Ririnui Mita: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:625;Page:20689] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
NgatiTuwharetoatena koutou. Tena koutou ihara mai i te nuku o te whenua ki te whakatutukiitenei kaupapa hirahira e paana ki a koutou Rau Ropata koutou ra. Ko koutou ra te kanohi o ratoukuahinga kuangaro ki tua o te arai. Naratou te huarahi iparau na koutou te waka itoia kia tau ki uta. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou. 
[ 
Greetings to you Tuwharetoa. Greetings to you who have come from a distance to complete this matter of great importance to you and especially you Rau Ropata and others. You are the face of those who have passed on and are lost from view beyond the divide. They were the ones who ploughed the way and it is you who hauled the canoe ashore. And so greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to you 
.] 
Along with my colleague the Hon Mark Burton I stand here to support the NgatiTuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill. I welcome here today the representatives of NgatiTuwharetoa mai i Te Moana a Toi who have come here on a very important occasion. This bill comprehensively and finally settles the historical claims of NgatiTuwharetoa Bay of Plenty. It is a hugely significant milestone for NgatiTuwharetoa and the Crown and it addresses the longstanding and significant grievances suffered by the iwi. It will enable both parties to move forward and renew their relationship as treaty partners. Prior to the 1860s NgatiTuwharetoa Bay of Plenty were prosperous and economically successful. That is well known. However the loss of NgatiTuwharetoa land and resources through confiscation and other means has hindered their development throughout the past 150 years. 
The two issues of historical grievances and Maori economic and social development are deeply interconnected. Although settlement redress cannot hope to fully compensate iwi for their historical losses or address all their future needs it provides a platform for future development. This also marks a break from the past. No longer will the relationship between NgatiTuwharetoa and the Crown be focused on the grievances between them. We can get on with the business of working and building a strong and inclusive country together in the spirit of partnership originally envisaged by those who signed the Treaty of Waitangi. 
The governance structures that iwi develop for receiving the redress also play a vital role. As part of its duty to the people of NgatiTuwharetoa and other claimant groups the Crown requires that a representative—an accountable and transferred governance entity—is established to receive and manage the settlement assets. Good governance is vital to development. 
This will be the fifth Act that settles raupatu or confiscation claims. There were many ways in which the Crown unfairly deprived Maori of their land and resources but warfare and confiscation is viewed by this Government as the most serious. The Crown has made significant progress in settling raupatu claims. The first of course was Waikato Tainui. In the last 6 years this has been followed by NgatiRuanui Ngati Tama Ngati Awa and the settlement bill for Nga Rauru Kitahi is currently before the Maori Affairs Committee. Taranaki and the Bay of Plenty are partially completed. In the last year the Waitangi Tribunal has reported on two more districts where there was raupatu. We hope that the negotiations can begin for the Gisborne claims soon once the mandate for negotiations is resolved. Officials have met on the Tauranga claims and already discussed possible structures for negotiations. 
To maintain this rate of settlement progress depends on bringing new groups into negotiations and last year we began negotiations with Te Arawa for their non-lakes claims Ngati Kahu ki Whaingaroa Taranaki whanui ki te Whanga-nui-a-Tara Moriori NgatiManua and Ngati Whare. We have recognised mandate negotiators for NgatiApa ki te Rangitikei and are working with Waikato River and North Island and South Island claimants to progress mandates there in addition to those I mentioned earlier. I look forward to the day when these groups will be celebrating the passage of their legislation. 
During the select committee consideration on this bill attention was drawn to the statements of association listed in the legislation. These statements describe the association of NgatiTuwharetoa with particular sites owned by the Crown. Some have questioned what the Crown is doing putting the legends and spiritual values of a particular iwi into legislation. This settlement legislation like all others before it as far back as NgaiTahu records NgatiTuwharetoa’s views for a specific reason. It is not to give their views primacy over anyone else’s; it is so that in any decisions about important resources their views are not overlooked. Many grievances throughout the country relate to the failure of decision makers to make decisions that affect Maori on an informed basis. For instance wahi tapu could have been unintentionally destroyed because a local authority had never been aware of it. Statutory acknowledgments give the claimant group the opportunity to record its association with the site in a publicly accessible form. Redress instruments like this will make it easier for the Crown to avoid causing further grievances and give iwi confidence that processes exist to protect their interests. 
In conclusion the passage of this legislation marks the end of a long journey for the people of NgatiTuwharetoa Bay of Plenty. I acknowledge the dedication and hard work put in by all those people who contributed to this settlement—NgatiTuwharetoa negotiators the Ministers the officials and iwi members themselves who voted 95 percent in favour of the settlement. This is a ringing endorsement of the work put in by negotiators. I also pay special respect to those elders of NgatiTuwharetoa who began the journey so long ago towards settlement but who have passed on before it was completed. Once again I join my colleague the Hon Mark Burton in commending this bill to the House.