SpeechHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): E te Māngai tēnā koe. Otirā ngā mema katoa o te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. E ngā mate huhua kua wehe atu ki te pō ko Marina Sciascia nō Ngāti Kiri ko Miriana Hammond nō Te Wairoa ngā mate katoa o te motu nei haere haere haere atu rā.[Greetings Mr Speaker and to all the members of the House greetings one and all. To the many who have passed into the night to Marina Sciascia of Ngāti Kiri to Miriama Hammond from Wairoa to all the deaths around the country may you rest in peace.]It is indeed an honour for me to stand and contribute in the third and final reading of the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill. Can I acknowledge all our Ngāti Rangitihi visitors who are here in the House today and all those who are watching this online. It is hugely significant that we get to the third and final reading but it really does not go far enough in acknowledging the years and the hours of struggle that the people of Rangitihi have first lived through and also have pursued in the final settlement of their claims.It is an honour to speak and acknowledge the perseverance firstly of the iwi of Ngāti Rangitihi. I want to acknowledge the hard work of the negotiators particularly acknowledging Leith Comer as the chair. I'll have something more to say about the negotiators later in my contribution. Very top line-up of negotiators I must say. I want to acknowledge the Crown negotiators I want to acknowledge our Ministers of Treaty settlement the Hon Andrew Little and of course the former Minister Christopher Finlayson. I want to acknowledge all the officials Te Arawhiti the submitters who examined the bill the Māori Affairs Committee—who took the process and opened it up for public scrutiny. I thank all those that have helped. But like I said in my earlier opening statement it pales in comparison to the sacrifice and I guess the patience and the tenacity of the Ngāti Rangitihi people whose experience in the breach of the Treaty we have found ourselves here today.Each Treaty settlement has a very unique set of qualities distinguishing them from each other settlement and in reflection of earlier contributors in this House I want to acknowledge the unique qualities in this settlement around whenua awa and of course people. And in this comprehensive settlement I particularly want to draw—as I did in the second reading contribution I made on the cultural redress—on the settlement of the Tarawera Awa restoration. In the bill which other members have talked about in terms of the various parts it is a significant part of this bill that we are debating as the third and final reading—the Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group which is in Part 2 clauses 121 to 143. But the technical part that we are talking about here in the third and final reading of this bill again there is a long leeway into why this has ended up in this Treaty settlement and I want to acknowledge all the hapū who have lived along the Tarawera River.Some members in this House have shared their own stories of growing up along it but I want to acknowledge the many hapū whānau that have lived along that particular awa and it has created their identity. And I guess I want to acknowledge it has been probably a sad thing for them to see the degradation of their awa over the many years. This particular clause the Tarawera Awa restoration part of this bill goes somewhat to restoring the awa the mauri of the awa and that's why I wanted to acknowledge it in my contribution today. Particularly I want to acknowledge both how we talk in this bill about establishing and the purpose of the strategy group. And in clause 121 particularly we talk about the permanency of this committee—the permanency of this committee—and it cannot be discharged unless all appointees agree to it being discharged. So this is putting a stake in the ground that this committee is a permanent committee committed to the restoration and the return of the mauri of the Tarawera River for those who have inhabited it the hapū up and down it but actually for all people who have enjoyed the beauty and the sustenance that this particular awa has given to all those people in this area. I want to acknowledge that.I also want to acknowledge the membership of this particular group because it makes for good reading as to who actually gets on this strategy group. So you see we have one member appointed from Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust one from Ngāti Mākino Iwi Authority one from Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa one from Ngāti Tūwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Settlement Trust one from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council one from Kawerau District Council one from Rotorua Lakes District Council and one from Whakatāne District Council. So this cause that I'm referencing to has all the major players. You have all the regional council all the district council but more importantly you have the hapū and iwi who call the Tarawera Awa their own—at the table with a commitment to cleaning up the awa. I think that is worthy of acknowledgment in this third and final reading. I said I was going to talk about the negotiators and I do want to take the time in the acknowledging at this third reading of both Leith Comer Ken Raureti Tia Warbrick Merepeka Raukawa-Tait—and I'm sorry I know there were some other negotiators but I don't have the names in front of me but I just want to congratulate you. You are a fine bunch of individuals who have a lengthy experience that I know that you've leaned on really hard with your settlement. Your negotiators reflect what you have achieved and we are honoured to acknowledge your presence.So three of those negotiators all have Public Service experience and so I want to say: the Public Service has an amazing way of growing future leaders that eventually go back and awhi their iwi. And in Leith obviously his military background—I'm hoping going forward in Rangitihi that we may see an academy of some sort for all those young men that have come through Ngāti Rangitihi. And of course Ken Raureti; I worked with Ken back in the Department of Labour days—a fantastic employment adviser and then I'm looking forward to some far-reaching employment laws and of course conditions there for Ngāti Rangitihi because Ken has an amazing background in labour relations. And of course Tia Warbrick who does also have a paid job in Stats New Zealand and I'm hoping that there's some investment in growing data capability for the Ngāti Rangitihi with Tia's background. I know it will position the iwi particularly strong going forward. I say that in jest but it's an honest reflection of the skill and capability of the Ngāti Rangitihi negotiators what they've been able to achieve. And I know going forward with their leadership their combined leadership and of course with Merepeka's leadership there and the role that she plays in looking after families particularly I know Rangitihi are in good hands. I have nothing but admiration for this bill that we are passing in the House.And with those few words I commend it to the House.