Whaitiri Meka; Rurawhe AdrianHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): E Te Māngai tēnā koe otirā ngā Mema o tēnei Whare tēnā tātou katoa. He mihi tuatahi e te iwi o te haukāinga kua tae mai tēnā koutou nau mai tēnā koutou nau mai tēnā koutou katoa.[Greetings Mr Assistant Speaker indeed greetings to all of the members of this House. Let me begin by acknowledging those from the tribal homelands who have come here greetings welcome greetings welcome greetings to you all.]It's indeed an honour to rise in support of the second reading of this Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill firstly as a descendant of Heretaunga Tamatea but also the proud member of Parliament for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti which electorate this settlement sits within. I also want to acknowledge too first and foremost the many claimants. Without those claims we wouldn't be here addressing this important bill so I want to acknowledge those particularly those that are no longer with us. I also want to acknowledge the many hapū and marae who actually face the brunt of the losses particularly of land at the omissions of the Crown. So I want to acknowledge our marae. I too want to acknowledge the former Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Christopher Finlayson and of course our Minister Andrew Little. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee.The second reading for those that may be at home watching is the time when we report back to the House on the examination of this bill at select committee. I want to share with the House that I attended the hearing at Havelock North—not to sit on the committee but actually to sit in amongst the crowd to hear the multiple submissions. I want to say that getting asked to sit on the committee by the chairman of the select committee—it was indeed my honour to do that. I want to acknowledge one of the opening submitters who goes by the name of Ngāhiwi Tomoana. I don't want to because I cannot paraphrase how he started his submission but essentially it went like this: It's ironic that you're holding this select committee in Havelock North which 12 months ago had the largest outbreak of gastroenteritis that this country has known when 5000 people went down." He then went on to say something around body parts and the multiple use of toilet paper as his introduction as to why we were in Havelock North. So I just want to acknowledge that even though these are serious bills that we're considering there is a light side in terms of the relevance of why we had the hearing in Havelock North.There were three issues that the select committee raised and I want to talk of one that's obviously been well traversed in this House and that is Te Aute Glasgow leases. It may be helpful for the House to just again capture what we mean by Glasgow leases. The ground leases or the Glasgow leases allow the lessee to build a permanent structure. They have been used in colonial times to transfer land usage rather than ownership for a specific purpose. They have a usual term of 21 years and can be renewed in perpetuity. Any rent reviews are conducted on a current market valuation and valued by an appropriate registered valuer. While they have the potential to continue for ever the tenant however can bring them to an end by simply not renewing them. As Glasgow leases confer private property rights the land cannot be returned to iwi under Treaty settlements and that's been declared in the report back to the House by the select committee. However as many contributors to this bill have acknowledged this Treaty settlement bill does not address the outstanding issues of the Glasgow leases in so far as Te Aute endowment lands.By way of historical context can I just again draw the House's attention to Te Aute College endowment lands that were gifted by the generosity of Ngāi Te Whatuiāpiti approximately 7000 acres to establish Te Aute College in 1857. I do want to go on record because I am a daughter of a Te Aute old boy. I have three brothers that went to Te Aute College. But I've also got to acknowledge Hukarere Girls' College that was opened 23 years later in 1875. I mention Hukarere Girls' College because Te Aute Trust Board is the legal entity of both of these renowned iconic Māori boarding schools. Again as the daughter of a Hukarere Girls' College old girl—with grandmother great-grandmother and nieces that all went there—it's important that I put that on the record. So when we talk about the Glasgow leases in terms of Te Aute College we must also remember the role that those Glasgow leases have in determining the survival of Hukarere Girls' College going forward.In terms of value the value of Te Aute lands that we are talking about—the 6000 acres 23 blocks—on average per annum they get $230000 on their lands—$230000 per annum—and it's been valued at $1.4 million; $1.4 million. So that's an example of what Te Aute College and Hukarere Girls' College are missing out just in income in today's dollars. It's almost 24 percent of what the full value is.Using Treasury's own figures at a 2 percent rate of inflation using Treasury's modelling $70 million of value of these lands has been lost to Te Aute Trust Board—$70 million worth of value since the royal commission was established that broke the land up into 23 blocks in 1916. I want the members of this House to realise we are not talking about short change here. Conservatively it is $70 million of lost revenue to Te Aute College and Hukarere Girls' College that we are addressing here. So I want to encourage the House because both sides of the House have been acknowledging that Te Aute Glasgow leases are an outstanding issue that we in this House should put immediate attention to.I want to talk about the Māori Reserved Land Amendment Act 1997. The question that I pose is why Te Aute lands were not included in the Māori Reserved Land Amendment Act 1997. The reason why I say that is there are three things that this Act allows you to do in terms of Māori reserves. It allows leases to be renegotiated it allows solatium payments or top-up payments and thirdly it allows the lessor to get compensation for historic loss. For me there is a legislative solution for the Glasgow leases and that is called the Māori Reserved Land Amendment Act.That's my blurb on Te Aute Glasgow leases. I think it is a really important issue that this House does turn to address and turns its attention to. I want to acknowledge the Minister for saying that he is going to commission a further report into those leases. But I've just indicated that there's a possible tool here.In terms of the Hawke's Bay Regional Planning Committee there's been contributors from both sides. One thing I do want to say is that it would have been very useful for the Hawke's Bay Regional Council to have appeared and submitted in front of the select committee. Given the concerns that many of the submitters raised it would have been very useful for them going forward. I hope that they take that opportunity going forward.In terms of Wai 574 the Karanema Reserve Claim there's been enough kōrero around that. The only thing I would add—and I would support the former speaker that spoke before me Harete Hipango—is that this is something that the trust could address. This is the issue when you have hapū that have no marae. So I want to acknowledge the trust's commitment of $1 million per marae but in this particular case in the Karanema Wai 574 they have no marae.Finally in the time that I've got left there's been talk about Te Aute's prowess in their rugby days. I'm sitting here with the member for Napier Stuart Nash—Hon Peeni Henare: Slightly overexaggerated.Hon MEKA WHAITIRI: Ha ha! I just want to acknowledge the hard work of our negotiators in getting us here. I want to acknowledge all the submitters that came before the select committee. I thought the day in Heretaunga was a very illuminating day in terms of the support for this claim. The $5 million that's going to an entity yet to be determined for the ongoing sustainability of Te Aute—I hope in the trust's decisions that they also look at Hukarere. That college always seems to miss out and my mother will be calling me if I sit down and I didn't mention the opportunity for Hukarere Māori girls' school to also bask in the returns as we pass this second reading. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): Otirā e ngā mema i mua i te whakaaetanga o te mōtini e tika ana kia tuku mihi atu ki a koutou o Heretaunga Tamatea; nō reira tēnā koutou.[Therefore fellow members before the motion is passed it is only right that those of you from Heretaunga Tamatea should be formally acknowledged; therefore greetings to you all.]Bill read a second time."