Ririnui Mita: Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:630;Page:2794] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 Otira Te Arawa waka Te Arawa tangata tena koutou tena koutou nau mai haere mai. Ehara ma te potiki e tu ki te whakatau atu i a koutou koira hoki e mihi au ki taku hoa rangatira no Te Ropu Torangapu o Aotearoa Tuatahi nana koutou i whakatau. No reira e Pita tena koe. Otira kia ora tatou. 
[ 
Indeed to you the canoe and people of Te Arawa greetings to you greetings to you welcome welcome. It is not for the youngest to stand and welcome you here and that is why I acknowledge my chiefly colleague from New Zealand First who did that. So thank you Pita and greetings to us all. 
] 
It probably comes as no surprise to the House that I stand to support the legislation. I am quite disappointed with some of the remarks that have been made in the House particularly in relation to the history of the Te Arawa lakes and their confiscation but I will address some of those matters throughout the duration of my speech. 
These claims relate to the 14 lakes that were the subject of the 1922 agreement between Te Arawa and the Crown. The lakes were: Ngahewa Ngapouri Okareka Ngakaro Okataina Rerewhakaaitu Rotoehu Rotoiti Rotoma Rotomahana Rotorua Tarawera Tikitapu and Tutaeinanga. Te Arawa are here in the House today and I acknowledge their presence here. I do not know what it is that Opposition members do not understand about the history of Te Arawa but surely their presence here today would totally rule out the statements made by National’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee. In fact the transfer of the Te Arawa lakes from Te Arawa to the Crown was not a willing arrangement. Te Arawa were not willing participants in that arrangement and they are here today to make that clear to the House. 
The importance of the lakes to Te Arawa cannot be underestimated. Perhaps the only way to illustrate that in contemporary times is to compare them to the importance that every Greek citizen places on the Parthenon a Sherpa places on Mount Everest and the indigenous people of Australia place on Ayers Rock. As indigenous peoples we all have our iconic landmarks with which we have a spiritual and an ancestral association and for Te Arawa that association manifests itself in the lakes. The significance of this bill is that it ensures that the ownership of the lake beds returns to Te Arawa. As well as that seats on the committee that manages the day-to-day affairs of the lakes will be set aside for Te Arawa representatives. As the previous speaker from the Green Party made very clear to the House Te Arawa will have the opportunity to exercise their ownership rights over the lakes on that committee. They will have a legal voice at the table for the first time in many decades. The leverage of lake bed ownership and the property rights that flow from that mean they will be a very very significant economic voice in Rotorua and indeed Te Arawa whanui. 
 By way of background comment I say that for centuries the lakes provided a lifeline for Te Arawa. They were a food basket a shelter and a highway. Much blood and many tears have been spilt over time. From the hinterland to the shores of the lakes the stories of a proud people are etched in every nook every bay every outcrop every sandbank and every rocky reef even to the depths of the lakes. In some lakes sadly lie the koiwi of many of our tupuna whose lives were tragically lost as a result of the Tarawera eruption and of intertribal encounters. Many hapu and iwi of Te Arawa have relied on and cared for the lakes over generations. Over time the lakes have become important to the people of the Rotorua district and to the nation as a whole. The lakes are a jewel in the crown for the tourism industry in Te Arawa and Te Arawa themselves have played a major part in its development. The return of the lake beds to Te Arawa embodies the meaning of the Crown local government and Te Arawa working together for the preservation of the lakes and the betterment of the nation. 
The bill also contains an apology from the Crown to Te Arawa. The acknowledgment of the injustices suffered by Te Arawa is long overdue. The Crown failed to honour its commitments to them. I commend this Government for introducing a bill to this House that contains a formal Crown apology to Te Arawa their tupuna and their descendants for the breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi acknowledged by the Crown. In its most traditional sense there is no word for “sorry” particularly when we compare an apology in English with how we would do it in our own language. So what purpose does the apology serve? It is of course given for the benefit of the Crown so that it can somehow wash its hands of how it treated an honourable and a noble people. It is penance or self-atonement. Ina ra kei te Kaihautu kua puta te reo tapae ripeneta a te Karauna ki a Te Arawa mo ana he mo ana hara ki a Te Arawa ano kia tu watea te Karauna kia rite te kukupa te harakore kia ma te hukarere. 
[ 
Madam Assistant Speaker the Crown has made its penance to Te Arawa itself for its wrongdoings and injustices in the past to clear the way for an impartial settlement. 
] 
In my own language I have put in a more appropriate way an apology from the Crown to Te Arawa. 
Notwithstanding that some extreme views in opposition to the proposal to return the lakes to Te Arawa have been expressed by some members of the Rotorua community—and by the wider Bay of Plenty community. However Te Arawa are here today. They have taken a lot of criticism during the negotiation process but they are determined to see the settlement of this longstanding grievance and to move on. They are seeking justice and I believe justice has been partially served here today. 
But I am sickened by the way that the media have given what I would call the red-necked communities of our country the opportunity to promote their vile agendas. Not only in this case but in many other cases we have heard from claimant groups around the country about the issues they have had to deal with and the complications they have had to confront in relation to their claims. The media have chosen not to put their stories forward but instead to promote the views of those who have opposed them. That is a sad indictment on our communities and on our country. There is no grey area here. The Crown confiscated the lakes from Te Arawa. There is no grey area; it is quite clear. The confiscation was wrong in 1922 and the people charged with dispossessing Te Arawa of their lakes knew that but it is my sincerest hope that Te Arawa accept the Crown’s apology. It will be unreserved and it will remove the deep-seated shame that some members of continuing Governments have had to bear over the decades. 
I am saddened by the position that the elected member for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell has chosen to take in relation to this settlement. We know that those who criticise the settlement are ignorant whether intentionally or otherwise but they are a minority. In response to Gerry Brownlee’s statements to this House I say that the  
Hansard 
 records will confirm that Te Arawa was forced into accepting an annuity in return for the loss of the lakes. The Government of the day presented Te Arawa with a “take it or leave it” deal. Even though they chose to take it they were never willing participants in the transaction. Therefore for them the deal was never full and final. Just a few years later and to the credit of Te Arawa they donated an entire annuity to the Government’s war effort—an effort that saw them lose many of their young men. The price of citizenship has been very high for Te Arawa. 
Full and final reparation can never be made to Te Arawa yet they are here today in this House. They are prepared to let bygones be bygones in an effort to move forward and to take current and future generations with them. The descendants or the morehu here today bear witness to the writing of the final chapter of a book that will restore to them perhaps a sense of redemption at last. The bill acknowledges that Te Arawa have endured an arduous struggle in the pursuit of their claims for redress and compensation from the Crown. 
I join with my colleague the Hon Mark Burton in commending the Te Arawa negotiators whose commitment and passion have enabled us to reach this stage of the settlement process. I also congratulate and thank the representatives of the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board for their commitment to the process. I say that while this grievance passes into history another Te Arawa icon will also pass into history—that is the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board. It will be renewed as the Te Arawa Lakes Trust and that is a clear commitment to Te Arawa moving forward. 
I want the general public to acknowledge the decades of missed opportunities that the dispossession of the lakes has brought to Te Arawa. They were forced to stand back and watch as others developed the lakes and prospered. That prosperity was founded largely upon Te Arawa’s dispossession. This settlement is an important milestone for Te Arawa and for the Crown. The settlement redress will provide for Te Arawa the resources to assist in developing their economic and social well-being. 
 But I also want to reiterate that the settlement pertains only to Te Arawa’s interest in the lakes. Other negotiations currently in the pipeline will see other historical claims of Te Arawa settled and come to an end. Te Arawa in the future will be a powerful economic force in Rotorua and in the Bay of Plenty. Indeed like many groups who have entered into settlements they will be an economic force in this country and be recognised for that. 
So with that wave of your finger Madam Assistant Speaker I congratulate again the negotiators of Te Arawa and the people of Te Arawa who have come a very very long way to witness this historic step in the settlement of their longstanding grievance. Hoi ano kia ora tatou.