Statutes Amendment Bill

Members, we come now to Part 29. This is the debate on clauses 119 and 120, “Amendment to Ngāti Rangi Claims Settlement Act 2019”. The question is that Part 29 stand part.

I just thought it would be useful—again, because it’s a claims settlement Act—for the Minister to speak briefly to this. It’s the Ngāti Rangi Claims Settlement Act 2019, and I can kind of see—and I did have a look at the Act itself—that as part of the settlement, I think what the original Act said was if a contract is reached or an agreement is reached within four years, then the land is transferred to trustees.

I guess there are two—firstly, it’d be nice to have an assurance that the iwi are all on board with this; I’m sure they are, but it’d be nice to hear it from the Minister. Also, the other question is: has that four years expired already, or are we still within that four-year period and just extending it by another three?

Thank you, Mr Chair. I assure the member that I have been informed that we have received from Ngāti Rangi, in writing, their agreement to make these changes.

The redress provides Ngāti Rangi and the New Zealand Defence Force with a period of four years to enter the binding agreement for the transfer of Defence land at Waiouru for the purposes of commercial housing arrangements. The four years is a statutory deadline, as the legislation provides the necessary provision for the New Zealand Defence Force to be able to transfer the land to Ngāti Rangi if the opportunity comes to fruition. Accordingly, it needs a statutory amendment to change that time frame.

Why were seven years chosen as being appropriate: this is the time frame that the parties asked for both New Zealand Defence Force and Ngāti Rangi. They agreed to the seven-year time frame and they’re both jointly confident that this will be sufficient enough to get the job done.

Part 29 agreed to.

Part 30 Amendments to Oaths and Declarations Act 1957