Draft transcript - Tuesday 08 September 2015First draft - subject to correction.Draft transcript - Tuesday 08 September 2015Te Hiku Claims Settlement BillIn CommitteeTIM MACINDOE (Senior Whip—National): I seek leave for the Committee to consider all parts of Te Hiku Claims Settlement Bill as one debate with the voting to be taken separately for each part.Te Hiku Claims Settlement BillIn CommitteeThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Can you clarify that the votes will be as one question as well as the debate as one? Or do you want the votes individually? It would be 15 calls.Te Hiku Claims Settlement BillIn CommitteeTIM MACINDOE (Senior Whip—National): If it is possible take each as one but I am happy to be guided. I have discussed this with fellow whips. Are fellow whips happy for it to be taken as one vote as well?Te Hiku Claims Settlement BillIn CommitteeThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Members—well that is for me to ask.Tim Macindoe: Well I am sorry Sir but you have put me on the spot there.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Members leave is put for that purpose. Is there any objection? There appears to be none.[Continuation line: Chris Finlayson]Parts 1 to 15 and schedules 1 to 22Speech - Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations)Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I want briefly to address just a couple of points in the bill. The bill had its first reading on 4 November 2014 was considered by the Māori Affairs Committee earlier this year. The Supplementary Order Paper of 8 September makes minor technical corrections to parts of the bill that require updating. It corrects the definition of the Ngāti Kahu Accumulated Rentals Trust and corrects the legal description of Te Rerepari a cultural redress property transferring to Te Aupōuri. The second Supplementary Order Paper splits the omnibus bill into six bills so that allows for Ngati Kuri Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto and Te Rarawa to have individual claims settlement Acts reflecting the mana and the rangatiratanga of the Te Hiku iwi. The other two bills to be enacted are the Ngāti Kahu Accumulated Rentals Trust Bill which preserves rental moneys from Aupōuri Forest for Ngāti Kahu to receive in the future and an amendment bill to repeal section 17 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Act 1977 a provision that has not been used but caused confusion over the status of the land for Te Rarawa.[Continuation line: Can I briefly also refer]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSONCan I briefly also refer honourable members to clause 519 of the bill dealing with the ability of the Crown to transfer properties to give effect to Part 9 of the deed and that includes properties that will be the subject of a deferred selection property process to the trustees of the various iwi. A question has arisen in recent days about the status of Kaitāia Airport and because of public interest in the matter I thought it would be useful to spell out just what exactly what is going on because there have been a number of reports that shall we say are mildly misleading—that is very charitable. Ngāti Kahu and NgāiTakoto have Treaty claims over Kaitāia Airport and anyone who has a problem with that should go to the 2013 Waitangi Tribunal remedies report where it is all spelt out for people. Kaitāia Airport is a Land Information New Zealand property. The Crown has pursuant to the 2013 tribunal remedies report offered both NgāiTakoto and Ngāti Kahu the right to purchase the property in 50:50 shares. It is a deferred selection property. It is referred to in schedule 4 of the deed of settlement which is indeed in turn referred to in Part 9 of the deed dealing with deferred selection properties. The offer is conditional on the land remaining an airport and it is important to note that because it is a deferred selection the right to purchase becomes active in 3 years. If Ngāti Kahu have not concluded a Treaty settlement within 3 years of NgāiTakoto’s settlement date around December 2018 then NgāiTakoto will have the sole right to purchase the property as a deferred selection property. This approach was taken because the Crown had to balance the interests of both iwi while ensuring certainty about the future of the airport. Kaitāia Airport was included on the basis outlined above in the Crown’s settlement offer to Ngāti Kahu. Both Land Information New Zealand and Far North Holdings Ltd  the commercial arm of the Far North District Council  are due to begin renegotiating lease arrangements for the airport. Both NgāiTakoto and Ngāti Kahu will be offered the opportunity as potential future landowners to be involved in those discussions. So that is the position. Ngāti Kahu has not been locked out. I would very much like Ngāti Kahu to get involved in negotiations and let me say this. I have received a number of notes from people in Ngāti Kahu who are very keen to begin negotiations and I would hate to think that they are going to be criticised as Ngāti Kahu occupying the airport because it is not. There are a few miscreants who are doing it. They do not reflect Ngāti Kahu. I hope that the day will come very soon when the miscreants will get lost and Ngāti Kahu negotiators be they the current ones or new ones will sit down with the Crown to sort out these arrangements. There is no place for this kind of oafish behaviour and I say no more than that because it is a matter for the police. It is an operational matter and politicians do not get involved in operational matters.[Continuation line: Kelvin Davis]Parts 1 to 15 and schedules 1 to 22Speech - KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau)KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau): My contribution in the Committee stage will be brief because to be frank Ngāti Kuri  Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto  and Te Rarawa have waited long enough but I do want to thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for just spelling out Supplementary Order Paper 114 and explaining how the bill is going to be split up into its component parts to reflect the needs of each of the iwi. I would also like to thank him as well for the explanation regarding the situation at Kaitāia Airport. Ngāti Kahu and NgāiTakoto have a 50:50 interest in it. If after December 2018 Ngāti Kahu have decided not to go further NgāiTakoto will have the opportunity to purchase the airport on their own and I understand the reasoning. Why should one iwi’s progress be held up because another iwi has decided not to engage? So I thank the Minister for that explanation. I would also just like if the Committee could indulge me for a second to express my concern about the occupation at the airport and it is to do with the opportunity for medical flights to get into the airport. I believe that as of today there are some 60 people whose health issues could be jeopardised by the doctors and specialists not being able to fly in and out and those 60-odd people are all the whanaunga of the people who are agitating at the airport. I am told that there are children waiting for operations. I am told that there are people with mental health issues who are waiting for psychiatrists to come up. If those people do not get the treatment they need who knows what may happen to them? As the person I spoke to on the phone earlier this morning said if they go off and cause problems in the community then it just causes more troubles. So I would like to think that the protesters have the right to protest. They have made their point but I think for the good and the health and well-being of the people of Kaitāia—all of their whanaunga—they should stand down from their protest. I believe that if someone has a heart attack and the hospital cannot deal with it and they need to be air-evacuated out the hospital does not call in a helicopter for that; they actually fly in a plane. The airline is concerned about flying its pilots and its staff into a situation that may turn volatile. We do not know what people may do that might endanger the flights. So as I said I would like to think that the protesters have made their point and that they now stand down for the well-being of the people of Kaitāia. But as I say I am not going to drag this out any longer. Ngāti Kuri Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto and Te Rarawa have waited long enough for this day. Kia ora.[Continuation line: Rt Hon Winston Peters]Te Hiku Claims Settlement BillSpeech - Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First)Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First): There is a fundamental principle that you cannot fix a wrong by creating another one. At the second reading of this legislation New Zealand First pointed out in respect of the negotiations that certain claimants claimed rights and that was dismissed by the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations . The fact is that the airport at Kaitāia is closed today and that is the northern-most airport in this country. My colleague Kelvin Davis has spelt out how important it is. Yet this bill is before Parliament today and a critical part in it the Minister probably out of a sense of guilt decided to raise voluntarily himself. That is in respect of NgāiTakoto’s claim of half of the airport. But the question is whether the protest is based on a possible valid legitimate claim and whether it has a basis in law. The law is very clear on this matter in this sense—that land taken under the Public Works Act  if no longer to be used for that purpose should be first offered back to the original owners. The real question here then is: if it is still being used as an airport and the Government has decided to change ownership is that change back to the original owners? That is the question for which the answer is in dispute and that is why we have a protest now. It is all very well for the Minister to say that “where the miscreants will get lost” “no place for this oafishness” and “politicians don’t get involved in police matters.” Well with respect this is day 2 of the airport being obstructed and the people of the far north be they Māori or European are entitled to have a better answer than that. If this is a baseless claim then let the lawful authorities do their duty. But we are not going to stand by up north while a critical facility in a neglected region is itself closed. We already have lost on 1 April the services of Air New Zealand. We have an interim service from the Barrier Airlines and now it cannot operate. So I am asking the Minister what the Government intends to do—aside from the 2013 statement in respect of the claim of authority that he just gave excepting of course last month when the Wellington High Court instructed the tribunal to reconsider Ngāti Kahu’s request. So let us have the latest law not the one that is being superseded in terms of a decision at the Wellington High Court. What does the Government propose to do? Shove the legislation through all its readings today and if it is erroneous as to the claimants’ rights with respect to the airport then that will be imposed by law. Or does the Government intend in this case to send that bill back to the select committee to sort out the rightful answer to the question that is being asked? I think that everybody up north Māori and European is entitled to hear more than that from the Minister today. He comes from a Cabinet that after all has a Minister of Police . I would like to know what is going to happen because all people regardless of their background are going to be damaged. What we will not do is stand by and do nothing. We want the Minister to tell us today what he intends to do. If he is going to say: “Oh well Ngāti Kahu can wait all the way until September 2018.” what about the airport? When is it going to be operative? Will it be operative this afternoon? Will the Government make a decision? Will the Minister of Police ensure that this airport is reopened? Because what cannot go on is this matter being timed to stop this important facility which if it is allowed to continue will damage the health and economic interests of everybody in the far north and they cannot afford that. So could we please have an answer to the question being put? I am not siding with any claimant on this matter but if you have got two claimants there is a ring about that and it concerns me. It is not the first time. Remember Paraparaumu Airport ? Remember it being given back to the original owners? No they did not do that. His colleagues did a closet deal with a private interest. And then you got Hood Aerodome in Masterton. Was it offered back to the original claimants? No. It was sold to the Masterton District Council for $1. We are not going to have these compounding mistakes made by this Minister who sits beside everybody else as though they are not aware of the facts. With respect Minister some of us have lived in the north a darn sight longer than you have.[Continuation line: Hon Christopher Finlayson]NGĀTI KURI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSpeech - PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau)PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau):[Continuation line: Dr Shane Reti]Parts 1 to 15 and schedules 1 to 22Speech - Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations)Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): And some of us have read the legislation and the deed a darn sight more carefully than the Rt Hon Winston Peters. Let me repeat again for the right honourable member in words that are simple and clear: the occupiers have no right to interfere with members of the local community carrying out lawful activities. Occupation is not the way to address these issues. As I said in my first contribution both Ngāti Kahu and NgāiTakoto have interests in the airport.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I don’t agree.Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: Well the member may not agree. I suggest that he read the 2013 remedies report. It may be instructive for him. Kaitāia airport is already—read the lips—available to Ngāti Kahu through the Treaty settlement process as a deferred selection property. It is available at 50 percent because of the conjoint interests. That is the point that the member steadfastly refuses to acknowledge or inquire as to the correctness of the position. So before getting on his high horse in this Chamber and giving one of his contributions which are always very impressive although utterly devoid of fact can I suggest that he read the deed of settlement read the 2013 remedies report and then speak from the basis of someone who is properly instructed on the facts—a novelty but a very worthwhile occupation.[Continuation line: Rt Hon Winston Peters: I seek leave]NGĀTI KURI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSpeech - KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau)KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau):Yesterday as I left the tangi for Ngāreta Shane Jones’ wife I was at the airport in Kerikeri. There were a number of people from Te Hiku who had to come down to Kerikeri to fly out. I listened to their stories and I see Errol Murray there. Errol told me the story about how in the mid-1980s as a young man—I guess he was in his twenties—he went with a number of kaumātua and their names have been said: Matiu Rata Simon Snowden those great people. He said his job was to be the driver. He just drove them around from hui to hui as they talked about whether to settle or not and the pros and cons. Now here he is a young grandfather and those men have passed on. Although they are not here in body we know they are here in spirit. They started a journey; these people here are here to finish the journey. They are not here to listen to the third reading of a bill. They are here to realise a dream that started actually 180 years ago—that is when it kicked off. It was 180 years ago that everything started to happen and it affected our people in such a way that we actually have not realised our potential as we should as Māori across the whole country. So the likes of Matiu kicked things off in the mid-1980s and people like Errol and many others were there as young people just listening and hearing and as our old people have passed on they have had to carry the mantle so that we have got to this stage here. Basically the prologue of the story has been written and now further chapters in the book that are going to be the history of Ngāti Kuri Ngāi Takoto Te Aupouri and Te Rarawa are about to be written. As I said in the earlier debate on the Te Kawerau ā Maki bill I had an uncle who once said to me on the marae: “If ever you stuff up  fix it.” The Crown over generations has stuffed up and it has taken way too long for those errors to be fixed. So here we are as the members in this House be we sitting on that side of the whare or this side of the whare or anywhere around we are charged with the task of fixing up the mistakes that the Crown whom we represent perpetuated upon our people for those 180 years. So it is a great pleasure and it is with the utmost humility that I stand here to take part in this great day.[continuation line This day belongs to Ngāti Kuri Te Aupouri …]KELVIN DAVISThis day belongs to Ngāti Kuri Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto and Te Rarawa. Let us not let anything else that is going on around our rohe diminish from the fact that this day has arrived after way too long. I was sitting with John Paitai yesterday at the airport. We were colleagues. He was the deputy principal at Kaitāia College; I was the principal of Kaitāia Intermediate School. He now happens to be the principal of Bay of Islands College an auspicious educational institution I must say. Its first XV of 1984 was well led. It did not actually lose to Kaitāia College at all—three wins two draws. John was telling me about his parents. He said they gave their lives for this kaupapa for this cause and to see this through. There are so many others who have done that and it is all—who is it for? Actually it is for those young people sitting in the other room over there from Te Kura Taumata o Panguru Te Rangi Aniwaniwa and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pukemiro. That is what this is all happening for—not so that these people up here can really benefit but so those young people those mokopuna those rangatahi can move forward. Those kura are doing a fantastic job and I hope those young people who are listening are going to be the people who are going to take this mantle that these people up here have negotiated for you taking this settlement and moving it into the future so that your mokopuna can also benefit and grow and thrive and reach their potential not just in Te Hiku o Te Ika but throughout New Zealand and throughout the world. I thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for his comprehensive summary of everything that has occurred. You know it just defies belief that people can lose so much and yet still survive. When we look at Ngāti Kuri for instance who did not sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi—at the time of Te Tiriti tikanga Māori for many years tikanga Māori just prevailed. That was the way it was. And then these people turn up and they just started changing the rules. They started alienating Ngāti Kuri from their land. They started alienating them from their reo their tikanga and their traditions so that by 1890 in fact over 70 percent of Ngāti Kuri’s land had been alienated. Then of course the Native Land Court turns up and they have their hearings and land is surveyed out and only 10 people can own any piece of land. That was all set up basically just so the land could be chopped and divvied up and partitioned off. Of course the surveys that went on all cost money and people who did not have money were charged and so they went into debt and so they had to sell more land to pay off that debt. It was just a snowball effect. Ngāti Kuri repeatedly asked for the return of the land and were repeatedly denied. It is due to the Crown’s actions and omissions that Ngāti Kuri were left with very little land and fewer economic opportunities. Te Aupōuri—the story is very similar. There was an incident in 1842 where a schooner washed up on the beach and some of the locals saw these gifts from Tangaroa washed up there and took them. The Crown came along and said: “You need to compensate the owner.” The Crown took 2482 acres of land. It gave 1000 to the owner of the schooner for his lost goods and kept the other 1482 as Crown-surplus land. Surplus land I think is just a euphemism for theft. For those people who do not land the surplus land—basically someone like a surveyor could go along and say: “Oh looks like here there’s 100000 acres.” when in reality there was only 70000 acres. Then 70000 acres was surveyed out and the other 30000 acres just went to the Crown. It was systematic systemic theft of land. In 1858 100000 acres was purchased after the Crown agent deliberately underestimated the acreage—100000 acres of land. In 1896 surveys again created huge debts and the land was vested in what became known as the Tokerau District Māori Land Board. That organisation has a lot to answer for. After the collapse of the gun trade in the 1920s the Crown tried to implement a land consolidation scheme that failed leading to further debt and land alienation. In the 1950s a failed attempt to develop dairy farms created more problems. This is something that New Zealand has to understand: we are not just talking about what happened in the 1800s; we are talking about things that have happened in the lifetimes of these people sitting here. It is not all just historical grievance it is actually contemporary grievances and the Crown just continued along its merry way further alienating our people from their land and as a consequence from language customs and culture. So throughout the 20th century Te Aupōuri and Te Hiku have been deprived meaning whānau often had to leave. I remember my auntie Janie—she was a Wells who had the good sense to marry my uncle who lives in Kāretu. She said when she was going to Te Kura o Te Kao there was 260-odd students. Now I think there are something like 30. So again the Crown’s actions and omissions left Te Aupōuri without sufficient land and as a result they have lost a lot of their language and their tikanga. NgāiTakoto—they were not included in many land transactions prior to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. A lot of the negotiations were just done around them as if they did not exist. Post-Treaty land claims commissioners confirmed the alienation of 32000 of NgāiTakoto land—32000. It just rolls off the tongue but we actually need to stop and take stock of the size of 32000 acres.[Continuation line: When you take that amount of land off somebody]KELVIN DAVISWhen you take that amount of land off somebody—and a lot of it was along the river so it denied them access to the most fertile lands—imagine the harm that causes to a people. That is what happened to NgāiTakoto. They were also victims of that schooner incident. They had an interest in the land that was given back to that schooner captain and the Crown took surplus land. In 1858 and 1859 112613 acres were lost. By 1859 some 19 years after Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed NgāiTakoto were virtually landless. They were left almost unable to manage the traditional natural resources. Their cultural foundations and tribal structures were all but destroyed. Te Rarawa signed He Whakaputanga and te Tiriti . After 1840 21500 acres went to the Crown as surplus land. By 1865 100000 acres had been alienated by purchasing with the aim basically of extinguishing customary title. From the 1870s 130000 acres of Te Rarawa land and forest was purchased even though previous sales had not brought any economic benefits. By the start of the 20th century Te Rarawa held less than a third of their original land. Again the Crown’s actions and omissions have left Te Rarawa without sufficient or suitable land and the ability to develop economically socially and culturally. It is only appropriate that this legislation is passed and that the apologies are made and reiterated. It gives me great joy that Ninety Mile Beach is going to be renamed Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. Even though I was born and bred in Kawakawa an hour or so south of Te Hiku area my whakapapa ties go right back to Tōhe the tipuna whose name is Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. It means the long beach of Tōhe. That means I whakapapa directly to these people here. Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe has extensive spiritual meaning to us. It is what we call Te Awa Wairua the spiritual pathway. Yesterday at the tangihanga in Kohukohu I was able to recite:It is the link of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. Those are the names of the places that our spirits pass by as they head up the west coast from:It has immense spiritual connection to us as Māori and it is only appropriate that the name is restored and also that the board set up to protect and look after Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe happens. It is not going to be just a group of Māori who turn up and start laying down the law in terms of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. It is part made up of representatives from Te Hiku tribes and half made up of the regional council. Why? So that we can restore the mana the wairua of that beach to what it was so many years ago.[Continuation line: That is the beauty of this bill also]KELVIN DAVISThat is the beauty of this bill. Also there is te korowai. As the Minister has mentioned that enables the iwi to look after a large area of what was conservation land. I think that we have a—sorry I do not think it. We do have a positive future to look forward to up in Te Hiku. I would just like to acknowledge all the names all the people all the negotiators. All the names were read out and I am sorry I cannot do justice to that. I know I would definitely leave out names so I will not try to recite them all. But you have done a fantastic job in terms of leading our people up in the north towards a better future—our mokopuna up north towards a better future. So I thank you all very much for being here to share this day. It is a day for Ngāti Kuri for Te Aupōuri for Te Rarawa and for NgāiTakoto. It is your day. Let us not let anything spoil it. Let us have a great celebration tonight and I thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for his invitation to the dinner—otherwise I would have been having sandwiches in my office![Continuation line: Te Ururoa Flavell]NGĀTI KURI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSpeech - Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development)Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tātou katoa.[Continuation line: Peeni Henare]NGĀTI KURI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSpeech - Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei)Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker.It is my privilege to stand today and take a short call on this the final reading of the bills arising from Te Hiku Claims Settlement Bill . I would like to start firstly by acknowledging the Minister who leads this bill the Hon Chris Finlayson for his fine work the Office of Treaty Settlements for its diligence and the iwi of Te Hiku for their patience and perseverance. I believe that our tūpuna walk and cry with us today. They cry in sadness for the moments lost. They cry in happiness for the moment that is now. They cry for the wrenching of their way of life into a paradigm they were ill-prepared for and so they suffered. In my professional domain they cry for the wracking coughs of a thousand smokers and TB victims whose spittle turned bright red as they slowly but surely wasted and to the dust they returned. This is but a part of what our tūpuna cry for today. But although the burden is heaviest for Māori the pain of the past is not for Māori alone to bear. Non-Māori also hurt. I stand here today: one man a product of two peoples. On my Māori side to the east Ngāti Wai and to the south Ngāti Maniapoto. On my European side my English great-grandparents call today from across the Hokianga Harbour to the people of Te Rarawa and others and up into the gallery.Dr Reti please check that your great-grandparents’ names have been accurately reported. Thank you.From the south side of the Hokianga from Tāheke from the rohe of Ngāti Pākau my great-grandparents Thomas and Rose Brokiss cry with us today.[Continuation line: They were timber millers]Dr SHANE RETIThey were timber millers working with local people. Arriving from Shropshire England they operated the flaxmill at Waimā  beside the Waimā River. They then operated the Brokers timber mill on the Waimā River providing lumber for homes and local infrastructure all through the Hokianga in the far north. In his later years great-grandad Brokers was the postmaster at the Taiheke post office at Roronui formerly known as Waihi Rakau Raronui and Whare Rakau. I am looking here at a 1912 picture of my great-grandad Brokers at the Taiheke post office—five Māori children around him no shoes shorts a vest. For them for Rose and Bernard[Dr Reti please check preceding family names and place names. Thank you.]I say to you that my English tūpuna who also formed a life with your tūpuna walk and cry with you today tears of remembrance tears of reconciliation and tears of resilience. This bill includes a summary of the agreed historical account—Crown acknowledgments of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. The settlement package includes recognition of Te Hiku iwi as kaitiaki of Te Oneroa-a-Tohe Te Ara Wairua and Te Rerenga Wairua. It provides for co-governance arrangements for the beach and the development of the management regime for Te Rerenga Wairua five farms and the majority of Te Aupōuri forest. There is also recognition here that not all of the wrongs are righted. Not all of the hurt is erased and so the people weep. In conclusion I will say this: the tears of hurt taste just the same as the tears of hope; the difference is whether those tears fall on the cheeks of a face that is at peace. It is my hope that this settlement goes some way towards Te Hiku finding some peace with the past and hope for the future.[Continuation line: David Clendon]NGĀTI KURI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSpeech - DAVID CLENDON (Green)DAVID CLENDON (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker.As ever it is a privilege to stand on behalf of the Greens to speak to a settlement bill to the end of a journey but the beginning of perhaps a much longer journey which all of these settlements do represent. This is an auspicious day an important day for Te Hiku and for Northland more generally for Tai Tokerau . It does represent an enormous amount of work that has been done. I join with other people who have spoken recognising and acknowledging the work of those who have gone before us who are not here to see this celebration but without whose thoughts and whose hands often over a lifetime of work this day would not have been reached. Of course it is all in the interests of improving the lot of those who live with us today and those who will come after us into the future. I think it is something that we can all agree on—that our aspirations have to be to create a better future for our mokopuna  for our rangatahi . That should be the goal that focuses all of our work not only around these bills but around others indeed. The Te Hiku area the far north contains some of the most beautiful some of the most powerful some of the most iconic landscapes from anywhere in our country or I would argue from any other country. Sights of extraordinary cultural importance—Te Rerenga Wairua Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe—are not only renowned for physical beauty but also for their cultural importance both to Māori to tūpuna Māori and to present-day Māori and indeed to Pākehā  who have become in their time indigenous to this country as well. So it is important that we acknowledge the significance of the place and of the people who have lived there and who will live there in the future. Unfortunately too often when people think of Northland and even indeed the far north we think of deprivation of neglect and of ill health both of the landscape and of the people and those who of course are inextricably linked. We need to turn that around and this settlement bill is a step. It is quite a large step towards putting the resources into the hands of those who can turn that around so that in time Te Hiku Northland Tai Tokerau generally will be associated with well-being with prosperity and with opportunity. These are the things that we can aspire to collectively and this today is an important step towards achieving that goal. As ever when settlements are signed when bills come through this House there is almost inevitably as night follows day a backlash from people who often should know better. Concerns were expressed as they were some months ago around the matter of a co-governance model for Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. There were ridiculous claims that Māori would immediately exclude people from the beach that barriers would be raised and that roads would be dug up—nonsense from somebody who should know better. I am sure that over time we will see that in fact the co-governance structure that puts hapū in their rightful place as having significant decision-making authority over the beaches over the landscape generally is an appropriate model and it will contribute to our collective well-being as it evolves. I would like to just quote briefly from a submission made to this bill by Haami Piripi the chair of course of the rūnanga of Te Rarawa . He was writing actually about an earlier negotiation. I do not pretend to have read all the submissions. I was not on the committee. It is a 575-page bill. But this paragraph did jump out at me as capturing the essence of a lot of what it is that we aspire to do with the Treaty settlements. Matua Piripi said: “We reached a point in negotiations that what we gauged was at the edge of the Crown’s tolerance zone and might be acceptable to our people and communities. It was not perceived as the delivery of justice but rather a seething what could be grown to nurture our people’s future.” I think that captures a lot as I say of the essence of what the negotiations and the settlements need to do. They need to push everybody’s boundaries. The starting positions are often so polarised that there is real difficulty in getting to a point of agreement. So it is good that everybody feels a little bit of the pain and indeed that does push their boundaries. He talked about not the delivery of justice but a step towards that. The bills cannot and will never fully restore what was lost what was taken.[Continuation line: That is beyond our means.]DAVID CLENDONThat is beyond our means. In a sense what must be done which is full restitution full restoration cannot be done and we need to acknowledge that but nevertheless strive to get the most appropriate and the most just outcomes if we can to ensure the future and our future well-being. I think the model for the future settling of grievances and injustices to some extent exists within this bill. The agreement around the land in Kohukohu  the police station where there is an agreement that yes it will reside with Te Rarawa  but there is if you like a gentle person’s agreement that if it is more appropriate in the future to go to Te Ihutai  then that is what the outcome will be. That is the superior claim will be acknowledged in time. The point of that is that in similar fashion I think this settlement effectively removes the Crown from the equation in terms of what happens in the future. Let the remaining matters of dispute—and they are real and they are significant and some of the events at Kaitāia Airport in the last 24 hours or so are testament to that—but let those remaining concerns be settled by Māori  between Māori in a way appropriate for Māori. Let it be that the ongoing concerns are settled in ways that are respectful of the conflicting claims of iwi  of hapū  and indeed of whanau . To some extent the notion of a post-settlement settlement between Māori interests alone is acknowledging that the affected parties are inheriting a mess not of their making a mess resulting from generations of colonisation the overturning and indeed the destruction of what were existing structures of governance of management and of decision-making. To some extent this notion of a—Te Hiku is not the first and will certainly not be the last occasion where Māori inherit a dysfunctional situation where Māori take on the burden of seeking a more substantive and a more lasting level of justice which may emerge from a reconciliation within and between iwi hapū and whānau. Beyond a certain point these matters are best dealt with and settled not in this House  not in courtrooms not in the office of some government agency but in the rohe  on the marae . People of goodwill from within those communities are best placed to resolve and to make good the future for the people in their time. So this settlement as complex as it is as subtle as it may be at times is nevertheless like all settlements: it is still something of a rough cut. The lines are bold and therefore somewhat crude and to some extent unsatisfactory. The ongoing task for our Māori communities led by our kaumātua  our kuia  is to better define those boundaries to define those boundaries that divide and the relationships that link our communities more finely more accurately and more justly. While today is the end of a process it is a beginning of a longer process a challenge to exploit the opportunities that are now available to the people of Te Hiku. I have no doubt in my mind that they will rise to that challenge and that the future will be better for it. Kia ora .[Continuation line: Pita Paraone]