Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Raylene. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to speak and share some of the experiences from us, as Maori people down in New Zealand. My background is that I similarly trained in finance and economics in New Zealand, and also in the U.S. My

Natural Resources committee  Okay, thank you. I will go on from those best practice points to one other point that I think is really important and that we've certainly come to appreciate. It's a point that has been echoed around the world. That is not only to take a long-term view—and when I say “long-term”,

Natural Resources committee  Could I build on that point, David?

Natural Resources committee  From a New Zealand perspective, growing our youth has been, in my view, a cornerstone of the kind of economic growth we've seen achieved in New Zealand. What I mean by that is that a lot of our Maori companies and businesses across all of the different sectors offer scholarships

Natural Resources committee  Yes, Jamie, I'll answer that on two levels. Firstly, in New Zealand, the Maori community has become highly active politically. For example, of our 122 members of parliament in New Zealand, we have 18 Maori members from across the political spectrum. In my view, we've been very s

Natural Resources committee  Jamie, let me give a New Zealand sort of response to that. Part of the context of the answer is that in New Zealand, in 1804, we signed a treaty that was, if you like, an agreement between the indigenous people of New Zealand and the state at that time. That treaty effectively s

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the acknowledgement of New Zealand, Richard, and for the question. I think it's a great question. The simple answer to your question is that it's “and, and”. The treaty is a catalyst and is always leaned on now in terms discussion between Maori people and the New Ze

Natural Resources committee  You're exactly right again. There is that growing acceptance. It's taken time. In my view it's taken 10, 20, 30 years to achieve that kind of acceptance. I will use one other example just to illustrate the point. One of the other things that I've been asked to become involved in,

Natural Resources committee  It's a very good question. Thank you, Kent. How did it come about over the last 20 or 30 years? I really have to hold very firmly to the view that it was through the drive of our leaders and our community, who not only encouraged but also literally forced every one of us to go

Natural Resources committee  Yes, Ted, it was particularly in relation to the treaty process, not general litigation. The treaty process, from our experience, can be lengthy. That typically means a process that can take tens of years and have a very high cost. In our experience, it can be quite divisive and

Natural Resources committee  I'm going to just underline the previous points we've all made, namely, the need to start the discussion early and that both parties to that discussion be very honest, sincere and transparent. Certainly in our experience in New Zealand, as many of our people have gone off and bec

Natural Resources committee  It's really interesting. Again, I'm thankful for the line of questioning. Often, particularly when you go into a commercial discussion, most of the discussion is around the commercial elements of that negotiation, i.e., the quantum of financial redress. Treaty issues, however, ar

Natural Resources committee  I think that's a great question. It's in two parts. Why is it that the Maori economy is achieving these phenomenal growth rates? First, we have to acknowledge that the treaty settlement process has, if you like, created a pool of development capital available to Maori people t

Natural Resources committee  We're still very far behind in terms of absolute numbers, but the point is the compound annual growth rate, and this is certainly what our governments are paying attention to. There are ministers of our government now who are saying that the Maori economy has become the cornersto

Natural Resources committee  Yes.