Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Ā e Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe e ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātau katoa. Ko koutou o Rangitāne o Manawatu tēnā koutou hara mai tēnā koutou hara mai tēnā koutou hoki mai! Tēnā koutou i haramai i runga i te kaupapa whakahirahira tō rā tō tātau rā kai te mihi kai te mihi kai te mihi![And so thank you indeed Mr Deputy Speaker and acknowledgments to us all members of this House. So it is you Rangitāne o Manawatu accolades to you collectively welcome greetings come hither and welcome back! Congratulations to you as a consequence of the matter of great significance. It is your day and ours so I commend extol and salute you!]It is indeed my honour and privilege to rise and contribute to the third and final reading of the Rangitāne o Manawatu Claims Settlement Bill. When most Māori meet one another they generally try to get a relationship going. While I have been sitting here listening to all the previous speeches thoughts came to my mind and I want to share a couple of connections with the Manawatū. I used to play netball many many years ago. We often used to go to the Manawatū. It was one of our stomping grounds many years ago when I played for Wellington. So I immediately thought about the very windy windy conditions of the Manawatū netball courts.Jono Naylor: It's not often.MEKA WHAITIRI: You know we did really well there Jono in the Manawatū. So that thought came to mind. Whenever I came to the Manawatū to Palmerston North the home of my late uncle and auntie Judy and Boy to us or Bill Nīkora was often the first home we visited. And then I thought about the story not specifically related to Rangitāne but Rangitāne Tāmaki-nui-ā-rua and Rangitāne ki Wairarapa when my grandmother the late Ruruhira Robin was picked up often to go to iwi hui. It was often either Kahungunu on one side or Rangitāne on the other side. Anyway the story got relayed to me that she got collected by the Kahungunu side of her to go to an iwi hui to go and vote and when it came to the voting on some particular kaupapa my grandmother voted for the Rangitāne side. It caused quite a stir for my Kahungunu side. When they asked my grandmother Why did you vote against the very people who picked up?" she said that she was Rangitāne and she was Kahungunu and at the end of the day she made the best choice at that particular hui. These are just some stories that I am trying to share in this House that have some relevance to the people who are in our gallery to hear the third and final reading.Every Treaty settlement is unique—every Treaty settlement is unique. I want to acknowledge the leader of the Green Party because she picked up a lot of the kōrero that I wanted to talk about and that is the concessions done by the Rangitāne people. I want to briefly talk about the compromises that Rangitāne made in relation to the cross-claims. When I look at their particular settlement there are a number of cross-claim issues that they dealt with and I want to acknowledge the way in which they dealt with them.I just want to quickly mention what these issues were that were raised through their particular settlement and that is the eastern boundary of the Rangitāne o Manawatu area of interest. Clearly that is with their whanaunga of Rangitāne ki Wairarapa Rangitāne ki Tāmaki-nui-ā-rua. It is pleasing to know that they worked out a settle position where they amended the shape of the area to be invested in Rangitāne o Manawatu in relation to the Tararua ranges and by excluding areas in the Ruahine Forest Park included in the proposed Rangitāne o Tāmaki-nui-ā-rua settlement from the Rangitāne o Manawatu statutory acknowledgment for the park.Issue No. 2 was the inclusion of Tangimoana Crown forest licence land in the Rangitāne o Manawatu settlement obviously cross-claimed by Wai 972 which is the Ngāti Kauwhata people. Of course there was some interest expressed by the Ngāti Raukawa ki Te Tonga in relation to the Tangimoana Crown forest licence land. I am pleased to say that Rangitāne absolutely put up the proposition rightfully so using the principle of ahi kā in the region since the 1600s—nearly 250 years. So I want to acknowledge that on the basis of using what is a natural tikanga in Māoridom the principle of ahi kā the Tangimoana Crown forest licence was then included in the Rangitāne o Manawatu settlement.I want to note that the Crown has offered commercial redress and it seeks to balance interests of all iwi in the area with the underpinning rationale that commercial redress is intended to contribute to re-establishing an iwi's economic base. Essentially I take that as saying for Ngāti Kauwhata and Ngāti Raukawa ki Te Tonga: "Don't worry the Crown has got you covered."Hon Christopher Finlayson: Correct.MEKA WHAITIRI: That is right. Thank you for endorsing that sentiment Minister.The other key point was the effect of the Rangitāne o Manawatu exclusion redress on other groups. Similar to the first issue around Ngāti Kauwhata and obviously Ngāti Raukawa it is good that the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Minister of Conservation and the Minister for Māori Development have agreed to a package to modify one of the key aspects in regard to the Himatangi Bush Scientific Reserve so that the right of first refusal be removed and the overlay classification be reduced to only 50 percent of the reserve.Lastly the point I want to pick up that is unique in this particular settlement is the inclusion of Ngāti Tauira hapū in the Rangitāne o Manawatu claims just to acknowledge that in Rangitāne's own submission they acknowledge that Ngāti Tauira is a hapū of Ngāti Apa. They do not profess to be an exclusive association with Ngāti Tauira. I also acknowledge the rangatira to rangatira marriages between Ngāti Tauira and obviously Rangitāne o Manawatu.The point of why I raise these is that this is the principle of negotiating when we come to Treaty settlement and that is manaaki tangata manaaki kaupapa manaaki whakapapa—if you get the people at the table if you give them the right information and enough time I am convinced that iwi will come to the right conclusion particularly when it comes to Treaty settlements. No better has this been demonstrated than through the Rangitāne o Manawatu settlement. They have shown like others have said absolute compassion patience and an absolute belief that through our own processes of negotiation—our tikanga process of negotiation based on those principles of manaaki tangata manaaki kaupapa manaaki whakapapa—I think that we have got to a very very just conclusion.That is my contribution for the third reading of this bill. I thank the Rangitāne people of course for your patience. I definitely want to acknowledge those who are no longer here. To Danielle and Maurice Takarangi who has been mentioned thank you very much for the leadership you have shown in getting your people to this final place. I want to thank the Minister and obviously the Māori Affairs Committee for the work that you have done. Finally my closing remark: there has been some point said that more MPs should be in the House when we have Treaty settlement readings. I concur with that. I want to acknowledge my colleague Peeni Henare for raising this issue. It is something that all members of this House should be part of in the passage of any Treaty bills but particularly last week with Taranaki and of course we have got Rangitāne here today. It is important that we remind ourselves why we come to this House and when we pass important legislation like Treaty bills we should be here to celebrate the successful passage of this. Nō reira e Te Māngai o Te Whare e ngā mema o Te Whare e ngā iwi motu o Rangitāne-o-Manawatū tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātau katoa![And so to you Mr Deputy Speaker and members of the House and to the Rangitāne people from Manawatū who were cut off congratulations and well done to you collectively and to us all!]"