SpeechHARETE HIPANGO (National): E karanga au nei ki ngā uri o Rangitāne o Wairarapa Rangitāne o Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua. Tēnei te mihi atu ki a koutou i tēnei wā. Nau mai haere mai i roto i te Whare nei. Ko au Harete Hipango he uri nō W'anganui. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou i tēnei wā.[I call to the descendants of Rangitāne o Wairarapa of Rangitāne o Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua and of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua. This is my greeting to you all at this time. Welcome welcome in this House. I am Harete Hipango a descendant from Whanganui. Warm greetings to you all.]I'm standing to address the House but more significantly and importantly the uri of those tribal peoples and hapū I have acknowledged and addressed today for the first reading of Te Rohe o Rongokako Joint Redress Bill. I was unaware that I would be taking a call on this bill until just earlier today and so the time that I have had in preparation has been somewhat compromised but I assure those who are gathered here and who have travelled afar—and I acknowledge you; thank you for coming—and those of your people who are not able to accompany you today that we will give this bill the due diligence that is necessary and is appropriate before the Māori Affairs Committee. This legislation is required to give effect to all cultural redress shared between as I said in my mihi Rangitāne o Wairarapa Rangitāne o Tamaki nui-ā-Rua and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua as was contained within the deeds of settlement signed between Rangitane and the Crown on 6 August 2016 and the deed of settlement signed between Ngāti Kahungunu and the Crown on 29 October 2021. When these matters come before the House—and this is a joint redress bill to those previous Treaty settlement matters that have been locked in under the deeds of settlement but this is a history lesson for New Zealanders also. The people of the tribal and the hapū areas who are here today are but a representation of a small part because there are many of your forbears who are present in you today and importantly these bills are also about moving forward into the future—the aspirations and the hopes to be fulfilled. This bill was introduced to the House on 3 February 2020 and here we are on 30 March 2022 with the first reading. It will move to the Māori Affairs Committee for all members to give this the due diligence and the scrutiny that it is deserved of. With that scrutiny there will come differing viewpoints and that has been touched on by some of the members in addressing the House today. Those differing viewpoints take into account part of the journey that has been traversed to date. There is more to traverse in terms of the settlement of the bill as it passes into law with this joint redress. I well know in terms of our Wanganui River settlement that over the course of decades—in fact over the course of generations and lifetimes—the stories the lived experiences of our people are aired and viewed often with agreement often with disagreement. And the beauty is how we are able to address and redress those differences amongst ourselves. It takes time. Often this process that's imposed by the Crown can create division but we draw deeper where we can also create unity. I look up in my blurred vision—part of the blurring of the vision is the ageing of the eyes but never of the heart—but also with these readings with this kōrero in the House there is the emotion that's tinged. So I look amongst you all in addressing the people gathered here today and I recognised one of my own whanaunga Mavis. Mavis you were also W'anganui but importantly today you are Rangitāne and I acknowledge you and everybody who is joined with you and before you your tupuna your father and the journey that is being traversed over time. When this bill comes back to the House I will speak more pointedly to the detail of this bill which is in three parts. It is a bill that has some 122 clauses and three Schedules and with my legal eye I will give the due diligence and scrutiny that it is deserved of. But today I stand to acknowledge that with the journeys comes the challenge that we have out of a measure of divisiveness how we pull together and create unity. The timing of this also; the last time in fact—and I'm being somewhat intimate and personal—that I reached out to Mavis by text was when I happened to view on Māori TV on Waitangi Day episode five a replay of The Negotiators and it was part of the journey that many of you have been on to arrive at this point here and further points moving forward with aspiration and hope into the future. We know full well those of us who've been on the journey of these negotiations and settlements as it traverses through into law the challenges. However with those challenges as I've repeatedly said today we draw within and look to our tikanga for the tika and the pono of getting and making things right. Some of us are aware of the application to the Waitangi Tribunal. What I drew from the limited information that I have to hand is that—it was noted in the reports in the media; the findings the recommendations from the Tribunal but what I picked up importantly was one of your tribal peoples one of your own said We will take this back and we will kōrero further to strive to find a solution." As has been noted there are two deeds of settlement. This bill is a joint redress bill which identifies within those 122 clauses within the three parts and the three Schedules the significant features and landmarks the significant watermarks and waterways but significantly the aspirations that will be fulfilled moving forward into the future so that—from the opportunity—prosperity will grow. Prosperity will be potentialised so that out of Te Rohe o Rongokako and this joint redress bill with those two deeds of settlements—with the differing views of others who feel that their needs have not been addressed—the Māori Affairs Committee will pay due recognition and take heed of what those of you will further submit and talk to. On that note the National Party supports this bill to the first reading through to the Māori Affairs Committee to hear further the kōrero and the heartfelt and the lived experiences and stories of the people of Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu. I commend the bill to the House."