Henare Peeni: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Peeni: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3490. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau): Reo Māori e te Māngai o te Whare. Ā kupu mauri ora ki te whei Ao ki te Ao Mārama tihewa mauri ora! Tā te mea ko tēnei he wā tuatahi ka kōrero ahau ki roto i tēnei Whare mai i te matenga o tōku pāpā e hiahia ana ahau ki te poroporoaki atu ki a ia me te mihi anō ki tēnei Whare i whakatuara mai i tēnei ngoikore ki roto i ngā wiki kua pahure ake nei. Nō reira e taku nohoanga titiro ki te awatea taku taumata tiro ake ki te Ao Mārama. E tangi ana tēnei ki a koe e Pāpā me ngā tapuwae kua horahia mai ki runga i te nukuroa e kīa nei te kōrero o tō pāpā a karani pāpā e kore e mōnehunehu te pū mahara te momo rangatira i whakawhiti i te nukuroa o Te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa kāti ake ko ā ratou tapuwae ki runga i te mata o te whenua he taonga he tapu he taonga he tapu. Kāti te tangi ki a Pāpā! Ka tāpiri atu ko ngā hunga wairua o tēnā o tēnā e hui tahi nei kotahi tonu te kōrero mō rātau haere mai haere!I tēnei tāima ka tahuri atu ahau ki te hunga ora. Koutou e ōku hoa mahi koutou i tukuna mai ō koutou roimata ō koutou hūpe ki runga i a pāpā nā i tōna matenga i tōna takotoranga ki runga i te marae o Ōtīria ki runga anō hoki i te marae o Mōtatau ki roto i te wiki kua pahure ake nei; koutou katoa mai i tēnei taha o te Whare ki tērā taha. E mihi atu ana ahau ki a koutou mō tō koutou rau aroha ki tēnei tō koutou hoa mahi tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātau katoa. E te Māngai o te Whare ka tahuri atu ahau ki tēnei take nunui rawa atu e mea nei ko tēnei take e kikini nei i te whatumanawa o tēnei e kōrero ana.[In the Māori language Mr Deputy Speaker a statement in regard to life in a changing world and one of enlightenment—behold I speak! Because this is the first time since the death of my father for me to address this House I want to make a farewell tribute to him and acknowledge this House for the support it gave me for this listlessness during the immediate past weeks. Therefore my encampment I look to the broad daylight as the summit of my looking up at the world of enlightenment. I am in grief for youDad and for the footprints spread out before me over the great distance. As your father Grandad quipped the memory of the type of leader that crossed the great distance of the Pacific Ocean will never diminish but enough their footprints upon the face of the Earth are treasured and sacred treasured and sacred. Enough of the grieving for Dad! Put together all the spirits that belong to each and every one of us assembled here and there is only one thing to say to them: welcome farewell!At this point in time I will turn to the living. To you my colleagues you who collectively shed your tears and mucus uponDad when he died when he lay in stateupon the courtyards of Ōtīria and Mōtatau in the week just past—allof youfrom this side of the House to the other side—Iacknowledge you collectively for your extraordinary compassion to this colleague of yours. Thankyou thank youand thank you to all of us. MrDeputySpeaker I turn now to this matter of immense significance with the commentthatit is one that nips at the seat of the emotions of the one speaking.]At this time I want to turn to this particular amendment bill the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill a bill that is close to my heart. I want to start by reading just a very brief passage in a letter from Sir Apirana Ngata to Sir Peter Buck who talked about and was of course instrumental in the establishment of the Waitangi National Trust Board and of course its centenary celebration in 1940. He says here: “You have already heard the news of the death of Taite and Tau.”—in that respect he was referring to my great grandfather not my cousin—“To mention the politicians first. Their ideas will be carried on by many younger men whatever be their political allegiance. I found the north at the Waitangi centennial celebrations very sound and intent on carrying out the policies Tau gave his life for.” I wanted to read that as a start first around the historical landscape of course of this particular taonga known as Waitangi. We know of course as mentioned it was the signing place. We know of the house of Busby. We also know too of the great gift of the Bledisloe family to this nation.What is not mentioned is at the centenary celebrations the opening of Te Whare Rūnanga a carved meeting house stands alongside the Busby house. On the inside of that house there is a small but very poignant saying and that saying goes: “Ko au anō tētahi i reira.”—I too was there then. What that refers to is the failure at the time of recognising the Māori input in the conversation around the Treaty of Waitangi. Te Whare Rūnanga went a long way to give Māori voice on the Waitangi national grounds and it is an important part of the history. It is also important to remember that at that time in 1940 it was also the place where Apirana Ngata and indeed the nation sent off the 28th Māori Battalion to World War II. Why I cover this historical landscape is to paint a picture of just how important this place is to the country. My fear in painting that historical landscape is that in an attempt to create a more business style or model in the running of the Waitangi national grounds I fear that this shift detracts from the historical significance of the Waitangi land.I want to before I continue say that we do support this and I do want to commend the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage on her desire to review this piece of legislation because it is outdated. One of those examples is of course as mentioned in the bill the travel reimbursement where once it was reimbursed only to those who came by railway. This one is a very good positive step to make sure that those people such as my father who actually spent most of his time in Wellington do not have to catch the train to Waitangi. So it is important that these types of developments in the bill’s history carry us on into the future. We also welcome—and I support the kōrero in the House—the broader review of the Waitangi National Trust. We are encouraged by a lot of its functions at the moment spreading the word and the history of our country to our young people because if there is one thing that my father was passionate about it was young people. As much as he was a storehouse of knowledge for Māori and in particular for the people of Te Tai Tokerau he always had one eye on the future and it is important that we share the story of our nation with as many of our young people be they Māori or non-Māori as possible.I want to get back to the membership now. Of the 83 years of the trust I want to point out that for 65 years of that my family have been involved. The first member you will see on the history provided by Parliamentary Service is Tau Hēnare my great grandfather who was on the board. Upon his untimely death in 1940 my grandfather Sir James Hēnare took over on the board and as far as I know has served the longest time—49 years—on the Waitangi National Trust Board before his untimely death in 1989. In more recent times of course there was my father who has been mentioned from 2007 to 2015 upon his untimely death. I had a bit of a chuckle to myself when I consider my whanaunga the member Pita Paraone who serves currently on the trust. It was mentioned to me at my father’s funeral how perhaps the trust is the departure lounge and there is a word of caution in there for those who wish to take up a role on the Waitangi National Trust. So kia tūpato e te pāpā—be careful!But the reason I draw out my family whakapapa with the trust—I also want to mention Sir Tumu te Heuheu who was involved—is that it joins on to what my esteemed colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta was talking about which is the mana of the positions. It is the mana of those positions that carries the history of this country. Sir Tumu te Heuheu’s tupuna Iwikau te Heuheu at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1835 and of course the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 was resident in the Bay of Islands. So it is only fitting that Sir Tumu te Heuheu continues his role on the Waitangi National Trust.It is amazing how fast 10 minutes disappears on you so I do not want to labour too much more about the particular bill other than to say that we support it and I want to finish on a couple of notes for the future. We know that there is a case for developing the Waitangi National Trust and its capacity. One of the dreams of my father and indeed the people of Te Tai Tokerau was that the actual document of Te Tiriti o Waitangi which is currently held in Archives New Zealand here in Wellington be returned to the sacred lands in which they were signed. We know that the trust is looking at building its capacity to hold such a precious taonga because we know that it is precious and it is important that it is looked after appropriately. It is our dream to see that returned to the land of Waitangi.We also have another dream in the north that other sites of significance gain just as much mana and conversation in this House. Coming up in January is the commemoration of 170 years since the battle of Ruapekapeka the final battle in Te Tai Tokerau. It is one of four significant battles in the north—as well as the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. If we are serious about our history and about acknowledging the birthplace of this nation at Waitangi it is important that we do it warts and all. Nō reira e te Mana Whakawā kāti. Ki a tātau tēnā koutou katoa.