Fox Marama: Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11224. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Pōkarekare ana ngā ta’ata’ha o ngā wai o W’anganuiTika rere mai i waenganui eKo au tēnei te aorererangi nei i runga i te kapuaE titiro nei ki te tira hoe wakaPōkarekare ana ngā wai o W’anganui korikori ana te mouri tipuaKo au tēnei ko koe tēnā e ngā mokopunaE rukuruku nei i ngā wai te puenga ake he tipua.Ko te taurahere ki Te Rangi.Pōkarekare ana ngā wai o W’anganui korikori ana te mouri tipuaKo au tēnei ko koe tēnā e ngā mokopunaE rukuruku nei i ngā wai te puenga ake he tipua.Ko te taurahere ki Te Rangi.Ko te taurahere ki Te Rangi.[The waters of the Whanganui agitate along the banksAs it flows directly from the centreI am this aircraft up in the cloudLooking down upon the team of canoe paddlersThe waters of Whanganui ripple the ancestral deity stirsThis is me is that you oh grandchildrenDiving about in the waters from whence a deity emergedAs the link to the heavens.]E hika mā tēnā koutou![Well friends that was well done!]Well whānau I greet you. It is as if the awa itself has flowed right into Parliament today not only here in the gallery but also overflowing into the foyer outside and into the big room with the great big TV—I am not sure what it is called. I greet you. Tēnā koutou.Well that is just about my time up but I do have a speech. I want to talk about the awa Te Awa Tupua which forms an indivisible whole from the mountains to the sea. I acknowledge the inalienable interconnection between the iwi and the hapū of Whanganui and the Whanganui River—I practise my “whangas”.E rere kau mai te awa nui nei mai i te kāhui maunga ki Tangaroa.[This great river flows directly from the mountain cluster to Tangaroa the sea.]Today we recognise the perseverance the discipline and the faith of Hinengakau Tamaūpoko Tupoho Tamahaki Uenuku the tūpuna rohe groups of the Whanganui iwi. There is a whakataukī amongst the people of the river: “Kauaka e kōrero mō te awa kōrero ki te awa.”[Do not talk about the river but rather to it.]Today then I want us to remember and to reflect and to refresh our thoughts with those who have the care the protection the management and the use of the WhanganuiRiver in accordance with the kawa and tikanga maintained by the descendants of Ruatipua Paerangi and Haunui-ā-Pāpārangi. Te Kuia Peeti was one of the many who recalled the river of their childhood at Kaiwhaiki. She said she could swim before she could walk: “From morning to night we would swim and learn about ourselves and surrounding environment. As youngstersour bodies were developed in the water. Limbs were stretched and pulled. We learnt fleetness of body and mind. … The river was our playground.” The people of the rivertold the tribunal that the teardrops of Ranginui are the source of their being the artery of their one heart: “The awa is a healer a kāpata kai a highway and a protector. It is the rope that binds all the whānau together from the mountain to the sea.”; te taurāwhiri o Hinengākau—the plaited rope of their tipuna Hinengakau. The kōrero was consistent: the river is the beginning;it ties the people together like the umbilical cord of the unborn child.MatiuMareikura explained to the tribunal: “The river is ultimately our mana our tapu our ihi our wehi all these things make up what the river means to us. It is our life cord not just because it is water—but because it is sacred water to us.Our people go to the river to cleanse themselves they go to the river to pray and they go to the river to wash. They go to the river for everything[for everything]leads back to the river. And the river in return suffices all our needs.”I have taken this time to traverse the power of the tupuna awa Whanganui because it is at the heart of this bill. Today our memories are focused on the original nine trustees of the Whanganui River Māori Trust Board who in December 1990 brought the Whanganui River claim on behalf of Te ĀtiHaunui-ā-Pāpārangi. Their sacrifice and devotion is now recorded in this House and so we mihi to the vision of Hikaia Amohia Archie Taiaroa Raumatiki Henry Kevin Amohia Hoana Akapita Te Turi Ranginui Brendan Puketapu Michael Pōtaka John Maihi and Rangipo Mete-Kīngi. In doing so we honour the generations of inequities of enquiries of petitions and of court cases dating back to 1873; those who brought their awa tupua into this House.After the hearings at the marae up and down the river in 1998 the tribunal declared on page 385 of their report—you can look it up—“Contrary to some popular opinions New Zealand was not colonised on the basis that rivers were publicly owned. The right of ownership was based on universal principles of law principles guaranteed in theTreaty of Waitangi.”I know my time is running short so I am going to cut straight to the words of Te Kuia Peeti: “To my sorrow my own children and mokopuna have not grown up in this environment but what we had as children is no longer there. What we thought was unchangeable and immutable the river [has] undergone changes which we never dreamt of. Our beautiful safe swimming places have all gone. Because so much of the water was taken away and therefore it made it inhospitable for the fishlife to live it was not uncommon for us to see dead [fish] floating down the river. Where once stood strong trees all along the river we now have very serious erosions on our bank.“Where once the birds were plentiful and we could recognise their cries or squawks we hardly see them at all now. Where once we had crystal clear water flowing up and down our marae this is now a very rare occurrence.”And I finish with this her words. “In fact the river is filthy dirty most all of the time that is our friend tupuna our whanau has been desecrated by bad farming practices. Where once we had a healthy waterway we now have a sick river …”.What you have returned to you is not what was taken but I acknowledge the strength of your people to restore it in its own entity. He pai te mihi atu ki a koutou kua hui mai nei i tēnei rangi tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora mai tātou katoa.[It is so wonderful to acknowledge you collectively who have assembled here today; greetings and congratulations and my appreciation to us all thank you.]