Delahunty CatherineCATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. He mihi nui ki Te Whare Pāremata me Taranaki Iwi katoa: te whānau ngā kuia ngā koroua ngā tamariki ngā mokopuna ko rātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. A huge acknowledgment to Parliament House and all of the Taranaki iwi: the family elderly women and men children grandchildren all of them.]Acknowledgments to all those who are here today and all who are not here today and could not be here at this historic moment. I would like to also acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Māori Affairs Committee and also the Pākehā MPs like myself who are from Taranaki—I am from Hauraki actually—and the leadership we need to take.It is time for Pākehā to take leadership on educating our own about the importance of the history of Taranaki. I know that that is what we are committed to doing as MPs and that we have been fortunate to be on a journey that many of our fellow citizens have not been educated on or felt willing to embrace. That is up to us. We need to do this. We need to do this after this. We need this settlement to not just be between the Crown and Taranaki iwi; we need to bring our Pākehā people on board. So let us do it.Puketoretore (the water soaked peak) has emergedmy taiaha expresses satisfactionI tread the land there belowbearing my taiaha likethe kakau toki (ceremonial adze)When we walked to Parihaka with Andrew Judd the maunga was covered in cloud and then I experienced the moment that is expressed in these words—when the maunga peak emerged through the clouds briefly. There was a rainbow and there was a moment when we could see the maunga. We could see Taranaki in all its glory. We tread that road with satisfaction because at last Pākehā were walking. I would just like to acknowledge that we walked to Parihaka that day and some of the people who are in this gallery were with us because Taranaki iwi in their generosity walked alongside us. It is time that the hīkoi is the hīkoi of my culture in support of these settlements. It is time for that. It was a privilege to walk through the whenua of Taranaki iwi—the lush green whenua the rich lands the stolen lands—to Parihaka to hear the drum to be welcomed. I would like to acknowledge in the House today the former MP Mahara Okeroa who was present and who welcomed us and all of Parihaka who welcomed us in peace. In response to 1.2 million hectares being stolen we have been offered peace. We need to take up that offer. I really need to acknowledge the importance of Parihaka. I am aware that the Minister is leading as he does another process for Parihaka in a creative way and that those processes will lead hopefully to an even greater national understanding of this place. Taranaki led the world in peaceful non-violent resistance as well as strategic warfare. I mihi to both those strategies although I am in the Greens and we are non-violent. I mihi to both those strategies—Hon Nanaia Mahuta: Ha ha!CATHERINE DELAHUNTY: —because I am Irish—no because I cannot help it. Both the strategic military response to colonisation and the non-violent response through Parihaka are a credit to Taranaki iwi in terms of their survival. It is really important to recognise that the world talks about Gandhi but before Gandhi there was Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi. We actually led the world—this country. How many kids get up in school and know that our peace leaders—the peace leaders of Taranaki—pre-dated non-violent resistance in India? They led the world. What happened next? We need to know and we need to talk about what happened next. That is why we tread the road. I was proud to work with a mayor who actually understood this. I was at a seminar the other day with Andrew Judd and he said that before he was mayor he had never been to a marae. He aha? How is it that we have leaders in this so-called successful democracy that we protect—so-called" because we cannot have Māori representation some people say—when we have a mayor who had never been to a marae? I bet he is not the only one. I hope he is the only one. He is not the only one now because he has taken steps to educate himself and to acknowledge and he walked to Parihaka to do that. And we walked with him and it was awesome because the people of Parihaka and of Taranaki iwi are here to teach us something about not only what it is to be in Aotearoa but what it is to be human. So I mihi to them their tupuna and to this bill as a chance for them to have a justice that will support the leadership they have already given this country. Talking about some aspects of that bill—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is good.CATHERINE DELAHUNTY: —ha ha it is all about the bill Mr Deputy Speaker fear not—1.2 million acres was stolen and $200 million is a good start but as everyone has said it is a drop in a bucket. But we have to be real. You cannot live in this world now without cash so at least it is a start. I want to speak more fully though on the issue of name change. Name change is an essential part of the Treaty settlements and an essential part of this Treaty settlement. We have to help our people—I am talking about my people—recognise and reimagine reality here that they are on Māori land that this is Aotearoa and that these places had names. One of the most powerful techniques of colonisation is to wipe out the names of places and replace them with names that do not belong there. My ancestors come from the other side of the world and we brought our names. Fine—we need to remember who we are but we should not impose our names. We should not. So I support this settlement because it gives back and recognises the names that have always been there have always lived there underneath the veil of the colonisation process. So good on the settlement process for that—for the naming as it should be. We need a lot more of that. The other aspect of the settlement that I want to talk about is the Taranaki Regional Council—three members' representation on some committees. Guess what! The Pākehās do not vote for Māori in local government. Let us be honest. I know numerous people who have stood for local government—Māori who have stood—and have not been elected year after year. Māori representation has not increased. Clayton Mitchell: That's ridiculous.CATHERINE DELAHUNTY: It is ridiculous? It is true. It is sad but true that the population—we only need to look at the number of Māori on district councils and you will see that it has not increased but the number of Māori who are standing continues to increase. So what is happening? Why would we not recognise the Treaty and actually recognise the contribution of the Treaty partner? Why is it that the Westminster model is the only way in which people can be represented? Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi recognises that the relationship of Te Tiriti is not about imposing the supposed democracy and that is what—I do not even think this goes far enough but at least it is a start. Again it is a start but it does not go far enough. The final things I want to talk about are—there are things that haunt me and should haunt us about this. We need to celebrate progress. We need to continue and I acknowledge the Minister for the work around Parihaka. It is really exciting. We also need to remember that if we do not know the stories we cannot move forward. As a person who has worked in Te Tiriti education I want to acknowledge that I have spent many times sitting down with students mainly Pākēha and talking about the laws that affected Taranaki iwi—the Suppression of Rebellion Act the Māori Prisoners Act. We need our young people to fully understand that this settlement is about those Acts. It is about trying to redress some of what was done what was laid down then through the law through this Parliament—this very Parliament did that. That is where it happened. The Governor ordered Captain Cracroft of the ship HMS Niger to bomb the Warea kāinga. Redoubts were established—that is a small sentence; it is a cold sentence. We need to realise that bombing took place. Now we need to do the healing. I honour Taranaki iwi I honour Parihaka and I honour the steps forward. Kia kaha. I am proud to have an opportunity to acknowledge you and to speak on this bill. Kia ora koutou katoa."