Hon Christopher Finlayson

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National) : I will be very brief because I know it is the desire of the House that we vote on this bill before the dinner break. On behalf of the National Party I send very warm greetings to the people of Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranganui, and Ngāti Pūkenga who have travelled from Tauranga to be with us today.

I think they have seen a House that is basically bipartisan on this issue. They have witnessed some very dignified and statesmanlike oratory from people like my friend from the Māori Party, and a very fine contribution, albeit somewhat discursive and, toward the end, somewhat partisan, from the previous speaker. A bipartisan approach is the kind of approach we have had to this legislation, and the Minister’s oafish and incoherent outburst a few minutes ago does not really reflect the good team effort by all members of the House on the Māori Affairs Committee and during the Committee stage in trying to deal with this interesting issue.

There are only a couple of points I want to make. The first is to note how fortunate we are as members of Parliament to be able to look at these sorts of issues. We all know the Mount, as it is known in Pākehā parlance, but those of us who were on the select committee were truly privileged to get an insight into its history and to begin to understand something of what this issue was all about. Secondly, I pay tribute to the member for Tauranga, Bob Clarkson, who was effective and caring on this issue. He is actually the one who, in his practical way, pushed changes to the wording. I can hear the New Zealand First members complaining about that because they do not always like the reality when it comes to Bob Clarkson. What we see is what we get, and what we got in this case was very good indeed. He is the one who was interested and helped forge the changes to what is now clause 8(3) so that the language was less offensive. I think he is to be congratulated on that.

That is really all I want to say. Amid the very partisan mentality we have in the House this year, largely because the Government knows it is on the way out, we have had a period when we have been able to be bipartisan and work well on this legislation. I enjoy working with the Labour members of the Māori Affairs Committee. They are good blokes. They are atypical when it comes to the Labour Party because they know the difference between acting in the public good and the national interest, and in the partisan interests of the Labour Party. I say to the good people of Tauranga Moana who are here today that they have not got a Treaty settlement. We are not debating that at the moment, largely because for 8 years this Government sat on its hands and did nothing in terms of Treaty settlements. But I promise them that an incoming National Government will deal with their Treaty settlement with zeal, with idealism, and with the same enthusiasm that has been exhibited in the way the House has dealt with the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill.