Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Tēna koe e Te Mana Whakawā ā tēnā rā koutou ngā pouwaitaka o tō tātou matua tupuna. E Whanganui iwi nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare Pāremata. E mihi nei e tangi nei koutou rā tōku whakahirahira koutou tūmanako ake nei koutou e hāpai nei ka mihi ka mihi. Rātou ki a rātou tātou ki a tātou ā nō reira e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa![Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and to you collectively the blossoms of our ancestral forefather. To you the tribes of Whanganui welcome to the Parliament come hither. I extol you as you collectively grieve my prominence in terms of your aspirations to come and responsibilities you will shoulder for which I commend and admire you. Allow them the dead to remain there among themselves while we remain here I therefore applaud you all.]It is indeed a privilege to speak in the second reading of the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill. This is indeed ground-breaking legislation. Particularly under the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations this is an outstanding piece of work. I want to acknowledge all of those too who have been responsible for getting the bill to this particular place in time and particularly those officials from both sides—from the Office of Treaty Settlements and from Whanganui iwi—and then also in particular the submitters.In the second reading—and particularly when you look at the passage of this bill from the introduction to the House to the first reading and then from the first reading it being handed down to the Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori the Māori Affairs Committee. I also want to acknowledge my members as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee on the excellent work to date that they have done on this very very unique bill. The second reading is always an important part of the journey of a bill and particularly to talk through the various sorts of submissions and the changes that have been recommended to the House on this particular bill.I was actually at a conference last week speaking about Treaty settlements and the process that we have which is a very very unique process. It does not happen anywhere else in the world. One particular thing that I spoke about was this bill because what this bill actually does is create a living thing—the river Te Awa Tupua. That was really amazing in the interest that I got on this—on how this particular piece of legislation is actually about the creation of an individual and how that actual individual really does enhance physically spiritually commercially all of those who actually live along its course. So it is about indeed the uniqueness of this bill and this legislation.I commend the Whanganui iwi on this particular sort of bill itself because the bill was not easy and it is still not easy because it is actually about a balance of competing interests of multiple iwi and all of those who are actually the users of the river. Just to look at sort of the way that some of those submissions were actually presented—and thank you to all the Whanganui iwi and particularly the mandated group because when we went to Whanganui actually it was an excellent sort of opportunity for us to hear kanohi ki te kanohi from all of the submitters.In this case I think the important thing is just to go through some of the sort of various groups that submitted and the ones that actually really stood out. It was the influence of their submissions why actually we relooked at the bill and made some suggested changes.I think the first one is really around the fact that—I want to talk about the Maniapoto Māori Trust Board. It raised concerns that this settlement of historical claims regarding the Whanganui River could compromise its future settlement opportunities. These concerns were similar to a claim filed with the Waitangi Tribunal which stated that the Whanganui River settlement covers offshoots of the river that are exclusively managed by Ngāti Maniapoto which were included without Maniapoto's mandate. We are advised that this bill explicitly states it does not settle Ngāti Maniapoto's historical claims to the river. Furthermore Ngāti Maniapoto's future redress will be subject to an overlapping claims process that will involve Whanganui iwi. That is the first one.The next one was Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Maru and it raised similar concerns. The Whanganui River settlement does not settle the historical claims of Ngāti Maru and their role as an iwi with interests in the river is recognised in the ongoing management of Te Awa Tupua.The other one that was very interesting—and it brings this value of kanohi ki te kanohi—was the Uenuku Charitable Trust which expressed concerns that the Waikune Prison site currently held within the Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) land bank and leased to the Whanganui River Māori Trust Board would not be available for its future settlements. We have been advised that the prison is Crown land held in the LINZ land bank and will therefore be available for future Treaty settlements subject to negotiation with the Crown and overlapping claims processes.There were also some concerns that have led to us recommending changes to the bill as originally introduced. Concerns were raised about the reference to some groups as hapū groups who consider themselves to be iwi in right. I think that particular one has been addressed and to make sure that it is clear we recommended the amendment of the state that Uenuku and Ngāti Hauā may be viewed as iwi within the broader context of the Whanganui iwi.So that is some of the work that we have done to date. It will be interesting to move through to the Committee stage. But finally it is my great pleasure to commend this bill to the House. E mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa Whanganui iwi. Ngā mihi.