Mahuta Nanaia: Ngati Manawa Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Whare Claims Settlement Bill — Third Readings 
Mahuta Nanaia: Ngati Manawa Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Whare Claims Settlement Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:678;Page:1465] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 Tena koutou Ngati Manawa Ngati Whare koutou i hara mai ki te whakarongo ki enei o nga mahi kei mua i te aroaro o te Whare Paremata. E tika ana me mihi atu ki a ratou e kawe ana i nga wawata o nga matua tupuna ratou kua huri ki tua o te arai heke iho mai ki a koutou i tenei rangi. Tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to you Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare; you have come to listen to these addresses before the House of Parliament. It is fitting that we acknowledge those who have passed away and who carried the aspirations of the ancestral forefathers and you as well present here today. Congratulations to you all. 
] 
I spent much of the second reading and Committee stage of the legislation commenting on the Ngati Manawa Treaty settlement and for that reason I will confine my comments today to Ngati Whare. Ngati Whare has significant historical kin connections to Maniapoto. In fact on Saturday there will be a commemoration at Orakau to remember what happened in the 1860s in terms of the wars between Maori iwi and the Crown. There is a profound sense of gratitude amongst Waikato Maniapoto for those of Ngati Whare who joined my ancestors at Orakau. 
In a sense the topographical features of Orakau tell the story far better than I could in this House today and also the living memories of the descendants of those families who fought at Orakau and passed the story down from generation to generation. Indeed if you visit Orakau you will understand when you go there that for those people who went there to fight there was no ability to retreat. When you went there to fight you had to fight until the end. For that reason I pay tribute to Ngati Whare in this House today. 
From Orakau was the well-known saying “Ka whaiwhai tonu matou ake ake ake”. [ 
“We will continue to fight on for ever”. 
] It is within that spirit of kin connection and historical gratitude of those relationships that I want to make my contribution. Treaty settlements are more than just words on paper. Treaty settlements are a living recognition that despite the hurt and the historical actions that took place between iwi and the Crown this is a real attempt to try to restore some of that hurt and seek redress albeit insufficient I think in the living memories of the descendants today. But it is a start and it is an important start to ensure that future generations can move forward. Tenei e mihi ana ki a koutou Ngati Whare. [ 
I acknowledge you Ngati Whare. 
] 
There are key components to their settlement that on paper are very straightforward but again I make the point that if Treaty settlements are to be more than words on paper it is how Ngati Whare and the Crown—and indeed instruments of the Crown which means Government departments and local government—give life and breath to the living aspirations of what Ngati Whare are trying to achieve. There is a historical account that is recognised by and large through the Crown apology there is cultural redress and there is financial and commercial redress that has been achieved through the central North Island settlement. 
When we look at the Crown apology in part what it does is rectify a story that was not told that can be told now. Probably the real living legacy of a Crown apology will be in the ways that future generations of Ngati Whare can learn their history and have it recognised in their schools and in the education system. That will be I think a go-forward opportunity to retell and keep telling a very important part of Ngati Whare’s history. 
In the cultural redress part of the settlement there are some very I think innovative opportunities here going forward. The fact that the Whirinaki Conservation Park has an opportunity for a joint conservation role between the Crown the Department of Conservation and Ngati Whare through a conservation management plan affords itself a real living legacy to what a model for conservation management can look like in a country like New Zealand. We do not need to look to Australia and the Kakadu National Park; we can look to our own models and our own unique opportunities to have an approach that will be about not only preserving the natural history of New Zealand but also telling the story as it applies within that conservation park and Ngati Whare can make a huge contribution in that part. Ngati Whare is making a commitment to regenerating indigenous planting in that area and there is a regeneration project fund that has been established. 
There are also components of the settlement that I think are important to highlight in terms of the transfer of ownership of important sites. About seven sites have been transferred or vested and they are outlined in the summary statement of the deed of settlement. But the story I really want to tell that sits alongside this is the acreage that is given back. A lot of the general public are under this misleading thought that a whole lot is being given back to Maori. It is just a small drop in the bucket but as I say an important drop and it is a start but it should be recognised that Maori continue to make the greatest contribution to this nation in the way that they are entering into the Treaty settlement process. 
With the seven sites that have been handed back 36.2 hectares in terms of the general benefits to New Zealanders what remains with regards to those sites is the protection of conservation values the assurance that public access will continue to be guaranteed over these sites and the retention of reservation status. This is all a great contribution on Ngati Whare’s part to the nation and that must be recognised in the House today. There will also be a return of five wahi tapu sites which in total amount to 10.3 hectares. These are very important wahi tapu sites that have significant stories which in time if the aspirations of the conservation plan are realised could be a real opportunity again to preserve and tell the history as Ngati Whare would like to tell that history. 
There is a joint vesting of four sites totalling 13 hectares and the Whirinaki Conservation Park will have a new name. I would hope and the comment was made by Parekura Horomia before me that we should not have to have a Treaty settlement to rectify the misspelling of Maori names which goes through a process of going to the New Zealand Geographic Board and then it becomes whether you have an “h”. The real opportunity through these Treaty settlements is to I think put a stake in the ground and say that many of our names actually are not spelt correctly and as a matter of course in terms of ensuring New Zealand’s history is told with the inclusion of Maori ensure that the spelling of those names is rectified. I want to applaud Ngati Whare for making that particular start. As I say it should not take them a Treaty settlement to continue along this process. 
There are statutory acknowledgments as a part of this Treaty settlement to recognise the special association that Ngati Whare have in connection with certain sites. In time I believe that these acknowledgments should be recognised in the planning process undertaken by the regional council. These are important sites that have been recognised through a Treaty settlement and in the planning process of the regional council it should recognise again the importance to Ngati Whare and how it can be included in terms of long-term planning. 
There are many other aspects of the Ngati Whare settlement all too many for me to comment on today but I would like to speak to one part which the Minister really concluded his speech on and that is the innovation around a joint management approach to the Rangitaiki River. The real opportunity here if it is to be the living embodiment of what is intended by Ngati Whare as I read it is to ensure that they have a continued and ongoing opportunity for the management and governance decisions around their waterways that is not heavily dependent on the Minister of the day or on the Government of the day—that is instituted into a long-term process. Ngati Whare should not have to be arguing continually if there is a change at the local government level through the planning process and the regional policy statement process to have their views with regards to the management of the Rangitaiki continually resurfacing during that planning cycle. This Treaty settlement should give them absolute assurance that their aspirations for Rangitaiki will be timeless regardless of who is sitting at a local government level or on the Crown benches. 
There are also relationship protocols and again this is a really important issue given the nature of restructuring that has taken place. It is absolutely critical that the Crown undertake some obligation to monitor how the relationship protocols with the Ministry of Fisheries Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Ministry for the Environment are occurring and continue to give life to what is intended in the spirit of Ngati Whare’s Treaty settlement. If this is going to realise its true aspirations then there should not have to be a to-ing and fro-ing between Ngati Whare leaders and the Crown to say “Your ministries are not doing what the Treaty settlement intended them to do.” and that has certainly been the experience of some iwi to date in terms of giving life to their relationship protocols. This is not to ascribe blame to any individual in particular; it is just the nature of how things work and what people lose sight of when it comes to practical implementation of Treaty settlements. 
There is also a letter of engagement which I think again is an important part of the Treaty settlement. I want to pay tribute to Ngati Whare in the House today I want to pay tribute to Ngati Manawa in the House today who have come to hear these speeches and I want to give my absolute confidence and assurance that we on the Labour benches want to see you live these settlements for the benefit of future generations. Kia ora koutou.