SpeechHARETE HIPANGO (National): Thank you for the opportunity to take this call on behalf of the National Party speaking to the second reading of Te Rohe o Rongokako Joint Redress Bill. Mr Speaker when I addressed the House with the first reading of this bill on 30 March this year I made reference to the fact that there is a great expectation but also a burden of responsibility with these Treaty settlement bills. Because as members of Parliament and those of us who were giving service on the Māori Affairs Committee listening to other debates in the House on these readings—and importantly the submissions coming from the descendants of claimants the descendants of those that have passed on with the grievances that are being addressed and redressed under these bills—is one of great expectation but also a great burden of responsibility. As members we come into this belatedly in the process in this journey that does transcend and transpire through generations. The expectation is that as members of Parliament sitting on a select committee we are required to accumulate all of the whakaaro the thoughts; the mātauranga the knowledge; the kōrero the stories that are shared with us—that are in written text but also importantly for us to listen to.So following on from my colleague Tāmati Coffey who is the chairperson of the Māori Affairs Committee in making reference and mention of when we as members went to Papawai Marae at Greytown—the importance of us listening to the kōrero but also being mindful of those no longer there. I always try and make a personal association and connection. Papawai Marae is one of the more important marae in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand because in the late nineteenth century it was the focus of Kotahitanga the Māori parliament movement. Kotahitanga means to unify and bring together. Papawai was established in the 1850s when the Government set aside land for a Māori settlement near Greytown. All these decades and time later we return to Papawai to listen to the whakaaro the thoughts to listen to the kōrero that has been passed through the generations in terms of this joint redress in addressing those grievances that impacted on Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua and Rangitāne o Wairarapa and Rangitāne o Tamaki nui-ā-Rua.So the joint redress for those two tribal peoples Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne—when I was sitting there at Papawai Marae bearing in mind that we were in the presence of a former attempt of unifying Māori under Kotahitanga Māori parliament. Parliament the French word for to talk" "to listen" to bring together and to take cognisance of. So I was seated there as a descendant of my Whanganui peoples knowing that my people had been there at Papawai. But I was also there as a descendant of a tupuna of Ngāti Kahungunu Tamatea-Pōkai-Whenua who traversed and travelled and went on adventures and exploration and travelled down the west coast of the North Island Te Ika-a-Māui and arrived at the mouth of the Whanganui River. He crossed over from the northern reaches of the Whanganui River to a marae which is my papa kāinga and tūrangawaewae Pūtiki Wharenui a Tamatea Pōkaiwhenua. Tamatea-Pōkai-Whenua had traversed and travelled the seascape the coastal-scape and then the river-scape of Whanganui crossing over after gathering wharenui a particular flax and tying his hair into a topknot and deriving and positioning and placing himself at the mouth of the Whanganui River which is my ancestral marae. I was cognisant of that and those have journeyed before. I turn to the bill. Importantly this is a joint redress bill of the journeys of the peoples of Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitāne coming together and the Crown importantly recognising and attempting in this bill to address and to redress the grievances and the wrongdoings of lands of waters of lakes of rivers that have been taken—confiscated—wrongfully. This is addressed under three parts of this bill and 122 clauses and three Schedules as a recognition of the return of those lands those waters those rivers in a co-relationship between the Crown and the tribal peoples for the management—the term that we hear co-governance that effectively is about recognising the importance of the relationships of the people affected by the territories their domains the mana motuhake of being able to have a co-existence of relationships and the management of those relationships with the assets that the people are living amongst and within. My colleagues have spoken about the particular aspects of those assets or the environments the taonga. The three Schedules—and one in particular Schedule 1—describe the Wairarapa Moana reserves and the marginal strips. Schedule 2 describes the overlay area to which the overlay classification applies between Rangitāne and Kahungunu. And then Schedule 3 describes in detail the cultural redress properties. I won't go into the detail because my parliamentary colleagues have already done so and those to follow in speaking will too. But what I do stress and address the House with is talking about that burden of responsibility that we have as members of Parliament recently arrived sitting on the select committee attempting to resolve those grievances that have been intergenerational. The settlement process is not a perfect process and often it can create new grievances or perpetuate those enduring grievances. Negotiations are negotiations; where it's about parties who go there with their vested interests negotiating the best position and outcome for those particular parties or interest groups. The process is not perfect because it can create and perpetuate new grievances. We in select committee in the whare tupuna in the ancestral house on Papawai Marae listened to some of those grievances and the mamae in particular of two claimant groups who again are the same claimants that will speak to another bill that will come before this House next week the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Claims Settlement Bill.What was difficult for us—as select committee members and members of Parliament listening to the grievances and the different interest group representations—was being cognisant of how best we move forward; how the peoples the claimants the interested parties move forward. And I talk about how the process of these Treaty settlements is premised on negotiations. We as members are advised by Te Arawhiti the Crown agency body. There is little provision or facilitation for mediation and the expectation that the Crown has on parties that are negotiating can often create divisiveness amongst themselves. The whole point is to unify and be able to move forward but there is no offer for facilitated mediation. And I put that to this House: the Crown ought to be cognisant that negotiations have their place but so too do mediations in terms of bringing people together for a meeting of minds to recognise what it is that is going to amalgamate and resolve acknowledge those grievances pull together in kotahitanga to be able to move forward. A negotiated process is divisive and it turns people against each other.The National Party commends this bill to the House."