Mahuta Nanaia: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMahuta Nanaia: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5670. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Māku e whaiwhai ngā kōrero kua kōrerohia i te ata nei ā nō reira ki a koutou Ngāruahine kei te mihi maioha ki a koutou. E hoki ngā mahara i tēnei wā ki a rātou katoa ka whakaaro ake ki ngā mātua tūpuna me ngā kupu kōrero i waihotia ki ngā whakatupuranga hei kawe i tēnei kaupapa te toimahatanga o te raupatu me te hiahia kia whai oranga i roto i ngā āhuatanga mō ngā whakatupuranga. Nō reira ki tērā kīwai o te kete nei e Tihi e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. Nāku te waimaria kia tuitui i ēnei kōrero ki ērā i waihotia i roto i Te Whare nei.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. I will follow up on the contributions expressed this morning so an affectionate greeting to you collectively Ngāruahine. At this moment my thoughts go back to all of the departed and I reflect on the words uttered by the ancestral forefathers which they left behind to the generations about this matter of extreme depression relating to confiscation which was for them to bear with a desire that benefits accrue from within the circumstances for generations. Therefore on the other handle of this basket Tihi I acknowledge you all; greetings well done and congratulations. It is my good fortune that I am able to stitch these comments to those that were left in this House.]It gives me some pleasure to be able to contribute to this particular Treaty settlement. As I said in my opening mihi you cannot help but be reminded of some of the historical facts of the country and locate yourself in some small way to some common interest. When I read through the historical accounts for Ngāruahine and the impact of confiscation in the area there was so much that was similar to the experience in Waikato—1.2 million acres were confiscated in Taranaki which is the same amount as in Waikato.In terms of the inability of the Compensation Court to adequately address the issues because those who had fought hard to hold on to their lands were classed as rebels and in terms of the dislocation that people had as a result of raupatu of their land—how that turned relationships around often within hapū and within whanau those who fought with the Crown and those who remained loyal to the aspirations of their people—all of this kind of gets churned up as a result of combing through the historical facts and the events that occurred. I grew up as a child who heard only stories of people who had remembered their tūpuna who had fought during particular times. But can I say this as a child of a raupatu area he rongoā i roto i te mamae [there is a medicine in the pain]because we were very well assured that despite the burden of obligation that the generation above me—my parents’ generation my father’s generation—had to address the issue of raupatu it was so that the next generation had the ability to look forward.In some small way the settlement process enables that to happen. It is not a complete redressing of all those wrongs but it is a window and a door that you can choose to walk through so that things can be better for the next generation. It is so as not to forget the past but to be able to walk confidently into the future and say: “This is who our ancestors were and what they believed in. This is who we are now. This is how we choose to be going forward into the future.” For all that I acknowledge Ngāruahine. I acknowledge everything that is in this particular settlement and what you have tried to achieve.I had a look at some of the aspects of this settlement. Can I say that at the select committee level I am particularly interested in the local government level the instruments that enable your participation in the planning and regulation aspects of what happens within your particular region. I will take a particular interest in that because I know that so much of what can happen going forward into the future will require your own determination of your development aspirations and being able to locate that within your own area working with local government working with business and working with all those groups you have to work with to give full effect to what you want to do. I also note that there are relationship accords with key Government agencies. We have just had a debate yesterday in the House with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations noting the Post Settlement Commitments Unit and how that unit can be a really key part of ensuring that these accords are monitored and evaluated and are operating in the way that the settlement intends it to operate because if it falls short of that it falls short of your aspirations contained in the settlement.Although it may not on the surface be appropriate for certain matters to be relitigated Minister I anticipate that even though the Wai 552 issue has gone to the High Court and has had a determination it may well come back to the Māori Affairs Committee through a submission. Often I have noticed through the Treaty settlement process that people use the select committee as a way to be able to tell their story and have it recorded and heard in some way shape or form. The select committee gives a lot of respect to anybody who presents submissions to us in earnest in order to try to understand the nature of their concerns. We are somewhat constrained in being able to address this because once it gets to the settlement phase and the legislative phase our strongest role is to ensure that the deed reflects what is contained in the legislative mechanisms and we can kind of really scrutinise some of that aspect. But to revisit matters that have already been determined elsewhere we are a little bit constrained in that respect. I do want to mention that because I anticipate that that will be an issue.I also note the matters with regard to the conservation estate. You know the conservation legislation is still in itself one of those Acts of law that have the strongest references to giving effect to the Treaty of Waitangi. So the Treaty settlement process has enabled us to really have a high level of expectation on these accords and these instruments through the conservation estate to be able to make sure that they are working to their full extent as well.Do you know what? Over time I have considered in this House—and I have been here as long as the Waikato raupatu settlement 20 years next year—that the conservation lands might be the last bastion of New Zealand lands solely held for our people in the public estate and Māori are inserting themselves right in there saying: “We’re going to partner how these lands are going to be managed for the benefit of all New Zealanders.” That can only be good because more and more we are seeing so much of the New Zealand estate sold elsewhere out of our hands and the next generation is quite fearful about that. So New Zealanders owe a huge debt of gratitude to iwi who through their good nature have said: “We can do this with the Crown for the benefit of all New Zealanders.” It gives me great heart the Tūhoe settlement with Te Urewera. That will radically I think transform the way in which people will look at co-management and co-governance of a beautiful estate like that as does the Ngāruahine settlement.There is so much more to this Treaty settlement that again as the Minister himself said there is not enough time in 10 minutes to be able to do it adequate justice. But you can rest assured Ngāruahine that the diligence of our select committee chair and his good nature enable us to investigate any matter that we require—Pita Paraone: And members.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: —and members; that is right the member from New Zealand First—and to investigate those matters that are really important to give you an assurance that we are doing the best job we can do to steward through what has been a huge and long effort of a number of people. But most important the total sum of that effort is courage—courage and conviction. Nō reira i roto i ērā kupu iti ka waihotia i roto i ēnei pito kōrero mā koutou hei hari hei whakahoki ki te kāinga nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[So in those brief words I leave these brief statements for you to enjoy and take home; so acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all.]