Hon Christopher Finlayson

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.

My colleague Mrs te Heuheu summarised the bill in the course of her speech and I am not going to repeat that material here. Mr English reaffirmed the National Party’s commitment to this important work, which was started by the Bolger Government in the 1990s, and so ably assisted by Sir Tīpene O’Regan and Sir Robert Māhuta.

A number of features of this bill are particularly interesting, but none more so than Subpart 2 of Part 1, which deals with allocation principles. I am particularly interested in schedule 2, which I sincerely believe, and hope, will provide a very useful model for the future, because I have seen far too much litigation in the Treaty settlements area over the years. I go back to the fisheries litigation that started almost immediately after the 1992 settlement. It went on for about a decade. It consumed resources. It went to the Privy Council on a number of occasions, and was resolved only a couple of years ago. I had grave fears that this particular issue was on the verge of going down that path, and I am just so pleased that it has not and that today we are all supporting the third reading of this bill.

That is why schedule 2 is so very important, because it sets out a very tight timetable and has a number of particularly interesting features. As I said, I believe it could well be a model for future dispute resolution: keeping people away from courts and enabling them to resolve disputes on allocation on the basis set out in this bill. I strongly support measures where iwi acknowledge their commitment to a resolution process that, for example, promotes the mana and integrity of iwi and recognises the desirability of post-settlement collaboration.

There is no doubt that the timetable set out in schedule 2 is very tight indeed, because the parties have to identify their mana whenua interests by 1 October 2009. That particular process is to start on 1 July 2009, then there is to be negotiation through to June 2010, and, hopefully, the allocation agreement will be finalised by 30 June 2011. Very detailed processes set out that, in the event of negotiation failing to achieve a result, there will be a mediation. If that does not work, there will be an adjudication.

It may seem strange coming from one of the National Party’s justice team, but I really believe it is important that lawyers are not entitled to be present or be heard unless all parties agree. Frankly, I think that that is a welcome development in this area, because I often think that lawyers in litigation can be a cause of discord. I am delighted that lawyers will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, because I do not think that helps these sorts of issues, at all. I have seen attempts at cross-examination in the Waitangi Tribunal, and inevitably it is a process that, although well suited to High Court litigation, is not suited to this sort of exercise. I, for one, heartily endorse what is set out in schedule 2, and I will be keeping a very close eye on it, because I believe it will work extremely well. As I said, litigation is expensive, it is time consuming, it is draining, and there is so much truth in the old saying that it is in the public interest that there be an end to litigation.

I congratulate all iwi here today on this settlement. This was one that was inspired by iwi, driven by iwi, and achieved by iwi. May other iwi in other parts of the country look at this development and adapt it to their needs as they seek to resolve their grievances with the Crown over the next few years. As Mr English said, the National Party will actively support any and every endeavour to resolve these differences, because there is no task more important to the future of our country than this one. I congratulate all concerned. I think this is a great day for New Zealand, and I am proud to be a member of Parliament able to speak on the third reading of the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill.