Paraone Pita: Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParaone Pita: Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5656. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PITA PARAONE (NZ First):Ā tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speakertēnā anō hoki tātou. E tū wāhi tēnei ki te tautoko ngā mihi i mihingia e aku tuākana me te tuahine hoki ki a koutou a Hineuru kua tae mai nei kei waenganui i a tātou ki te ‘hakarongo te ‘hakatakototanga o tā koutou pire. Aroha anaau ki a koutou. He aha ai? Ko te moata o tēnei take i haere mai ki mua ite Whare nei. Taku kitenga mēnā he take Māori ā tukuna atu i tēnei waha. Ēngari mēnā he take Pākehā ā waihotia ki te ahiahi kia mōhio mai te motu whānui e aha ngā take e aha ngā kōrero ēngari mō ngā take Māori waihotia ki te ata he iti noaiho ngā tāngata e mātakitaki pouaka whakaata ‘hakarongo ki ngā reo Irirangi nā reira aroha ana i a koutou kia moata kia haere mai ai koutou ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero. Kia ahatia? Ēngari ka nui taku mihi ki a koutou.Tua atu i tēnā kei te kaha taku pūhaehae ki a koutou hoki! He aha ai? Nā te mea e’hakaae ana te Karauna ki a koutou he iwi!Ki ahau nei horekau he raru ki tēnā!Ēngari ki a mātou o te hau kāinga tōku whānau anahe tata kēki te rima manoēngari i kite atu i ngā kōrero i roto i te pire nei e tahi mano rima rau i a koutou nā reira ka nui taku mihi.Ka nui hoki taku pūhaehae i a koutou nā te mea e ‘hakaae ana teKarauna ki a koutou he iwi. Kia ahatia? Ēngarikorekau e mimiti te kōrero ki a koutou me pēnā o ngā hunga korekau i waenganui i a tātou i te rā nei ēngari nā rātou i tīmata mai te kawetanga o tēnei kaupapa tae noa ki tēnei wā tae noa ki tēnei. Nā reira tēnā koutou.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and greetings to us all once again. I stand to endorse the tributes that were accorded by my elder male colleagues and my female colleague to you Hineuru who have arrived here amongst us to listen to the reading of your bill. I sympathise with you all. Why? Because of the early hour this matter has come before this House. When I saw that it was a Māori matter I said allow it in this instance. But if it is a non-Māori matter leave it for the afternoon so that the public can become aware of the issues and what was said. But as far as Māori issues are concerned leave it for the morning as only a small number watch television or listen to the radio and so I feel sorry for those of you who came early to listen to the addresses. What can be done about that? But I admire you greatly.Further to that I am also envious of you all! Why? Because the Crown recognised you as a tribe! I personally do not have an issue with that. But for us back in our home area just our family alone we are close to 15000 but according to the detail in this bill I see that there are nearly 1500 of you. I applaud you greatly. I envy you greatly too because the Crown accepts you as a tribe. So what? But like those who are no longer amongst you today we cannot say enough for the part they played at the start when they took up this proposal to where it is this moment at this stage; so congratulations to you collectively.]As I have just said in my introductory comments I support the words of welcome extended by colleagues in the House. But I also want to have it said in English that although I cannot congratulate Hineuru enough it is with great envy that I acknowledge them. In the bill it talks about the iwi numbering approximately 1500 people which compared with the settlement that has been granted them as individual recipients makes this one of the most generous settlements that we can see in terms of per person. Be that as it may having said that my envy is really about the fact that my own family is almost 5000 and yet my iwi is still considered a hapū. However having said that it does not detract from the rationale that this bill has given to this settlement.I just want to say that the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations alluded to and acknowledged the generosity of iwi and particularly of Hineuru given that as we well know any settlement will not be a complete settlement. Again we have here today an iwi that is prepared to go into settlement accept the negotiations and know within themselves that this will not completely compensate them for the things that the Crown has done to them. But I have no doubt that during the Māori Affairs Committee process we will certainly learn more about it and we will also learn from those who are not satisfied with this settlement. That is one of the beauties about the select committee process; it gives everybody the opportunity to express a view.I do not need to reiterate the history that has led to this settlement bill other than to say that it is to the Crown’s credit that it has acknowledged that and this is part of the process.I also want to say that although this is a time of joy particularly for Hineuru I just want to make a comment that is really about politics. The Minister made reference to an apology being required—not an apology to Hineuru but an apology from a political party that produced the facts. If any apology should be given it should be given by the Minister to those whom he appointed as Crown negotiators because we did not name any Crown negotiator and then when he started doing that—Hon Louise Upston: Don’t spoil it.PITA PARAONE: —then in our mind he has to take responsibility for issuing that apology. And do not tell me about not spoiling things. If the Minister had not said anything—The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. I just want to say that the Minister did make some comments that were not strictly within the ambit of this bill. The member has replied and the member will now come back to the bill.PITA PARAONE: Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker—the point is taken.The financial redress is $25 million and includes interest and of course the return of culturally significant properties particularly the Tarawera hot springs scenic reserve and quite clearly that meets the needs of Hineuru. There probably were other properties that Hineuruwould have liked included. Hopefully they will let us know during the Māori Affairs Committee process and we will bring it back to the House—rest assured of that.Of course there is the erection of a pou whenua and I think that is one way of ensuring that the claim of Hineuru is well known not only to this generation but also to generations to come. So the total compensation is roughly $50 million and as I alluded to earlier divide $50 million by 1500 people—but hei aha? That will never ever fully meet those transgressions that the Crown did against Hineuru.I am particularly interested in the cultural redress. It officially recognises Ngāti Hineuru as an iwi. They were regarded as a hapū of Tūwharetoa and I would be very interested to learn from them how they were able to do that so that Ngāti Hine might have the same recognition as an iwi too. Mr Deputy Speaker I see that you are giving me the signal—other than to say that we will support this bill and look forward to hearing from the claimants during the Māori Affairs Committee hearings. Kia ora.