Mäori Land Court changes deliver a world first

Celebration to mark the introduction of new technology and services in the Mäori Land Court – Te Kooti Whenua Mäori.Ground Floor Foyer, Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington.

E te poutokomanawa o te Whare, Rangitihi, tena koe.

Taranaki Whanui, tena koutou.

E aku hoa o te Whare Paremata, tena koutou.

E nga kai arahi o te ture, tena koutou.

E nga rangatira me nga iwi,
te iti, te rahi, te katoa
tena koutou.

Tena hoki ra me nga mate huhua.
Moe wairua, moe marie nui.
Otia te po, nau mai te ao.

Kua tukuna atu enei taonga ki te iwi whanui
hei whakamarama i te kaupapa me nga mahi
o te Kooti Whenua Mäori
me te whakaatu hoki i ona rawa.

Ko te kaupapa nei
ko te whakawhiti i te rangi
kia tika ai kia pai ai hoki
Te Tari Kooti ki te iwi whanui.

Members of the Judiciary, Parliamentary colleagues, honoured guests.

The Mäori Land Court is one of New Zealand’s oldest and, arguably, most important legal institutions.

The Mäori Land Court is a forum in which, among other things, the wishes of Mäori land owners can be ascertained and achieved. Mäori land owners can be kept informed of, and can discuss, any proposals relating to their land. Disputes and issues among Mäori land owners can be settled. Practical solutions to problems arising in the use or management of Mäori land can be promoted.

The primary functions of the Mäori Land Court’s administration fall into five main categories:

·A court registry – providing judicial support and case processing
·A land records office and information provider
·A commercial affairs registry in respect of Mäori incorporation and trust activities
·An archival service
·An advisory service

Mäori freehold land comprises approximately one and a half million hectares – almost 6 percent of New Zealand’s land mass. There are 26,487 blocks of Mäori freehold land divided among 2,739,912 ownership interests. Nearly 70 percent of Mäori land blocks have less than 50 ownership interests. They have an average of 12 ownership interests each.

However, at the other end of the scale, more than 500 Mäori land blocks have a thousand or more ownership interests each, with one block having 12,818 ownership interests.

The majority of Mäori freehold land is “ancestral” or tipuna land, in that it was once Mäori customary land for which “ownership” has been determined by the Mäori Land Court.

The owners’ connection with the land is derived through whakapapa; the owners’ connections with one another are through whakapapa; and those connections have remained largely unbroken for many centuries and over many generations.

The Department for Courts has made significant changes to the way the administration of the Mäori Land Court is managed. Those changes include a $6 million capital investment in information technology and further $2 million annually for the introduction of innovative new services for Mäori land owners.

Tonight, we gather to celebrate these achievements and to acknowledge the dedication and contribution of the staff of the Mäori Land Court whose vision is now reality.

Just a year or two ago, Mäori land records were kept in 12 million pages of paper records that could only be accessed by travelling to each Mäori Land Court registry. The work of the Court was processed using paper-based systems designed by Chief Judge Fenton, 137 years ago.

Anyone going to view the records was handed binders and volumes containing the original Court documents. It could take days of camping at the Court to painstakingly thumb through the precious documents to find something.

All this has now changed. [Datashow image]

The Mäori Land Information System – MLIS – contains a complete computerised index of all Mäori land title and ownership information. All of this information can be accessed at every Mäori Land Court and anywhere else where a Court officer has a laptop computer and can connect to the network.

This, to the best of my knowledge, is the first and only record of its kind anywhere in the world of the land base of an indigenous people.

As well as the index, MLIS includes an automated step-by-step processing system.

Gone are the days of pen and paper and photocopying and file covers and index cards and endlessly writing the same lines of information in register after register.

The new system was conceived, designed and implemented by Mäori Land Court staff. It was completed on time, within budget, and it is now proven to be functional and effective in full operation.

MLIS has now been enhanced with imaging capability. [Datashow image]

In a major project that was completed in January this year, the precious historic records of the Mäori Land Court were captured on computer. Micro Record Bureau of Auckland, whose representatives are here tonight, completed this work.

Once only held in the original paper form which was deteriorating through constant use, the records, dating back to 1865, are now also held on microfilm, on compact disk, and in the memory of the Court’s computers.

Staff can now create an electronic court file by scanning in the original application, searching the records electronically on one half of their large computer screens, and building up the file on the other half of the screen.

The days of going back and forth to the records room, handling cumbersome binders, photocopying pages, and assembling files are over. The days of relying on card indexes are over. The days of waiting months to send files from office to office to search the records of another registry by hand are over. The days of passing files from one staff member to another to another to another to get the work processed are over.

Everything can be done on-line by one person and they don’t have to get up from their chair. Work that took months to complete can now be completed in days.

The Mäori Land Court is now on the world wide web. After the home page, the new site is easily the most accessed section of the Department for Courts’ website. Sytec / Arrus Knoble, whose representatives are here tonight, built the website. [Datashow image]

If you pass an address sheet round at a Mäori Land Court hui these days you will more than likely get more e-mail addresses than postal addresses. What is more, a fifth of Mäori now live on the eastern seaboard of Australia. They now have direct internet access to the Court.

Work is underway on developing free on-line access to the national index of Mäori land - Mäori Land On-Line. No other indigenous people in the world have this kind of information tool.

At the same time, the addition of a Geographic Information System showing the location and characteristics of all Maori land in map form is being developed to link with MLIS. [Datashow image]

For the Mäori Land Court, and more importantly for Mäori land owners, the future has arrived.

There are sensitivities about access to the information and the knowledge contained in the records. There are also sensitivities regarding ownership and custody of these records, whether they are in paper or electronic format.

The Mäori Land Court acknowledges these sensitivities and is working through the access and archiving issues with Mäori Land owners.

Technology provides a fine tool. But getting out and talking to people, face to face – kanohi ki te kanohi -is the best way.

In 2000, the Labour Alliance Government made a further investment in the Mäori Land Court to launch a new proactive advisory service for Mäori land owners.

New staff were recruited and trained. They were equipped with vehicles, portable computers, and other resources to go out into the community to provide advice about Mäori Land Court practices and procedures, land management options under Te Ture Whenua Mäori Act, and many other matters concerning the ownership, use and management of Mäori land.

The service has been a great success. Already, the advisory staff have held more than 750 hui a tui korero around the country. The staff have established strong relationships with Mäori communities and the feedback has been full of praise for the service.

Another major development has been the establishment of a new nationwide panui published in conjunction with a new Mäori Land Court magazine known as Te Pouwhenua, which I had the pleasure of launching last year.

This is now a much sought after resource. It began with a circulation of 2,800 and that has now grown to 3,100 and continues to grow at the rate of 25 with each issue.

As well as Te Pouwhenua, a series of booklets has been published to help Mäori land owners with matters such as succession, trusts, Mäori incorporations, securities, and Mäori reservations. [Datashow image]

On yet another front, the Department for Courts is leading a liaison committee with Land Information New Zealand, of which I am also the Minister. This has led to computer based forms enabling registration of Mäori Land Court orders in the general land register, to internet access to the Landonline system for staff, and to solutions that will enable the clear identification of Mäori land in the general land register.

This summary of achievements would not be complete without mentioning the establishment of a new consultation forum late last year. The Mäori Land Owners Consultation Forum provides the Department for Courts with a network of 101 representatives of Mäori land owners to consult with over the future directions and operational practices of the Court’s administration.

There are forum members here tonight, including one who has travelled from the Chatham islands, a place which will benefit greatly from the new website. I know that your commitment and involvement will ensure that the future of the Mäori Land Court is in good hands.

Four of the Court’s dedicated and capable staff – Nanette, Don, Charles and Janet – have worked on a presentation they will make to us shortly. They, and their colleagues, are what helps make the Mäori Land Court a special institution in our legal landscape.

Tonight we can all feel proud of the success that has been achieved. I am delighted that we could all get together to celebrate this success with the Department for Courts and the Mäori Land Court, because what has been achieved is worth celebrating.

Na reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Media Enquiries: Barry Ebert [press secretary] 021 636416, 04 470 6676
email: barry.ebert@parliament.govt.nz
Check out: www.executive.govt.nz and www.robsononline.co.nz