Korako Nuk: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5673. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National):Tēnā koe e te Mana Whakawā ā “Ko te hau mua ko te hau muri ko Te Hau Tamawahine ko Te Hau Tamatāne e tū mai rā Te Tokotoko a Tāne-nui-a-raki e tutū mautia whakamaua ka tīna tīna haumi e hui e tāhiki e!” Ā tēnā rā koutou ngā pōua o Waitaka o tō tātou matua tipuna. Ngāruhine ka mihi Taranaki Mauka ka mihi nō reira e ngā manuhiri o te Whare Pāremata nau mai haere mai piki mai kake mai hōmai te wairua.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. And so: “It is the winds to fore and aft those of Tamawahine and Tamatāne and yonder stands the walking stick of Tāne-nui-a-raki hold fast to it securely; join gather and entwine; it is done!” And so acknowledgments to you the aged from Kaikōura to Waitaki; I salute you. To you Ngāruahine and Taranaki Mountain visitors of Parliament House I therefore bid you welcome; draw hither mount and climb aboard give me the spirit.]I want first to acknowledge the people of Ngāruahine who are here today and those who could not be but may be watching or listening to this which is a momentous occasion for the people. I am Ngāi Tahu and I know the history of these people. I come from Rāpaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa and I also come from Kāti Waewae Arahura o te Whare Tūhuru. As children we were told these were the stories of these people these prisoners who came to our marae and who actually at Rāpaki they were interned on Ōtamahua and a lot of them perished. My tīpuna brought them from Ōtamahua te Rāpaki. And then those who were taken to the Tai Poutini were also interned where they suffered and died. So I want to acknowledge this incredible people and what they have gone through.The history here of Ngāruahine is one of the great ironies of the New Zealand Wars. Despite the fact that it was the Crown that violated the recently signed Treaty of Waitangi it was the iwi who were branded as rebels both by the Government of the day and by many subsequent historical accounts. Ngāruahine was one of these iwi. This was a prosperous and successful iwi that had been trading peacefully with Europeans but for many years they opposed the sale of their lands to Europeans and that was their right. When the end of Ngāruahine’s success as a prosperous and peaceful iwi came it was not to protect their own lands but that of neighbouring iwi.It should be a mark of pride to the people of Ngāruahine that their ancestors put at risk their financial prosperity to go to the aid of others. When the Crown declared war on North Taranaki iwi who were resisting forced sales of land some Ngāruahine entered the war to support their neighbours. When the Crown confiscated 1.2 million acres of Taranaki land it included all of the land belonging to Ngāruahine. Crown forces then entered the Ngāruahine rohe destroyed villages stores and sources of food and took a lot of Ngāruahine as prisoners. Eventually small percentages of land were nominally returned but even then there was uncertainty about the control the iwi had over its land.As I said before many displaced Ngāruahine relocated to Parihaka and joined the peace movement there only to be arrested and transported to jails in Te Wai Pounamu. It was highly appropriate that the apology for the Crown’s wrongs committed against Ngāruahine should be delivered on the Tai Poutini at Hokitika earlier this year at the site where many Ngāruahine ancestors were jailed. Over the years since these breaches of the Treaty took place Ngāruahine has been forced to suffer the injustices of so-called redress through the wholly inadequate west coast commissions.The Taranaki Maori Claims Settlement Act of 1944 claimed to provide a full settlement of claims with no evidence that Ngāruahine had agreed to the settlement. What we have here today is a full and final settlement that has been agreed between the Crown and Ngāruahine. It acknowledges the wrongs that the Crown perpetrated against the iwi and offers an unreserved apology. What it does not and indeed cannot do is fully compensate Ngāruahine for what the Crown stole from them. Instead the commercial redress of $67.7 million provides a way for Ngāruahine to begin developing an economic base for their future and for these tamariki who are here today and for their tamariki after them. The iwi’s relationship with their lands is also recognised through various means such as deferred selection vesting of culturally significant sites statutory acknowledgments and deeds of recognition.I want to reiterate the Minister’s acknowledgment of Ngāruahine’s generosity in accepting the settlement. I want to also acknowledge the work of the many people who have brought the iwi to this point. These include the tūpuna who first began seeking redress for the Crown’s breaches of the Treaty over a hundred years ago. There are also many whom the Minister has already acknowledged by name—the two Ministers actually—who have worked on this current settlement. I acknowledge those who have passed on those who could not be here today and those who are here to see the first stage of their settlement process through this House.This bill will now move on to the Māori Affairs Committee which I am honoured to chair. I look forward to considering this bill in detail. I look forward to welcoming those Ngāruahine people and others who wish to make submissions on this bill. I want to acknowledge the work of Minister Finlayson as our Treaty settlements Minister. I also want to acknowledge the tautoko from the Minister of everything else Māori—Te Ururoa Flavell my colleague from “Tīpene Kura”. Finally to my colleagues the members of the Māori Affairs Committee—we try to park our political affiliations at the door and then we enter that room and then we try to do things that are in the best interests of our people. Nō reira Ngāruahine ka nuinui te mihi te aroha e mihi e mihi e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa.[And so huge greetings and empathy to you Ngāruahine; I acknowledge salute and congratulate you all.]I would like without any reservation indeed to commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.