Māori Purposes Bill

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak on the Māori Purposes Bill, a technical bill, one that looks to make adjustments across a number of pieces of legislation. That old adage that the devil is in the detail is true, and it’s important not to arbitrarily push it to the side and think that it’s only changing a few words here and there; we need to look more substantively at some of the changes. I know some of the more sort of straightforward technical changes are around simple things like putting the word “Māori” in instead of “Maoris” because there’s no such thing as “Māoris” with an “s”, and something like putting—what do you call it?—a macron on the “a” for Māori—simple things like that. Those are really straightforward, and we support all of those.

However, if you look a little bit deeper into some of the more substantive parts of this bill, they are around Te Ture Whenua Maori Act. Now, we know right across the country that Te Ture Whenua Maori Act has both been a protection mechanism for Māori land but also a significant hindrance in so far as it’s put a fence around a lot of the aspiration, a lot of the development aspiration and the economic aspirations that Māori have with respect to the utilisation of their land. Te Ture Whenua Māori Act is something that needs close inspection; I appreciate that some of the changes that are proposed in this bill are technical in nature, they talk about the kinds of representation and the percentage of people that must be in attendance at a meeting, etc., but we know that, like we said, the devil is in the detail.

The Government of the Key administration tried to change Te Ture Whenua Māori Act substantively. It came up against some resistance and some support. Regardless, what we don’t want to happen with this particular bill is that substantive changes to Te Ture Whenua Māori Act are pushed through without the kind of consultation, without the kind of work alongside Māori communities and those who are impacted by legislation such as Te Ture Whenua Maori Act—aren’t involved in the conversation around the table with respect to the law that governs Māori land here in this country.

We support this bill. We want to be up front about that, but we want to let the Minister know and the House know and indicate to the House that when this particular bill progresses to the next stage, we will look to interrogate some of those smaller parts in legislation that we believe will have a significant impact, and I’ve already spoken about Te Ture Whenua Maori Act and why it’s important that we get that right. It is important to get it right because, of course, aspirations—economic aspirations for the utilisation of Māori land, economic aspirations in order to allow Māori to build papa kāinga on their land; all these things—are really important and I’m sure members right across the House will make sure that we get that right.

Other parts are technical in nature; they bring and modernise many of the bits of legislation—for example, the ability to meet online. I know it sounds rather novel in this particular bill, but it’s something that’s been able to be done in this country for some time now. COVID taught us that we can move a heck of a lot of our operations into Zoom meetings, into online meetings, and it’s important that legislation keeps up with the time. You’ll see, Mr Speaker, there are a number of bills here that make simple adjustments like that, which are ones, of course, that we support and are reasonably straightforward.

The bill also proposes a minor change to the way that Te Mātāwai and the Māori Language Act of 2016, if I recall the date correctly, will make a minor adjustment with respect to the way that it works alongside Te Mātāwai with Māori Television, and I think that’s going to be really important. The bill, it says here, is set out to encourage and grow te reo Māori, if you will, but what we’ve seen from this Government hasn’t been exactly huge support for te reo Māori. In fact, in its first 100 days, it did its very best to get rid of te reo Māori in public spaces and other places. We want to make sure that while the bill proposes something technical and small like that, it actually delivers what it is intended to deliver, and the only way to do that is not only to look at the Māori Television legislation, but also to have a closer inspection of Te Mātāwai and the legislation there and Te Whare o te Reo Mauri Ora which was actually ushered in by the National-led Government of the Key administration.

I thought I had 10 minutes but, sadly, I’ve only got five, so for the next 10 seconds, we will say that we will support this bill; we will continue to interrogate to make sure that we dive into the detail.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to rise in support of the Māori Purposes Bill. It’s also a pleasure to know that it’s coming to another select committee that I have the privilege of being part of—the Māori Affairs Committee. That’s also alongside my commitments on the Justice Committee, the busiest committee at this stage in Parliament.

Just by way of a brief synopsis, the main objective of this bill—as has been perused so far throughout the speeches with respect to the Māori Purposes Bill—is that, essentially, we’re proposing some minor technical and, if I may be so straightforward to say, non-controversial amendments to a suite of Māori affairs legislation. Indeed, we’re amending eight Acts, five regulations, and we’re repealing three Māori Purposes Acts because they are from back in the 1930s and early 1940s. They’re no longer fit for purpose. They’re out of date.

With the changes that we’re proposing with this Māori Purposes Bill that will include, as I said, repealing those three Acts as well from 1937, 1939, and 1945, what I would like to highlight, if I may, is that one of the Acts that will be amended is the Maori Community Development Act 1962. For those of our listeners beyond these walls, this is the Act that, essentially, established the Māori wardens community officers, and the New Zealand Māori Council.

In this situation, I’d like to acknowledge the New Zealand Māori Council, and my beautiful dear friend, the co-chair Whaea Anne Kendall, who I love so much, and who has over the years that I’ve been here in New Zealand had the warmth and the generosity of taking me around with her to different kaupapa Māori events so my eyes could be opened up to the beauty of our Māori world. I’d also like to tautoko and send a shout-out to our Māori wardens. Thank you for all the care that you give in making sure we’re always safe in different events. With that, I would love to commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare, heoi anō tēnā anō tātou katoa. Hika, kāore he kōrero i tua atu i ngā kōrero a taku tuakana a Peeni Henare i tēnei pō, heoi anō rā ka tū au ki te whakaputa i ētahi atu whakaaro mō tēnei pire.

[Greetings to the Speaker of the House, and to all. There is not much more to add to my older relation Peeni Henare’s words tonight, but I will stand to voice other thoughts about this bill.]

Oh, as soon as you put your earpiece in, Mr Speaker, I’m turning to English. What I was going to say: kia ora anō, everybody. There’s not much more to say, other than what the Hon Peeni Henare has said, but I will make a further contribution.

The price of living in paradise is sometimes only 150 of you live there and that’s across a vast expanse. When you’re on the committee of the rugby team, the committee of the marae, the committee of everything else, it doesn’t always work, but you do have whānau who live in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, who live in Te Wai Pounamu, who still feel the strong pull to contribute at home. While it could be perceived as a minor bill, we here on this side are happy to tautoko this bill because of the practical applications it can have, such as mine currently, as a trustee of Putaanga Marae being developed in Tikitiki.

I’m especially intrigued too, as Peeni Henare did discuss, about the opportunities for our reo and enhancing its understanding and respect throughout Aotearoa. Obviously, Te Ture Whenua Maori Act will be scrutinised, as will every other part of this bill, though Labour support it, but whenua is something that is still controversial in Aotearoa today. I don’t need to explain that in this House. Any amendments to that in particular and not just—I mean, obviously in Aotearoa whānui, but specifically in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and Te Tairāwhiti. That will be scrutinised.

While this may be perceived, as I’ve said, as a minor bill, it is something we’re pleased to say to the Government opposite that’s something we support. On behalf of te Pāti Reipa, e tautoko ana wau i tēnei pire. [I support this bill.]

Nōku te maringa nui ki te tautoko i tēnei pire ki te Whare. Ka poto tāku kōrero nā te mea he māmā tēnei pire. Heoi he nui tāna awenga ki ngā pire e kōrero ai ngā taipitopito o tēnei pire.

[It is my great fortune to commend this bill to the House. My speech will be short because this bill is simple. However, it has a great influence on bills that address the details of this bill.]

All I’m going to add is that I love bills that are focused on bringing greater efficiency to the way that we do things. I love legislation like this that increases the rangatiratanga and the mana motuhake of the organisations and the groups and the hapū that will access the systems of this House through this bill. I particularly love legislation that has in mind the increased flourishing of te reo taketake nā te mea koirā te tino taonga o Aotearoa katoa. [the indigenous language because it is a true treasure of all of Aotearoa.] Nā reira, I am delighted to commend this bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

The question is, That the Māori Purposes Bill be considered by the Māori Affairs Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.