Twyford Phil: Ngati Whatua Orakei Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Twyford Phil: Ngati Whatua Orakei Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6685. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatu) 
: 
 Ka tangi te titi ka tangi te kaka ka tangi hoki ahau tihei mauri ora! Te Whare e tu nei e te iwi e tu nei tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
The muttonbird calls the forest parrot calls and I call as well behold the breath of life! To the House and the people who stand before me I salute acknowledge and greet you all. 
] 
It is truly a privilege to contribute to this third reading today of the Ngati Whatua Orakei Claims Settlement Bill. As an Auckland MP and our party’s spokesperson on Auckland issues I want to put a few comments on the record. I want to add my welcome to those Ngati Whatua who have travelled here today to be here for this very auspicious occasion. Tena koe Joe. Tena koe Danny Grant and others. 
I was 15 when I listened on a transistor radio to news reports of the police and army moving on to Bastion Point to remove the occupation. I was shocked that this could happen in our country. Ten years later I reported for the  
Auckland Star 
 on the Waitangi Tribunal report on Orakei. The report shocked me. I think that all Aucklanders if they read the Waitangi Tribunal report would be shocked to know the story of Orakei and the fact that by the Crown’s actions Ngati Whatua were virtually landless by 1885. To quote the tribunal “the cumulative effect of the various breaches of the principles of the Treaty was to render Ngati Whatua of Orakei virtually landless and without standing in their own homeland.” Through political legal and bureaucratic means efforts by Ngati Whatua to hold on to their lands were frustrated decade after decade after decade. In 1911 an 8-foot high concrete pipe was built along the length of the Okahu Bay foreshore pumping Auckland’s raw sewage on to the shellfish beds of Ngati Whatua. Then in 1951 there was the compulsory acquisition and forced clearance off the marae at Okahu Bay. That was not our country’s proudest moment. 
These kinds of things are not unique to Ngati Whatua and Auckland. In many ways they are the story of our country’s modern history. I believe that we are lucky as a nation that the patience and goodwill Ngati Whatua have shown since British settlement are not unusual among hapu and iwi everywhere. We are lucky also that Ngati Whatua led by Joe Hawke occupied that prime piece of Auckland real estate Takaparawhau or Bastion Point in 1977 and for 507 days appealed to the conscience of New Zealanders. The occupation drew support from all kinds of people and I am proud to say had strong support from the unions and the political left. I say we are lucky because that occupation as the Minister said inspired change in this country. It opened the eyes of Pakeha New Zealand to the injustice of land loss and Treaty breach. I will always be haunted by the images in the late Merata Mita’s film  
Bastion Point: Day 507 
 of New Zealand police officers carting kaumatua off the marae and a bulldozer demolishing the occupation’s buildings. 
It was part of a wave of activism and protest that paved the way for a new era of reconciliation towards expanding the writ of the Waitangi Tribunal and Treaty settlements. But it came at considerable cost to Ngati Whatua. Joe Hawke’s generation like those before paid a personal price. During the occupation the Hawkes lost their little girl Joanna in a fire. I want to acknowledge her parents Alec Hawke and Miro Cooper who are in the gallery today. 
It is remarkable to think about the transition from those days of protest in the 1970s to today when Ngati Whatua is a significant player politically economically and culturally in modern Auckland. It was Ngati Whatua that led a protest by many thousands of Aucklanders who marched on Queen Street in 2009 demanding Maori seats and a more democratic Auckland super-city. That is leadership. Tena koe Ngarimu. This settlement will formalise and boost what has been under way now for many years: the development by Ngati Whatua of their economic base and their emergence as an economic force. Our city needs a strong Ngati Whatua. We have so many challenges: building an economy that delivers the jobs our young people need making a vibrant city that attracts our brightest and best and protecting our stunning natural environment—the gulf and the maunga—for future generations. Perhaps the most important challenge is unleashing the creativity and the talents of the young generation of Maori and Pasifika who are becoming such an important demographic in the new Auckland. Ngati Whatua is uniquely placed to help the city meet that challenge and this settlement sets the platform for that to happen. 
I want to say to Ngati Whatua on behalf of Labour that we support your exercise of self-determination as mana whenua to have a place to stand and the resources to sustain your people in the 21st century. The settlement will without doubt change Ngati Whatua’s relationship with the Crown and I understand that renewed energy and resource will go into economic advancement jobs education housing and cultural and business opportunities for the iwi. It is an exciting moment. 
Today Bastion Point remains a sublime place. It is still an extraordinary piece of real estate. But more than that it is a permanent reminder of a people who resisted who endured and never gave up and who got an apology for past wrongs and a recognition of 170 years of injustice and built from that an ambitious and optimistic future for their children and their city. I want to thank all of those who have worked to bring this settlement to fruition including the Minister but also officials and politicians both in this Government and in the one before it. I especially want to pay tribute to all those Ngati Whatua over the generations who worked tirelessly to keep alive the dream of a people and their land. This settlement vindicates their efforts and marks a new beginning. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.