Yule Lawrence; Tolley AnneLAWRENCE YULE (National—Tukituki): Nau mai haere mai. Welcome to the people from Ahuriri kia ora. It's lovely to have you here and while this is a very respectful occasion I do want to lift the level of energy a little bit because this House has been sitting late this week and people are a little bit tired at the end of the week. But I want you to be very optimistic our guests from our rohe and for Meka and Stuart—this is an important day for the people of Hawke's Bay for you to be with us.Can I first of all acknowledge the negotiating team—kaumātua Piri can I acknowledge you. It's nice to have you here. Barry and Joinella can I acknowledge all the work that you've done in getting to this point. I have known all of you for some time and I hold you with deep respect and I admire what you've done in getting to this point. Evelyn can I acknowledge you as well even though your husband stood against me twice for the mayoralty in Hastings. I acknowledge your passion and the things you've done to help and on the odd occasion giving me some guidance on this particular settlement. Bruce can I acknowledge you up the back? Bruce is the best taxi driver in Hawke's Bay and it's nice to have you here with us. And especially Tīpene can I acknowledge you. Tīpene sits in the audience as a young leader. He started off as my first rangatahi leader in that course and he's here today and I acknowledge you moving up the system of leadership. Thank you for being here. Can I acknowledge all of you that represent the seven hapū of the Ahuriri settlement.These negotiations haven't been easy and later on in my speech I will talk about some of the challenges that I think still exist. But these negotiations have been going on since 2010. Previously the Hon Shane Jones said you have to have the patience of Job. It's my experience that in these settlements you do; not only in the Government processes but sometimes even in getting everybody involved in the same settlement around the table. You were badly let down in 1840 in the negotiations that really meant that your land was sold for £1500 in a partnership and from that day until now largely what you expected at the time hasn't been delivered and in many ways your role and your mana and your whenua have been eroded from that day to this point. It was typified in 1857 when there was an armed conflict. We know that a number of people a number of members from your whānau ended up being incarcerated on the Chatham Islands for two years. That was a low point in Hawke's Bay's history. It was a low point in the relationship.Just to put it contextually for members of the public who may be listening at home Mana Ahuriri encompasses the land between the Ngaruroro River the Esk River and the Kāweka Ranges largely. Some of that is in my own electorate and it's separated from the rest by the Tutaekuri River which is in the Hon Stuart Nash's electorate. Meka Whaitiri covers all of our electorates. The net result of that though is that I have been acutely aware over my time of the grief that has been caused by not only that alienation of land but also the harm that was done out of that conflict where basically the Crown turned on its partner of 1840 and there was armed conflict. It's previously been said that Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu went from 9000 acres to 600 acres at high tide. That is the erosion of the scale of the land; and basically in 1930 people that had signed up into a partnership in 1840 effectively were almost landless. To add insult to injury in 1931 when the land came out of the sea where Hawke's Bay airport currently is what happened? Basically the Government regionalised it and gave it to the harbour board—they gave it to the harbour board. The Government held some of it which is the Landcorp farms used some of it for the airport but fundamentally the rest of it was given to the harbour board and over time has either been sold off or leased. So even in relatively recent history you have watched your land just disappear before you by various Acts and various Governments along the way. So I want to acknowledge and thank you for standing up for some of the protection works that are required in the estuary and for the concept you've brought about of jointly trying to solve some of those solutions. Barry and Piri I remember in my previous role having conversations with you about the airport and the strategic nature of that and I hope into the future you form part of the governance and management and even some of the ownership of the airport as a strategic part of Hawke's Bay. I know you have great plans for Landcorp farm should you get hold of that as part of the settlement. I think based on what you've advised me of that will be a very encouraging development for the people of Napier and the people of Hawke's Bay.I now want to come on to the deed of settlement and what has happened since and I can probably say this slightly easier than members of the Government. In my view the hold-up through the Waitangi claim process and other things—and I heard today there could even be a hold-up through the Māori Land Court further—is depriving you of your own destiny and your value. What was signed in 2016 and what you now have has already meant that you have lost millions of value in those developments. As part of the select committee process—I'm not sure whether it's possible or not—I would like the select committee to look at how that can be redressed because fundamentally these people in this room today they want to get on with the business and they've signed. There's a small group of people that are using every potential avenue to slow it down. The Waitangi Tribunal found there may have been a technical sort of breach in terms of the election of trustees. The Hon Andrew Little has done the right thing by bringing it to the House as long as that's fixed. We just cannot allow these types of things to continue on. I remember having conversations with the Hon Christopher Finlayson along the way as a sort of bystander to this and he said he felt he could get there but there was a small group of people that were holding up the process. So I am hopeful that the select committee can have a look at that along the way if that's within scope.I do want to in closing make some comments about people that are not here today that have been part of this journey. I particularly want to talk about Heitia Hiha and the work he did the fine man he was. He passed in 2018 at a time really when in normal circumstances we should be having this debate—we should have had it then. I have been talked to led encouraged and worked with many groups of this settlement group and groupings many fine people from Hawke's Bay. It is a small settlement—$19.5 million and some other redress—but it is hugely significant to the people of Napier the people that are in this room today. We're on our way. This is where the laws get changed. This is universally going to be supported through this House. There will be a select committee. We hope any things can be ironed out or changed in that process and in a relatively short time based on how long this has been going on this can be sorted. This settlement can be sorted. You can get on with some very exciting developments for Hawke's Bay and Napier. It's my great pleasure to support this bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the next speaker I just want to make the following comments because I will be leaving the chair during the next round of speakers but it would be inappropriate for me as a former Deputy Mayor of Napier and a person who has lived and raised a family in the rohe that is before the House not to greet the members of the Ahuriri hapū. I too wish to pay my tribute to a long-term friend Heitia Hiha.This is a split call. I call Paul Eagle.