawai, which I am sure they will. I will bring the point about whakapapa back to Wairarapa. I cannot whakapapa back to any iwi in the Wairarapa, or any iwi in any region of New Zealand, so I do not—

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: What about iwi Karori?

Exactly, ha, ha! Therefore, I do not pretend to understand the importance of the link Māori have to their land. I do not want to even attempt to traverse that subject. I will leave it to the aforementioned to discuss the importance of the land.

I am very pleased for the trustees and, especially, the beneficiaries of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts today. This is an important piece of legislation, not just for the trustees and the beneficiaries but, in my view, in a small way, for all New Zealanders. I will try to explain.

When I first read the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Act of 1943, I was struck by how sanctimonious the language was. It was really terrible. This bill removes the patronising attitude that is so prevalent in that Act. Of course, we are 70 years down the track and we are much better educated, we are much more aware, and we are much more empathetic and understanding. This bill allows Wairarapa Māori to determine their own future relating to the assets of this trust for themselves.

The old Act was very restrictive and very prescriptive. There was no ability for the Māori trustees to determine for themselves the choice they should have. There were a lot of hamstrings in the Act. In terms of the type of recipient, it was very restrictive. The type of assistance that was able to be given to the beneficiaries was very restrictive. We had the Ministry of Education and the Māori Land Court restricting the wishes of the local people. This sanctimony at the time was saying, basically: “Sorry, guys. You guys don’t know what you’re doing over in the Wairarapa. We here in the Māori Land Court and in the Ministry of Education know best. We know best what is good for you and we will determine how this thing should be run.”

I did not write the words of this bill. This is not my bill. This is the bill written by the trustees of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts, and that is the way it should be. After all, who am I to determine how the assets of that trust should be run when, in fact, as I have already said, I have no whakapapa back to any iwi in the Wairarapa? It is not my business to say what should be in this bill. It is the business of the iwi of Wairarapa. You will see—it will be mentioned later on, I am sure—that no particular iwi are mentioned. It has been a collaborative effort of all the iwi of Wairarapa, and I am very proud to sponsor this bill on behalf of those people.

Taking initiative is what these trustees have done. Taking responsibility, individually and collectively, is a mantra of the National Party. Trusting families and communities to make the right decisions for themselves is a principle of this side of the House, so removing the patronising, sanctimonious, nanny State legislation that the old Act represents is a very good thing, not just for Papawai and Kaikōkirikiri but for all of us. We do not want or need a nanny State. People do know what they want, and people do know how to achieve their goals.

I am here to support those New Zealanders, and, in a small way, to support these people who have shown that initiative and taken the initiative to get this bill through the House. I am sure it gives the trustees a lot of pleasure and a lot of relief and a lot of satisfaction that this bill will enable them to do what they want with their assets and their time for their young people. So, again, I appreciate the support of the trustees and their supporters. I appreciate the support of each party across the House, the select committee members, and the chair. I commend this bill to the House.

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, tēnā koe. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei, tēnā tātou katoa. It is indeed my privilege and honour to participate in the third reading of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill. If there is any particular part that I think we as politicians enjoy the most in this House, it is always the third reading. This is a non-controversial bill, which Labour supports wholeheartedly. The intent of the bill, like the member who has just resumed his seat, Alastair Scott, said, is to modernise the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board in terms of the original intent of why it has been set out, and, I guess, to modernise it in today’s context.

I just want to touch briefly on the four objectives that the trust attempted to do and that the Māori Affairs Committee addressed. The first objective was to better describe the relationship between the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board, the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika, and the tangata whenua o Wairarapa—that was objective one. Objective two was to establish a more robust nomination process for board members. Objective three was to provide a fairer distribution of funds for tangata whenua o Wairarapa, and fourth was to facilitate a long-term development of their lands.

When you look into the bill, those two front-end objectives—i.e. the relationships and the nomination process—are explained further in the bill. Once upon a time, they had 10 members, appointed through various mechanisms; under this bill, it is eight members who will be appointed. Four will be selected by the bishop, and as the bill says: “The Board must have 8 members consisting of (a) 4 members appointed by the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika”—and just so that we have no ambiguity on that, we are talking about the bishop as defined, as appointed under the title by the Anglican Church in Aotearoa / New Zealand and Polynesia, commonly known as the Church of England, or the bishop of any replacement diocesan. Where the rubber hits the road in terms of empowering the tangata whenua o Wairarapa, they get to choose the other four members of the board and advertise the process that they are going to follow in a public way. Those two objectives, if that was the intention of the trust, I believe have been met.

The third objective around the fairer distribution of funds—to say that the trust will apply its funding and no longer limit distribution just to Anglican Church schools. Can I just pause there? As an Anglican myself, and also to the iconic Māori Anglican boarding schools that this trust has helped, I want to acknowledge Queen Victoria School and Hato Tipene College, St Stephen’s College, which, unfortunately, have both closed; Hukarere Girls’ College, in my electorate; and, of course, Te Aute College. These are iconic Māori boarding schools, and I know that the trust, along with many, many other educational trusts, was instrumental in supporting many people, so I just want to acknowledge the contribution of the trust in terms of schooling many of our secondary students.

The fourth objective, which I just want to comment on briefly, is to facilitate the long-term development of lands. In so far as the bill goes, it covers that the board may sell the Clareville land but not the Papawai land or Kaikōkirikiri land. In our previous contributions, obviously, the corpus land, which is the Papawai land—we want to make sure that that is protected, and that is done under this bill. In terms of the Clareville land and giving the trust board more flexibility to make decisions around how that is leased, managed, or sold on, I think that is a good compromise; so we support that. It says further in the bill: “To avoid doubt, the Board may not consent to the sale or otherwise permanent alienation of the Papawai land or the Kaikokirikiri land.” That is, again, a very important aspect of the bill.

So those are the four objectives that the trust, I understand, sought in presenting the bill to the member for the Wairarapa. I want to just quickly note that the trust, I do believe, wanted the bill presented in both languages. We have traversed that issue. There just was not enough time. It is a commitment. I want to acknowledge my colleague Nanaia Mahuta, who mentioned during the Committee stage that if we are going to move down that track—and I do hope this House considers that seriously—we do plan for it through the Parliamentary Counsel Office. I think it is timely that we are actually acknowledging the three official languages in this country, but particularly for Māori and English to be set aside.

I want to just move to the acknowledgments. To the member who has brought this bill to the House, Alastair Scott: ngā mihi ki a koe. Thank you very much for bringing this local bill to the House and for the commitment that you have, obviously, presented in terms of supporting this particular trust that sits in our electorate. Ngā mihi ki a koe. I want to also acknowledge the hard-working Māori Affairs Committee, ably chaired by Tutehounuku Korako. Thank you very much for the work that you have done, and all the members of the Māori Affairs Committee. The submitters—and at this point I do want to acknowledge Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā Trust, which, in its submission, talked about the use of Te Reo and of ensuring that the whakapapa to Wairarapa was also adequately recognised in the bill. I do believe that has been achieved.

Fourthly, I want to acknowledge the Labour members who contributed during the Committee stage. It was interesting reading their contributions to that Committee stage. I know there were some issues that my colleague Peeni Henare talked about in terms of the Reo and whether it was correct or not. Rightly so, Mr Assistant Speaker Trevor Mallard, you reminded him that that was not the time to address it, but it is a timely reminder for us that accuracy around the use of Te Reo needs to be managed and observed much more closely—reiterating the point made by the trust around Te Reo, and I have made that point.

I guess, in closing, my comment is to the trust members, who I know may be in the gallery. I want to acknowledge them, the current trustees, plus all the previous trust board members who may no longer be with us, who have served gallantly the original intent of the Act, and, more importantly, I acknowledge their absolute financial contribution to the hundreds, if not thousands, of Māori around this country, which enabled them to attend those schools.

On a personal note, my mother attended Hukarere Girls’ College in the late 1940s—1948 to 1949, and finished in Hukarere in 1953. I mentioned this particular bill when I was back home with her recently, and she recalled receiving financial assistance back in those days to attend Hukarere. So, just from me to the trust, I want to make that acknowledgment.

I also want to acknowledge the trust and thank the trust, which also contributed to the education of my two sons, who went to Lindisfarne College. It is not an Anglican school, I must admit, it is a Presbyterian school. But for me it is important to acknowledge those who help our people to further their aspirations and their dreams of a good quality education.

So, on that closing note, again I want to thank the trust. I want to thank the member for bringing this bill to the House. It is, as we have said, a very non-controversial bill. Labour supports all legislation that empowers people who do really wonderful things in our community, and the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts have shown that they have done it for many years. The passing of this bill to modernise the trusts will ensure that that service to our people in the Wairarapa, particularly, will continue. I commend this bill to the House.

Ā, tēnā koe, e Te Mana Whakawā, nō reira, ngā mihi ki te whanauka o Te Waka o Tākitimu, Ngāti Kahungunu, ki a koe, ki a koutou o Te Waka o Kurahaupō. Tēnei te mihi ki ngā rakatira o Te Hāhi Mihingare, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. E nau mai, haere mai, whakatau mai ki Te Whare Pāremata, nō reira, e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

[So thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and acknowledgments to you, the relative of the Tākitimu waka, particularly you, Ngāti Kahungunu, and you collectively of the Kurahaupo waka. I acknowledge you, esteemed ones of the Anglican Church, greetings and accolades to you all. So welcome, welcome, greet the House, I salute you all.]

It is indeed my pleasure to be able to speak on behalf of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill in the third reading. I want to acknowledge those who are in the gallery today who have come all the way from Papawai. I also want to acknowledge you too, Mr Scott, because I know you have been sitting there for quite some time because I saw you come in. It is only part—almost the finish—of the journey that you have been on to bring your bill to the House and to actually have it go through the parliamentary process and then get it to the third reading stage, the final reading; so, greetings to you. When I see you there, I think of my uncle Ben Couch, the Hon Ben Couch, because, as you probably know, he came from our village, Rāpaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa o Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū, Kaitahu tūturu Ngāti Uripehu [Rāpaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa of Banks Peninsula, a Ngāti Uripehu, a true Kaitahu].

I want to, first of all, acknowledge two wāhine toa, and they are the ones from Kahungunu, from that area—and I am talking about Meka Whaitiri and Marama Fox. They are members of the Māori Affairs Committee, and they were very instrumental in assisting my colleague Alastair Scott, whom I also acknowledge now, who was responsible for shepherding this bill through the House. I want to acknowledge those, but also the Māori Affairs Committee, which took great pride in ensuring that this bill had a smooth passage through to where we are today. I also want to acknowledge all those who submitted to the Māori Affairs Committee and, in particular, again acknowledge those trustees of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts. Their input in the drafting of this bill and also in the select committee consideration process has been very important in shaping the final bill itself, which we are actually debating here today in Parliament.

This bill amends the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Act 1943 to enable this trust board to better manage its functions—and that is the essence of this bill. You could also say that this bill futureproofs the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri trusts and brings them into the 21st century as well. When the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Act was established, it was in response to a need to make more practical use of the income available from the lands held by these two trusts. But it was also important to retain the trusts’ purpose of furthering mātauraka—of furthering education.

We have heard here in the House from Meka Whaitiri about some personal things that the trusts have done, particularly for her children. As an old boy of Hato Tipene College, St Stephen’s College, in Auckland, I know that there were many of my fellow students whom I went to school with who were actually beneficiaries of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts, so I acknowledge that again.

This is really, in some ways, when we talk about this bill and we talk about mātauraka, why the administrative changes had to be made to this board—because it needed some flexibility in managing its assets. It was about flexibility. But we can also look beyond that to the kaupapa of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri trusts, which is actually, as I said, about furthering mātauraka, but particularly in the area of the Wairarapa. This is such an important kaupapa based on raising Māori educational achievement, which is a key priority for this Government in particular.

When I look at the incredible work that is being done here by our Government in the realms of Māori education—looking only at the number of Māori 18-year-olds achieving NCEA, this has risen from 44.6 percent to over 70 percent. When we look at other Government achievements, there is also an importance placed on the rise of the whole of the Māori population around mātauraka. There is also a much higher number of tertiary students, Māori, who go to university. There has been a huge increase, particularly over the last 9 years—as a matter of fact, it is up over 60 percent. Also we have kura hourua, or partnership schools, in place with specific goals of lifting achievements for Māori. These are actually being supported by the incredible idea of getting those who are not doing so well in mainstream schools and putting them into these partnership schools so that they may learn—

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): OK, the member has now had 3 minutes on his research notes, and I think he could come back to the bill now.

I just want to acknowledge that throughout the country there have been trusts, community groups, and other organisations that, like the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri trusts, are doing their bit to raise achievement for Māori. So it is good to be able to come to this House today to support a bill that assists the trusts board in carrying out its great work and to extend that. It is certainly our hope that by allowing the trusts board more flexibility to effectively run the trusts, it can get even greater benefit for students of the Wairarapa.

Just to reiterate the objectives of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri trusts, the first one is to better describe the relationship between the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board, the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika, and tangata whenua ki Wairarapa. Also, the second one is to establish a more robust nomination process for board members, and the third is to provide fairer distribution of funds for tangata whenua of Wairarapa. The other part is to facilitate the long-term development of the lands that are actually being held by the trusts. This bill will achieve these aims well, and I am glad that it has widespread support within the House.

I just want to reflect on a couple of things, though, that came up in the select committee and also came up in the different readings of the bill. These include changes to the bill, particularly around the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, by changing the way that the bill would deal with issues of personal capacity related to mental health issues. There was the other one that Meka Whaitiri mentioned and highlighted, which came from Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā, which was around the Te Reo Māori version of the bill itself. I completely tautoko her in the fact that if we are to do a bill in dual language, Te Reo Māori and English, it needs to be done right from the beginning. But we are learning as we go, and that is the whakaaro of the Māori Affairs Committee that we do want to support and continue to support.

So, looking at this bill, it is indeed, as I said before, a bill that futureproofs this now. It gives you more leeway to be able to be in charge of your own destiny. So, on that note, I wish the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri trusts well, but I also wish, for the recipients of the funds that you will provide to our Māori rakatahi, that you continue to do that and we will see the fruits of this in the future. On that note, it is my pleasure to commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.

Reo Māori e Te Māngai o Te Whare, kāti e Te Whare e mihi atu ana au ki a tātau ki roto i ngā āhuatanga o te wā, ā, ka tautoko i ngā mihi ki Te Poari Whakahaere kua tae mai ki te whakarongo ki te pānuitanga tuatoru o tēnei pire. Ka mihia e tērā taha, ka mihia e tēnei taha ki a rātau me te mana e mau mai ana e rātau ki raro i te tāhūhū o tō tātau Whare. Anā, e kawea nei e rātau i te mana o ngā mātua, o ngā tūpuna nā rātau i whakakī ai i ngā tūru i roto i ngā taumaha kua pahure ake nei. Nā runga i tērā me te whakaaro ake ki ngā mātua me ngā tūpuna, ka tangi ahau ki ngā aituā kei runga i a rātau, ki runga i a tātau hoki, haere, haere, haere!

Kia whakahokia mai ngā rārangi kōrero ki a tātau e Te Whare, e tautoko ana ahau i ngā mihi ki Te Mema o te wāhi rā, arā, ko Alastair Scott, kua mauria mai i tēnei pire ki roto i Te Whare, he aha ai, ki te whakatutuki i ngā moemoeā o rātau mā, ki te whakatutuki i ngā wawata me ngā hiahia o Te Poari Whakahaere o ēnei whenua, arā, ko Papawai, arā, ko Kaikōkirikiri. Nō reira, e mihi atu ana au ki a ia!

Ka tāpae atu i ngā mihi ki Te Heamana o Te Rōpū Whiriwhiri i ngā Take Māori, me te kāhui o taua rōpū i āta wetewete i ngā kōrero kai roto i tēnei pire, me te whakaae kia Reo Māori tēnei pire, ā, tae hoake nei! Me te whakaae kia whakapakari ai i ngā mahi Reo Māori ki roto i Te Whare Pāremata i tēnei wā. Ka whakaaro ake ahau mō tēnei pire, me te iti o ngā kupu kei roto ēngari, ko te hōhonutanga o ngā hiahia me ngā wawata kai roto, nō reira, ngā mihi atu ki Te Rōpū Whiriwhiri i ngā Take Māori! Ka tautoko anō hoki au i ngā kōrero kua utaina ki runga i ngā mema ā-rohe, arā, ko Meka Whaitiri kua kōrero i mua ake nei i a au, anā a Mārama Fox e noho mai rā. Nō reira, ka haere tonu ngā mihi, he aha te take i pērā ai? Tā te mea, e hari koa ana tātau katoa, otirā, Te Whare whānui ki te whakamanahia i tēnei i te pō nei.

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, ko tēnei pire, he pire ka taea tēnei mea e whāia nei e tātau Te Iwi Māori, arā, ko te tino rangatiratanga. Ko ngā kupu kei roto i tēnei pire, he pire whakapakari i Te Poari Whakahaere o ēnei whenua. Ka āhei rātau ki te tutuki i ngā moemoeā o rātau mā, kia whakarite oranga mō ngā uri whakatupu e haere ake nei. Nō reira, koinā te pai o tēnei pire! Koinā te pai o ngā pire pēnei nā! Kua kōrero ahau mō tēnei mea, te tino rangatiratanga. He aha tēnei mea? Nā, ka titiro atu ahau ki ētahi o ngā kōrero kai roto e mea atu ana, me wāwāhi i tetahi pūtea hei āwhina atu i ngā tauira mā te karahipi, hai tautoko i a rātou, i a rātou e haerēre atu ana ki Te Kura, ki Te Wānanga rānei. He mea pai tēnā ki a au nei! He mea pai kia whakamanahia i tērā wāhanga kei roto i te pire kia whiwhi oranga, kia whiwhi mātauranga ngā uri whakatupu ā taihoa ake nei. Ēngari, kaua te tangata e pōhēhē mā taua tangata te mātauranga anake! Kāhore!

Ka whakaaro ake ahau ki ngā kāinga Māori puta noa! Ko ngā mahi o ngā mātua, kia tukuna atu i ngā tamariki, mokopuna ki te kura kia whāia tēnei mea te mātauranga, me te wawata, kia hoki mai ngā tamariki me ngā kura ki te wā kāinga. Nō reira, ka awhi mai i te kaupapa, i Te Poari Whakahaere o Papawai, o Kaikōkirikiri. Koinā te pai ō tēnei whakaaro! Me kaua e pōhēhē ko tēnei puna ēhara i te puna hōhonu, kāhore! Ko ngā whakaaro kai roto e pā ana ki ngā karahipi he mea pai tēnā ka tautoko mārika tātau!

Me te mea anō hoki ki roto i tēnei pīre, āe, ka āhei Te Poari ki te hoko atu i ētahi o ngā whenua. Ēngari ko te mea pai ki roto i tēnei pire kia tiaki i tetahi wāhi whenua tūpuna e kōrero ake nei kia kaua e ngaro atu! Kia kaua e hokona atu! Kia kaua e riro atu! Koinā te pai kia tiaki i ngā whenua ēngari, ka āhei Te Poari Whakahere ki te hoko atu i ētahi o ngā whenua, hei whakapakari i a rātau, hei whakatupu i te pūtea, he mea pai tēnā! E whakamana ana tērā whakaaro i te whakataukī o ngā mātua tupuna: “Kai roto i te whenua he oranga mō te tangata; kai roto i te whenua he oranga mō te tangata!”. Nō reira, e tautoko ana Te Whare i taua whakaaro, kia hokona atu ētahi o ngā wāhi whenua ēngari, ko te mea nui ki a au nei, he wāhi anō kei roto, hei tiaki—hei tiaki i tetahi wāhi whenua tapu, i tetahi wāhi whenua tupuna, kei roto i a Papawai me Kaikōkirikiri.

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, i te wāhanga tuarua o tēnei pire, i kōrero ahau mō taku whakapapa ki Te Marae o Papawai. I kōrero ahau mō ētahi o ngā pou whakairo o te marae rā, anā, kua tapaina e ngā mātua tūpuna i te ingoa o tōku tupuna, a Taurekareka Hēnare, anā, māua ko Te Mema nei a Pita Paraone. Nō reira, ngā mihi nui ki tērā whakaaro! He tauira tēnei pire, he tauira tēnei poari ki te nuinga o ngā poari Māori puta noa i te motu whānui.

[I will speak in Māori, Mr Assistant Speaker. Everyone in the House; I acknowledge us all under today’s circumstances and endorse the acknowledgments to the administration board that have arrived here to listen to the third reading of this bill. And there they are, bearing the integrity of the forefathers and ancestors who filled the positions during difficult past moments. Under those circumstances my thoughts go back to the forefathers and ancestors, and grieve the deaths that are upon them and those as well upon us. Farewell, depart, journey on!

And so I bring the focus of the contribution back to us the House to endorse the acknowledgements to the member of that place, Alastair Scott, who brought this bill into the House and for what purpose—to fulfil the dreams of those gone, to fulfil the expectations and needs of the administrative board of these lands, namely, Papawai and Kaikōkirikiri. And so I commend him. I add my tributes to the chairman of the Māori Affairs Committee and to the members of that committee who analysed the contents in this bill, and agreed that this bill be in the Māori language eventually, and that the use of the Māori language in Parliament be strengthened at this point in time.

I reflect on this bill in regard to the dearth of detail in the commentary, but as far as the depth of the aspirations and needs is concerned, it is huge, so I commend the Māori Affairs Committee highly. I also endorse the complimentary sentiments bestowed upon the electorate members, namely, Meka Whaitiri who spoke before me, and Mārama Fox sitting over there. So tributes continue to be accorded, and why, because we are all happy but at the same time, the House at large, to validate this bill this evening.

Mr Assistant Speaker, this bill is one that will enable us the Māori people to pursue what we have been seeking for which is self-determination. The sentiments in this bill are about strengthening the administrative board of these lands. It enables them to fulfil the aspirations of them all, to consider well-being for those generations to come. Therefore, that is the beauty of this bill. That is the beauty of bills like these ones. I have spoken about this thing self-determination. What is this thing? Now I look at some of the sentiments within, saying that some funding should be apportioned to assist and support students with a scholarship, to support them while they are attending kura or wānanga.

To me personally, that is a great thing. It is a good thing that it be enacted in that part which is in the bill, so that descendants in time to come receive well-being and education. But one should never think mistakenly that education is solely for that person. No; not at all. I think about Māori homes throughout in regard to what parents do sending children and grandchildren to school to pursue this thing called education, in the hope that children and schools eventually return home and, therefore, assist with the matter with the administrative board of Papawai, and of Kaikōkirikiri.

That is the beauty of this thought. Do not think mistakenly that this pool is not a deep one, not at all. The thoughts inside it about scholarships are a good thing, which we indeed endorse totally. It also states in this bill, yes, the board is able to sell off some of the land but the thing that is really good in this bill is that a particular piece of ancestral land referred to is protected and not lost forever—it is not sold off and taken. That is the beauty of it; lands are protected but the administrative board is able to sell some of the land to develop the board and to grow the funding. That is a good thing. That thought empowers the proverb of the ancestral forefathers: “Within the land is well-being for mankind, within the land is well-being for mankind!”. And so the House supports that thought that some sections of land be sold off, but the most important thing to me is that there is a part inside to protect and preserve a section of land that is sacred and ancestral within Papawai and Kaikōkirikiri.

Mr Assistant Speaker, in the second reading of this bill, I spoke about my genealogical connections to Papawai Marae. I spoke about some of the carved pillars of that courtyard, and the ancestral forefathers named one of the pillars after Taurekareka Hēnare, an ancestor of mine and of this member Pita Paraone. Therefore, a huge acknowledgement to that thought! This bill and this board is an example for the majority of Māori boards throughout the country at large.]

💬 Pita Paraone: Ā, i ngā poari nunui?

[Do you mean the very large boards?]

Āe, ngā poari nunui! Ngā poari whai rawa—ngā poari whai rawa! Ēngari, he āhua āwangawanga ahau! E āwangawanga ana au tā te mea, e mōhio ana tātou; ā taihoa ake nei, ka haere te pire hou o Te Ture Whenua Maori ki roto i tēnei Whare! Ka whakaaro ake e ahau, he aha nei ngā tapānga o taua pire e whakamanahia e Te Kōti Whenua Māori i ngā whenua Māori. Kāti, tino waimarie Te Poari o Te Papawai o Kaikōkirikiri ta te mea, kei a rātou tā rātau ake pire, tā rātau ake ture e whakamanahia i te tū, me ngā mahi o Te Poari. Ēngari, me kaua tātau Te Iwi Māori e pōhēhē kei ngā rōpū whenua Māori katoa wā rātau ake pire, kāhore! Āini, ka kitea atu he hua ka puta mai i Te Ture Whenua Māori, ā taihoa ake nei!

E Te Māngai o Te Whare kua kōrero ahau mō ētahi o ngā wāhanga kei roto i te pire e mea atu ana, āe, ka āhei Te Poari ki te hokona atu i ētahi o ngā whenua ki te whai rawa, ki te whai oranga mō Te Poari ki te whakahaere, he mea pai tēnā! Ēngari i te rā nei, i puta mai tetahi kōrero e pā ana ki te Resource Management Act. E Te Māngai o Te Whare, āini tātau ka kite mehemea ko tērā pire a te Resource Management Act, he mea hei haukoti i ngā mahi o Te Poari Whakahaere o Papawai, o Kaikōkirikiri! He haukoti i ngā mahi, he haukoti i te mahi whai oranga pai, i te tino rangatiratanga, i te mana motuhake kua kōrero nā e au, ki roto i ngā meniti e 9 kua pahure ake!

Kāti, ka waiho nā atu i ērā kōrero ki te taha e Te Māngai o Te Whare, ka whakahokia mai ngā kōrero ki te kaupapa nei me te kī atu, e tautoko ana mātou Te Rōpū Reipa i tēnei pire. E tautoko mārika ana nā runga i te mahi papai rawa atu i oti i ngā āpiha o tēnei Whare, me ngā kaimahi o Te Poari Whakahaere o Papawai, o Kaikōkirikiri, kāti ake e Te Māngai o Te Whare, ka waiho nā atu ngā kōrero ki konei me te kī atu ki a tātau, kia kaha rā a Hillary Clinton ki roto i ngā mahi, kia ora tātau katoa!

[Yes, the very large ones, the rich ones. However, I am somewhat concerned because we know that very shortly the new bill relating to the Māori Land Act is about to go through this House. I wonder what afflictions indeed about that bill have been mandated by the Māori Land Court in regard to Māori lands. The board of Te Papawai is lucky that it has its own Act to enact its stance and the functions of the board, but we of Māoridom should never be deluded that all Māori land groups will have their own bill, far from it. We will see soon enough what benefits emerges from the Māori land.

Mr Assistant Speaker, I have spoken about some parts in this bill which states, yes, the board is able to sell off some of the lands to enable the board to acquire benefits and well-being for it to administer. That is a good thing. But a statement emerged today about the Resource Management Act. Mr Assistant Speaker, we will find out presently if that bill about it becomes an instrument that cuts right across the Papawai and Kaikōkirikiri administration board’s actions. It obstructs operations, work relating to well-being, autonomy, and self-determination which I have been alluding to in the past 9 minutes. Enough! I leave those sentiments aside.

Mr Assistant Speaker, I bring the focus of the contributions back to this matter here by stating that we of the Labour Party endorse this bill. We absolutely support it because of the wonderful work carried out by the officials of this House and by those of the administrative body of Papawai and of Kaikōkirikiri. Enough, Mr Assistant Speaker. I leave the sentiments here and say to us, go hard Hillary Clinton in the work at hand. My appreciation to us all.]

Ā, tēnā koe, ka nui te mihi atu ōku whānau nō Papawai me Rangitāne ki Wairarapa me Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa hoki, kia ora, nau mai, haere mai!

[Thank you; a huge welcome to my families from Papawai and Rangitāne at Wairarapa, and to Ngāti Kahungunu at Wairarapa. Hello there, welcome, and come hither!]

I stand to take a call on the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill, shepherded through the House to the third reading by my colleague here, Alastair Scott. My colleagues have outlined the purpose of the bill very eloquently. As I have said in previous contributions that I have had in the House, it is a bill that has been modernised. It has been brought up to date so that the governors of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Board can get on and do the work that they have been doing over the years that the trust has been in action.

I guess, for my contribution to the third reading, I want to talk a little bit about the whakapapa around Papawai, because it is around the Papawai Marae. It is the key to the basis of this trust, because without the history around that, this trust would never have come into being. Papawai Marae used to be one of the biggest marae in Aotearoa. Many people, many Māori, looked up to the Papawai Marae because of its history around the first Māori Parliament—the Kotahitanga—and its history around the education background that emanated from Papawai Marae. That is why when we look at the whakapapa behind Papawai Marae, we can see that its maunga is Tararua, its awa is Ruamāhanga, and its marae is Papawai. The whakapapa cements the relationships that have gone through over and over in that area. It is something that binds all of us. And when I say it binds all of us, I am saying myself, Meka Whaitiri, Metiria Turei, Ron Mark, and Marama Fox: we all whakapapa to that marae.

When we look at the history of Māori MPs, I think this would be the first time in the history of this Parliament that we have representation of Māori MPs who whakapapa to that one marae. That is something that we can be proud of, because that is the education background. That is the kaha and the mana that comes from being a descendant of Papawai Marae. That is the educational background that we all stem from. I am very proud that our whānau are sitting up there in the gallery and that they are witnessing today the updating of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Act.

As I said before, Papawai Marae was revered throughout the country; it was looked upon. I can say that the ancestors, or the major lines that made up Papawai, came from Paikea/Iratūroto, which connected the northeast to the south and the original Wellington tribes. It was also Whātonga that connected Papawai to the Rangitāne tribes, and it was Tamatea that connected our people to the Tākitimu tribes. That is why it is really, really important that I put this in the House today as part of my final contribution. I do not know whether it has been said in as many words, but I did want to put that as I was talking about the bill.

The Māori Affairs Committee received a number of submissions on this bill, and everybody around the table at our select committee was all in favour of what was to eventuate today. We too want to see the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts go forward and help not just the tamariki from Wairarapa and Kahungunu but those from right along the East Coast—and, actually, throughout the whole of the motu—who have whakapapa lines into Papawai in Wairarapa. This is an important stepping stone because there are other Māori trusts that our tamariki can access education scholarships from but this particular trust comes with a lot of good history behind it. It has been run very smoothly, and that could be due to the fact of the education prowess that actually emanates out of Papawai or it could be a number of things. But the way that the trust has actually worked with the Anglican Church to be able to deliver various scholarships and such to a number of our tamariki is a credit to the work that it continues to do.

I was fortunate enough to visit Papawai with John Hayes a couple of years ago—not a relation of mine, but an MP here—and I took a group of overseas students on to the marae. The kaha and the feeling that you get when you enter that marae, when you see the tekoteko—the pou that surround it, and they all look inwards into it. Most pou stick out, you know, as a protection thing. Well, these pou actually look in, and that is to look after and nurture the people in that marae—and that is really key to the basis of Papawai. It is the—how would you put it—a feeling of wairua when you go on there. It is no wonder that Papawai Marae was the basis for our Kotahitanga, our first Māori Parliament.

All in all, as I said, the trust gives a third of its income to post - primary education funds and scholarships, as well as going across the whole of the country, to people who belong to the Anglican Church who are of Māori descent and who whakapapa to Papawai.

There is not much more that I can really add to my kōrero. I just want to finish off with this whakataukī. I think it is poignant for Papawai because it has had years of history, and when I translate it, you will see that it is very poignant for closing my speech with today. Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takimana. [My strength is not individual, but comes from thousands.] That describes the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts. Kia ora.

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, tēnā koe, ā, tuarua ki ngā mema ō tō tātou Whare, tēnā koutou katoa, kia ora koutou.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and, secondly, acknowledgments to you, all members of our House, hello there.]

And kia ora, Papawai, I am so glad you are here. It is awesome. It is good. We are doing another bill and we are in the final part of the process for this bill. Although it is a small bill in some respects, in terms of the trusts, it is really important to be talking about the history of these places. Oh, it is a big bill—this big. OK, this big? Ha, ha! It is enormous—it is an enormous bill. It has an enormous impact. Although it might be small in size, it is the impact that counts. I am really pleased to stand on behalf of the Green Party to support this bill. As you know, ko Tararua te maunga, ko Ruamāhanga te awa, ko Papawai te marae. So it is very nice to be able to talk about Papawai, where my family are from on my dad’s side—my dad’s dad’s side, actually. They are part of the Rangi Te Kai Waho whānau from there.

I will talk a little bit about the history of Papawai. It is really great hearing others talk about that too in their own ways. I really appreciated Joanne Hayes in her kōrero about the history of te kotahitanga movement and the Māori Parliament. I just want to acknowledge the buildings on that place, Hikurangi, which was first built in 1885 but burnt down and was rebuilt in 1888 and is named Hikurangi—the wharenui there—because Ngati Porou carvers came down and it was a way of acknowledging and respecting their work. The wharekai there is Aotea-Te Waipounamu. That, again, is another way for those who were there at the time of the rebuilding process to acknowledge both north and south and to find ways of bringing together both parts of the country, if you like—the north and south of the country—at Papawai as part of the kotahitanga philosophy, as part of that kotahitanga kaupapa. So the whole marae is established like that, which includes the fact of the tekoteko face to the inside in order to promote peace amongst te iwi Māori.

I just want to go briefly through some of the reasons for some of the proposals in the bill, the provisions in the bill, and base them primarily on the submission of the trusts board, actually, that is crucial to this bill, the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill. The trusts board, of course, supported this bill because it had worked very closely with the member on its development, but it is also important to note that some of the changes it was making did come from very extensive consultation and communication with the hapū and iwi of the Wairarapa. I think that is really important. The changes are not being imposed. The changes that are in this legislation are not being imposed on the community there; they are the natural consequence of a change in time, a movement in time, the change in the way that the Church is responding to the needs of the community and the change in the way that iwi Māori themselves are thinking about themselves in response to the 21st century.

One of the big ones for me personally was the way that the beneficiaries of the trusts—[Interruption]

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I apologise for interrupting the member, but I just want to ask the people in charge of the sound system to do a little check on it. I seem to be picking up, over here at least, some of the conversation from the two doctors on the middle bench of the National Party. I do not know whether it is coming through my mike or other mikes. Joanne Hayes—sorry, Metiria Turei.

No worries at all.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): It might be coming from Joanne’s mike still.

Kia ora. Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. The original Act, as I understand it, referred to the provision of scholarships through this funding for the children of British subjects, children of islands in the Pacific Ocean, which is quite broad, but with a preference for the children of the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe, and then other Māori or descendants of Māori from the East Coast of the North Island. Then the final category was the descendants of Māori anywhere across the country. So it was quite a big catchment and very generous, I might say, at the time. But the board did believe that it was important that those who benefited from the income from the Wairarapa lands were those who would whakapapa back to those Wairarapa lands. I think that is a perfectly reasonable approach to take. It certainly is very common in general law around trusts that there is a close connection between the beneficiaries and the original settlors or those who owned the land or the resources in the first place. So I think that was just a modernisation of this legislation.

The board’s submission goes on to say that, in regard to Wairarapa iwi, the 1943 Act referred to a preference to Ngāti Kahungunu only and does not specify Rangitāne in that legislation other than through a description of other Māori or descendants of Māori from the East Coast of the North Island. So the trusts did actually undertake quite a significant review a few years ago. The review was designed to recognise that the Rangitāne descendants should also be entitled to receive scholarships in respect of the whakapapa of those whose tīpuna were those who originally gifted the lands for the purpose of education, so there was an attempt to find a reason to reflect more directly Rangitāne in the provisions of the legislation. Whakapapa confirms, they went on to say, that tīpuna who gifted the lands were descendants from one or more Wairarapa hapū, one or more Wairarapa iwi, which may not have been restricted actually even to Ngāti Kahungunu or Rangitāne.

The way the bill was previously structured could actually provide more constraints than was necessary and not really recognise the rights of tangata whenua on these lands—under the desire of those who originally gifted the land for educational purposes to have a broad base for their descendants to receive the benefit—nor was there a proper recognition of tangata whenua, because, of course, in those days, in 1943, the language and concept of who iwi Māori and hapū Māori were were not the same as they are now after many years of proper consideration. So in 2006 the board undertook a consultation process, and one of those outcomes was to look at what was the best terminology to use in this legislation: how Wairarapa iwi themselves want to be described in legislation that is about them and for them. It is actually about the resources that they have provided to help their kids now and into the future.

I think that is a very responsive and collaborative conversation to have, and it moves away from that more paternalistic approach that used to be an inherent part of any law about Māori that was developed in this country. It was always very much about doing things to Māori as opposed to Māori having the right to have a say. So the terminology that they came up with was “tangata whenua of Wairarapa”. This terminology, in their view, upholds the mana of an individual who has a whakapapa to the tīpuna rangatira who established historical kinship groups in the Wairarapa. So the board itself has embraced this term, because it spent a lot of time, important time, working with iwi and hapū in the Wairarapa before figuring out what the best way is for us to describe ourselves, as opposed to other people doing it for us.

That has been reflected in the legislation. I think it is really important. It might seem small, but there have been so many times—and now and then it comes up in settlement bills too—where iwi and hapū are having some provision forced upon them, and even the way that they are able to describe themselves can sometimes be imposed on them. So if we are to be a modern 21st century democracy that is genuinely collaborative, that recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a fundament for our constitutional status and our right to operate in this country, then we at least need to make sure that iwi Māori, whānau Māori, and hapū Māori have the right to describe themselves in the laws that respond to them.

It is a small thing, but it is a similar thing to the right for us to have our names said and pronounced properly. It is that kind of core identity and core right to be deciders of how we identify ourselves and how others do so. So although it is a small matter to raise here, I do think it is a critical one, and it is one that we could learn important lessons from. I thank the trusts board for engaging in that process with whānau to come up with that as a solution. I look forward to voting for this legislation in time. Thank you.

Tēnā kōe, Mr Assistant Speaker, tēnā hoki tātou e noho tonu i roto i Te Whare i te ahiahi nei. E hiahia ana au kia mōhio mai Te Whare kāre i a mātou i roto o Aotearoa Tuatahi i kite atu he take ki te whakahēngia tēnei pire, nā reira, kia mōhio mai Te Whare, kei te tautoko mātou i tēnei pire, pou te kaha. Ēngari, i rongo au wētahi o ngā kōrero i puta mai mai i waenganui i a tātou i te rā nei, nā reira wēnei te take ka huri waku kōrero ki te mema i mau mai i tēnei pire ki Te Whare nei. Nā reira, ka mihi hoki ki a koe e te mema mō Te Wairarapa, nāu nei i mau mai tēnei pire kia āta whiriwhiringia e mātou i roto i Te Komiti Whakawhiri mō ngā Take Māori, tua atu i tēnā kia whaka mai te pire ki konei, nā reira, weinā te take kei te kōrero i a tātou mō te wāhanga tuatoru mō tēnei pire. Nā reira, ngā mihi hoki ki a koe.

Ēngari, i rongo i wō kōrero, kāhore koe i honongia ki te iwi o Wairarapa. Tēnā pea, he tikanga tēnā ēngari, māku e mea atu, tēnā pea mō ngā tupuranga i muri mai i a koe, tēnā pea wō tamariki, wō mokopuna rānei, ā, kei reira te wā kia honongia tō whānau ki Te Wairarapa. Nā reira, kia kaha ana koe, kia mōmoeā koe, tēnā pea kua tau kē tēnā whakaaro. Kia ahatia.

Ki a mātou i roto o Aotearoa Tuatahi, e tika ana kei te tautoko i tēnei pire, me te whakahoungia te āhuatanga o tēnei Ture. Nā reira, e hia te tau, mai i te putanga mai o tēnei Ture, tae noa ki tēnei, kārekau kē i rerekē ngā whakaaro, ngā kōrero i roto i Te Ture. Nā reira, wēnā te take kei te mihi hoki ki tēnei o ngā hunga mai i te hau kāinga, i waenganui i a tātou i te rā nei. Nā reira, ēhara ana ahau i wareware ki te mihi atu ki a koutou mā ēngari, kei te tautoko i ngā mihi i mihingia e ngā kaikōrero i mua i a au, ki te whakatau i a koutou i waenganui i a tātou i te rā nei.

Tetahi o ngā kaupapa i roto i te pire nei, kia whakahonongia, kia whakamārama hoki i te whanaungatanga i waenganui i Te Iwi o Te Wairarapa me ngā kairīwhi, arā, ko ngā tarahiti, ā, me Te Hāhi Mihinare. Ki tōku mōhio, i tēnei wā, ko te tangata i whakakī i te tūranga, hei pīhopa mō Te Upoko o Te Ika, ko tetahi i a mātou o te hau kāingai, o Te Aupōuri me Te Rarawa. Nā, mēnā i heke mai te tangata, mai i Te Aupōuri me Te Rarawa, he honongia i a ia ki a Ngāti Kahu puta noa, nā, ka hara mai ki konei i Ngāti Kahungunu, ko Muru Walters tēnā. Nā reira, mōhio ana au ki te āhua o taua tangata, mēnā kei konei a ia i waenganui i a tātau, kei te hari koa ki a ia ki te whakarongo ki te āhuatanga o tēnei pire i taka mai ki waenganui i a tātou i te rā nei.

Tua atu i tēnā, ko tetahi o ngā kaupapa o te pire, kia whakangia te āhuatanga kia whai ngā tarahiti hou, tua atu i tēnā, kia whakatikatika te tohatanga o ngā pūtea ki ngā tauira Māori o Te Wairarapa. Nā reira, e tika ana kia whakahoungia te pire, kia whakawātea ki ngā uri o Te Wairarapa ahakoa, kāre rātou e noho ki te hau kāinga ēngari, kei reira tētahi pūtea hei āwhina mō rātou. Ēngari i taku titiro i roto i te pire nei, ka kite anō au i te wā i te tīmatanga mai o tēnei tarahiti, kei te wātea ngā pūtea ki ngā kaitono i haere ki ngā kura mihinare. Ēngari, ko te mate kē i aianei nā, kua kapihia te nuinga o ngā kura pēnā. Nā reira, ngā mihi hoki ki te tarahiti, ka huri wā rātou whakaaro, kia whakawātea aua pūtea ki ngā uri o rātau mā. Nā reira, ngā mihi hoki ki a rātou.

Tua atu i tēnā, ko tetahi anō o ngā kaupapa mō te pire nei, kia āta titiro, kia whakatakoto kaupapa ki te whakapakari i ngā whenua i noho nei i raro i wā rātau mana. E tika ana te kōrero a te mema mai i Tāmaki Makaurau, kia āta titiro tēnā pea kia āta tūpato, ko tēnei ngāngara, ko te ture whenua Māori i kōrerohia e tātou i roto o Te Komiti Whiriwhiri mō ngā Take Māori nā te mea, ahakoa e hia te roa i whaka haerengia tēnei tarahiti, i runga i te huarahi e hiahia nei i a rātou kia haerengia. Kauwā e wareware kei te pāngia taua pire, arā, Te Ture Whenua Maori Act ki ngā whenua o rātou mā. Wēnā ngā tino kaupapa o te pire nei, horekau he raru i a mātou o Aotearoa Tuatahi ki te whakahēngia taua kaupapa nā te mea, wēnei te hiahia o ngā kaiwhakahaere o te tarahiti nei, kia whakatau.

Ēngari, i te wā i whakawhiriwhiri i a mātou i roto i Te Komiti mō ngā Take Māori, ka puta mai te kōrero e pā ana kia whakahou tēnei pire i roto i tō tātōu Reo Rangatira. Ahakoa tēnā tā mātou hiahia i taua wā, ka kī mai ngā kaiwhiriwhiri ki a mātou, kārekau rātou e whai rawa ki te mahingia taua mahi, nā reira, wēnā te take i karanga atu ki Te Kāwanatanga i te wā i āta kōrerohia tā rātou ōhanga mō te tau e tū mai nei, kawa e wareware kia whakawātewa he pūtea mō tēnei take nā te mea, ko Te Reo Māori tetahi o ngā reo o Aotearoa i ngā marama e taha ake nei, i tino kaha ana i a mātou ki te kōrero i te mana o tō tātou Reo Rangatira. Nā reira, tēnā pea, he kaupapa e hiahia ana Te Whare nei kia whakatau. Nā reira, e hiahia ana au kia tukuna atu tēnei pire e tēnei Whare kia whakataungia. Nā reirā, tēnā koutou, kia ora mai anō tātou.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and those of us who remain in the House this afternoon. I would like the House to know that we of New Zealand First have not seen any reason to object to this bill, so therefore we support this bill emphatically. However, in listening to some of the discussion raised among us today, I would like to address the member who brought this bill to the House. Therefore, thank you to the member for Wairarapa, Alastair Scott, who brought this bill for careful consideration by us in the Māori Affairs Committee and, in addition to that, returned the bill here for the purposes of the third reading that we are concerned with here. Therefore, I thank you.

However, I did hear your comment that you are not connected directly into the iwi of Wairarapa. Perhaps that is correct, however may I say that perhaps in the generations to come after you—perhaps your children or your grandchildren—maybe then will your family be connected directly into the Wairarapa. Therefore, may you be steadfast in your resolve and aspiration, and perhaps it may come true. I digress.

For us in New Zealand First, we do indeed support this bill and the updating of this Act. Therefore, although it has been many years since this Act was introduced, until the present there have been no changes in thinking or discussion within this Act. Therefore, this is why I also thank these people from back home among us today. Therefore, I have not forgotten to thank you all, indeed all of you; rather, I append my greetings to those of the speakers before me who welcomed you all here among us today.

One of the purposes within this bill is to engage and express the relationship between the people of Wairarapa and the agents—that is to say, the trustees and the Anglican Church. As I understand it, at this time the person fulfilling the role of bishop of the Wellington diocese is one of us from back home, from Te Aupōuri and Te Rarawa. Now, if a person is of Te Aupōuri and Te Rarawa descent, they also have a connection throughout Ngāti Kahu and also relate here to Ngāti Kahungunu, and that is Muru Walters. Therefore, given I knew the nature of that man, if he was here among us he would be delighted in hearing about this bill that is before us today.

In addition, one of the purposes of the bill is to strengthen the standards for new trusts, and furthermore to rectify the distribution of funding to the Māori students of Wairarapa. Therefore, it is only appropriate that the Act is updated and made available to the descendants of Wairarapa; regardless of whether they reside back home, there is a support fund available for them. However, when I look at this bill, I note that at the time this trust was founded, the funds were available to applicants attending Anglican schools. However, the problem now is that most of those schools have closed. Therefore I thank the trust and their change in thinking, to make those funds available to the descendants of their ancestors. Therefore, I thank them.

In addition to that, another purpose of this bill is to examine and to establish a pathway to develop the lands they have under their authority. The member for Tāmaki Makaurau is correct in saying to carefully examine and perhaps be extra cautious in regard to this creature, the ture whenua Māori legislation discussed by us in the Māori Affairs Committee, especially given the length of time this trust has been operating on its own path. Let us not forget that Te Ture Whenua Maori Act relates to the lands of our ancestors. Those are the real matters pertaining to this bill, and we of New Zealand First have no problem if that matter was objected to, because it was the wish of the trust management to have this settled.

However, during our considerations in the Māori Affairs Committee the point was raised that this bill should be updated in our majestic Māori language. Although that was our desire at that time, we were told by officials that they did not have the resourcing to undertake that task, so this is why we called on the Government at the time it was discussing business for the upcoming year not to forget to make funding available for this purpose, given the Māori language is an official language of New Zealand that in recent months has seen much rhetoric among us about the prestige of our majestic language. Therefore, that is perhaps something this House may like to consider determining. Therefore, my desire is that this bill be offered for this House to determine. Therefore, thank you collectively, and my appreciation to all of us, once again.]

It gives me pleasure to speak on the third reading of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill. There is a number of things that I want to address before I start. One is that I have spent the last couple of hours since I learnt I was speaking on this bill searching the internet. I was not searching to see how Donald Trump was doing; I was searching for that whakapapa to Papawai that, certainly, Jo Hayes talked about and many others have. I could not find any, so I apologise for that. Like Alastair Scott, I am going to have to get there in the future—I am relying on future generations. I am also going to have to speak to the English version of this bill because I certainly would not be able to understand the other one, and I apologise for that, but I am very pleased that it is currently in English.

This is a very topical thing today, and before I get onto that, I want to congratulate Alastair Scott for bringing this bill to Parliament. Although I did hear him say that he has little to do with the bill, in fact, he has brought it here, he is the member for Wairarapa, and he is representing the people of Wairarapa in doing so, and I think that is really important. I also want to quickly acknowledge Nuk Korako and the members of the Māori Affairs Committee for speedily expediting this bill through the House. I think that these little things are aggravating, and unless they get pushed through in a reasonable fashion—and, obviously, with the agreement of everyone—then I think they are difficult.

I want to just talk very briefly about trusts, because in this morning’s paper there is a very interesting headline that says: “Ignorant trustees run risk of nasty surprise in court”. I am not for a minute talking about the trustees of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri trusts, but it is interesting that many trusts in New Zealand have been let go, I guess. They brought up some interesting statistics about that in the course of this article this morning, and I think it applies to many trusts in New Zealand at the moment. Some of the statistics were that a third of trustees did not know the contents of the trust deed they were administering, over half did not keep an up-to-date minute book, and only 60 percent of them met annually. That is pretty staggering when you think about the fact that there are half a million trusts in New Zealand, set up for all sorts of reasons.

Many of them were set up in answer to Government legislation, to protect either assets or people. A large number of them are set up to ensure older family members are looked after and protected by their trustees. Interestingly, taxation legislation throughout the ages has influenced the formation of many trusts. Right now, I think you will find there are discrepancies—not discrepancies, necessarily; there might be deliberate discrepancies—in the tax legislation that actually penalise trusts to some extent. In other words, they are taxed at a greater rate than companies or individuals, even. So there are all sorts of influences, quite outside of the normal course of events, that influence trusts being set up. I think that is interesting, and in some ways it causes the large, large number of trusts—and, as I said, half a million trusts in New Zealand have been set up for various reasons. Many of those trusts are charitable; many are not. This trust is a charitable trust. Also, many of the trusts set up in New Zealand throughout history have been primarily for education purposes. This is another one of those trusts.

I want to go back to the fact that this trust was set up in 1943, and I guess that this is the first time that it has been back through Parliament. It was set up by a 1943 Act, and this is the first time it has been back through Parliament to be reviewed since then, so the trustees have certainly done a pretty good job throughout the history of this trust, because it is still in existence and still pretty strong. I want to congratulate those trustees, both those who have served before and those who serve now, because I think it is a pretty significant effort to have kept a trust going for this length of time and to have it in such a state that it can come back to Parliament to be renewed for future generations and to enable them to use the proceeds of that trust for whatever they see fit for their people, particularly for education purposes.

I myself was educated through an Anglican school. My electorate, the Rangitīkei, has a large number of Anglican schools in it, and a number of boarding schools of Anglican origin. We also have the odd Catholic one, and I imagine that this has freed up a bit of cash for the Anglicans to give to the Catholics, which is a little unfortunate, but we will forgive them. I imagine that, particularly with a school like Hato Pāora College, which is owned by the Catholic Church, no doubt the Anglicans are going to part with a bit of cash. I also remember, in my younger days, spending a fair bit of time playing rugby against Te Aute College. They were always a lot bigger than I was, those fellas, so obviously in the Wairarapa they fed them pretty well, as well. But it is an interesting piece of our history, the fact that we have education. Also in my electorate we had the Turakina Māori Girls College, which very recently closed—another Anglican school, which was set up first of all in Turakina and then moved to Marton.

But I think what we should remember is that education, like life, has changed dramatically. So the reasons that this trust was set up in 1943—to provide education for the young people of the Wairarapa, and particularly Ngāti Kahungunu—have changed dramatically. Now there are different reasons for us to need to distribute income. It is still equally as important that we give our rural children, particularly, the opportunity to attend boarding schools, because in many parts of our more remote electorates it is very difficult for families to get their children away to school and get them back on the same day. Having the opportunity to send our remoter rural children to boarding school is hugely important, and I imagine that that is one of the objectives this trust will have in some way in the future. I think that is a really exciting opportunity for the trust, too.

I want to congratulate all those who have brought the trust back to Parliament in this form with a view to giving it a new life. Most trusts in New Zealand are set up with an 80-year lifespan. It is quite easy to see that trustees, or beneficiaries, even, seldom last that long. Often these trusts wind up early, see significant change, or even require resettlements. That is an alternative, of course, for a trust like this: to resettle in a different form. I think Nuk Korako informed me earlier that in order to bring this legislation back to Parliament and run it in dual languages, it had to actually start again because, effectively, you cannot change legislation half-way through the system and change the language structure of it. For it to be reinvented in Te Reo and English, it is going to have to come back to Parliament and recommence its lifespan—I guess a little bit like a resettlement. It is not so long ago, in fact, that we had the Waitangi National Trust through this Parliament for a little modification, and I guess that is another such example where the deed had passed its use-by date and needed restructuring. The structure of many trusts’ governance modes is no longer suitable in this day and age.

Changes by the trustees courtesy of this bill, presented to Parliament by Wairarapa MP Mr Scott—I just want to talk a little bit about those changes and what they hope to achieve. I think the really important thing is that they enable our young to have an opportunity they may otherwise not have had. I think the other objective of this bill is to spread the opportunity for the trustees to distribute income, and I notice that the Rangitāne have got their opportunity to get their hands on a little bit of this cash. I just hope the Rangitāne o Manawatu are not coming over the hill to try to nick a bit of it—but I am sure they would not do that. I think it is very interesting, because, as someone said to Alastair Scott a little earlier, we do not know what is going to happen to future generations of our families, so it is best we are prepared for all eventualities.

I think that this kind of trust and the history it brings with it to Parliament are what New Zealand is all about, and I think it is really important that this House is able to give these sorts of trusts the opportunity to reinvent themselves and create, I guess, a place in modern New Zealand where they can serve their people, give them opportunity, and enable them to make the best of what I think is an extraordinary country. So I just want to very briefly congratulate the trustees once again, and the member who brought this bill to the House. It has been very interesting for me to speak at such short notice on a bill like this, but I congratulate everyone, commend it to the House, and hope it makes very good progress in the future.

The next call is a split call. Marama Davidson—5 minutes.

E Te Māngai o Te Whare, tēnā koe, huri noa ki a tātou katoa, ngā kaihoamahi, ngā hoamahi o Te Whare Paremata, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and acknowledgments to us all, fellow officials and colleagues throughout the House of Parliament, greetings.]

It is an incredible privilege to stand and tautoko the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill. I want to absolutely acknowledge the trustees and whānau who may be here listening to the final reading of this amendment bill tonight in the House—tēnā koutou katoa—particularly because I have had the privilege of visiting Papawai Marae in particular with my colleague Metiria Turei, who does have Kahungunu whakapapa. I had the absolute joy of being taken down to the awa behind the marae and literally meeting, face to face, the tuna—the eels—in their awa, which are being brought back to help bring both life and mauri back to the awa by the people of Papawai, helping to keep their awa strong and healthy. I was able to help with the riparian planting alongside the awa, down the back there—they had a pair of gumboots for me to borrow during the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election some years ago. So it is a particularly special privilege for me to stand and speak on this bill, to support the trustees regardless of the fact that I do not have particular whakapapa to Kahungunu.

At this point I also want to acknowledge the naming of the wharenui, which is actually Hikurangi and which does connect me with my Ngati Porou whakapapa and is, in actual fact, a direct acknowledgment of the Kahungunu and Ngati Porou links. So it is an absolute pleasure to stand and speak today.

I want to acknowledge, with my colleagues, the importance and the learning, actually, that the Māori Affairs Committee will have in the future in suggesting to colleagues to introduce members’ bills as dual-language members’ bills, so that we can, from the get-go, include and introduce them into the House in Te Reo and in English, as well. Ka pai, Alastair Scott, for supporting this bill through the House and for empowering the trust and the trustees and beneficiaries to take some control, to be able to design some destiny over the way that they run their own affairs—we really support that.

In my examination of the history behind the trust, in 1932 a college was destroyed by a fire, and they could not afford to rebuild that college. I understand that the trust was set up for the scholarships, and that they were, at that time, and until now, for Ngāti Kahungunu in Anglican schools, in particular. The amendment in this bill seeks to describe better relationships between the key stakeholders and establish a more robust nomination process for board members, which is fantastic; provide fairer distributions of putea, for descendants—or tangata whenua, as is the term—of Wairarapa; and to facilitate the long-term development of the lands.

I do recall, also, in the Māori Affairs Committee, the references to both Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu having vested interest in the trust, but, as my colleague Metiria Turei just described, that was left wide for self-identification. I am a “Queen Vic” ancient girl, so I am absolutely pleased to see that the amendments mean that the scholarships no longer have to be restricted to Anglican schools. I do acknowledge that some of the Anglican schools—one of which I went to—have been struggling over the years. Nevertheless, I fully support wider choices being made, and empowering more choices for the scholarships to go towards whānau to see the education of their tamariki.

I am particularly pleased to see—wrapping it up, yes, thank you—the Papawai and Kaikōkirikiri lands are maintaining those tūpuna whenua in this bill. They cannot be alienated. We have huge support for this bill. Kia ora.

Tēnā koe, e Te Māngai o Te Whare, otirā, kei te mihi hoki au ki a koutou ngā mema o te poari kua tae mai ki tēnei Whare ki te whakarongo ki te pānuitanga tuatoru o tēnei pire, nō reira, tēnā koutou, otirā, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, but at the same time I acknowledge you also, the members of the board who have arrived here at this House to listen to the third reading of this bill, so accolades to you collectively and to all of us indeed.]

I want to acknowledge again the promoter of this bill, Alastair Scott. I think it is really important that these kinds of bills come to the House. This bill updates a 1943 Act. I support what he said about the prescriptive and restrictive nature of the 1943 Act. It needed to be updated, and here we are doing exactly that. I said in the second reading that the Act was paternalistic, and I stand by those comments. For me, this is all about education and support for educating the next generations to come.

The changes allow, as has already been spoken about, the ability for the trust to give scholarships not only for Anglican schools but for other schools as well, as we heard from the member for Rangitīkei, Ian McKelvie, and there are just a couple of things—well, three things, actually—that I want to mention. The first is that Turakina Māori Girls College is actually a Presbyterian school—or was until it closed. Hato Pāora College is a Catholic school, and offers places not only to Catholics. There are quite a few tamariki who go from Te Kura o Rātana, actually. The other thing is that I am absolutely certain that my whanaunga from Rangitāne o Manawatu would not dare to try to encroach over into Wairarapa and try to get some scholarships for their tamariki. We are quite capable of taking care of ourselves. I just wanted to let the House know that.

I think the other changes, which have not been mentioned, are around the purpose, and the fact that the ability for the board to make distributions also includes grants to governing bodies of schools—not just to students but also to governing bodies—as well as making grants for the establishment of furnishing, maintenance, and management at a school. This is fine by me, but I do want to point out that that is actually a Crown responsibility. Although that is OK in my mind, I think that we do not want to discharge the Government’s responsibility to those schools. I just wanted to mention that.

I also want to congratulate the Māori Affairs Committee on the work it has done on this bill. I agree with the wording around who qualifies for a scholarship, and I think that the terminology that has been used allows for a much broader scope for those who wish to apply for scholarships from the trust.

I want to, lastly, just touch on the governance arrangements. I quite like the way that there has been a staggered arrangement for the appointment of trustees. I think that ensures that there is good continuity, and that you do not have all of the trustees leaving after the first term. Having that staggered approach is a very good way to maintain continuity, and I want to acknowledge that. I want to acknowledge that the number of trustees has been reduced under this bill. I think that makes for a much smarter and a much more efficient running of a trust, from my experience. I think the optimum number of trustees is about seven. In this case it is eight, so it is very close. Thank you.

Tēnā koe, e Te Mana Whakawā. Anei te mihi atu ki a koutou o Te Whare e hui nei i tēnei wā, anei te mihi atu ki a koutou o Te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori, koutou e tāpiri pai nei i ō koutou kōrero ki tēnei o ngā pire, ki tēnei kōrero i te pō nei, anō nā ki a koutou e noho tata nei, koutou o te hau kāinga o Papawai o Wairarapa, nei te mihi atu ki a koutou ōku pou, ōku rahi tēnā koutou, kia ora mai tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I acknowledge you of the House gathered here at this moment, you of the Māori Affairs Committee who added your comments to this bill and this address this evening, and also to those of you seated close by from back home, from Papawai of Wairarapa, I commend you collectively, my pillars, my greatness, and my appreciation to us all.]

It is absolutely a fantastic time to come to the Whare. I do not know what else is going on in the rest of the world, but this is the most important thing in front of us today, bar nothing else that has happened—no press conferences, no live feeds on our phones, and no exiting of people to offices to watch something that is going on on TVs across the world.

While we all hold our breath, there is time to pause and give acknowledgment to the people of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts who have come today to listen to the third reading, which will, essentially, put in place the aspiration of their rangatiratanga. This is the bill that says “We know what we’re doing, thank you very much. We’ve been trying to get this bill changed for a long time. We’d like to make some changes to the trustees—the way we govern our land. We want to be able to get better funds from the land that we have so ably governed for a long time, and we want to disperse them in a way that suits us, which has changed over time.”, as we have heard from all of the participants in the debate today. So I am not sure what everybody else is holding their breath for, but this is something we should give proper consideration and proper celebration to, while everybody else—ah—takes a big breath and hopes for a good outcome.

Well, there is a good outcome here today. It comes, as the Hon Joanne Hayes—well, the member Joanne Hayes; almost “the Hon”, give it a couple more years—has expressed, from the fact that we are the culmination of our ancestors, who have departed into the realm of our tūpuna. They are the people who put aside some land in the hope they could realise the aspirations of educating their tamariki in a way that suited them, and yes, for a while, that was done through the Church-sponsored schools—through the Anglican Church. That seems to have changed over time, with fewer children moving out of the area to be schooled, more staying in Māori-medium education, and more finding different opportunities for their educational needs in different parts of the country. So the trustees wanted to be able to have the ability to utilise those funds for their descendants in a way that supports the aspirations of their descendants—hence, this bill has come to the House.

Our whānau came to me at the very beginning, and they said: “Marama, we’ve been waiting for a long time for this bill to go through, and now you’re there. Please hurry up and make it happen.” I looked at them and I said: “Well, here’s the problem. As a party of two, we get to put one bill into the ballot and hope that at some time in the next 3 years it might get drawn out.” I thought “Well, this is not about me; this is about our whānau and our tamariki.”, so a better pathway was that if the bill was adopted by the member for Wairarapa and became a Government bill, it could make a speedy entrance into the House because it was non-controversial. It did support the aspirations of our people and, therefore, a better pathway was designed. I want to acknowledge the member Alastair Scott for sponsoring this bill in the House.

I also want to acknowledge in this Whare the descendants of Papawai Marae, of which we have five. Five current MPs in this House, two of them who are leaders of their respective parties, are all descendants of Papawai, and the legacy that has been left behind by our formidable ancestors—our formidable ancestors. They are the likes of Mahupuku, of Ngātuere, of Rangitakaiwaho, of Manihera—all of those—of Niniwa-i-te-rangi, and of Whatahoro Jury. Those ancestors came together in the very early days and said: “We must have the right to put our future in our hands. We must have our rangatiratanga. We must be able to establish our own Parliament.” Hence, Papawai, after moving that Parliament around many of the marae of this nation, decided that that would be the birthplace of the Māori Parliament movement, the Kotahitanga.

One of my ancestors, Niniwa-i-te-rangi, marched out into the middle of that marae and, with all the mana of a wāhine toa, hitched up her skirts and mimied into a pot. I am not going to explain what that is, but I think you can guess. She drank it and threw it at the feet of the men who were all debating whether or not to let her speak, and said: “If any of you men can do that, I’ll sit down.” While they were aghast, she launched into her kōrero and then was given the right to speak on marae around the motu.

These were people who had their own newspaper, their own shops, their own future, their own Parliament, their own bill-making, and their own determination, and the descendants of those people are the trustees whom we have today. Five of the descendants of that formidable movement are members of this House today. It is a legacy, and this bill supports the legacy for them to determine for themselves what they think is best for the future of their children—just like we did with the resource management bill today—by handing the power to the people and to the iwi around us to determine for themselves, through a mana whakahono arrangement, how they want to be represented in their own rohe. That is power to the people, power to the tangata whenua, as is articulated in this bill.

So I stand proudly to support this bill because it is the culmination of years of hard work, not just in the living memory of those of us who are gathered here but in the ancestral memory that is the realisation of that whakatāuke: “Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi ēngari taku toa, i te toa takitini” [Mine is not the strength of one but rather of the many].

We stand here today, as the culmination of the efforts of all of our ancestors, to bring us to this point. Our young people across Wairarapa have benefited from the proceeds that have been ably developed and gathered from the management of this whenua to ensure that they could be educated across the country. That will continue in the hands of our trustees who are here today, and I acknowledge them and acknowledge the people of Wairarapa. We have a song in Wairarapa, which says: “Ko Wairarapa tēnei e tū ake nei, e karanga ana ki te iwi” [This is Wairarapa who stands here before you, calling to the people].

Wairarapa people, stand and call to the rest of the people. It is time to be self-determining, to have faith in yourselves as a people, so that you do not have to be hindered by blue undies or red undies; you can, in fact, put your own undies on and determine your own path for yourselves. That might be a little bit—everyone is looking at me, thinking: “Marama, what are you talking about?”. I am talking about the right to choose. I am talking about the right to be self-determining. I am talking about the right to put your aspirations in the hands of your future generations, your tamariki and your mokopuna, and that is, essentially, what we are voting for today.

I proudly, proudly recommend this bill to the House. I am grateful to all of those who have participated in the conversations and in their presentations to the Whare today.

Ka hoki anō au ki Te Reo Māori hei whakakapi i taku kōrero, ka hoki au ki te kōrero o ō tātau tūpuna, rātou kua mene atu ki te pō, kai roto i ngā ringa o ngātimoe e tū ake nei, kia tū kaha nei a ngātimoe, ka pahū a Ranginui i runga i tō rātau kaha. Tēnei te kaha e kite atu nei i roto i te ture, te ture kua manahia i a tātau katoa, nā reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora mai tātau katoa.

[And so, to conclude my contribution, I go back to the Māori language and to the statement of our ancestors, to those who have assembled in the void, in the arms of those who sleep, who arise before us in order that they stand resolute when the great Sky Father explodes through the greatness of their power. I see this power in the law that empowered us all, therefore accolades and acknowledgments to you collectively and my congratulations to us all.]

Ā, tēnā koe, tēnā koutou. Tēnei ka tāpiri atu aku whakaaro ki ērā i waihotia i mua i te aroaro o Te Pāremata. Ka tukuna ngā mihi ki a koutou ngā mema o Te Poari o Papawai me Kaikōkirikiri, tā koutou taratī e kaha ana ki te hāpai i ngā āhuatanga e pā ana ki ngā mātauranga ō ā koutou tamariki, mokopuna. Heoi anō he maha ngā kōrero i puta mai, ko tāku nei he tīpako i ētehi o ngā kaupapa kāre anō i kōrerohia e koutou.

[And so my appreciation to you and to you collectively. I add my thoughts to those that were placed before Parliament. I extend my thanks to you, the members of the Papawai and Kaikōkirikiri Board, and to the efforts by your trustees to support matters relating to the education of your children and grandchildren. Indeed many contributions emerged, and I merely highlight some matters not referred to collectively by any of you.]

In offering a contribution to this debate, and having heard all the contributions of other members, I want to comment on the modernisation aspects of the bill, which are useful for any trust. But, more importantly, in the spirit of the amendments that are offered with this particular bill, I situate my comments within the context of a trust wanting to determine for itself a way forward. I do not have any connections to this particular area, so I did read with interest some of the initial aspects about the bill.

Firstly, in so far as the scholarships are concerned, in the original Act of 1943, section 12(4) states: “(a) the provision of scholarships for … children of British subjects of all races, and for children of other persons being inhabitants of islands in the Pacific Ocean, but so that preference is given to boys and girls of the Ngatikahungunu Tribe residing in the Wairarapa district south of a straight line passing through Akitio and Pahiatua, and then on to other Maoris or descendants of Maoris residing on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and, failing such, to Maoris or descendants of Maoris of any part of New Zealand:”. Well—there is a broad definition of who were the original benefactors of this particular legislation.

We can see that over time the definition has really come right back to where the lands are, which is in the Wairarapa, and is more specific in clause 9 of the bill, which amends section 12 of the Act. For completeness’ sake, it says: “(a) the provision of scholarships for the post-primary education of children who have whakapapa in relation to the tangata whenua of Wairarapa:”. So that is a nice summation of who will be the benefactors of this particular bill.

I listened with interest to my colleague Meka Whaitiri, who acknowledged the trust and the work that it does to fund students. I noted that on the website there are scholarships available to Hukarere Girls’ College, Rathkeale College, St Matthew’s Collegiate School, Te Aute College, and other colleges. The trust has a leadership and personal development grant, as well as a scholarship for the stated purposes of the Act. I am sure that all manner of positive stories can be told about the assistance that has been given over a long period of time to those young people who have gained from their pathway in education.

My colleague Adrian Rurawhe talked about the rotation period for the board. This is really good because the board can now implement its succession plan and actively ensure that it will have members who will regularly be able to be appointed to the board, gain skills, contribute to the legacy of the board, and plan actively in terms of succession. In the vacancy clauses, it is clear that should a trustee vacate their position for whatever stated reason in the bill, then a new member will be appointed for the remaining term of that particular member, and the rotation will continue. So that is very clear, and I am sure that was the intent.

I read with interest that in terms of the contracting aspects of the board there is no provision now for oral contracts. That provision has been repealed. So I thought: “Oh, that’s interesting. Were oral contracts allowed?”, and I went back to the original legislation, and it said that, yes, oral contracts were allowed by trustees of the board, but for no sum greater than £10, which was then amended to $20. But it is interesting to see that that has been repealed altogether, and that certainly makes sense to me. There are other aspects around removing the prescription of scholarships to Church of England - only schools. Again, that links back to comments made by colleagues that as long as the students whakapapa to tangata whenua of Wairarapa—that is the criteria, so that is very clear.

I heard, in the contribution of a previous speaker, that the bill empowers the board to make its own decisions. Clause 11, which amends section 14 of the principal Act, makes clear the role of the Minister. It removes the parochial oversight of the Minister in terms of selling or leasing land. It makes it very clear that only Clareville land can be sold, not Papawai or Kaikōkirikiri lands. Ultimately, that decision is made on the determinations of the board and does not have to go back to a second or third party. Also, the role of the Māori Land Court has, it appears, been removed from this decision as well. So that really is affirming the ability of the board to get on with its business and make decisions as it sees fit, for the investment and management of these lands and business operations.

The other aspect that I read with interest—just to try to give some context to some of these changes—was the repeal provisions in relation to the leasing of certain Kaikōkirikiri lands. Previously, leases were allowed for a period of 7 years, with a right of renewal for the same term or a shorter period, and the rent was able to be determined by valuation in those renewal periods. That has been repealed, and the board again has the ability to determine for itself the leasing provisions.

The bill provides for copies of the report on the operations of the trust to be provided to the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika, which is consistent with how the membership of the board has been modernised to reflect the office of the Bishop of Te Upoko o Te Ika. Previous to that, reports were sent to the Minister of Māori Affairs and the synod of the Diocese of Wellington, as well as the General Synod. So what it has done is it has again reaffirmed the relationship with the church through the Bishop and its reporting lines and site functions as well.

I comment on the issue of Te Reo translation. It is a shame that we were not able to achieve what might have been a good, I guess, template for small and useful bits of legislation like this by having dual language. Sadly, we were not able to accomplish that, based on the advice from the Parliamentary Counsel Office, but going forward, it is the intent of the Māori Affairs Committee to ensure that new bills coming to our committee are able to be planned for, in so far as having dual-language bills. I hope that gives some comfort to people listening to this debate and thinking about whether they should modernise their own bits of legislation, which will be useful, I am sure.

In order to address the Te Reo Māori aspects, we as the Māori Affairs Committee, under the good guidance of our chair, will have better guidelines to be able to navigate our way through these particular issues so that we not only have good, useful, modernised laws to guide the activities of trusts but also can broaden the scope and role of Te Reo Māori within the legislature. So without saying much more, Labour happily supports this bill in its third reading.

It is a pleasure and an honour to rise and speak in full support of the Papawai and Kaikokirikiri Trusts Amendment Bill in its third reading. Can I just acknowledge the trustees and supporters in the gallery today. It is the first time I have spoken on this bill, which is now in its third reading. When having a look through the bill, I must say that some of the narrative that underpins this bill—when you look at part of our role as legislators, and that is what I am going to talk about in my contribution today, it is to modernise and update legislation.

This legislation was enacted in 1943, which is 73 years ago. As my colleague Ian McKelvie highlighted, not a lot of boards and trusts survive to be 73. It is a good innings. Congratulations on the longevity and the ability to maintain your values through that. So I do not think this bill is looking to change any of the underpinning values; it is just modernising and updating this legislation.

I acknowledge Alastair Scott, the hard-working local electorate MP. When we think about the focus today that is very much on what is happening around the world, it brings back the saying that “politics is local.” That is exactly what Mr Scott has achieved with this bill today. It is very much a local bill that is at the heart of politics, being local and very supportive, and it means a lot to the people in his electorate. Also, I acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee, under the chairmanship of Nuk Korako, which I heard was very collaborative and productive as it shepherded this bill through the legislative process.

There were only a couple of submissions and some minor changes, but one thing I want to focus on, in the modernising and updating of this bill, is that it actually reflects some of the changes through time, over the 73 years since the primary legislation was enacted. One is around mental health. Many in the House will know that my career before entering politics was in mental health, and it was said to me that my background would be very good for engaging with other politicians. When you look at that, in that humour, there is some truth. We still very much battle with the mental health stigma around “us” and “them”, but when you look at mental health, we know that over the course of our lives we will all have good and bad mental health. So we are very much all in this together.

Section 5, “Vacancies in membership of Board”, in the primary Act, which is replaced in clause 5—the original legislation stated that any person with mental health issues would cause a vacancy on the board. Quite rightly, when we got the section 7 report back from the Attorney-General, it identified section 5 as being inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and as being discriminatory. It is great that we have learnt from these things over the years and now understand that mental health issues are not something that can stop people participating.

Another key area that underpins this bill is around the role of education, and, just to acknowledge the fundamental belief of the trustees, very much the underpinning of education around social mobility. When we look at the range of incomes that New Zealanders will receive, there is a strong correlation between their education, their educational attainment, and what they will go on to earn over their lives, so it is right that this trust invest heavily in the education of its young people. We live in a globalised world today, and, very much, in this globalised world it is very competitive for jobs and incomes. Many of the young people whom the trust will be supporting through its education scholarships will probably go on and travel a bit over time, and they will realise how competitive the world is. Very much, it is people like the trustees who are setting them up for great success in life—to be productive members of society—by providing them with scholarships for their education, and I acknowledge the trust for that.

Another key underpinning of this bill that I want to talk about in my short contribution is around self-determination. It is fantastic that bills like this, as we update and modernise them, will give this board the flexibility to self-determine, to think about where they are going to invest their capital to get the best return that they will, ultimately, disperse to the young people whom they are overseeing, to increase their education, to increase their educational attainment, and to increase their outcomes in life. I wholeheartedly support this bill to the House. Thank you.

Bill read a third time.