Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill

Well, it is a joy to speak on the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill, which this side of the House is passionate about, because we want to see economic development for our regions and te iwi Māori, who are heavily invested in our primary production sector, particularly in fisheries and agriculture. This is an important bill—more important, the Government would say, than their last bill which they tried to introduce to this House but could not because the Minister was not ready to take the call. But, on this side of the House, we are ready and willing to speak to this important legislation that we want to see progress through the House.

This is enabling legislation which means that there will be economic development in the regions, which we need to see. Kiwis want to see the Government building bridges, building roads, building assets that will enable primary sector development, and these aquaculture assets have been locked up for too long. We need to be able to invest in them and we need to see the Government backing it. But we also want to see the Government investing in other key infrastructure which unlocks economic development potential in the regions elsewhere.

We need to see, for example, the Government committed to a rail network and to a ferries network that gets these aquaculture assets, which we are setting up today in the Māori Fisheries Bill, into the hands of exporters that send them overseas. To allow for this economic development, we also need the key infrastructure in place to be able to send things like mussel assets, things like salmon farms, things like aquaculture and fisheries assets, overseas. And to be able to do that, the Government must be able to invest in the key things that do that—things like this Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill that will unlock the potential of the Ōpōtiki fisheries and the Māori mussel assets held in that area; we need to see things like coastal shipping through the ports enabled there.

This bill unlocks the growth potential there, but it does nothing to guarantee to those investors who are interested in those assets that the Government will back aquaculture and will back the primary industry growth in that area. We need to see that the Government is serious about aquaculture, serious about fisheries assets, and so will put investment into the hands of those communities and will back ports developments in that region.

We also need to see in the Marlborough region, where Ngāti Koata and the eight iwi mana whenua of that region are heavily invested in different kinds of aquaculture assets, particularly salmon growth, that there will be Government investment in that area. On Monday, I was just down in the Marlborough district. I met with the mayor, Nadine. I met with the port CEO, Rhys. They told me that they are not seeing certainty in Government investment and infrastructure in the area, and that will hamstring aquaculture assets there because we need the ferries to be a Cook Strait connection which is resilient in that area for the aquaculture industry there to thrive. We need to know that rail from Picton to Christchurch will be backed by this Government. But, currently, that region has no certainty that there will be Government investment in those assets. The region has no certainty that the Government won’t put 3,000 more trucks on their regional roads and make the ratepayers there pay for the damage that those trucks will do to support the aquaculture industry.

When we talk about investing in Māori fishery assets, when we talk about unlocking the potential of iwi Māori who own fisheries assets in the Marlborough region or in the Ōpōtiki region, we must also talk about the key infrastructure investments which the Government is responsible for and which, on this side of the House, we will always back. We will back those regional communities to unlock economic potential. We will back those communities to put jobs on the ground in their regions. We will back those people. Will this Government? Will this Government front up with the capital investment that is needed to drive jobs growth in those regions? Or will this Government go back to the days where there was no certainty in investment in the ferries and no certainty in the rail industry in Marlborough and house prices in Picton plummeted—where, for a decade, no one could sell their Picton homes because there was no certainty of jobs, because their construction industry was bottomed out, because their builders and tradies could not rely on any work, and so investment from that region fled? We need to see this Government putting its money where its mouth is and doing useful bills like this, but also making sure that there is investment flowing into those regions and where we’re crowding in private capital alongside Government investment.

I’m really proud of this bill. I’m really interested in the way that it has progressed, because it has been something that has garnered bipartisan support, where there was not bipartisan support in the select committee stage. But we have come to a position where we can all agree that this is something that’s important for not only “Brand New Zealand” but our economy and our regional growth. And for that reason, I commend it to the House.

Tēnā koe e te Pīka, otirā tātou katoa. Toitū te marae o Tānemahuta, toitū te marae o Tangaroa, toitū te tangata.

[If the domain of Tānemahuta is sustained, and the domain of Tangaroa is sustained, then humanity will be sustained.]

As we say in te ao Māori, if the land is well and if the moana, the sea, is well, then the people will thrive. The Green Party stands to tautoko this legislation and have followed it closely through the House. We have seen the diverse conversations, the fact that, actually, in the Māori Affairs Committee there were attempts to bring ourselves together in agreement, and always knowing that we can’t necessarily agree on all things. However, we have seen, in the House, that bipartisan support come together and tautoko this legislation.

As my colleague Arena Williams has shared, it is disappointing that we weren’t able to complete or even address the last piece of legislation, because we all need to be ready, we all need to be here, and we all need to engage in the discussion. It’s been 32 years since the signing of the fishery settlement, and Te Ohu Kai Moana and the iwi mandated authorities have been working hard to manage this fishery on behalf of te iwi Māori. The Green Party support iwi rangatiratanga in the space. The Green Party support the fact that Te Ohu Kai Moana still needs to be powered up and they still need to do the work that iwi require.

We support the way in which we have moved as a House through this legislation. While we have had our ups and downs in the House—myself included—we own it and we carry on because, ultimately, this legislation has taken far too long. If I recall, I think 2017 or 2018 was the first attempt from the chair Jamie Tuuta to commence this process. Te Ohu Kai Moana had asked at that time, “Me tere te hōiho; let’s strap up the horse and let’s get going.” Well, it’s 2024 now, and we’re only just completing the process. Nō reira e te whānau, toitū te moana, toitū te whenua, toitū te anō te tangata te iwi Māori hoki. [Therefore, dear family, stand firm for the moana, stand firm for the land, stand firm for the people and Māori as well.]

Collectively, te iwi Māori own 40 percent of commercial fisheries quota and related commercial fisheries assets. And thinking principally around the ability for us to exercise our rangatiratanga in this space, this bill provides that pathway through. As a former CEO of a mandated iwi organisation, I stand in support of the way in which we have handled this—as fast as we can. The pause—that was required for this Government to go and have the necessary conversations with iwi, Te Ohu Kai Moana, monitoring us as we progress through and advocating that we might hurry up, because, ultimately, this legislation will empower iwi and will protect iwi in this space and enable us to move forward into the future, commercially strong with a robust entity and mana whakahaere, as was always intended in this settlement.

Te Ohu Kai Moana has led out in this space, and I acknowledge their work to date. It hasn’t been easy being an entity that has to respond to many iwi voices, and certainly it’s been a robust process over the last 32-odd years as they’ve grown and learnt to work and listen to the voice of iwi. But also, they need to have greater management over these assets, and this bill will support the governance relationships that are required and Te Ohu Kai Moana to be funded appropriately to support our local communities to ensure the long-term success of the fisheries and commercial assets but also the health of our moana.

As te Rōpū Kākāriki, of course we tautoko the mahi tahi of te iwi Māori. We tautoko the way in which they have traversed this area for a very long time, learning, trying to grow our people in this space, trying to manage a quota, asking where the workforce is, how we grow it, and how we engage our people into the conversation of Māori fisheries. And te Rōpū Kākāriki encourage te iwi Māori to continue to do that. It is important, for us as bipartisan whanaunga of this House, that we do progress this legislation together. The time is now; it is not tomorrow. And te Rōpū Kākāriki encourage us that this might be the opportunity for us to stand in solidarity. While we don’t always stand in solidarity on other things, we might tautoko this as te iwi Māori has asked us to do so.

The whole development of the Māori fisheries space has been challenging—not to forget the growing pains for Māori in accepting the settlement at the outset, the quota management system, and then also the establishment of the waka. This legislation is progress. It provides rangatiratanga, it improves the governance arrangements, it empowers the MIOs, the mandated iwi organisations, to have more direct control over moana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd by removing those intermediary decision-making bodies. It’s closer to mana whakahaere. That was something that was agreed wholeheartedly by the iwi of Te Ohu Kai Moana. They sought for this to change, and they are now seeing this come to fruition. It’s important to see the redistribution of the shares of Te Ohu Kai Moana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, where we do own 50 percent of Sealord. This legislation will help simplify the process for trading quota and give us the ability to also pull those assets together.

I’d like to recognise the Māori Affairs Committee and the way in which they have heard submissions, the diverse voices from iwi, Te Ohu Kai Moana, and also our urban whanaunga coming and reporting to the House and also presenting the diverse views of that committee of the time. But I think that we’ve also reached a point where now we’ve got that good, happy medium, te iwi Māori will see that this House does tautoko us in our rangatiratanga over this taonga and mana whakahaere of our fisheries assets.

We fundamentally support, as te Rōpū Kākāriki, iwi rangatiratanga, and this is an example of how we should do it all together in other spaces as well. One of the key things that this legislation will provide is that levy to help boost Te Ohu Kai Moana in their mahi so that they can elevate, they can innovate, and they can progress the mahi on behalf of te iwi Māori and the management of their fisheries assets.

Te Ohu Kai Moana has always had a leading role, and they’ve been increasing their reach across many sectors. They’ve been in our community. They’ve got a roadshow coming out. They’re coming to the Copthorne in Tai Tokerau in Waitangi. They’re everywhere, and they need to be funded appropriately so that they can reach out deep into Māori communities, engaging with iwi and hapū and ensuring that everyone is aware of the current nekehanga, the different changes, and the different policies by which te iwi Māori might be impacted or need a voice on. Te Ohu Kai Moana is that group. Nō reira e te whānau. E tino tautoko ana te Rōpū Kākāriki tēnei pire. Kia ora tātou. [Therefore, dear friends, the Green Party definitely supports this bill. Thank you all.]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and good morning, everyone. Thank you so much, I’m grateful to speak to this legislation. I think we’ve canvassed and litigated the issues well.

Māori hold significant interest in New Zealand fisheries and the former member—or sorry, the member Kahurangi Carter of the Green Party has just illuminated that point. As the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, the Hon Shane Jones, noted previously in his remarks in his third reading, some 40 percent of catch entitlement is through the Quota Management System. We would all argue that is significant in value. This bill, as it passes through into law, will only embolden that reality and I think we all agree that is certainly what the industry would want.

This legislation will afford Māoridom greater autonomy—which it deserves—better investment, surety, and opportunity, and an industry which is worth billions will only grow out of the back of that, certainly helping Māori communities in doing so.

I want to acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee for diligently shepherding this piece of legislation through the House, congratulate them on their work, their diligence, their accomplishments, and what I see as good lawmaking. I’ve heard from the constituency that they’ve understood and reconciled those issues, and, out the other side, we see this kaupapa has certainly created an environment which will help Māoridom and investment surety.

I don’t see any point to further litigate nor debate this issue. This is a wonderful piece of legislation. Great work everyone, ACT fully supports this bill.

E te Māngai o te Whare, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to rise on the third reading of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill, and it’s a pleasure to support this kaupapa. This kaupapa is really about te tino rangatiratanga, or the ability for iwi to control their own fisheries assets. It’s about the updating and modernising of the Government’s framework to ensure accountability, and it’s also to support the fisheries sector.

I’d like to just pick up on a point from the opposite side of the House around the support and the aspiration that we have for iwi in the aquaculture space. We have huge potential in the aquaculture space, which Matua Shane Jones absolutely is passionate about realising, and we support that kaupapa on this side of the House because it is through aquaculture that we can grow jobs in the regions, jobs for iwi, jobs for rangatahi, and jobs for New Zealanders.

Having been to the East Coast and seen the great mussel farms in the mighty East Coast electorate, and seeing for myself, first hand—

Rawiri Waititi: It’s in the Waiariki.

DAN BIDOIS: Yes, ha! It’s in the Coromandel, it’s in Waihī—everywhere but Northcote, unfortunately. But there is huge potential for this country in aquaculture and that is something that we have a significant aspiration to help realise, but it’s only going to be realised by unlocking and unleashing the power of iwi and local communities. So this bill is really about powering up iwi, giving them greater autonomy, greater control to make decisions that will maximise the aquaculture and fisheries assets for the greater benefit of this country. On this side of the House—I’m sure actually on that side too; to a lesser degree perhaps—we believe in the power of economic development in transforming communities, the power of driving economic development to lift people up out of poverty, to lift Māori communities to a better place in life. And it is through that kaupapa that leads us to support this bill through the various stages in the House.

I wish to now turn my attention to the bill’s provisions, because as chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, we did briefly consider this bill. I’d like to start out by acknowledging the previous Māori Affairs Committee, because this has been handed to our new Parliament, but it was mostly dealt with by the previous Māori Affairs Committee. So I’d like to mihi to them, to their mahi, and to the work that they did on bringing this bill through the various stages.

Nevertheless, the Māori Affairs Committee that I chair tidied up and brought this bill to the House. It’s made a number of changes to update and modernise the governance framework to give iwi more authority over the entity that looks after Māori fisheries assets, Te Ohu Kai Moana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, and making sure that iwi have greater authority to appoint and remove directors. As we know, it’s by the appointment and removal of directors that organisations can have the authority to change the direction of an organisation.

It also gives a whole range of other provisions around power for the entity to impose a funding levy, which was mentioned by the Green Party, and I think that’s going to be a great ability for them to have a greater level of control over that levy framework. It also looks at other minor changes to improve and modernise a governance framework for the entity in charge. They are changes that will—for example, it recommends specifying who can hold ordinary shares in Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd. It makes a number of other recommendations as well—to modernise this entity and, essentially, give mandated iwi organisations greater control over their fisheries assets.

What other things can I say from the select committee? We received a number of submissions and those submissions have been traversed in the select committee process. One of those recommendations, of course, was the recommendation that the Crown be removed from being exempt from third party in sales or settlement quotas, but also a number of other recommendations as well. So that is essentially the essence of this bill. We are at the third stage, so this will become law if it goes through today, which I suspect it may very well do, from what I’m hearing from various parts of the House. So I’d just like to say that on this side of the House we support iwi control, iwi having greater autonomy. We support tino rangatiratanga. We support mana motuhake.

Hon Member: Ha!

DAN BIDOIS: We do—yes, we do.

Rawiri Waititi: Wow! What a confession.

DAN BIDOIS: Yes! Confessions on a Wednesday morning. I’m going off-script. But this is running down the clock, which we need to do. As we know, we sometimes have to get up and speak on various issues in the House that we know very little of. But it is a great opportunity for this House to come together to signal that we have huge opportunities in this country and opportunities that all sides of Parliament wish to realise. And it is under that kaupapa that I stand before you, Mr Speaker, and commend this bill to the House.

Mr Speaker, you’re not going to sit me down today, are you? Anyway, what an admission and a confession—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): It all depends.

RAWIRI WAITITI: —from that side of the House. I know; there’s still time. I understand that because we’ve moved to this bill pretty quickly—that you were supposed to give a speech on this. But, anyway, just listening to this, I was fortunate enough—and thank you for the greetings and the mihi to the previous Māori Affairs Committee, who myself and my great friend at the back there were part of in terms of the discussions around this particular issue. So Joseph Mooney, it was awesome to listen to kōrero, especially from Sir Tipene O’Regan and many others who submitted to that particular kaupapa.

One thing I do recall was Sir Tipene O’Regan talking about the voice of urban Māori being preserved in this process. That was around the issue of Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust, which I also had the privilege of sitting on at some point and moving it to a space where we were able to create alumni of students who were studying in the marine space and sciences and to give them an opportunity to apply for funding to get them through those particular kaupapa. But it was an awesome opportunity for Māori, regardless of iwi and hapū, to participate and for Māori to be part of the greater conversation around our development. So education was one.

Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi was about being undisturbed of our whenua, of our taonga, and the moana being one of those. So this bill grants greater rangatiratanga and mana motuhake over decision making when it comes to the fishing interests of those particular iwi and Māori organisations. But there have been issues. I just want to say in the third reading, there have been issues around the drawdown of money and especially around the legislation when it came to registered iwi organisations and the mandated iwi organisations. My iwi was one. Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, because of that particular legislation, found it very difficult to draw down on the funds that were afforded to us through the onshore and offshore modelling, and so it was a huge issue for us.

I’m glad that this particular legislation is able to deal with those particular issues, because we’re talking 20, 30 years of iwi not being able to draw down on it, because there were iwi conflicts between our interpretation of mana, where mana sat in hapū and not in iwi organisations. Iwi organisations were given the mandate, I suppose, by Governments to be able to negotiate at that particular level, but actually in our communities, it is actually hapū that hold that mana. This is why those conflicts happened when it came to registered iwi organisations and mandated iwi organisations. So I just wanted to declare that, because these are some of the discussions that happened at the select committee process, and so I understand this intimately—I understand this intimately.

I still believe that Sir Tipene O’Regan’s advice to the select committee was to ensure that the voice of urban Māori was not lost in this particular legislation. This is why Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust exists, because it gave urban Māori and those who lived away from their homes—and I know that it gave us greater mana in terms of, you know, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui had huge onshore interests when it comes to coastline, but we’re a small-populated iwi. So the offshore stuff, in terms of population, where Ngāpuhi had a huge population—the modelling, to me, I think needed a greater balance in terms of the distribution. Especially if you’re looking after a fisheries interest that had huge coastline—there needed to be better balance in terms of also the population of their particular iwi. This is just me having my opportunity to speak to this bill and to lay out some of the facts, that in actual fact many of our iwi have faced over the last 20, 30 years of fishing interests.

Fifty percent of the fishing quota—you know, if we look at the kina quota going up to 150, that absolutely needs to happen. That absolutely needs to happen, because we’ve got huge kina barrens, especially on the East Coast, but giving us opportunity to get into the industry, right? We’re not all about stopping economic development. No, we’re all part of economic development, and what we want is legislation that allows us to do that freely and a lot easier in terms of economic development of hapū in those particular spaces. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. In one of these rare occasions where there is cross-party support for a bill, it’s a pleasure to continue speaking in support of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. Before I go into the substance of the bill, I did want to pick up on some of the comments from the National Party members, particularly the previous National Party contribution from Dan Bidois.

While this bill does advance Māori sovereignty over fisheries, for example, I think we should not conflate what is a concession from the Crown with the Government actually supporting tino rangatiratanga. I think we should be careful, or the Government should be careful, of claiming that they are honouring the Crown’s Te Tiriti obligations with just the passing of this bill, in the context of everything else that is going on that is, effectively, trampling over Te Tiriti. So I just want to offer that brief reflection. The second thing is that, in the context of this bill, it’s important to note that the ocean shapes all of our lives. A healthy ocean is critical to feeding us. A healthy ocean is critical to supporting our mental and physical wellbeing, and is critical as well in protecting us from the extreme weather events that our communities are facing, more so now than ever.

Throughout the passage of this bill, I know the Māori Affairs Committee has taken a great deal of work to honour the nuanced contributions that they have received. I want to pay tribute to you, Mr Speaker, as a former member of that select committee. One of the things that the Greens were looking for throughout this passage is being able to receive support from Māori on this bill. We’ve always made it clear that no community, no culture, has a homogeneity or monolithic voice on any issue. But we did want to make sure that there was support for the bill as it stood, in terms of making sure that the different people at play and decision makers would be given a fair deal when it came to the governance changes to, for example, Te Ohu Kai Moana and the things that it established.

I think there were a few components that this bill was trying to address. One of them—as has been traversed by my colleague Rawiri Waititi, who just spoke before me—was to improve the governance arrangements, and that was to change the entities’ governance arrangements to make them consistent with standard corporate governance practice. There were other issues, such as the empowering of rangatiratanga. That was to better support mandated iwi organisations to take more direct control of Te Ohu Kai Moana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd by removing intermediary decision-making bodies. So that was to grant that more straight governance control, and then to redistribute the shares of Te Ohu Kai Moana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, which, as is noted, own 60 percent of the shares in Sealord. That would, basically, enable the simplification of the process for trading settlement quota assets within the pool of fishery settlement commercial entities.

All of these things, as has been traversed by other speakers, will grant Māori greater sovereignty over our fisheries. We will always continue to be advocates and organising alongside people who are protecting the wellbeing of the oceans. It is really clear that this House and this Parliament needs to continue to support—not just in the passage of this specific bill but throughout any bill that we discuss—the devolution of power and resources back to Māori, and that the Crown actually honours that promise that was laid out in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

As a tauiwi, as a first generation migrant to Aotearoa, I take great pleasure in being able to stand here and actually change the narrative that has often been put by other political actors, that we, somehow, come as people who have no interest in supporting legislation that honours Te Tiriti. When Te Tiriti is honoured, our migrant communities are better able to flourish, are better able to find a sense of purpose and belonging in this land, because we’re connected to the history of this land. This bill goes some way towards connecting us to that. For that reason, I support this bill.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I too rise in support of this bill, the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. This bill before us today—we’re at the third reading, the final stage, for the benefit of those watching and listening from beyond these ceremonial walls, of this bill. As mentioned by my colleagues across the House before us, the inception, or, rather, the genesis, of this bill was not here in this 54th Parliament but, rather, in the previous Parliament, and I would like to acknowledge the former chair of the Māori Affairs Committee who—am I allowed to acknowledge her, even though she’s not here? Yes, I can. Arena Williams, the former chair of the Māori Affairs Committee—I acknowledge her passion and her tenacity in how she approached this bill, and she argued for what she thought would benefit Māori as a whole.

As I said, we’re here in the third reading of this bill, the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. In essence, the changes, the amendments, that will be made through this bill will ensure that iwi have more control and input against the backdrop of rangatiratanga over their fisheries assets, all the while improving the benefits for Māori and also reducing costs.

I’d like to just take us back to the third reading speech of the Hon Shane Jones that happened a month and a bit ago, before we adjourned on 28 May 2024. This was a really important day, actually: it was also the day of the final reading for the Whakatōhea settlement bills, which was a very emotionally charged day but also there was some good that came out of that as well. What the Hon Shane Jones said, which I would like to repeat here today, is that “this bill assigns to Māoridom a greater autonomy over their fisheries assets. It’s designed to boost productivity and efficiency.” And I think that’s a really good encapsulation of what this bill is trying to achieve.

I’d like to, if I may, just delve into a comment that was made earlier by one of my colleagues across the House—Arena Williams. She referenced the Ōpōtiki region and how different regions around the country, including Ōpōtiki—I think she said “including Ōpōtiki”, but she referenced Ōpōtiki and the fact that they need certainty around aquaculture. I feel quite blessed that under the leadership of Dan Bidois, the MP for Northcote and chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, we and our colleagues across the House were able to visit Ōpōtiki earlier this year as part of our travels with respect to the Whakatōhea claim. But yes, since Ōpōtiki was referenced, we were able to visit there, and we heard loud and clear that they also were hoping to gain certainty and had faith in our fast-track bill—that this would go a long way towards helping that region over there get certainty around the Ōpōtiki Harbour development. So I’m looking forward to that.

My colleague also referenced the huge potential that there is in aquaculture. What I would love to highlight to the House today, which I highlighted in my former speech on this bill as well—

Tim Costley: Great speech.

RIMA NAKHLE: —thank you very much, Tim Costley—is that the Māori economy is estimated at about $70 billion here in Aotearoa New Zealand, and fisheries, I’d like to highlight, makes up a titan amount of this—pun intended, if anyone picked that up. And I would also say that fisheries is the muscle of the Māori economy.

Hon Member: Ha, ha!

RIMA NAKHLE: OK, yep—someone picked that up.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Well done—well done.

RIMA NAKHLE: Yep, thank you very much for acknowledging that.

Hon Member: That is good.

RIMA NAKHLE: Thank you, yes—

Hon Member: I see what you did there.

RIMA NAKHLE: Thank you very much. Under the principal Act, the Māori Fisheries Act, a governance framework was set up to manage and administer settlement assets on behalf of and for the benefit of iwi and Māori. So, to achieve this objective—and I’m going to get a bit technical, but that’s OK because we’re hearing beautiful submissions from around the House, so I’ll delve into the technical side of it—the Māori Fisheries Act established several statutory entities, including Te Ohu Kai Moana Trust; Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Ltd, to act as a corporate trustee company in which iwi are shareholders; Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trustee Ltd, to represent urban Māori interests, which was raised earlier as well; and Te Wai Māori Trustee Ltd, to advance Māori freshwater fisheries interests.

The Act also required an independent review, and that independent review was completed in March 2015, and it recommended substantive changes to the governance structure of the settlement entities, and it essentially simplified processes for trading assets. Now, Te Ohu Kaimoana consulted iwi about the review’s recommendations, and iwi passed several resolutions at general meetings of Te Ohu Kaimoana’s shareholders, which brings us to our kaupapa here today, the third reading of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill.

As I said, the main objective is to ensure—as many of us have said—that iwi have more control and say over their fisheries assets. Change in the governance arrangements of the aforementioned statutory entities make them consistent with standard corporate governance practice and proactively encourage mandated iwi organisations to take more direct control of Te Ohu Kaimoana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd by removing intermediary decision-making bodies.

I think it would be remiss of me as a National Party MP to not kind of acknowledge that there was a National Party minority view that was discussed back then in the Māori Affairs Committee. That’s OK, I won’t delve into it, but I feel it’s important to just acknowledge it in this final speech that I give on this final stage of reading for this bill.

Mr Speaker, if you don’t mind, I’d also like to just reiterate, if I can, and perhaps sum up that National supports this bill, that getting our primary industries and fishing sector back on track is all part of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and get it working for all Kiwis. It’s only through a strong economy that we can solve the cost of living crisis, lift incomes, and afford the public services we all deserve.

I personally—as someone that’s not Māori but I love Māori friends and people I consider family that I do know—am proud of the fact that the Māori economy is about $70 billion and that fisheries makes the muscle and titan part of this. This bill will help in boosting our Māori fisheries sector to rebuild our economy. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’m going to start my contribution by talking about probably the biggest fish that got away, and that is Ardie Savea leaving Wellington; a monumental shift in rugby. And why do I say that? It’s a recognition of his whakapapa and going back to Moana rugby, Moana Pasifika. It’s the biggest shark, the biggest fish that had got away from Te Whanganui-a-Tara and not a peep from a member from Wellington here in this House on that important matter. Why do I start with that? The reason I start with that is—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): Why do you start with that?

Hon PEENI HENARE: —while peace has broken out across the House and we’re in agreement on this particular bill, and the Labour Party supports this in its third reading, I want to just take a brief moment to share a little bit more of the history of how we’ve ended up here. My whanaunga, my whaea Mariameno Kapa-Kingi knows this history well. When this bill first came into this House it was plagued with controversy because it was a bill that actually divided many tribes and hapū right around the country. In fact, one of those tribes was my tribe, and I can tell this House that my father actually remortgaged our family home in order to prosecute the Government and take them to the High Court for the recognition of my tribe’s rights to the fisheries—not only to the fisheries as the ocean, as has been described on that side of the House, but also to the water tributaries that feed the oceans, of which my tribe is a big holder.

When the bill progressed, it divided our people. I’m going to be very upfront with you: it very much divided our people. My other colleague Rawiri Waititi spoke about the urban allotment—which is Te Pūtea Whakatupu—which is covered in this bill. Why is that put there? Because, once again, it isolated our people. It tore us apart; it pit urban against iwi, hapū against iwi, iwi against iwi. That’s just part of the history of this particular bill, which is why it’s really special that we are all in agreement as we look towards the possibility and the future for Māori fisheries ahead of us.

When I think back to those times—and I’ll share the story: when my father took that case and remortgaged our family home to pay for the legal bills to prosecute the Government through the High Court, we received death threats—our family—bullets in the mailbox, and my auntie Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was there and a part of our family during this particular incident. It was really devastating, it was hard, it was a time where a young—I would have been 15 at the time, something that’s just scarred into my memory, that particular experience. So while I listen to the speeches across the House and I’m really glad that we’ve come to this point, that’s just a small bit of my story in the history of this piece of legislation. As we look towards the future and what that means, I’m excited that Te Ohu Kai Moana is going to go around again and engage with iwi on a roadshow, starting in August. In fact, if you go on to their website, you can RSVP and attend those sessions where no doubt this bill will come up, that this bill has been passed, and what does that mean for the opportunities for iwi.

It’s already been talked about with respect to the modernisation of the mechanisms within Te Ohu Kai Moana and the iwi mechanisms to be able to use the fisheries as an economic platform—a better economic platform—for the future. That’s a good thing. What was only briefly mentioned but was actually spoken about a lot during the submissions and other engagements with respect to this piece of legislation was the environment. It’s all fair and well to talk towards the great economic benefits that might come towards Te Ohu Kai Moana, Māori, and New Zealand as a whole, but what’s very clear—and I think about a number of the projects that Māori are involved in—they also look towards the longevity, the safety, and, of course, the wellbeing of the moana.

If you read through their annual reports and you read through their vision statements and their mission statements in the annual plans, you will see a clear play for protecting and restoring the health and wellbeing of the moana. That can’t be missed here. Yes, this bill does great things to help with the administration, but the role that Te Ohu Kai Moana can play to lead the fisheries industry into a far more sustainable setting, a far more sustainable place, I think, can’t be ignored here. Te Ohu Kai Moana want to do a great job. They want to do more. This bill will allow them to do that but also the support of this House can continue to allow them to do that as they look to protect our moana, as they look to protect our seabed and, of course, all of the benefits that come with it.

I want to mention Mr Maru Samuels; Mr Maru Samuels has been appointed to Te Ohu Kai Moana. My colleague Mr Rawiri Waititi spoke about kina barrens. Well, Maru Samuels brings a huge amount of knowledge about kina barrens but also about how we can restore kelp across the shorelines around Aotearoa New Zealand and into the ocean. It’s fantastic work that they’re doing, and I’m excited to see what that means for the use of kina as a strong economic platform for Māori economic development into the future. I, for one, love kina and if we can harvest more and drive the price down and make availability right across the country a bit easier, then I’m all for that. But, more importantly, if you restore the kelp into the moana, it brings back so many more species; it means that the ocean is healthy. It means that the fish stocks and fish species that come back to kelp are stronger and far more numerous. I think that’s something that’s really exciting. I look forward to seeing Te Ohu Kai Moana do that work into the future.

I, for one, will be going along to some of the hui that they’ll be having with iwi, because, as a descendant of a number of iwi, here with my whaea Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, we’ll be making sure that our aspirations at a very local level will continue to be met by a national body and a national governing institution in the form of Te Ohu Kai Moana, because what stands for Te Aupōuri in the Far North stands for Te Aupōuri in the Far North. The aspirations of Ngā Puhi across its domain, of course, are the aspirations of Ngā Puhi and should be supported. But it would be folly for this House to think that the aspirations of Te Aupōuri are the same as the aspirations of Ngāi Tahu, at the other end of the country, which is why these iwi hui are important.

In order to support Te Ohu Kai Moana to do that properly, we must make sure that this bill passes and that those iwi roadshows garner and continue to support the aspirations of iwi as they hear and reflect upon the passing of this bill, but, more importantly, plan to its future. We support this bill.

It is a pleasure to rise in support of this bill. It is particularly a pleasure to rise following the Hon Peeni Henare. It is always something to hear him speak in this House, whether it’s in English or, particularly, te reo Māori. It is always an incredible pleasure to hear him speak on the marae. Ka huri ōku whakaaro ki tāna whaikōrero ki te marae kei Waitangi i te tīmatanga o tēnei tau. Ko te teitei, ko te whānui, ko te hōhonu o tāna kōrero i ērā momo horopaki. Ka huri ōku whakaaro ki te tīmatanga o tēnei wiki, and ka kōrero ia ki te marae mō te pōwhiri i muri i tā mātou haerenga atu ki Ōrākau. [My thoughts turn to his speech on the marae at Waitangi at the beginning of this year. The eminence, the breadth, the depth of his speech in those types of contexts. My thoughts turn to the beginning of this week, and he spoke on the marae during the formal welcome following our visit to Ōrākau.]

This context on Monday was a gathering of the Māori Affairs Committee, and it was a great honour to have Peeni join us and actually speak for us at both of the pōwhiri. He spoke, first of all, in the morning as the rain had just begun to fall—sorry, just broken for us. And ngā roimata o ngā tūpuna [the tears of the ancestors] stopped for just long enough for us to be able to appreciate the kōrero of Matua Kaawhia at that place and hear the tragedy of 1864, but also share the hope of what that piece of legislation might do in terms of bringing rangimārie me te moemoeā mō te anamata ki ērā iwi [peace and aspirations for the future to those iwi].

That is where my thoughts went to as I read this bill this morning in preparation for the chance to speak today. Ka huri ōku whakaaro ki te tīmatanga o tēnei wiki anō. [My thoughts turn again to the beginning of this week.] And it was following the pōwhiri at the marae, and by this stage the sun had come out, ka menemene Te Tama-nui-te-rā [the sun smiled], and we were eager to get out under his warmth and rays. I lost track of where my committee members were and wandered into the wharenui. Lunch was just beginning there, and I can never resist a good kai, particularly not kai of that kind, and so next I found myself being beckoned by Rahui Papa, by Whaea Hera White, and by Ākipīhopa Rāwiri Moxon, and I felt for a moment like I’d entered an episode of Waka Huia. But they were actually there in person, so I was a little bit speechless and in awe for a while. Our conversation soon turned to my journey into Parliament. They wanted to understand who I was and why I was there.

I said to them: ko te take tuatahi ko te Mairangi, ko te hapori o Maungakiekie [the first reason is Mairangi, the community of Maungakiekie]. That’s the electorate that I have the privilege of representing in Tāmaki-makau-rau. The second and equally great reason that I wanted to come and serve in this House was to lend my shoulder to te whakapūāwai o ia hapori Māori i te motu nei; te whakapūāwai, te whakawhanaketanga o te reo me ōna tikanga, and the work on the Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori [the flourishing of each Māori community in this nation; the flourishing and the development of the Māori language and its conventions, and the work on the Māori Affairs Committee]. It was the one thing that I asked the Leader of the House if I could be involved in. I like nothing more—even more than sitting in this House, believe it or not—than our journeys with the Māori Affairs Committee.

Our conversation soon turned then to, as you can imagine, tino rangatiratanga, to the pursuit of the authority, the mana, of every Māori community, of every whānau in this country to be able to pursue flourishing as they know best and as they see fit. And in that context, we began to speak about Ned Fletcher’s book, and for those members who haven’t yet had the opportunity to read it, I would strongly suggest that you do. It’s an absolute tome. I think it runs to 700 pages.

Dan Bidois: What’s it called?

GREG FLEMING: It’s called The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi. It was Ned’s doctoral thesis, and this is his popular version of his work. Well, having read his popular version, or his contemporary version, I can tell you I wouldn’t be in a hurry to read the academic version. But I read it over many afternoons sitting down by Lake Taupō.

I’m very fortunate, through my wife’s family, to have a place there that we can stay over the summer, at Kuratau. And as I read chapter after chapter, page after page, of this book, my eyes were further opened to the dream that was agreed to by all of our ancestors that bright summer’s day. Menemene Te Tama-nui-te-rā [The sun will smile], I’m sure, at Waitangi. And to that extent, and because we have had mentions this morning of tino rangatiratanga, I thought I might—and seeing as there is the time, if that’s OK, Mr Speaker?—actually read the second article of the Treaty of Waitangi / Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki te reo Māori, inā rā nā te mea koirā ngā reo taketake o te Tiriti nei. Āta whakarongo, ngā mema katoa. [in the Māori language, especially because those are the indigenous languages of this Treaty. Listen closely, all members.]

“Ko te Kuīni o Ingarani ka whakarite, ka whakaae ki ngā Rangatira ki ngā hapu—ki ngā tāngata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o ō rātou whenua o rātou kāinga me ō rātou taonga katoa. Otiia ko ngā Rangatira o te whakaminenga me ngā Rangatira katoa atu ka tuku ki te Kuīni te hokonga o ērā wāhi whenua e pai ai te tangata nōna te wenua—ki te ritenga o te utu e whakaritea ai e rātou ko te kaihoko e meatia nei e te Kuīni hei kaihoko mōna.”

“The Queen of England agrees to protect the Chiefs, the subtribes and all the people of New Zealand in the unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages and all their treasures. But on the other hand the Chiefs of the Confederation and all the chiefs will sell land to the Queen at a price agreed to by the person owning it and by the person buying it (the latter being) appointed by the Queen as her purchase agent.”]

And that is what the Māori Fisheries Act was all about. It implemented a settlement under that Treaty, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, for Māori claims to commercial fishing rights. And this bill that we are, in one go—how wonderful is that?—soon to pass into law, kua rata tūmanako [I hope so], sets out a governance framework to manage and administer the settlement assets on behalf of and for the benefit of iwi and Māori.

That was the original legislation. What this bill does is it provides amendments that give iwi more control over their fisheries assets. It improves the benefits for all Māori, it reduces costs, and it improves efficiency. This bill gives iwi better involvement in important decision-making. It provides better access to capital for Māori fishers to improve their fleets, and, in doing so, gives them greater autonomy.

Whakanuia te tino rangatiratanga. [Celebrate sovereignty.] And that is why it is my great pleasure to tautoko kaha i tēnei pire ki te Whare [strongly commend this bill to the House]. Tēnā koe.

The next call is a split call. I call Tangi Utikere.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call on the third reading of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. I do want to acknowledge the nature within which the contributions have been made by members all around the House today. It shows the level of support across party lines to get this bill over the line. It is a bill that has, let’s be frank, taken a number of years to get to this point this morning. And I do want to acknowledge previous Ministers who have been part of this process, two of whom are my colleagues, the Hon David Parker and the Hon Rachel Brooking, who have played a role in getting the bill to this point in time. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee—I’m not a member of that committee but many members have reflected on the way in which the consultation was undertaken, and the very broad nature of that, I think, speaks volumes. So I do want to acknowledge the work of all members on that particular committee.

When this bill last came to this place as part of the committee of the whole House, there were a number of changes that were put up leading into that. There were some changes that were suggested—and I’ll touch on that briefly, in a moment—but there are two changes that I think make very good sense. The first one is: the bill now, in its current form, reflects an area of change around constraints on transactions, particularly around the ability to extend the quota disentitlement period from that of five years to 10 years, but that would be in place post-commencement of this bill. That’s the first one.

The second one was around the suggestion that mandated iwi organisations would only sell the settlement quota in specified criteria that would apply. The first would be that it would be contained as a component within the constitutional arrangements or documents. The second is that any transaction that might flow from that would need to be in line with the requirements that are set out in the constitution documents. So I think that’s really important. There were some other suggestions that were floated, as part of this process, by the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, and I am pleased that those changes have not flowed through to the final stage of this bill. I think that actually shows the importance of that broader level of engagement with stakeholders, particularly with iwi and others as well. Because the Minister signalled two possible changes: one was in relation to the nature within which responsible Māori organisations would be involved, around the number of directors that would be on the board, related also to the appointment and to the removal of directors. And so I think that’s a very dicey and difficult road to head down.

The bill that we have in front of us today does not have that. The second was around the nature of representational Māori organisations to be involved around voting, but also the capacity of voting, and that hasn’t followed through as well. So I think the fact that this bill in its current form does not reflect those changes that the Minister did signal were an absolute possibility, I think, is a very wise move.

I’m pleased to see the possibility, moving forward, of a future review, which I’m sure will be on the cards at some point in time. Actually, I think that level of certainty is important. A suggestion has been raised that, post-enactment, that review period might be around seven to 10 years. I note the Minister, in his contribution on this particular bill, signalled that it might be nine to 12. Whatever form that takes, I think it’s really important that any post-review opportunities are done in line with a similar legislative process, that this is not a piece of work or a body of work that is basically subsumed within an omnibus bill opportunity. I think that’s really important for us.

This is a bill that is long overdue. There has been much work that has been undertaken by many people inside this House and outside this House and I join other colleagues in commending it to the House.

Well, I rise to support the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill. And it’s great to see cross-party support for this bill. I mean, listening to Arena Williams talk earlier about driving more productivity and innovation and putting more power out to the regions and creating jobs—it really did feel like she should be on this side of the House. For the past six years, we’ve seen an absolute neglect from that Government that was all about neglecting the provinces, neglecting our businesses and neglecting our exporters, and restricting growth of these really, really important industries—which brings me back to the fisheries industry, which is a very, very important industry.

I’m going to bring a bit of a primary industry lens to this debate because there is so much potential when it comes to our seafood exports and we need to enable that industry to grow. I just thought it would be interesting to look at the Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries, June 2024, where we see a few of our primary industry sectors here, and we see seafood here; seafood here has gone up 5 percent to $2.2 billion. So seafood export revenue is expected to increase 5 percent to reach $2.2 billion in the year 30 June 2024, and is expected to continue to grow, because it’s a growth export market. We need to support our fisheries industries with less red tape, less regulation, and actually get the wheels moving. And actually also here, as we’ve just alluded to, I often do say “the fruit bowl of New Zealand” because I am from Hawke’s Bay, but it’s great to see horticulture is also up 1 percent here, and it’s just taken over forestry as one of our very largest primary industries. But it’s great to see seafood doing so well there.

I suppose that brings me back to the point of the seafood export industry. And I will speak from a little bit of personal experience actually, because, you know, I used to travel to China and Vietnam promoting our apples on the global stage and adding value to our apples. But while I was in China, you would go into these high-end supermarkets and you’d see the rock lobster in the Chinese supermarkets selling at an absolute premium—I mean, it’s just unbelievable to see how much the Chinese consumer will pay for our incredible seafood in the supermarkets overseas. So it’s an industry that we certainly need to support.

That is why I’m supporting this bill and our Government is supporting this bill, because it’s all about looking at practical solutions and ensuring that we are supporting businesses and supporting our exporters and supporting our iwi groups to ensure that they can provide good jobs and opportunities for provincial New Zealand as well. On the East Coast, we actually have quite a large fishing industry. And just recently—well, within the last year—it was impacted quite severely by Cyclone Gabrielle. I just visited a few of the fisheries businesses and the Ministry for Primary Industries recently just to look at that impact, and it is still recovering. So it is important that we absolutely support our fishing industry on the East Coast. Our colleague the member for East Coast, Dana Kirkpatrick, would support that as well, because across our region there, fisheries are very, very important for the East Coast.

But, look, coming back to the bill, I mean the purpose of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill is to ensure iwi have a greater degree of rangatiratanga over their fisheries assets and improve the benefits to Māori and reduce the cost and improve efficiency. We’ve used that word a lot today in this debate and that’s what we’re all about on this side of the House: efficiency and action and getting things done; delivery for the hard-working New Zealanders out there across our country to ensure that we’re improving the public services that we so desperately need as a country.

It all comes back to our primary industry and our fishing industry because it is going to help add a lot of value to our exports over the next 10 years. And as we’ve already said, we’re very ambitious by wanting to double the value of our exports in the next 10 years. The fisheries industry will play a big part and that is why I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just in response, in part, to that last member’s contribution, I’d like to thank some previous Labour Ministers as well. We’ve already heard about various different Ministers for Oceans and Fisheries—and fisheries, as it was—but of course the trade Ministers are also relevant to this, and of course our former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern and the work that she did in Europe to get both those UK and European free-trade agreements. So well done to Damien O’Connor, David Parker, as well as the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern.

Tangi Utikere: And yourself.

Hon RACHEL BROOKING: Oh, no; I wasn’t focusing on oceans and fisheries. Now, of course, this is a good piece of legislation. We have heard from Tangi Utikere about the process in the committee stage, also about the Māori Affairs Committee and the good work that that committee did.

I’d just like to focus briefly on what happens when you make something a property right, and that’s what we had with the world groundbreaking system with our quota management scheme, but, of course, that did mean that fish became a property right, so there was this Treaty settlement process. We heard from the Hon Peeni Henare about how important that was to his family and the efforts that they went to get the Act that this bill is amending. Something that really struck me from his contribution, which I thought was a very thoughtful and important one, was the different iwi—how important are not only the fisheries as a property right and income generator, which, of course, is very important for the Māori economy but also how important the moana is to those iwi and hapū and the sustainability of that; how important that is.

The two of us, along with Megan Woods and Glen Bennett, were lucky to meet with Ngāti Manuhiri just a few weeks ago. In his contribution, the Hon Peeni Henare talked about how if you go and visit a lot of hapū and iwi, they will have reports and huge work programmes into the sustainability of the moana and protecting it. We heard all about that with Ngāti Manuhiri and we heard, of course, Nicola MacDonald has just won Kiwibank environmentalist of the year—or maybe it was another organisation that did that. We heard about all the work that the group are doing there to fight the Caulerpa in the Mahurangi. It’s very important to remember that angle as well, that whilst there are many different beneficiaries of that settlement and they have different views and different needs, and some of them, as we heard, are enormous, land-based, and marine-based—iwi like Ngāi Tahu—some are much smaller like the hapū Ngāti Manuhiri.

That is why it was important that these governance requirements were reviewed, that there was good consultation, that the select committee engaged very thoroughly with everybody who made submissions, that the Ministers were engaged and that those Ministers had gone across this House. We now have the Hon Shane Jones doing it, my name was on the bill at one point, the Hon David Parker’s name was on the bill, but, of course, the review started before any of that as well. So well done to this House in actually doing some sensible legislation. I commend the bill to the House.

Thank you. I rise as the last speaker in the third reading of the Māori Fisheries Amendment Bill.

Carl Bates: Best till last.

Hon Member: Save the best till last.

DANA KIRKPATRICK: Thank you—I’m not sure about that. But, anyway, look, it’s an honour to speak on the bill, which also has a huge impact on an electorate such as mine, which has an enormous area of coastline and of fisheries, with an economy that is largely based on its access to the moana and the whenua.

Firstly, I’d like to just commend the members from the previous Māori Affairs Committee for the work done, for previous Ministers that have worked on this, and to all of those submitters who gave up their time to come and speak and present their views on the bill. It’s been a long journey—for some of them, since 2015 when this all started. But, you know, the bipartisan support across the House has meant that we have now reached this final point in the reading of this bill.

The future fishing economy and the way that we protect that, the way we manage the fisheries, and how we honour the connection of iwi and hapū to the moana, is important going forward. In my electorate, we have, as has been alluded to by some of my colleagues, the Whakatōhea mussel factory and various agriculture industries or sectors working hard to establish that connection but also to make an economic return from it in order to support their people and their communities. So we think this is a great piece of work from all of those involved.

The bill will give iwi greater autonomy. It will tidy up those governance issues and set the platform for ensuring that Māori can take the opportunity to leverage that connection with the moana, and they can now focus forward on ensuring future prosperity and investment.

I thought that perhaps it would be useful, seeing as I am the last speaker for this bill, to just talk a little bit about the main provisions that the bill provides for—this is the last time, so we will just go through a couple of those. The bill provides for mandated iwi organisations (MIOs) to take more direct control of Te Ohu Kaimoana and Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd. The electoral college system will be removed and, instead, MIOs, recognised iwi organisations, and representative Māori organisations will vote to appoint directors of the entity. The bill proposes to allow Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd shareholders to annually review and set the dividend percentage they receive. Major transactions will require a 75 percent iwi majority of voting threshold. So by tidying up the governance entity, I think we provide some clarity. Everybody could be clear about what works and how it’s going to operate going forward.

I think, just from our Government’s perspective, we support the bill. We have done the work, alongside our colleagues across the House, to ensure that that happens. But we’re really interested in getting our primary industries and our fishing sector back on track. The Government’s plan is to rebuild the economy and get it working for all Kiwis, which includes those iwi and hapū entities that want to be able to access the fisheries as part of this. It’s only through a strong economy, we know, that we can solve the cost of living crisis, that we can deliver future prosperity across much different communities and across our country, lift incomes, and then afford the public services that we all deserve. The Māori economy, as we know, is estimated at nearly $70 billion, and fisheries make up a huge proportion of this. The bill will help boost our Māori fishing sector to rebuild our economy.

I think, just in closing, the future management in connection with the moana, as I have spoken about, will be provided for now in an efficient way. This bill brings that clarity for all. With that, I am very proud to be the last speaker and to commend the bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.

That concludes the business on the extended sitting motion. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. today.

The House adjourned at 12.08 p.m. (Wednesday)