Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I am pleased to take a call briefly to address some of the points raised by the previous speakers. I say in answer to some of the concerns expressed by the Māori Party member in relation to the UN special rapporteur that I had a couple of meetings with him last week. He had made no definitive conclusions, because his report has not yet been released. He generally was of the impression that in many respects this country, in a bipartisan way, is leading the world in this area and that since Mat Rata established the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975, and Geoffrey Palmer extended the jurisdiction in 1984, some very, very good work has been done. I agree with him.
