Clendon David: Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClendon David: Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 23 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19498. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID CLENDON (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kei te mihi o te rā ki a koutou. It is a genuine pleasure and privilege to speak on behalf of the Green Party to affirm our support for this legislation the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Bill and may I add our welcome to the representatives of ngā iwi and ngā hapū of Tāmaki-makau-rau the dignitaries and the other stakeholders from Auckland Tāmaki-makau-rau who have made the effort to be in the House today. Welcome to our place and indeed welcome to your place. It is a pleasure to have you here.This bill has some unique features not least of all that unlike other settlement bills it does not in fact settle historic grievances or historic claims. As the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations has accurately pointed out this is a redress bill. The individual claims of iwi and hapū relating to breaches of te Tiriti over time are being dealt with in a parallel process. Some of them are at an advanced stage of settlement. Others have some way to go yet. But it has been described as an elegant solution and I actually tautoko that. It is an interesting approach and I think a very positive one and it will have some very positive outcomes to it.I think the submission last year from the Tāmaki collective noted that this legislation as it will pass today is an outcome of negotiation of diplomacy and of compromise and that is clearly true if one reads the content and the spirit of the bill. There has been negotiation and high-level diplomacy within and between iwi and hapū and other stakeholders and of course compromise. In politics in political circles compromise often has a negative connotation to it but I think compromise arrives at a consensus position—a position where perhaps nobody has got everything they might have wanted but everybody can see that there is something in it and that this is a solution and an outcome that people can live with and that serves the interests of the maximum number of people. I think in that sense it is a good outcome. It is a testament to the power indeed of negotiation of diplomacy of compromise and of achieving consensus as to what is the best way forward out of very complex and very difficult situations.The preamble talks about the maunga and motu that are affected in this legislation—they are named in it—as being taonga in relation to which iwi and hapū have always maintained a unique relationship and where those iwi and hapū have honoured their intergenerational role as kaitiaki. I would just like to take a moment to reflect on the nature of kaitiakitanga. I would not claim to have any profound insights into the depth of the meaning of those words of kaitiaki and kaitiakitanga. One thing I am sure of is that an assertion of kaitiaki status is an assertion of a bundle of rights to occupy to use and to manage. But also I think profoundly it an acknowledgment of responsibility and of obligation. I think those who would criticise the Māori assertion of rights miss the fact that it also is an acceptance of significant responsibility and obligation to the past to the present and to the future. I think it is the sense of responsibility and obligation that drives Māori that is one of the key drivers of Māori determination to see our grievances settled and to see wrongs put right. I think it is important to continue to recognise that and to perhaps reflect that it is a very complex matter and complex situations and relationships have evolved over time.The legislation speaks of restoring ownership of certain maunga and motu and that is the word we do not often see—“ownership”. That is about as strong a statement as one could wish to see in a piece of legislation related to te Tiriti breaches over time. It provides mechanisms by which iwi and hapū can exercise mana whenua and kaitiakitanga. And of course we have the trustee model and the other various and quite complex mechanisms by which the spirit and the intention of this bill would be implemented. It talks about the first refusal regime which will enable those iwi and hapū to build an economic base for their members. That is a critically important part of this whole—the fact that we are tired of hearing about Māori at the wrong end of all the social statistics. Empowering Māori by putting back into their hands the means to build an economic base in a Māori way and in a way that serves the interests the beliefs and the values of Māoridom is a very powerful part of this legislation.It is very timely and I am personally pleased as I am sure we all are that this legislation is being passed today. This Parliament is very close to its end. There are only 3 more sitting days. Again the submission from the collective last year made a note that there is a significant opportunity cost. Any delay in passing this legislation would put back the time at which the iwi and hapū can begin to build their economic base as well as having their mana whenua status acknowledged. So it is good. It is a pleasure genuinely to see this passing before the expiry of this Parliament.It is probably hard to overestimate the significance of some of the maunga and the motu that are dealt with in this legislation not only to Māori but to the sense of identity the sense of place of all Aucklanders and indeed all New Zealanders. I think you would be hard pressed to think of a single more iconic or more representative landscape feature to all Aucklanders than Rangitoto. It is in my view at least the singly defining feature of that area of that city and of that region. I think that the other maunga the cones the motu Motutapu Island Recreation Reserve Maungawhau and Takarunga are places with which Aucklanders identify very closely—Aucklanders Māori Pākehā tauiwi. These are places that define what it means to be a resident in that place and to feel some attachment to it. So I think the importance of the ways in which this settlement this redress bill has advanced is very difficult to overestimate. It has put in place the mechanisms as I said.It is the outcome of some very very hard work I suspect over time for a lot of parties. I think I commented at the earlier reading that although on the one hand I would very much like to have been on the Māori Affairs Committee I also recognise that it would have been a significant challenge to the members of that select committee to shepherd this legislation through in a way that continued to be acceptable to all partiesI acknowledge the work of the select committee and indeed of the Minister in successfully bringing this to the House in a form that I believe will be acceptable to all parties.A great deal of work has been done but in another very important way the work really is only beginning and that has been alluded to by a number of speakers. The collective has a significant task ahead of it as does the council and as do other stakeholders in this—the NGOs the Department of Conservation and so on—all of the people who will have to continue in a spirit of cooperation to ensure that the spirit and the letter of this legislation is implemented in a timely fashion and in a way that does serve the collective good the good of the most. So on behalf of the Greens I reiterate our absolute and enthusiastic support for this legislation. We offer our very best wishes to all of those for whom the work is just beginning. Kia ora.