Hon Christopher Finlayson

Vote Treaty Negotiations

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National): I think it is a matter of agreement in this House that Treaty negotiations are an extremely important part of Government activity and should be multipartisan, and that has always been the approach of the National Party.

A few weeks ago I had the misfortune to appear on a programme with the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. The Associate Minister said on Television One that National had not voted for a single settlement under Labour—this despite the fact that he himself was a member of the Māori Affairs Committee when we voted for six different settlements. The Prime Minister herself, zealous as always for the truth, set the same high standard we have come to expect from Labour when she made the same claim at Waitangi Day earlier this year.

The latest line coming from Labour’s spin doctors is that the new Moses, the great Dr Michael Cullen, has injected fresh life into Treaty settlements--

Hon Member: Should be Beelzebub.

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: —probably it should be Beelzebub—since taking over the portfolio late last year. But nothing is as admirable in politics as a short memory. Just a few minutes ago Mr Chauvel told us that he was still under the influence of a local anaesthetic as a result of his visit to the dentist, and we were all greatly disturbed for him. Dr Cullen is trying to give the nation a general anaesthetic, because what we are asked to forget is that Treasury has been involved in Treaty negotiations throughout, and that for 8 long years Dr Cullen sat silent in Cabinet with a complete lack of concern, or apparent lack of concern, for the complete lack of meaningful progress in this vitally important area. Just what was he doing in Cabinet when there was such inactivity from his two predecessors?

But he has never been particularly good at handing back money to the people who deserve it. If anything shows this in stark light, it is that he has got to legislate for his election year tax cuts, because after 2005 no one believes he can be trusted any longer.

In the last few months—and it is a source of pleasure for me and the National Party—we are finally seeing some agreements signed. But when one looks at the agreements that have been signed, one sees that, far from being evidence of significant progress, they illustrate just how slow Treaty negotiations have become under this Government. Members should look, for example, at the agreement in principle for the Taranaki whānui, which comes nearly 5 years after the release of the Wellington district report by the tribunal. This Government has to take responsibility for its actions—a point thrown into stark light by the admission last year from the Minister of Māori Affairs that this Labour Government has been all about expediency.

Hon Parekura Horomia: That’s right.

CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: He says “That’s right.” Notwithstanding the recent flurry of activity, this Government’s performance in this critically important area is very, very poor. Just one settlement has been taken from start to finish in 9 years. The Labour Government can say what it wants to through the ninth floor, but, ignoring the ninth floor spin, nothing can hide the fact that if the Te Arawa and Central North Island Iwi Collective legislation is passed this year—and we will certainly be cooperating to ensure it is—it will triple the number of settlements that Labour has taken from start to finish.

To put it another way, Dr Cullen’s crowning achievement is to start and finish twice as many settlements as Mark Burton and Margaret Wilson managed in 8 years. What an achievement! Labour should be ashamed of itself for those failures. It stands condemned for negligence in the conduct of one of the most important projects in this country’s history, one that was started by Mat Rata, continued under Geoffrey Palmer, continued by the National Government in the 1990s, and has ground to a halt under this Government.

I would like to hear from the Minister of Māori Affairs. He is also one of the guilty ones. What did he do in Cabinet? Did he ever ask any questions about why there was so little progress in Treaty negotiations? On the Willie Jackson programme he had the gall to say that Labour inherited a mess in this area. That was the third of the spins from the ninth floor. It is simply untrue and the Minister knows it. He did not inherit a mess, he inherited a Treaty negotiations system that was working well, and all that was required was for this Government to continue the good work, and it did nothing.