I had not planned to take a call in the debate on the Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill, but my ears pricked up when I came back into the House and heard the comments of David Clendon. I want to address a couple of issue that have come out of the bill.
This bill transfers Crown assets—as we have heard, the land underneath the Kaitoke Prison and land associated with forestry—to Whanganui iwi, in settlement of their Treaty claims. I think it is very important that the Crown does settle Treaty of Waitangi claims, and that it does so in a speedy fashion. Equally, I think it is very important that when those claims are settled, they are settled in a full and final manner—that we have a full and final settlement, so that the injustices and the grief that have given rise to the Treaty claim can be settled and put away.
There are a couple of aspects of this bill that I want to focus on. One of them is that full and final settlement aspect. I also want to focus on the fact that this legislation involves, in part, a transfer of forestry land. Much forestry land has been transferred to iwi under Treaty of Waitangi settlements over many years, but it concerns me greatly that some of those settlements—in fact, I think five of those settlements—are currently under the process of renegotiation. Despite the fact that they were full and final settlements, I understand from the acknowledgement that the Minister for Climate Change Issues has made in recent days that he is actively negotiating with five iwi to renegotiate settlements and provide them with some additional compensation. He is doing that, he would say, because the Crown has been threatened with legal action. But he is also doing that to secure the support of the Māori Party in amending the emissions trading scheme.
I realise that Mr Deputy Speaker wants me to focus on the particular issue addressed in this bill, but that issue is important, because what is being transferred here is forestry land. Māori have had forestry land transferred to them in settlement of Treaty of Waitangi claims. I hope that the Whanganui iwi, when they get this forestry land, are not treated in the way that so many other iwi have been. Although the Minister for Climate Change Issues is negotiating to renegotiate, I understand, five settlements—and they principally relate to claims settled with Ngāi Tahu—many other settlements involving forestry land have been detrimentally affected by the passing of the previous Labour Government’s emissions trading scheme legislation last year. It has devalued the value of those settlements, and I hope that the Whanganui iwi do not have that same devaluation applied to the land that they are to have, at some stage in the future. That is actually quite important, because under the emissions trading scheme a person—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have indicated here the topic that is under debate. Climate change has nothing to do with this legislation—the first reading of the bill before us. I ask the member to concentrate on the bill.
JOHN BOSCAWEN: I realise that climate change and a Treaty of Waitangi settlement, in the eyes of most people, would be totally, utterly unrelated. I do not want to challenge your ruling, but I would say the emissions trading scheme—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mentioning the emissions trading scheme again is a challenge to my ruling. I ask the member to concentrate on the bill before us.
Hon David Cunliffe: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have only just returned to the House, and I apologise if I have missed something important in regard to your ruling, but I seek clarification in support of my colleague Mr Boscawen. The issue of Treaty settlements in respect of—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: No. I have ruled. This bill pertains to the Whanganui iwi. Part of it is to do with Wanganui Prison; part of it is to do with Wanganui Forest. We are not referring to the emissions trading scheme and to Treaty settlements associated with it.
Hon David Cunliffe: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. This is a more general point in relation to your previous ruling, and again I seek your clarification. Is it your ruling that the Speaker may now direct the subjects that members—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I made it very clear earlier on, before I had to intervene, that it is all very well to make a reference, but the member who was speaking dwelt for some time on the emissions trading scheme, and on forestry and Treaty settlements. That is not part of the bill. To make a reference to those matters is OK, but the substance of this bill is completely different from them.
JOHN BOSCAWEN: I will be very brief, and I thank the Hon David Cunliffe, a man with a lot more political experience and parliamentary experience than I have, for raising the points of order and for the support that he gave me.
I conclude by simply reiterating the point that I made earlier: I hope that the Whanganui iwi who take this forestry land in settlement of Treaty of Waitangi claims are not affected in the same way as so many others have been. We had the Federation of Māori Authorities talk about the greatest confiscation of Māori wealth since the 1800s. On that note I will leave it and sit down. Thank you very much