Paraone Pita: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Paraone Pita: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19110] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
A tena koe Madam Assistant Speaker a tena tatou o te Whare nei. Engari i mua i te haere tonu e hiahia ana au kia tautoko nga mihi i mihia atu ki a koe e te rangatira e Clem i muri mai i to korero mutunga inanahi. E hiahia ana au kia mihi atu ki a koe mo to kaha ki te arahi i te Whare i te wa e noho ana koe ki runga i te Turu o te Whare nei. Na reira nga mihi. Ko te tumanako nga manaakitanga o Te Runga Rawa ki runga i a koe me to whanau hoki. Na reira tena koe.  
Na ka huri aku mihi e Madam Assistant Speaker ki enei o nga rangatira i tau mai i te hau kainga mai i nga waka e hia ranei engari ko te mea nui nga whanaunga. Na reira i runga i te ahuatanga o ena korero hiahia ana kia mohio mai tenei Whare ahakoa e hore kau i taka mai nga hua o tenei pire ki runga i a au mai i Ngati Hine engari e tika ana kia hakahuangia te whanaungatanga ki waenganui i a matou o Ngati Hine ki a ratou kua tae mai nei. Na reira koutou nga rangatira kua tai mai nei ka nui taku mihi na te mea na koutou i kawe atu tenei kaupapa kia tae pai ki mua i te aroaro o te Whare nei i te ra nei. Na reira ka nui taku mihi ki a koutou pau te kaha. 
[ 
Greetings to you Madam Assistant Speaker and to us of this House. Before I continue I would like to endorse the acknowledgments made by other members to you Clem Simich the chief at your valedictory speech yesterday. I commend your work and leadership as Deputy Speaker of the House. May the blessings of the Almighty above be upon you and your family. 
Madam Assistant Speaker I turn now to greet the leaders present in the House; they represent many tribes but have come together in kinship. I would like the House to know although this Ngati Hine person will not receive benefits from this settlement it is right to proclaim the kinship ties between Ngati Hine and the tribes here. I applaud you the leaders; it was you who progressed this matter to this stage where the House is considering the bill today. I therefore admire you and your efforts greatly 
.] 
On behalf of New Zealand First I join with previous speakers to express our sentiments of welcome to our esteemed guests who have been responsible for bringing this bill to the stage we are debating today and who will be responsible for subsequent bills that we will be debating further on. 
I took the opportunity to acknowledge the Hon Clem Simich given that this is probably his second to last day here in the House and to acknowledge the work he has done in bringing order to the House whenever he has sat in the Chair you now occupy Madam Assistant Speaker. I acknowledge that not only because of his long service but also because of the fact that he is from Te Tai Tokerau and is affectionately known as a “gumdigger”—na reira e te whanaunga tena koe. But I digress. 
I stand in support of the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill and I say that this is a very very important day not only for the affiliate hapu and iwi of Te Arawa but also for us as a nation. I feel privileged to be part of this debate and part of what will form the overall history of our country. This has been a long journey for the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu. It has come not without sacrifice and I think it is only right that we acknowledge Rawiri Te Whare and his team. I personally acknowledge all of those who have led the discussions and the negotiations that have allowed this bill to come before the House at this time. They have I believe exercised great patience. 
When we talk about settlements there is always the question of whether the settlement has been fair. I again quote the comments that Rawiri has often made during this whole process: “Is this a just settlement or is it just a settlement?”. We know that however hard we might try to ensure that there is a fair and just settlement circumstances are such that the claimants invariably make some sacrifice. But that sacrifice is made willingly in the final analysis. Initially and rightly so there was some objection but at the end of the day the claimants left the table knowing that they had represented their people to the best of their ability and that they had the task of taking back to their people what had been offered to them. They have done that. Quite clearly as a result of the support they have been given we are now discussing the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill in its third reading. 
Of course there will always be members of the iwi and the hapu who will have a different view. I think the good thing is that that is their right. Having expressed that contrary view it then becomes incumbent on the leadership of the hapu and the iwi to assure those who have expressed some disquiet about the settlement that what they have been able to receive is the best they could have received and more important to explain how the benefits of that settlement will filter down to the beneficiaries. If the leaders feel it has been a major task for them to get to this stage I would suggest to them that they have a greater task not only to ensure that the proceeds from the settlement are managed in a way that is beneficial to the hapu and the iwi but also to manage those proceeds so that beneficiaries are able to receive the benefits of this settlement. 
I understand that the chairman of Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa is overseas. I suggest that the process of settlements is a little bit like politics. We know that when leaders of political parties disappear overseas and once the task has been achieved—or has not been achieved—when they come back they find themselves replaced. I hope that is not the case for Rawiri. But that is one of the tasks the current leaders will need to address and I know they will. That task is to ensure that the proceeds from the settlement are managed well and to the benefit of their beneficiaries that they are able to grow the settlement proceeds and that they are able to distribute them in due course to their beneficiaries. 
I conclude by saying that as for all good leaders it is advisable for leaders to look behind them from time to time to ensure that the people they purport to lead are still there. If they are not their leadership comes into question. I have no fear about the leaders’ awareness of the task that lies before them. It is one thing to get the quantum from the settlement; it is another to be able to manage it to best advantage for their people. 
Na reira e tatou ma koutou nga iwi nga hapu o Te Arawa ka nui nga mihi ki a koutou. Ahau nei na no Ngati Hine kei te totohe tonu matou i tenei ra tino kaha ana toku puhaehae ki a koutou. Engari e pai atu tena. Waihotia wena korero ki a au. Engari i tenei wa na koutou te ra na reira tena koutou tena koutou huri noa ki tenei o o tatou Whare kia ora mai ano tatou. 
[ 
So to all of us to you the people and subtribes of Te Arawa huge greetings to you. I in particular of Ngati Hine who are still disagreeing with each other today really envy you. But that is fine. What is happening among us remains with me. But at this point in time the day is yours so greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to us all throughout this of our buildings. Thank you 
.]