Tirikatene Rino: Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 24 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11193. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker ā tēnā koutou ōku rangatira huri rauna i tō tātou Whare. E tū tautoko ana ahau i tēnei pire i tōna pānui tuarua. Ki a koutou Ngāti Hineuru nau mai haere mai piki mai whakatau mai ki Te Whare Pāremata e takatū nei tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and acknowledgments to you my noble ones around and throughout our House. I endorse this bill in its second reading. Welcome to you Ngāti Hineuru come hither climb aboard and pay homage to Parliament waiting here in readiness; so greetings salutations and acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all.]It is a pleasure to speak in support of this bill at its second reading. It was a great honour to be on the Māori Affairs Committee when this bill was being considered and to travel up to the Hawke’s Bay with our—well it was actually only half of the select committee because we split on that particular day. But it is very important that we do travel to the takiwā—well near enough to the takiwā involved—so that we can hear all of the submitters especially the hau kāinga. It is always a pleasure.I have sat on a few Treaty settlement bills in my time when I was on the select committee and the issues are very similar right across the board through every Treaty settlement and I guess that was evidenced by the submitters who came forward. I am pleased that the overwhelming majority of all the submitters were wholeheartedly in support of this bill in particular the neighbouring iwi in Maungaharuru-Tangitū. I was very pleased to see the support of the whole area because there are a lot of connections between those various iwi and they go back a long way.Just to remind this House actually for those who do not know where the country of Ngāti Hineuru is it is—it will not be accurate if I give geographic points. I could try but it would probably not be effective. If you could picture it for those who are familiar with the area driving on the highway from Taupō to Napier from Tarawera on the Napier-Taupō highway you go up to Te Hāroto over the saddle and down into the Hawke’s Bay. So it is a massive massive area.I am well familiar with Te Hāroto; I have actually been to Ngāti Hineuru as a young child. I was in the Rātana band. We were up there for—it must have been a whakamoemiti or hui of great note but I remember it very well because it was snowing and it was extremely cold and I was there shivering in my uniform with my fellow band members. We could hardly get out a note it was that cold. So we did not sound too good marching on—in fact we were very quick marching on. But I do have fond memories of Te Hāroto even though it was mightily cold—even from someone from the south. I do know what the cold is like but it was certainly cold up there on that particular day.Just getting back to the submitters there was a lot of local support. It was wonderful to hear those supportive submitters. There were submitters such as Ngāi Tahu and I know we all perk up when we hear “Ngāi Tahu” but there is no connection to the southern Ngāi Tahu; this is a hapū from up those ways.Meka Whaitiri: Pāhauwera.RINO TIRIKATENE: Pāhauwera that is right. We heard similar submissions when the Pāhauwera settlement was going through and when the Maungaharuru-Tangitū settlement was going through in terms of who is included in what and who should be included on this. It is always difficult when peoples are on those boundaries or they all sort of mix together or are intermingled. But we heard those submitters and those matters were clearly dealt with in the Pāhauwera settlement and also in the Maungaharuru one. It was very clear that Ngāti Hineuru definitely have their own grievances and their own settlement. That was made clear to us but I do acknowledge those Ngāi Tahu submitters who were there to have their particular say.Ngāti Hineuru as I said is this vast geographical area but it has actually been involved in four Waitangi Tribunal inquiries. So we are talking about Tūhoe we are talking about Taihape we are talking about the central North Island—and one other. It is a vast area. Oh it was Mōhaka ki Ahuriri. How could I forget the main one? It is a vast geographical area in a Māori sense in an iwi sense and it is really gratifying to know that we are progressing this bill so that Ngāti Hineuru can assert their identity assert their mana and their tino rangatiratanga over their ancestral landscape and over their tribal whenua.I was pleased to note that Ngāti Hineuru do not muck around. They are a very progressive iwi. They have been working very hard—so hard that they have even purchased a farm that was a right of first refusal in their deed of settlement which would be expiring later this year but I understand they have already taken up that right of first refusal and have purchased the Woodstock farm—I would prefer to say their maungatapu. It is their maungatapu. They have purchased quite a large farm and adjoining forest lands which are part of their maungatapu and it is wonderful that through this Treaty settlement through the cultural redress and commercial redress they have already been able to activate those hard-fought gains that they have managed to achieve within their settlement to bring their whenua back to their people and to be able to stand on their own maunga.I do not want to prolong my contribution but I do support Ngāti Hineuru for travelling down today through the storms and the lightning and the thunder. They were able to make it here safely to see this House support the safe passage of their bill and I commend it at its second reading. I commend the swift passage of this bill through the House. Kia ora tātou.