Mooney JosephJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Thank you Madam Speaker. Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare huri noa i te Whare nei he mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. Tēnei te mihi nau mai haere mai te iwi o Ngāti Tara Tokanui he mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. [Thank you Speaker and throughout the House today acknowledgments to you all. I am delighted to welcome you all here. Welcome Tara Tokanui nation greetings to you all.]I rise to speak on the Ngāti Tara Tokanui Claims Settlement Bill for its first reading. This bill gives effect to certain matters containing the deed of settlement signed on 28 July 2022 between the Crown and Ngāti Tara Tokanui. It is the final settlement between the Crown and Ngāti Tara Tokanui of all historical Te Tiriti o Waitangi claims resulting from acts or omissions by the Crown before 21 September 1992. I wish to take a moment to acknowledge the work done by the negotiators; the Crown officials; the present Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little; the previous Minister Christopher Finlayson; and all others who have been involved in no doubt a big piece of work to get it to this point. This package includes an agreed historical account Crown acknowledgments and apology a cultural redress of $444166 financial and commercial redress of $6 million and collective redress through the Pare Hauraki Collective Redress Deed. The iwi of Ngāti Tara Tokanui has an area of interest centred around the Hauraki region and the 2018 census estimated that Ngāti Tara Tokanui had 834 members. Ngāti Tara Tokanui and Ngāti Koi traced their origins to Tara who migrated from Maungatautari in the 16th century. This bill is intended to address the wrongs that have been done in the past as best as that can be done. Always in these Treaty settlement processes there can never be a full reflection of wrongs that have been done in the past but this is intended to address that as best as possible to provide a base from which the Crown and Ngāti Tara Tokanui can move forward and importantly create a better future for their iwi and for those who follow and come after them which is what these Treaty settlement processes are intended to do—and it certainly is my hope that that will be the case here.We are supporting this through to select committee. There are a few things that we will wish to seek a little bit more detail on at the select committee including some of the governance arrangements that are proposed in this the conservation framework some of the catchment authorities and the proposal to transfer ownership of any Crown minerals and lands transferred to Ngāti Tara Tokanui except for petroleum gold silver and uranium. So we will be seeking some more information and clarity and look forward to hearing from the community and from other interested members and importantly from Ngāti Tara Tokanui if they wish to speak at that process. But this is an important process; it is an important step forward and it is good to see that this is able to be progressed towards what is hopefully—well what should be the final step in this process in respect of the issues that are addressed in the bill. I do note that Ngāti Tara Tokanui is also a member of the Hauraki Collective and will receive collective redress through the Pare Hauraki Collective Redress Deed which does include other iwi and there's no doubt it's been a very select piece of work in its own right but that will be addressed separately in another bill. Paeroa and the area around it is a special place. I can say I have been there a number of times over my lifetime and known people who lived there and had a deep connection to the environment; in fact an old friend of my mum's was a potter who had a little section just outside of Paeroa and had done a lot of work rehabilitating that land growing trees and making some pretty amazing pottery. So I know some of the objectives that are set out in this bill about improving the environmental outcomes and the quality of water etc. will be well welcomed by many in that region and that's something that will find a wide community of interest who have agreement on those tenets that this bill does touch on. I was an army reservist at one point—I'll just throw this in here—and I did have the privilege one day on Anzac Day to go in as an army reservist and present arms to recognise those who have gone before and those who have sacrificed for a country which I note would have been members of Ngāti Tara Tokanui as well in years past. So I will conclude my contribution and we will have more to say. I do look forward to this and I hope that I have an opportunity to hear evidence when this matter comes before the select committee. These are quite special these processes and they are certainly very challenging for all involved. But it's really important that we are able to resolve these issues as best we can; to put right as best we can in the current time those things that have gone wrong in the past and to create a solid and enduring basis for people to be able to live good lives going into the future which is what these settlement bills aim to do. So thank you Madam Speaker and with that I will conclude my contribution.