Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Associate Minister for Māori Development): Kia ora. Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. Koutou katoa Heretaunga Tamatea Ngāti Kahungunu he hōnore nui ki te kite i a koutou i tēnei wā he tika me mihi ki a koutou mō ō koutou kaha ki te kōkiri i tēnei kaupapa mai te tīmata tae noa ki nāianei. Tēnei te tino mihi ki a koutou mō ō koutou kaha ki te whawhai mō tēnei kaupapa i ngā wā katoa tēnei te tino mihi. Haramai haramai nau mai.[Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. To you all who hail from Heretaunga from Tamatea from Ngāti Kahungunu I am honoured to see you at this time. It is only right that I should acknowledge your determination to advance this matter right from the start until now. I really do applaud your steadfastness for continuing the fight on this important issue. I salute you.]I was listening to the member over there and he was talking about being a little bit shy and humble to talk about his connection with Kahungunu. I'm not so shy and so I just thought I'd remind you all of your greatest rugby player my grandfather Everard Jackson as I'm sure some of the kaumātuas will confirm. I remember him at these times when I see people—1934 to 1940 he played for Hawke's Bay and was an All Black. I'm always reminded of him when I see the people here and of my uncles who have played a major part. Some of you probably don't go along with them some of the time—my Uncle Moana Jackson and Uncle Syd Jackson probably two of your—[Applause from the gallery] Oh so you—well the family was a bit split. The family was a bit split but they were good times the way they always advocated in terms of kaupapa Māori for Kahungunu all the time—all the time.So I'm reminded of them when I see you all here today and I mihi to you for coming for this wonderful kaupapa. You've heard all the details and I want to say well done to the negotiators Liz Munroe Peter Paku Brian Morris and of course Dr David Tīpene-Leach. It's important we acknowledge those negotiators.I didn't want to be negative today about anything because we're in celebration mode—right?—but I think that at these sorts of times there are appropriate times to acknowledge the pros and cons of the Treaty settlement process. There are appropriate times to recognise what a National Government—you know I couldn't believe it at the time. Seriously you know we were always at war with the Tories when I was a union official but I give them all the credit in the world for what happened in the mid-1990s—all the credit in the world.In 1995 the National Government set up the claims framework believing that it was necessary to restore honour for the Crown and to assist Māori economically and socially while acknowledging there would be no parity for Māori while the claims existed. Now they were honest enough at the time to admit that Māori could not be recompensed and I remember well what Jim Bolger the Prime Minister and Doug Graham said. They said that the total loss for Māori they could not compensate for that and it's always important to remember that—that we are settling for less than 2 percent of the total loss. Never never forget that.Our people have made a huge contribution to this country—a huge contribution to this country. We all know what the claims are worth. Tainui and Ngāi Tahu economists said could've claimed up to $20 billion and what did they claim? They claimed $170 million—$170 million. Why did they do that—why did they do that? They did that to move on. They did that to give their iwi a start. They did that because they wanted to contribute to New Zealand. The National Party recognised that at the time. Labour recognised it at the time. The sad part is New Zealanders still don't recognise that. That's the sad part. In fact the level of naivety is astounding—absolutely astounding.We could have bankrupted this country. We could have bankrupted this country if we had gone through each tribe and the significance of the losses in each tribe and that makes me sad because the loss is not recognised. Even one of New Zealand's finest businessmen Hugh Fletcher said the Treaty settlement process—and again meaning no disrespect to the National Government or Labour but he said he wouldn't have even participated in it so bad was the compensation. But we as a people have not been given our dues—not been given our recognition. You walk down Lambton Quay right now and you ask 100 people What do you think of those Māoris that Kahungunu lot who got a settlement?"; 80 percent of them will say "Well that's a bit of separatism isn't it? That's a bit of racism isn't it?" We are still not there as a country. We are still not there as a country and that makes me sad—that makes me sad.And we're not helped of course by prominent businessmen. I go back a year or so Sir William Gallagher who said "There's no doubt [that] (Māori) gave up sovereignty … and now we have all these bloody reparations going on." That's "separatism". That's "apartheid". "There is no definition of Māori" he said. "You are Māori if you feel you are Māori."—Sir William Gallagher said that. He apologised later on of course because he knew things weren't going to go too well for business.And we had Bob Jones of course saying the whole Treaty process was all about a gravy train. And then he said other despicable things that are a waste of time repeating in the House—waste of time repeating in the House. Then you get the weekly racist rubbish from Don Brash and the Hobson's Pledge nutjobs. They send us emails—they all send us emails about how unfair it is that "Kahungngng"—well they can't even say it properly but they say "that 'Kahunununu-whatever' lot how racist those 'Kahunununu' lot are—your friends. How racist they are for picking up that $100 million that should have been $1 billion." You get that happening every week always hitting us all the time and we have a New Zealand that's not aware of what really happened—23 years on from when the National Party set up the Treaty framework. It disturbs me.So I wonder—and I have colleagues in the House here and we talk about it ourselves—if we should be teaching the Treaty in the schools. I wonder about that. Now I'm not putting out Labour policy or anything like that. I've got my senior mate over here Minister Twyford thinking "Oh be careful Willie." He's got to watch it himself of course. But this is the type of kōrero that we have to have as mature politicians. Should we be teaching our history in schools teaching our kids about the settlement process so they can grow up and talk about why their tīpuna were ripped off?I worry sometimes that we get so politically worried about polls and whatnot that we don't do the right thing. And it's something to consider I think. But I'm optimistic. I'm hopeful that this $105 million settlement for Heretaunga Tamatea fulfils all the potential we know within the tribe. You see we have a new breed of politicians. And I'll say that on both sides of the House. We all understand—all politicians here understand the history in terms of injustice inequality sexism and racism. It doesn't matter now whether you're in Labour National or the Greens or whatever. We all understand that. It was brought to the fore no better than when our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said recently "we have failed in our partnership but I inherently believe in our power to change". She also said "hold us to account." in terms of that Treaty partnership. With the greatest respect to her I think this is bigger than one party being held to account. This country should be held to account. The obligations in terms of the partnership don't just fall on the Labour Party they fall on this whole House.All of us have obligations to fulfil the principles of a partnership that was first thought about in 1840. That's just the kaupapa that I wanted to talk about today in terms of this particular settlement. I think we have responsibilities as politicians to fulfil the initial hopes the initial principles that were set out in the Treaty of Waitangi and I hope that we can think about that every time we sit down to sign off on Treaty settlements like this.Nō reira ki a koutou hōnore nui tēnei. [Therefore to you all this is a great honour.]Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa."