Menu:

 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : Can I too, in opening, offer my congratulations and best wishes to the iwi of the central North Island collective, to Tumu te Heuheu for the outstanding work that he has done, and to the work of Wira Gardiner as Crown facilitator. I offer my congratulations to the Minister and his team on the contribution they have made. As other National members have said, we support the third reading of this important legislation.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : National enthusiastically supports the second reading of this bill, which, as the report of the Māori Affairs Committee states, gives effect to the deed of settlement between the Crown and the Central North Island Iwi Collective, which was signed on 25 June 2008. The committee’s report—and the Minister has referred to this—records that there were 167 submissions, and the committee heard 42 of those submissions in Taupō on 6 August 2008. The committee’s report also notes the genesis of this settlement. The Central North Island Iwi Collective emerged out of a recommendation of the Waitangi Tribunal in 2007 that the Crown give time for central North Island iwi to develop a proposal for Crown forest lands.
 
 
Part 2 Provisions relating to transfers of assets, allocation principles, Crown agreed proportion, and DSP properties

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I would really be grateful to receive the comments of the Minister in the chair, the Hon Mita Ririnui, on an issue. In my earlier contribution I dealt in detail with schedule 2 and particularly with the adjudication part, which is to be completed by 25 June 2011. I focused on clause 6(15) in schedule 2, which provides that a “decision of the adjudication panel will be final and binding on all the parties.” I said the authorities have suggested that the effect of that clause would not be to oust the jurisdiction of the court in judicial review. My personal view is that maybe it should do so.
 
 
  • Debate resumed.
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : Madam Assistant Speaker informs me that I have 1 minute and 30 seconds remaining to speak on the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill. I note that I started speaking last night at 9.52 p.m., so strictly speaking I should have 2 minutes, but I will not quibble with the Chair, because that would be inappropriate.
 
 
Part 2 Provisions relating to transfers of assets, allocation principles, Crown agreed proportion, and DSP properties

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National): I have only one other question that I want to raise about schedule 2, and I would be grateful for the guidance of the Minister in the chair, Mita Ririnui. My question concerns clause 13(e).
 
 
Preamble

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : There is a certain air of unreality in going straight from a second reading to debating the preamble, and there is a danger that, in this air of unreality, there will be unnecessary repetition. Of course, the Committee does not want to hear unnecessary repetition from me. I must confess that my primary interest in the bill, and the area I want to speak on, is schedule 2, which is the tikanga-based resolution process for the allocation of land, so I will be reasonably brief in speaking about the preamble.
 
 
Part 2 Provisions relating to transfers of assets, allocation principles, Crown agreed proportion, and DSP properties

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I am pleased that we will be debating schedule 2, because it would make no sense to debate Subpart 2 of Part 2 without looking at schedule 2.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : Like other members who have spoken in the House this afternoon, I acknowledge the presence of the iwi of the central North Island and welcome them to the House. My National colleagues have already indicated that we will support the first reading of this bill and its referral to the Māori Affairs Committee. In doing so, National applauds the great efforts made by iwi to make this settlement possible. As is well known, this settlement was formulated by iwi, for iwi. Indeed, the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations himself acknowledged that fact when, a few days ago, he said “It needs to be made clear this is not a Crown initiative.” The iwi themselves have proposed an acceptable settlement, the iwi themselves have worked together to solve issues around overlapping claims, and the iwi themselves drove one of the most detailed and comprehensive consultation programmes we have seen to date.