Tremain Chris: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTremain Chris: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16162. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakahaere ā tēnā koutou. Tihei mauri ora! Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata whakamaua kia ū kia tīnā. Tēnā koutou. Ki te Whare e tū nei tēnā koe. Ki ngā hoa Pāremata tēnā koutou. Ki Ngāti Raukawa tēnā koutou. Haere mai nau mai ki te Whare Pāremata. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and greetings to you collectively. Behold the breath of life! Seek the distant horizon draw it near grasp and hold on to it firmly. Greetings to you. To the House that stands before me I salute you. To parliamentary colleagues I greet you. To the tribe of Raukawa I acknowledge you. Welcome to Parliament House welcome. Greetings acknowledgements to you collectively and to us all.]Kia ora. Good morning. It is a huge privilege to be one of the speakers in the history of the settlement process. Although I do not pretend to be one of those who have led the charge in this area if we look at the history of settlement claims from both sides of the House there have been men and women here who have worked to bring settlements to a head.Today I would like to acknowledge the members of the Māori Affairs Committee led by Tau Henare who cannot be here. They are obviously stuck in fog as other members of the House have alluded to. The committee has worked collaboratively across the House to bring these settlements and this second reading of the Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill to the House.Can I acknowledge Minister Finlayson the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations who has worked tirelessly as Minister Parata pointed out to bring many settlements to fruition. For those who are interested there have been 68 Treaty settlements across New Zealand. Of those 42 have come to fruition since 2008. We are well over halfway through the Treaty settlement process which is indeed a milestone. If I reflect on the mihi that I used at the start of my whaikōrero this morning it talked about reaching for the big goals the stars and going after our dreams. I think that certainly one of the dreams that not only Māori but many New Zealanders now have is that we can progress through these Treaty settlements get through to the end of them and look to the future.If I talk to many of my constituents there have been concerns historically about the time frame it has taken and concerns about the cost of it. But when you actually reflect on what it is now achieving it is well worth the process well worth the time and well worth the investment of the Crown in these settlements.In regard to Raukawa at this second reading as in each of the bills that have come before the House there are different idiosyncrasies or different situations that have arisen in how each of the iwi or hapū have arrived at the settlement process. In regard to Raukawa they are here with this process because they became landless. That lack of land and resources undermined their ability to form an economic base and to be part of the economy. And actually that is really really important because when you are not part of the economy—if you are not in work if you do not have businesses—it is really difficult to see a future. Having that ladder—having your people in business I guess and in jobs—provides aspiration and a strong future. So I think these settlements are the foundation to providing the economic base that is so necessary to providing that aspiration and that future for so many New Zealanders and in this case Raukawa.The redress in Raukawa’s situation includes an apology for the actions that arose through the land wars throughout that period. The Crown acknowledges this and profoundly regrets and unreservedly apologises to Raukawa for its actions. It apologises and regrets its actions during the New Zealand land wars of the 1860s and it apologises for its past failures.Of course there is some commercial redress that goes hand in hand with this. Raukawa will receive approximately $52 million. It is interesting to reflect on that because some constituents of mine always look at the number—the dollar figure—and say: “Oh it’s been millions it’s been hundreds of millions—it’s been billions.” Well in fact it has not been that large. If you think about the total appropriations of the New Zealand Government on an annual basis it is somewhere around $78 billion to $80 billion which is pretty significant. But if we add up the total that we have spent on Treaty settlements to date it is above the envelope but it is only about $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion. In the greater scheme of things it is not a significant appropriation but it is certainly one of the best investments we can make.In this case $52 million is going to Raukawa. I note that it also includes the opportunity to purchase part of the Pureora North Crown licensed land. If I understand it correctly Pureora Forest is obviously below Tokoroa which is where the rohe of Raukawa exists but for those who are interested Pureora is now the start of one of the great New Zealand cycle trails. Just before Christmas I decided to take my son and do the trail. For a few days before Christmas we cycled an 84-kilometre trail from Pureora and down south through the old timber trails there. If anyone who is listening is into cycling I have got to say that that was one magic ride. I am not sure what opportunities will come for Raukawa with that particular land. Maybe it is forestry but I think that they could get into the tourism around the cycle trail. We stayed with one lady in the Blackfern Lodge. There are some members on different sides of the House who have said that the cycle trails would never be successful. Well this particular lady used to have 450 bed nights per year and she now has over 3000 bed nights a year as a result of the trail. So those are the opportunities that come from tourism and investment.There are other opportunities for Raukawa here such as the 25 Crown-owned properties that they will have the opportunity to purchase in and around their rohe there. Raukawa will have the first right of refusal for a period of 172 years on a further 36 Crown properties.In addition there is some cultural redress. There is a cultural fund of $3 million a pouwhenua fund of some $50000 where pou can be built and established around the rohe on sites of cultural significance which I think is an excellent thing to do.So ladies and gentlemen it is a privilege to stand and be part of the history of these Treaty settlements. I am looking forward to speaking on the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill which comes up next which is from my own rohe of Heretaunga of Hawke’s Bay. Yes it is a privilege to speak on these historic Treaty settlements and I wish Raukawa all the best as this bill progresses through to the third reading and to final settlement. Thank you.