Tirikatene RinoCANTERBURY REGIONAL COUNCIL (NGĀI TAHU REPRESENTATION) BILLThird ReadingRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): I move That the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill be now read a third time. Tihei-wā mauriora. Ki te whaiao ki te ao mārama. Ko te maunga Aoraki tātārehua e mihi ana ki te rangi e mihi ana ki te whenua e mihi ana ki ngā tāngata. Tū winiwini tū wanawana kia puta ki te whaiao ki te ao mārama. Tēnā koutou ōku rangatira. Tēnā koutou Ngāi Tahu whānui. Tēnā koutou ngā tini whanaunga ngā Papatipu Rūnanga ngā hapū maha ngā hapū rongonui tēnā koutou tēnā koutou nau mai nau mai whakatau mai nau mai hoki mai ki te Whare Pāremata e takatū nei. He hōnore nui tēnei māku e whakatū ki te tautoko ki te hēparatia tēnei pire i tēnei pānuitanga tuatoru.E mihi ana au ki te Kaunihera Taiao ki Waitaha tēnā koutou e te kaunihera. Tēnā koutou mō te mahi tahi me Ngāi Tahu i tēnei pire. He rā nui whakahirahira tēnei. Tēnā koutou e ngā mate huhua o te wā e hinga atu rā e ninga mai nei kua whetūrangitia koutou. Hoki mai ki a tātou te kanohi ora e pae nei. Tēnā koutou e ngā kaumātua e ngā pōua me ngā tōua. Ki a koe te rangatira e Tā Tā Tīpene e mihi kau ana ki a koe e te rangatira e te pāpā. Koutou e ngā Papatipu Runanga e tautoko nei i tēnei pire tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[The breath the energy of life. To the dawnlight to the world of light. The misty mountain Aoraki greets the sky the land and the people. Fearsome and formidable to come forth to the dawnlight to the world of light. Greetings my chiefs. Greetings to the wider Ngāi Tahu. Greetings to my many relatives to the local assemblies to the many sub-tribes to the well-known sub-tribes greetings greetings welcome welcome to the House of Parliament that is prepared for you. It is a great honour for me to stand in support and to shepherd this bill in its third reading. I acknowledge Environment Canterbury greetings to the council. Thank you for your collaboration with Ngāi Tahi on this bill. This is a very important day. I acknowledge the many deceased of this time you who have become stars in the heavens. Returning now to the living seated here. Greetings to the male and female elders. To you Sir to the chief Sir Tīpene this is my greeting you the patriarch. To you in the Papatipu Rūnanga who are supporting this bill greetings to you all.]As the member in charge I am delighted to speak at the third reading of the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill te Pire Kaunihera Taiao ki Waitaha (Whakakanohitanga o Ngāi Tahu). This bill is an historic bill. This bill is about the evolution of our Treaty partnership and representation of Māori of iwi at the local government level. I want to commend Kaunihera Taiao ki Waitaha Environment Canterbury for their boldness in bringing this bill to the House. This bill has been a long time in the making.I want to acknowledge both the present council and the previous council for their work with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu in bringing this second iteration of this bill through to this House and I'm absolutely honoured as the member in charge to now be at the third reading right on the cusp of it being passed into law by this House.I want to mihi to all my relations who have travelled from the great southern islands Te Wai Pounamu to be here to tautoko this significant occasion. In particular I want to acknowledge Tā Tipene O'Regan who is gracing us with his presence; our rangatira who has lead our great tribe and is now here to tautoko this significant development in that new age of cooperation that the Crown committed to with Ngāi Tahu through the Ngāi Tahu Settlement. So I mihi to Tā Tipene and I mihi to our Papatipu Rūnanga—the faces of Ngāi Tahu that make up the mana whenua that will be represented on te kaunihera on the Environment Canterbury Council.Because it is the hapu—it is the Papatipu Rūnanga—that hold up the great iwi of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and they are all represented here today in the Canterbury region.I want to acknowledge all of those Ngā Paptipu Rūnanga and they are Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura Te Rūnanga o Ngai Tūāhuriri Te Rūnanga o Ōnuku Te Rūnanga o Koukourārata Te Rūnanga o Raiwera Te Rūnanga o Taumutu Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke—Rāpaki—Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua Te Rūnanga o Waihao and Te Rūnanga o Moeraki.Our Ngā Papatipu Rūnanga who have been working in a tuia partnership for many years with Environment Canterbury are now taking the next level through the enshrinement in this legislation to have their representation right around the table at the regional council level. I want to mihi to all of their participation throughout the years and also their support for this legislation.I do want to acknowledge the regional council especially and that goes right from the chair Jenny Hughey and her team of councillors. I thank them for their tautoko. Right through all of the staff and members that have been working very very closely through the passage of this bill.I'll get to acknowledge them later on but this is a really significant piece of legislation because it reinstates Ngāi Tahu mana whenua representation at the regional council level. This is a unique piece of legislation; it's bespoke to the Canterbury region. It recognises the vast takiwā of the Canterbury region from north of Kaikōura south to the Waitaki River from the Banks Peninsula all the way through to our mighty maunga Aoraki. It's a vast 44500-square-kilometre area—the largest in the country—and also a population of 600000 throughout that takiwā.Throughout that massive takiwā there is one mana whenua; there is one recognised iwi and that is Ngāi Tahu represented through Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. This bill is about ensuring that there is direct Ngāi Tahu representation at the regional council level; it recognises the Treaty partnership; it recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi.Ngāi Tahu are entitled to this representation. They're entitled to this representation because that is the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and this is a modern-day expression of that promise. That's what this bill provides: it provides for Ngāi Tahu through recognising their mana recognising their rangatiratanga to have their ability to appoint two representatives to the regional council.It's a big regional council; the good citizens and ratepayers of the Canterbury region will still get 14 elected members from that vast takiwā area; they will still have those members. But there will be the addition of two Ngāi Tahu councillors who will be at the table to provide enhanced decision-making and to provide that important mana whenua perspective into those decisions because that is very important.So this is a positive move and I commend Environment Canterbury for their forthrightness in bringing this bill to the House. It's been an absolute pleasure shepherding it through thus far.I'm not going to entertain the debates from the other side because this is a time of celebrating the passage of this bill. In 2019 when we failed to pass an earlier iteration of this bill I remember saying at that time that we will be back. I remember saying that our great maunga—our sacred maunga Aoraki—is patient and is watchful.I'm so delighted that we waited our turn and we have come back to this House. We have come back with this legislation and we have the numbers to pass it into law. I know those on the other side may be wanting to take us back; they want to take us back and put us in a box. But this is about the evolution of Aotearoa and the representation of Māori at council level.I want to thank all the people that have been involved: David Perenara-O'Connell Julian Phillips Catherine Schache David Cochrane—who was the solicitor draft person all of my whanaunga from Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Lisa Tumahai and all of the Ngā Papatipu Rūnanga for the mahi tahi that has taken place in the culmination of this historic legislation.I'm delighted that it will pass. I'm delighted that I've had the opportunity to shepherd it through. I commend this bill to the House mō tātou ā mō kā uri ā muri ake nei [for us and our children after us]. Kia ora tātou.SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.