Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe otirā e ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa! Ka titiro au ki Te Maunga Tipua ko Hikurangi o Te Tai Rāwhiti hoki atu au ki ngā maunga o Tūranganui-ā-Kiwa ko Haumī ko Tītīrangi ko Manawarū ka hoki au ki te Whakapūnake Maunga o Te Wairoa hōpūpū hōnengenenge matangirau. Hoki atu au ki Maungaharuru-o-Tangitū. Haere ana ki te maunga teitei ko Kahurānaki o Ngāti Kahungunu-ki-Heretaunga. Titiro au ki Ruahine o Tamatea i Tamaki-nui-ā-Rua. Ka hoki atu au ki Remutaka o Ngāti Kahungunu Rangitāne hoki o Wairarapa. Kua tae mai ki Te Awakairangi o Taranaki whānui Te Ātiawa hoki nō reira Taranaki Maunga tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā koutou katoa. Te Ātiawa Reo Te Ātiawa Mana Te Ātiawa Tangata tēnei te mihi ki a koutou mō ngā maunga teitei o Te Rohe o Ikaroa-Rāwhiti nō reira nau mai nau mai hara mai! Nau mai hara mai i runga i te kaupapa tino whakahirahira te whakamutunga o tō koutou pire ka ngangaro ka mau te wehi![Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker but at the same time acknowledgments to all of us members of this House. I look at Hikurangi the supernatural mountain of the East Coast and go back to the mountains of Gisborne Haumī Tītīrangi and Manawarū and then back to the Wairoa River full of lumps unevenness and spite of Whakapūnake Mountain to Maungaharuru-o-Tangitū. I go on to the lofty mountain Kahurānaki of Ngāti Kahungunu at Hastings. I look at Ruahine of Tamatea at Dannevirke and go back to Remutaka of Ngāti Kahungungu Rangitāne and also of the Wairarapa. I have arrived at Lower Hutt of Taranaki at large and also of Te Ātiawa and so to you Taranaki Mountain greetings salutations and greetings to you collectively and to us all. To you Taranaki voice Taranaki authority and Taranaki individuals of Te Ātiawa I acknowledge you collectively for the lofty mountains of the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti electorate so welcome welcome come hither. Welcome and come forth on this really magnificent matter the conclusion of your bill; how overcoming and awesome.]It is time to celebrate it is time to reflect and it is time to remember those who are no longer with us in this passing of Te Atiawa Claims Settlement Bill. As the proud member for Ikaroa Rāwhiti I stand to bring warm greetings and salutations from the constituents whom I represent on this historic day for the iwi of Te Atiawa. I am looking at the deed of settlement. I notice—but I will not traverse the parts of the bill—and I acknowledge that the parts of the bill are made in three areas from the agreed historical account acknowledgment and apology to the cultural redress and the financial and commercial redress. As I read the overview of the settlement I particularly wanted to draw to the House's attention—and obviously to the attention of those who are in our gallery—the statement that stays pretty much in the under-view. It says this: The benefits of the settlement will be available to all members of Te Atiawa wherever they live."—wherever they live. It is my experience that many of our people around the motu do not live within their tribal boundaries for many reasons. They have either moved away for mahi or moved away for study but their heart always remains within that rohe and I want to acknowledge Te Atiawa for acknowledging those who no longer live at home. I guess the trick is how we bring those who are not at home to benefit from this particular bill and I do not see it merely as a financial benefit but also leadership and governance and in management as you as a people go forward. I will be safe talking about my own iwi of Rongowhakaata—we are still trying to get our home people to accept many of our people no longer live at home. Approximately 75 percent of the Rongowhakaata people do not live in our rohe. And like your settlement here today you are acknowledging that it is a benefit for all. My point is how do we include those who are no longer living in our tribal boundaries?I then want to just quickly touch on the financial redress. I want to mention that the Crown is honoured to pay Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa Trust on settlement date $69876000 which is the financial and commercial redress amount of $87 million less the following on-account payments: $40000 paid to Te Atiawa Iwi Authority board back on 26 November 1999 and I am pretty sure that was used to help awhi and hāpaitia the negotiations and an amount of $16724000 was paid to Te Kotahitanga on 15 May 2014. I also acknowledge that the settlement provides a cultural fund of $985000.The reason why I am highlighting the financial redress is that in our particular claim we were offered a farm. I am making this reference in relation to the Pekapeka Block. In our settlement we were offered a farm. It was not productive and our negotiators thought it was too big an issue to take on a farm that was not productive. And so that decision by negotiators at our time was to take it back to our people and to pānui through our ratification to ask the people of Rongowhakaata whether we wanted to purchase a farm that was not productive. I distinctly remember as one of those negotiators the kaumātua who told us at that time that our No. 1 priority was to get land back—the No. 1 priority was to get land back. They never saw the farm as turning money. They saw the farm as being land in our rohe and we had lost so much. So I am making that point because we can get into difficulty if decisions are made by the few and not taken back to the many. Enough said about that.I want to acknowledge the hard work of your negotiators on your behalf and acknowledge the passing of one of them. It is not an easy task to stay on top of negotiating what you believe is a fair settlement with the Crown when the Crown has all the resources. So I want to acknowledge the negotiators. I want to acknowledge you as a people for your patience and your tenacity in staying committed to resolving these historic breaches on behalf of the Crown. So thank you very much Te Atiawa.To the Minister I want to acknowledge the Hon Chris Finlayson for his work in bringing this bill to the House and of course the hard-working members of the Māori Affairs Committee. I want to wish Te Atiawa—when I see these young ones running around it is about their future. It is about their future and this settlement will help in no small part to ensure that when they are at their straps they have opportunities. I do hope that we invest in our young people through settlements grow our own talent and ensure that they have pathways to participate both as iwi members but also as iwi managers in the businesses and opportunities that this settlement can bring about. Nō reira huri noa e ngā mema o te Whare nei all the very best Te Atiawa. We look forward to hearing the successes that will come upon you.Nō reira e Te Iwi ōku rau rangatira mā kui mā koro mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātau katoa![Therefore to you the tribe my esteemed ones of a hundredfold my elderly women and menfolk; congratulations well done to you collectively and to us all.]"