te Heuheu Georgina: Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5263] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (NZ National) 
:  
Tena tatou katoa. Nga mihi ki a koutou ki te maunga o Taranaki mai Tongariro te whare o te Heuheu tena koutou. E mihi nui ki a koutou i tenei rangi he rangi nui tenei. No reira ki a tatou katoa tena tatou katoa. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to us all. Greetings from the mountain of Tongariro and the household of te Heuheu to you the mountain of Taranaki. Greetings to you on this great occasion. To us all here greetings to us all 
.] 
I am pleased to support the third reading of the Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement Bill. As a Maori New Zealander of Tuwharetoa Te Arawa Tuhoe and Ngati Awa descent I congratulate Ngati Ruanui in particular and the Government on concluding this settlement of the historical grievances that give rise to the settlement bill now before us and which is about to be passed into law by this Parliament. I do that to emphasise the significance of the near-universal parliamentary support for this settlement but more so for the signal it sends of the maturing of our nation Aotearoa New Zealand. 
In that respect the Crown can—through the Government of the day and on behalf of all New Zealanders—admit to injustice and wrongdoing and move to make reparation for that. In that respect Maori claimants—in this case Ngati Ruanui—are acknowledged and relieved of a grievance long held and passed on through generations from the 1860s to today grievances that have signified for them that the British justice that they signed up for in 1840 was illusory only. As events unfolded it appeared that that justice was not to apply to them. For far too long they have been at the receiving end of an inequality of citizenship and that is a total injustice. For the circumstances that give rise to most if not all historic grievances are about the application of a different standard of citizenship. 
In the case of Ngati Ruanui that included being imprisoned without trial and being subject to unlawful confiscations and alienations. That happened 160-odd years ago but more recently other injustices have occurred that in a sense have given iwi to think that British justice was never meant for them. These settlements provide the opportunity for the Crown and iwi to reconcile a past that has represented a blight on our democratic tradition for the honour of the Crown to be restored and for Maori New Zealanders to move forward with all others in the spirit of shared nationhood. Make no mistake; Maori understand what that means. For too long and over the last 100 years they have given more than their share in theatres of war around the world. In the week where we have just celebrated Anzac Day Maori know only too well what the responsibilities of citizenship are. 
I wish to make two further points. The settlement model developed by National and continued by Labour is not and probably could never be the perfect model. As we have learnt over the last 15 years untangling 163 years of history is not always easy and making amends is even more complicated than we could ever have imagined. But to their credit a majority of New Zealanders who believe in the notion of a fair go have enabled us to move forward and to the best of the Crown’s ability. On the basis of an enormous measure of good faith on the part of both iwi Maori and the Crown we are working our way through those matters. There is certainly no intention to create further injustice and while that statement may provide cold comfort for Pakakohi and Tangahoe I hope that they will in time come to accept that their inclusion in this settlement has been done with the best of intentions and on the best advice available. 
 I ask that those responsible for the management of this settlement work hard to unite all of Ngati Ruanui so that in time Pakakohi and Tangahoe will come to see that this settlement is theirs as well. 
Historic settlements are only a beginning. Essentially they take us back to the more or less even playing field supposedly existing in 1840—two peoples of vastly different cultures giving certain undertakings to each other in order to go forward together to build one nation. That was the finest of intentions and I am proud of our antecedents. If the treaty’s purpose was only to put right things that would go wrong subsequently then we are attributing to our British antecedents a deception of the most significant magnitude and to our Maori antecedents a lack of either the wit or understanding to fathom what was happening to them. I reject that for both the Crown and Maori. 
The ongoing meaning of the treaty in contemporary New Zealand—because it is ongoing—is being worked through and the last 15 years has seen us as a nation doing that. If we proceed on the basis that we are one nation many peoples but with shared values then with visionary leadership we will forge our future together—one based on mutual trust mutual obligations and as I say shared values. The treaty remains at the heart of our constitution and it presents a challenge to all of us as we go forward to work our way through it. 
I want to pay a special tribute to Sir Doug Graham. Under the leadership of the National Party in the 1990s he worked very hard to start the negotiations with the Taranaki people. This is the first of those historic settlements to come to this House and I think that is reason for Parliament to be very pleased that it has seen its passage into law. Sir Doug Graham brought to that process a generosity of spirit and compassion which remains his greatest legacy—not just to this Parliament but to this country. 
I join with the Minister today and wish Ngati Ruanui the best for the future. I urge all members to do as we all say we will do and that when the historic grievances have been resolved and we have reconciled our past we as Maori will move forward. There are a great many things happening among Maori today that we all have reason to be proud of. In many places Maori are already demonstrating their enterprising and adventurous character—those things that were all so evident along with a great many other things in 1840 and that now have the chance to flourish and bloom. 
Lastly I want to acknowledge New Zealanders. We are a small country but we have a great country. I for one would not want to live anywhere else. I am proud of New Zealanders and I am proud of a country that moves to address these historic grievances. In a sense we stand alone in the world in doing that. This is our chance to show that we can modify our democratic traditions to accommodate those things that indigenous peoples value and to accommodate the increasing diversity of our nation. I think we should all take a bow. I am still waiting for those who might oppose the legislation to come up with a better model but in time I am sure that we will all be proud of what we are doing here today. No reira tena koutou tena tatou katoa.