Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Whizz!

Also reported back [PDF] today is the government's Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. This vests the Mauao / Mount Maunganui Historic Reserve in a trust board representing local iwi. It's not part of a Treaty settlement, but still part of the programme of historic redress.

The committee has made some minor tweaks around the way the bill reserves existing rights, but nothing significant. What's interesting is how fast it has progressed - it was sent to committee in December, and open for submissions until the end of February, so they've heard submissions and drafted amendments in a little over a month.

With this and other bills emerging from committee over the last few days, the government is out of its tight spot and has enough business to see it through to the Budget. But the Order Paper is probably going to continue to look a bit thin for some time to come.