Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill) Link to this
I move, That the Melanesian Trusts (Income Tax Exemption) Amendment Bill be now read a second time and a third time. On behalf of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board I thank the Finance and Expenditure Committee for its unanimous support of the bill. I also acknowledge the members of the Business Committee and the parliamentary parties for supporting the bill and agreeing to take its second and third readings as one question. The Finance and Expenditure Committee reports that the facts and purposes of the bill as set out in its preamble were proven to the satisfaction of the committee, and recommends that the bill be passed with a small amendment.
To recap on the bill’s purpose, it is designed to give certainty that the Melanesian Mission Trust Board’s income, including its business income, is exempt from income tax. The trust is actually a product of legislation that has been passed by New Zealand Parliaments going way back to 1862. The objective of successive pieces of legislation has been to apply income from land owned by the trust in New Zealand for charitable, religious, and educational purposes in Melanesia.
The trust provides 94 percent of the income of the Church of Melanesia, which utilises this funding mainly in the Solomon Islands but also in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It runs schools, vocational training centres, medical centres, a centre for assisting victims of domestic violence, and a mothers union helping with family life, life skills, and literacy training. The church runs nine schools in the Solomons and 10 in Vanuatu, educating approximately 4,600 pupils and employing around 210 teachers. It runs seven vocational training centres for 620 students, employing about 46 teachers, and also provides theological training for 80 students. The Church of Melanesia also runs two medical clinics in the Solomons, employing 23 staff.
The trust has always been exempt from the requirement to pay income tax, or at least that is what was thought until a New Zealand Court of Appeal decision in Dick v Commissioner of Inland Revenue in 2002. That raised uncertainty about the trust’s status. If it was required to pay tax, that would result in a $2 million reduction in money available for its charitable work, or about 30 percent of its overall income. That would contradict the broader objective of the Government, which is working through New Zealand aid to assist the Solomon Islands in exactly the areas that the Melanesian Mission Trust Board is contributing to.
I do not personally have any association with the Melanesian church, but given my interest in the Solomon Islands the trust approached me with a request to sponsor a local bill to clarify that its income continued to be, as it was in the past, exempt from paying income tax. This bill therefore amends the Melanesian Trusts Act 1974 to ensure that from the commencement date of the principal Act, income derived by the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, including any income from business and distributions of income by the trust board, are exempt from income tax. I welcome the select committee’s acceptance of the need to do this.
I support the small amendment proposed by the committee in new section 4A(2)(c), to be inserted by clause 5, which provides that income derived by the trust board and distributions of income by the trust board are treated as exempt income under the Income Tax Act 2007. That ensures that the exemption is comprehensive.
The committee also raised a concern that the tax status of other charitable trust boards that were of a similar nature to the Melanesian Mission Trust Board remains unclear. It suggests that the Government, to save the time and money of such trusts, and indeed of Parliament, should deal with the general effect of the Court of Appeal’s decision rather than through individual Acts of Parliament. That issue is beyond my remit as the sponsor of this bill, but I am sure it can be considered by the Inland Revenue Department and its Minister to see whether there is a need for it and whether there is an advantage in doing so. However, I understand that there may not be many other charitable trusts in the same position, if any at all. Most charitable trusts rely on exemptions in sections CW34 and CW35 of the Income Tax Act 2004, which exempts income from tax if the income is non-business income or if it is applied to charitable purposes in New Zealand. The Melanesian Mission Trust Board is unusual in that it does receive income that could be characterised as business income under the Dickdecision, and it applies almost all of its income for charitable purposes outside of New Zealand. There may, therefore, given the uniqueness of this position, not be a need for further legislation beyond this bill.
The bill is supported by the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Revenue, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Once again I thank the Finance and Expenditure Committee for its careful consideration of the bill, and I thank members for the support that they have shown in progressing the bill through its final stages today. I commend the bill to all parties in the House for their support.
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH (National—Rodney) Link to this
I want to make it clear that the National Party will be supporting the Melanesian Trusts (Income Tax Exemption) Amendment Bill. The Hon Phil Goff has outlined every aspect of the consideration of this bill.
Dr the Hon LOCKWOOD SMITH Link to this
The Hon Phil Goff spelt out in some detail the fine charitable work that the Melanesian Trust does around the Pacific, particularly in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia, and I do not intend to repeat that.
Mr Goff also covered the issue that the bill particularly addresses, which is the problem that the Melanesian Trust has been operating for years—going right back two centuries ago; in fact, going right back to 1862—on a tax-free basis for its income, because under New Zealand tax law, income for charitable purposes is not taxable if it is either not business income or used for charitable purposes here in New Zealand. The income for the Melanesian Trust is clearly not used for charitable purposes in New Zealand; it is used for charitable purposes in the Pacific. So that consideration for it to be exempt from tax is not valid, so it has to be considered to be exempt from income tax on the basis that it did not receive business income.
The problem was that in 2002 the Court of Appeal, in a case called Dick v Commissioner of Inland Revenue, actually made a decision on this issue. The particular problem, which the Hon Phil Goff did not go into, was that in that case, Dick was actually receiving income from investment in four commercial properties. The Court of Appeal ruled that because the investment was in commercial properties, it meant the income from it was business income. The dilemma for the Melanesian Trust was that some of its investment was in similar kinds of properties, and therefore there was a risk that the Commissioner of Inland Revenue could in fact decide that the Melanesian Trust also had to pay income tax. Now, as we look forward, that would cost the trust $2 million a year out of its charitable activity, and it would make a big hole in what it does for the schools and medical centres up there in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia.
But, worse than that—and this is the final point I will make—the trust was at risk of being assessed for years going right the way back. If a decision were made that the trust was liable for income tax because its income was business income, it was at risk of income assessments being backdated for some years. Of course, that would be crippling.
The National Opposition is absolutely satisfied that this legislation is a sensible move. We support it, and we congratulate the Melanesian Trust on the fine work it does. There is no need to say any more on this issue; we have thoroughly examined it, and it makes good sense.
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) Link to this
Tēnā koe, Madam Assistant Speaker. Ko tāku noa ake i te tuatahi ko te tuku i te poroporoaki ki tērā kua ngaro atu i ngā pakitara o te Whare Pāremata, arā, te toa i tū ki mua i te pā tūwatawata e tū ake nei. Ohorere ana te ngākau i taku rongo kua wahangū koe koro, e Tumu i tēnei rangi. Hoi anō, e hoki ki Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa ki Hawaiki pāmamao. E koro, haere, whakangaro atu.
I tērā wiki i whakarewahia tētahi hongere whakaata hou, ko Te Reo tōna ingoa.Ko tōna pūtake ko te reo Māori me kī, kia rangona te reo Māori e kōrerotia ana. Nō reira, me mihi ki a rātou nā rātou tērā kaupapa i whakatinana kia puāwai i te rangi nei. Koi nei ka whakaaro ake kia whakaputaina tēnei kauhau ki roto i te reo o ōku tūpuna kia whai ai i taua tauira.
Ā, ki te mema hou nau mai, e rarau. He rawe tōu kauhau inapō. E Sua, talofa lava, haere mai.
Ko tēnei pire ki te Whare i te pō nei he take āhua māmā noa iho, arā, te hiwhinga ka puta mai i te Melanesian Mission Trust Board me ngā tohatoha whai muri o te whiwhinga a taua poari kia noho kore taake. E tautoko ana te Pāti Māori i tēnei take. Ki ō mātou whakaaro me noho kore taake ngā take āwhina tangata. Ko ngā tūmanako āwhina ā-iwi, ā-mātauranga, ā-whakapono ka whai kiko mā te hoko whenua, whare karakia, kura, whare, ā, te whakapai poti, ētahi atu waka, tētahi pūtea tiaki pīhopa, minita me ngā kaiako.
Me te mea nei he māmā noa iho tērā, arā, ka whakapau te Poari o te Melanesian Mission Trust i te whiwhinga tangorīhi hei koha ki te Hāhi o Melanesia me kī, ngā motu o Horomona, Vanuatu, me Kanaki. Kāti, he pērā tonu te āhua?
Ko te take nui i puta mai ki a au, ko tērā e pā ana ki te whakamahinga o te whiwhinga tangorīhi. Ko te whenua i Mission Bay me Kohimārama he whenua i whakawehea, i rīhia mō ngā whare. Ko tōna hanga he āhua rite ki ngā rīhi a Glasgow, arā, he mea mutunga kore, he mea whakahou, he mea āta tirohia anōtia. He āhua ōrite ki ngā mea o Glasgow. Nō Aotearoa te hanga o ēnei momo rīhi, arā, kia noho kōhatu ngā rīhi ki tētahi nui, ki tētahi rahi rānei ia tau, ia tau, ā, ka noho pēnei mō ngā tau 21. Kāore tōna taketake i te tino mōhiotia engari, arā noa atu tōna pānga. Ka hipa ngā tau rua tekau mā tahi, ka tirohia ēnei momo rīhi (a Glasgow) arā, ki tētahi paihēneti o te wāriu o ngā whenua, ki te utu rēti rānei mō tētahi atu tau 21 anō.
Ki taku mōhio, i whakakorengia ngā rīhi o Glasgow i te United Kingdom i te tau tahi mano, iwa rau rua tekau mā rua engari i Aotearoa nei, i tēnei whenua i tēnei pito o te ao, ka mau tonu, ka mau tonu i a tātou. He tino aronga tōku ki ēnei momo rīhi pēnei i ngā mea o Glasgow, arā, te pūtake tonu o te whiwhinga mō te Melanesian Mission Trust i te mea, hāngai ai ki te oranga ōhanga o te maha o ō tātou kura Māori noho.
Arā a Te Aute, tērā kura Māori noho rongonui o tō mātou kaiārahi e rua. Whakahīhī ai a te Tākuta Pita Sharples ia rā engari, kore rawa he paku kōrero āna mō ngā haukerekeretanga a te Kura o Tīpene i te maha o ngā kēmu whutupōro. Ā, aroha mai, kai te āhua kotiti taku kōrero. I Te Aute, i te pātaitia te tika o ngā whenua e wātea ana i raro i te ture kia hokoa. Arā a Hato Pāora, i te tau kua hipa ka ākina a ia kia hokona ō rātou whenua pāmu kia whiwhi pūtea ai hei whakahou i ō rātou kāinga noho taiohi. Arā a Tīpene, arā noa atu ngā tāne o te puna mātauranga pēnei i a Hone Harawira me ētahi atu o tēnei Whare, a Shane Jones, ko au tonu. Ko ngā kaitautoko ā-pūtea o Tīpene, ko te hāhi Mihingare. I te wā e tuwhera ana te kura, ko tā rātou he whakatikatika i ō rātou rawa kia taea ai te whakahou me te whakapaipai i ō rātou kāinga noho taiohi.
He take nui whakaharahara tēnei, arā, mō te pūnaha whenua tangorīhi, he pūnaha kei a ia ētahi hapanga kino mō ngā taha e rua, otirā, mō te whenua noho ā-kāinga. Ko te tino raru, ko tērā ki te tangata nōna te whenua, arā, te heke haere o te moni ka hoki mai mō te rangatiratanga o te hua me te kore piki o te rēti mō tētahi wā roa engari, ka tae ki te wā arotake, ka pā he pikinga o te rīhi ki ngā whakaritenga paihēneti hei kawe mā te kaipupuri whenua. I te nuinga o te wā, kāore he hononga ki te whakamahinga o te whenua i te wā nei, ki te wāriu rānei o ngā whakapainga ki te whenua.
Koi nei te āhuatanga o tēnei pire e pā ana ki te Melanesian Mission Trust Board, he take wānanga tonu mā mātou o te Tōrangapū Māori.
Ko te whiwhinga nō ērā momo rīhi a Glasgow i ngā tapa tāone tino minatia o Tāmaki-makau-rau, arā, i Kohimārama, i Mission Bay kei te āwhina i te hāhi Mihingare i Melanesia, ā, nā reira, ko tā mātau pātai e pā ki te raruraru mō te ōhanga kei runga i te Melanesian Mission, mehemea he patunga anō hoki a ia o tēnei momo whakaritenga rīhi.
Nā, arā anō tētahi take. Ko te mea pai o tēnei momo pire, ko tō tātou tirohanga ki ō tātou kōrero hītori ā-motu nei i te wā i tae mai a tauiwi ki konei. Ki taku mōhio, i whakatūria te Melanesian Mission Trust Board i te tau kotahi mano, waru rau, ono tekau mā rua e te Pīhopa Mihingare a George Augustus Herewini me John Coleridge Patteson, te Pīhopa Mihingare Tuatahi i Melanesia. I tae atu a Pīhopa Herewini ki Tāmaki-makau-rau i te toru tekau o Haratua i te tau kotahi mano, waru rau, whā tekau mā rua. I ako tonu tērā i te reo Māori i tōna haerenga mai ki konei. Nā wai rā, ka tino mātau te tangata nei ki te reo, ka kauhau mai, ka whakaako mai ki roto i te reo Māori, i te reo Pākehā rānei e ai ki te āhuatanga o te wā. He tangata rere kē a Pīhopa Herewini i te mea, ko tōna aronga nui ko te mātauranga me te whakapono. Nāna tonu ēnei i tuku ki ngā Pākehā me ngā Māori. I taua wā, ko te aronga nui o te mihingare ko te mahi ki waenganui i te tangata whenua, kaua ki ētahi atu. Na tōna aronga ki te Māori, ka taupatupatu a ia ki te hāhi, ki ōna hoa Pākehā hoki. I a ia i te kāreti o Hato Hoani, i kaha tana āki kia noho ōrite ngā tauira Māori, Pākehā me nga Melanesian i ngā mea katoa, arā, nga kāinga noho, ngā wharekai, nga hākinakina me ngā akoranga.
Nā tōna whakahē kaupapa whenua o taua wā, ka puta hoki te riri ki waenganui o ngā Pākehā. I te pakarutanga mai o te raru i Waitara me te pakanga ki Taranaki, i kaha whakahēngia a Pīhopa Herewini mō tōna tautoko, whakaruruhau i a Wīremu Kīngi. Kāore e kore, kei te maumahara koutou i whakahē a Wīremu ki te hokonga o ngā whenua o Taranaki ki te Kāwanatanga. Anei tāna: “that no Maori owned land, the land was owned by all the people to be used communally and individually and not to be possessed. Under Maori custom no land could be sold without the consent of all the people. As leader he must make a decision in accordance with the people's demands”.
Nā, nō te tīmatanga o te tau kotahi mano, waru rau, ono tekau, te hokonga o te whenua i oti ai me te kore whakaae a te iwi, ā, nō whai muri tonu mai te hunga rūri whenua i uru atu ai ki te poroko whenua. Ka poto te wā whai muri mai o tērā, ka tae atu ngā hōia ki Waitara, ka pakaru mai rā te pakanga. Ahakoa ngā taumahatanga o taua wā, ka tautokoria e Pīhopa Herewini te whakahēnga ki te take nei.
E pēnei ana taku whakamārama mō te hītori nei nā te mea ko te mea mīharo ki a au, ko te hono o ngā taketake o te Melanesian Mission Trust Board me ngā mahi o te Kāwanatanga ki Waitara, tētahi o ngā raru whenua e kore e warewaretia.
Hei kupu whakamutunga, ka mihi ki te tāpaetanga a te Melanesian Mission Trust Board me ngā mokamoka i hōmai e rātou mō te māharahara, ka ahatia tērā i kīa rā e rātou, ko te whiwhinga kore-umanga. Mārama ana tā rātou whakatau mai ka whakahekea te pūtea o tētahi whitu miriona taara ia tau a te Hāhi Melanesia mā te rua miriona taara ki te taakehia te whiwhinga o te trust board. Kua whakatakotohia haeretia e au ētahi hītori mō te Melanesian Mission me āna mahi engari, ko te hapa o tētahi rua miriona taara pea te meka kotahi kāore rawa i tau ki tōku ngākau.
Kei te pire nei tō mātou tautoko o te Tōrangapū Māori me te mihi kau atu anō hoki ki te Melanesian Mission Trust Board kia ū tonu, kia mahi tonu hoki rātou ki te tohatoha whiwhinga mō ngā take e pā ana ki te āwhina tangata. Kia kaha rā. Kia ora tātou.
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.]
[Greetings to you, Madam Assistant Speaker. My task in the first instance is to make a meek farewell to that person who will no longer been seen at his post around the walls of Parliament, that warrior who has manned the palisades that stand before us. I was shocked when I heard of your passing today, Ancient One, Tumu, but return to great Hawaiki, long Hawaiki, and distant Hawaiki. Oh Ancient One, go forth, depart from view.
Last week a new TV channel called Te Reo was launched, its purpose being to hear the language spoken in Māori. So I acknowledge those responsible for establishing the channel and bringing it to fruition today. To follow that example, I thought that this address should be delivered in the language of my ancestors.
And to the new member, welcome, settle in. Your speech last evening was stunning. Welcome, Sua, welcome.
This bill before the House tonight is seemingly a straightforward one to ensure that income derived by the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, and subsequent distributions of income by that trust board, are exempt from tax. The Māori Party supports this matter. We believe that tax exemptions should be granted for charitable purposes. The charitable, educational, and religious purposes provided for are described as the purchase of land, churches, colleges, schools, and buildings, the repair of ships, boats, and other vessels, and the maintenance and endowment of bishops, clergy, and schoolmasters.
That all seems fairly straightforward where the Melanesian Mission Trust Board uses leasehold income to fund the Church of Melanesia, a mission covering the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. But is it all so straightforward?
What really prodded my interest was the issue around the use of leasehold income. The land in Mission Bay and Kohimārama was subdivided and leased for housing in the form of perpetually renewable Glasgow-type leases, subject to periodic rent reviews. These “Glasgow” leases are a particular New Zealand construct that fix the leases at an amount per annum that do not change for a term of 21 years.Their origins are not clear but the impact has been huge. Once the 21 years are up, these Glasgow leases are reviewed either to a predetermined percentage of the land value, or to a market rental for a further 21 years.
I understand that “Glasgow” leases apparently were abolished in the United Kingdom in 1922, while here in Aotearoa, this far-flung outpost of the world, it still perseveres. I have a particular interest inGlasgow-type leases, which constitute the major source of income for the Melanesian Mission Trust Board as it relates to the economic survival of many of our Māori boarding schools.
Consider Te Aute College, that iconic Māori boarding school of our co-leader. Dr Pita Sharples skites about it every day, but fails to mention the many rugby games lost to St Stephen’s College. My apologies—I am digressing somewhat from my address. At Te Aute, the legality of sections being available for sale was being questioned. Consider Hato Pāora College, which last year was forced to sell the farm property in order to gain revenue for the redevelopment of its hostels. Consider St Stephen’s, and its many boys from this educational pool like Hone Harawira, and others in this House like Shane Jones and myself particularly. The sponsor of St Stephen’s College, the Anglican Church, had to reorganise its assets in order to upgrade and maintain its hostels when St Stephen’s was opened.
This is a crucial issue with the leasehold land system, a system that has serious disadvantages to both parties, particularly for residential land. The most obvious tension is that the lessor receives a declining return for the ownership of the asset, with no rent increase over a prolonged period, but when the rent is reviewed, the lessee faces a rental increase in percentage terms that often bears no relationship to the existing use of the land or the value of the improvements on the land.
So this is the nature of this bill in regard to the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, an aspect that we of the Māori Party will continue to debate.
The income from the Glasgow-type leases in the highly sought-after Auckland suburbs of Kohimārama and Mission Bay helps to support the Anglican Church in Melanesia, so we have to ask the question as to whether the economic plight of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board is in itself a victim of this type of lease arrangement.
Now, there is another matter. The good thing about this bill is how we view our national historical accounts in the period of early European settlement here. To my understanding, the Melanesian Mission Trust Board was established in 1862 by the Anglican Bishop, George Augustus Selwyn, and John Coleridge Patteson, the first Anglican Bishop in Melanesia. Bishop Selwyn arrived in Auckland on 30 May 1842. When he arrived here he learnt te reo Māori. In time he became fluent in Māori, preached in Māori, and, depending on the circumstances, taught in Māori or English. Bishop Selwyn was unusual in that education and religion were great interests of his. He delivered both to Pākehā and Māori. In that period the main focus of missionaries was to work with the indigenous people and no one else. His commitment to the Māori people, however, did bring him into conflict with both the church and fellow Pākehā. While at St John’s theological college he insisted that Māori, Pākehā, and Melanesian students should share equally in everything such as accommodation, meals, sports, and studies.
Because he was critical of land policies of that time, he generated anger among Pākehā as well. When the Waitara dispute and the Taranaki War broke, Bishop Selwyn was condemned for his public defence of Wīremu Kīngi.It was he, members will recall, who vigorously opposed the sale of the Taranaki land to the Government. This is what he said: “that no Maori owned land, the land was owned by all the people to be used communally and individually and not to be possessed. Under Maori custom no land could be sold without the consent of all the people. As leader he must make a decision in accordance with the people's demands”.
Now, the sale of the land was completed in early 1860 without the consent of the people, and, soon after, surveyors entered into the block. Shortly after that, Government troops arrived in Waitara and war broke out. Despite the difficulties of that period, Bishop Selwyn supported opposition to this matter.
My explanation for this historical event has gone this way because connections between early origins of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board and the actions of Government in the Waitara Block truly amazes me, as one of a number of land disputes that will not be forgotten.
In conclusion, I acknowledge the Melanesian Mission Trust Board submission, and the detail they provided around their uncertainty as to what to do with what they described as non-business income. They spelt it out very clearly—that the funding of the Church of Melanesia, some $7 million per annum, stands to be reduced by approximately $2 million if the trust board’s income were taxable. I have outlined some of the history and context of the Melanesian Mission and its functions, but the one single fact that does not sit very well with me is the loss of some $2 million.
This bill has the support of the Māori Party, and we wish the Melanesian Mission Trust Board the best in their ongoing commitment towards the distribution of income for charitable purposes. Be resolute. Greetings to us all. ]
Hon SHANE JONES (Minister for Building and Construction) Link to this
Ā, kia ora anō tātou. E te Pika tēnā koe i a tātou e noho nei i roto i tō tātou Whare i tēnei pō. Taku mihi tuatahi, me huri atu ahau ki te kura mai i St Margaret’s College nō Ōtautahi.
As I said in Māori, greetings, Madam Assistant Speaker. This evening I would like to acknowledge the presence of the students from St Margaret’s College in Ōtautahi, Te Wai Pounamu, and welcome them to our legislature. I welcome the students from the deep south. No doubt they are sporting the colours—if not on their blouses, then somewhere else—of the Crusaders. I welcome them to this House. I am not entirely sure whether St Margaret’s refers to Saint Margaret of Antioch or to other far-flung elements where St Margaret was mentioned in church history, given that these students are here this evening witnessing a brief set of speeches pertaining to the Melanesian Mission Trust Board.
I follow my fellow Māori colleague, Te Ururoa Flavell, who in far-flung days was known as “Jimbo Flavell”, and I cannot help but refer to him as “Jimbo”. However, he sports the name Te Ururoa, which belongs to my Ngāpuhi people from Whangaroa. Hongi Hika, who wandered through the country—and who, I must say, was responsible for settling the Anglican Church in Aotearoa—had as his key whāinga, or strategist, Te Ururoa, from the village of Pupuke, in the upper reaches of the Whangaroa Harbour. It is a pleasure to support Te Ururoa Flavell and to follow him, because we too both attended St Stephen’s Māori boys school, which existed as a consequence of the Anglican Church. I am not entirely sure that it was the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, but organisations such as that one enabled us to get the fine education that Tau Henare stares at in very admiring ways at each opportunity he has. Unfortunately, that admiring quality of his did not stretch to the Ngāti Porou speaker today, otherwise known as Parekura Horomia.
The Melanesian Trusts (Income Tax Exemption) Amendment Bill, which has been brought by my senior colleague Mr Goff to this House, deserves our support. The trust board does unstinting good work in areas of the Pacific that we in Aotearoa should have a particularly keen interest in, not the least of which is Vanuatu. I myself have a strong interest in Vanuatu, having looked after some of its mokopuna and put them through school in Tai Tokerau. They lived with me and my children, but they also attended the boarding school that we went to. We should be mindful of the fact that Vanuatu has a great birth rate and, hopefully, it is benefiting from our regional employment scheme that causes us to draw people from the Pacific.
A little bit of history would not go astray. The Melanesian Mission Trust Board has many of its property assets located around Kohimārama. Kohimārama, as my tuakana Tau Henare possibly knows—or taina, depending on whether the cock is crowing or the morepork is calling—is an area where the Māori chiefs met in the 1860s to determine whether they would uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Kohimārama is not a word that derives from the Māori language; it was actually transported here as a consequence of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, and, in respect of its roots, it is a Melanesian expression.
The work that the trust does derives from the income and the skilful utilisation of the capital assets scattered around that area of Auckland. It is good that the bill clarifies the trust board’s tax status, because, after all, we do make large contributions to that part of the Pacific. If we are able to support an organisation or an institution such as the trust, that will enable the trust to continue to allocate income to meet the needs of those families in places such as the Solomons and Vanuatu, which was formerly known as the New Hebrides.
Of course, I have a small claim to fame in relation to Melanesia. It was my tupuna, Reverend Rēnata Tangata, from the iwi of Ngāti Kahu, who, for reasons best known to himself, was encouraged by the Anglican Church to go there as a missionary. He went through Melanesia as a missionary—tangata tūturu nō te ao Māori, as one would say, the original full-blooded Māori—before the Dalmatians discovered the Ninety Mile Beach and the Māori princesses of my iwi, Te Aupōuri. He went there to spread the gospel, and there are some delightful accounts in my iwi, Ngāti Kahu, about the efforts of Renata Tangata, who went through Melanesia spreading the gospel on behalf of the Anglican Church. So there is a small connection there that makes me feel that I should not suffer a sliver of doubt that the Melanesian Mission Trust Board does a great job that all New Zealanders ought to be proud of. If that board was not doing that job, perish the thought that further burden should fall on our tax base.
We ought to celebrate those organisations that are dedicating their capital, and the income derived from the skilful stewardship of such capital assets, to enhancing the lives of others. If there is anything in New Zealand popular culture that has slipped from public gaze, it is the status that we should accord those organisations that work because of a mission that is not accurately captured in terms of its value by fiscal numbers or a financial abacus. These people deserve our support. These people are part of only a small organisation that is driving the development of our whanaunga—and I say that in that Māori sense from Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
I remind the House that Vanuatu, which is a great recipient of this assistance, has one of the highest birth rates throughout the Pacific. It has a large population that is highly youthful, and we have a responsibility in terms of ensuring that we are good neighbours but that we provide an opportunity for those people. We are providing that opportunity not only through supporting this bill but also through enabling them to come to such places as Otago, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Motueka, Blenheim, and other such far-flung places whose residents no doubt wake up in the morning and get a shock when they see 20 horticultural workers from Vanuatu wandering around the main street of whatever town it is in Otago. It is not quite what your average Pākehā would wake up in spring, autumn, or winter and expect to see. However, such is the changing nature of our life in Aotearoa that we are bringing such people here.
It is with some disappointment that I note that when they came here they did not play rugby; they played soccer. I did my best to enrol the Vanuatu mokopuna who stayed with me in the far north in rugby. Unfortunately, the iwi of the north taught them only to smoke and not to play rugby, but that is another matter.
So, without a sliver of doubt, or a modicum of hesitation, I stand to support the earlier speakers—in particular, Te Ururoa Flavell, who no doubt suffered from a paucity of content, and who consequently had to use both languages, but we will overlook that. Tēnā koutou. Kia ora tātou katoa.