Jones Shane: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Jones Shane: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 18 July 2012. Volume:681;Page:3735. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Hei timatanga korero me mihi atu au ki te whanau ki nga panga o roto o Te Tai Rawhiti Ngai Tamanuhiri Rongowhakaata me o ratou huanga tae noa ki roto i Te Aitanga a Mahaki kua tatu mai ki Te Upoko o te Ika i tenei ra. Haunga noa ki te matakitaki i a matou otira ki te tu tei ki te noho hei hautu i te wairua o nga korero i te wairua ano hoki i te akiaki nei i a matou kia eke pai ai o koutou whakaaro i roto i tenei ture i whakairongia ai hei whakatutuki i nga nawe tupuna nga nawe whenua. Na kia whakawhiwhingia atu nga panga i tenei wa hei kaupapa whakatuputupu ma koutou ma tatou i roto i ena pito o te Ao Maori. Na reira tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. As a starting point I must extend my salutations to the family and my connections within the East Coast Ngai Tamanuhiri Rongwhakaata and their relations as far as Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki who are here in Wellington today. That aside they are here to observe us in so far as being a sentinel and guide in terms of the spirituality of the discussions and to provide us with the spirit as well so that your views in this legislation are well fulfilled; those views were chiselled out to resolve grievances by ancestors and those relating to land. Now a provision of resources at this point in time would become a developmental mechanism by you and us collectively in all extremities of Maoridom. Acknowledgments and salutations to you all. 
]  
We stand to support the passage of these claims settlement bills and have done so on all the major settlements of a historical nature because that is how it should be. It is getting almost tedious that I should acknowledge the work that this particular Minister the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations has put in to the task but one cannot escape the truth on this matter. Often in politics things are shadow and light but on this case there is very little difference between what we would have sought to do and what the current Minister is shepherding through the House. 
Ngai Tamanuhiri not only have waited a long time but like a lot of other iwi are in provincial New Zealand and the challenge is always going to be how you take these endowments in provincial New Zealand and then turn them into a flow of benefits and opportunities for ongoing growth that meets the aspirations of people who often live in a part of New Zealand where economic growth may actually not be as strong as in metropolitan New Zealand. And for as long as we as Maori actually want to receive our endowments in the form of resources located in our rohe in the haukainga etc. then that is always going to require a very special blend of leadership skill but that task now lies with the stewards of the settlement as it leaves the hands of the legislators. There is no shortage of examples as to what can go swimmingly well and what can go horribly wrong. I have no compunction in saying that once we join together as a body of legislators the task then falls to the leaders and the generations coming through in relation to the iwi. 
I remember the debate as to whether or not Young Nicks Head should either be lopped off or have the name changed. It is fitting as I recall that that debate first surfaced in the days of a former Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Tau Henare and his erstwhile colleague Tu Wyllie who for a mercifully short period of time I had to tolerate in the fishing industry—but that is another matter. Te Kuri a Paoa is a fantastic name that reminds Maori New Zealanders and also that small number of Kiwis who ought to show a bit more respect to dedicate a bit more attention to our indigenous names. I remember when one of my kids was going to the kura kaupapa there was a great waiata. This son of mine actually shared a class with I think Tutekawa Wyllie’s daughter or son and they made great play of the song to do with Paoa. The great line I loved was about Te Mimi-o-Paoa. Of course I will avoid turning that into English but it will enter the encyclopaedic-like record of our House. 
Whoever are the Ministers of the future holding key roles such as the Minister of Conservation the quality of their stewardship in the context of this settlement will come down to the willingness of the bureaucrats to observe the provisions and uphold the spirit of the deed of settlement. All we can do is enter into the House’s records what we believe we are doing here today because unfortunately where resources are required to be either shared or managed to serve the purposes or the interests of a community wider than the direct settlement group you are always going to get conflict. But we should remind ourselves and try to leave perhaps a set of parliamentary breadcrumbs for the people of the future who would be in the bureaucracy where we are hoping to see through protocols a growth in the relationship between this iwi and the future executive leaders either in the bureaucracy or future Governments. That is what a relationship—whether we like it or not—is about and it is going to be either bounded or informed by the vicissitudes of that particular time. That is about all we can say. 
There will be ongoing challenges that the group and other Maori groups face in relation to the land that is going to be restored by the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill—the Wharerata Forest for example. There will be ongoing issues where this group and other Maori groups have an intersection and a compromise or a balance between Maori aspirations and their settlement forests and New Zealand’s international obligations to do with climate change and other such matters. These are probably a lot more demanding quite frankly than the delay often associated with getting settlements through. 
The Maori Affairs Committee which I have not by and large had the chance to sit on has actually been well led by the Hon Tau Henare. I say that it was well led because it is more than likely going to take a very large percentage of his CV which will be required in 2014. The man has been a parliamentarian since 1993 and I will have him remember that in 1993 a sprightly feisty young urban Maori Raymond Tau Henare was welcomed by the Anglican Maori Pastorate at Pendennis. One of our very old kuia kaumatua was still alive. Tau gave a mihi and we cooked a feed and had speeches etc. and as we finished the meal the old kuia turned to me and she said: “Hey koro did the MP actually arrive today?”. But we have all learnt as we move on our journey in fairness to the Maori Affairs Committee. 
Just before I wind up I want to share a few observations about an issue that this settlement group is going to have to deal with as well once a resource becomes scarce. The scarcity problem that we are dealing with at the moment—and there are Maori interests associated with it—is water. You cannot talk about an ancestor like Paoa or you cannot talk about the resources around the rohe of this particular area without reminding ourselves that there are deep interests that have yet to be settled. I wish this group which is in the House today good luck and Godspeed in dealing with those issues but the less that is said of an inflammatory nature about these resource issues the better. It is inflammation that actually protracts the process to getting settlements. 
It is with goodwill and I believe that on this side of the House we have shown goodwill and there has been goodwill in the select committee. As we move to redress the debts of history we should celebrate the passage of a bill not unlike we are doing today. So the frivolity and joviality aside to the select committee and in particular the Minister and other Ministers who may have played a role in expediting the passage of the bill through the background work etc. kia kaha kia manawanui kia ora tatou katoa.