Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) (Customary Marine Title) Amendment Bill

So, when we were last having debate on this bill, we were up to call 11, which is a Labour Party call.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. As I was listening to the debate during an extended sitting this morning, I started thinking about, how did we get to this point? We had some very passionate contributions to this piece of legislation this morning. I remember in 2004, I was working for Tariana Turia at the time and she crossed the floor on the foreshore and seabed Act—well, bill then. So that's where this issue actually started. It started before that at the Privy Council, when Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō took a case to the Privy Council over its rights being breached. We jump forward because that bill, of course, passed into law. Then the formation of Te Pāti Māori came along under the leadership of Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, and, in an agreement between the National Party and Te Pāti Māori, we come to having the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act—MACA; that's how we got there today. I say that because I listened carefully and I quite often heard in the debate about the intent of Parliament when this piece of legislation was processed.

I don't think we should confuse intent with outcome because they're two different things. I absolutely 100 percent believe that Te Pāti Māori then, particularly under the leadership of Tariana Turia, who left the Labour Party over this very piece of legislation, wanted less than what we've got now—I refuse to believe that. Reducing it again under this amendment is not what her intent would have been.

So I stand in this House today and say don't let the outcome of what's happened up to now—that that is not the intent of the Parliament when they passed it. It was a convenience back then for the National Party and it was a way forward for the then Māori Party. It was also divisive amongst Te Pāti Māori back then. This is the very reason why Hone Harawira actually left Te Pāti Māori. This bill certainly wasn't his intention, and I say to the House that what we're doing today adds another layer to what should never have happened in the first place.

When the Helen Clark Labour Government passed the foreshore and seabed, that shouldn't have happened. The reaction of the National Party in addressing that, that shouldn't have happened. And I can tell you that this amendment shouldn't happen either. I do not recommend this bill to the House.

This amendment bill restores clarity to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act, ensuring Parliament’s original intention. Therefore, I commend this bill to the House.

Bill read a second time.