Hon JAMES SHAW (Associate Minister for the Environment (Biodiversity)): Māori land ownership goes hand in hand with the protection of indigenous biodiversity. The requirement for councils to identify, classify, and protect areas with significant habitats of plants and animals has existed under the Resource Management Act for decades and there are many significant natural areas (SNAs) throughout Aotearoa. However, a lack of guidelines on how councils should do this has led to inconsistent approaches and a worsening situation for our indigenous biodiversity. In Te Tai Tokerau, Māori have quite rightly raised concerns about the council's failure to engage properly over SNAs. I have welcomed the council's decision to pause and reset their processes. The issue in the Far North has not arisen because of the draft National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity; it has arisen because of a poor process carried out locally, and the next version of the national policy statement (NPS) can help to fix that. It will do this by enabling a more flexible approach to Māori land which recognises the rights and interests of whānau, hapū, and iwi to develop their land and to look after indigenous biodiversity. I have instructed officials to ensure that the next version of the NPS will address the concerns raised by Māori in Te Tai Tokerau and to avoid similar issues happening again. Throughout this process, we have listened closely to the feedback provided by iwi Māori, and the next draft of the NPS will be available for further comment soon. Once finalised, the NPS will be a crucial part of our efforts to reverse the decline in Aotearoa New Zealand's unique biodiversity and to protect our natural taonga for years to come.