Flavell Te Ururoa: New Zealand Mission Trust Board (Otamataha) Empowering Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: New Zealand Mission Trust Board (Otamataha) Empowering Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 25 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13726. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki): Firstly can I acknowledge all of the statements made by members of the House this afternoon. I appreciate very much the support and it sounds like it is across the House for this bill the New Zealand Mission Trust Board (Otamataha) Empowering Bill. Can I just own up and say that the work that I did was relatively minimal and I acknowledge again Alan Tate who was the adviser to theŌtamataha Trust who basically over the last couple of years has been the communication person for me through my office and of course through the trust—so thank you to him.There are some interesting points I picked up in the discussion and in the couple of minutes that I have got just to wrap up I say that I am sure we will learn a lot of history when we go to Tauranga Moana and pick up much of the discussion when submitters present evidence in front of the Māori Affairs Committee. It reminds me of another bill that we had in the House here not long ago that related to sewage pipes and a large chunk of area of land being handed back to the Tauranga people that was originally taken for a sewage pond. Those sorts of things I think very much stick in the hearts of Māori people but I do acknowledge the point that Jonathan Young has made. Sure there were some good things that came with the arrival of the missionaries but some things very much stick in the heart especially if you have been hanging out for a long period of time to get your land back.This for me is a very important bill because I do not recall—not that I am the expert in it—that there are too many times that the Anglican Church has handed land back to Māori people. But in my area my constituency theTūhoe people up atMaungapōhatu received some land back from the Presbyterian Church I think it was through MrLaughton who had a close association with RuaKēnana back in the day. They set the scene a couple of years ago because they started handing land back but there is a hell of a lot of land out there that is still under the auspices of a number of churches that has not come back to the Māori people and I hope that the precedent set with these sorts of bills is going to be some good news for years to come.I do not think we can deny too some of the main thoughts of the missionaries as they came to New Zealand because they are pretty much set out in a lot of the doctrine that was set up at the time. I am thinking about my old school St Stephen’s School—Mr Jones’ school as well—which pretty much had a set charter if you like which was about educating the uneducated and indeed young Māori boys. Some of them were heathen—Mr Jones well I am not too sure about that but nevertheless he is all right; he came good after a couple of years at St Stephen’s but he has sort of faded away alittle bit since that time. Mr Hone Harawira is another old boy—a sort of similar pattern but nevertheless they might come good at some point or other.I have to say that I do cringe at times at some of the actions by the Church. When I was teaching Treaty education we always referred to two doctrines of the time of both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church. One was called the papal bull set out by the Pope which I suppose set the scene for colonisation throughout the world and the other one under the Anglican doctrine was called therequiremento—meaning you were required to read a certain statement. Both of those statements were about “Take the land take the women and if anybody gets in the road deal to them and do it in the name of God.” Under those circumstances we have got a lot of work to do to catch up with those sorts of things.I do not want to take up too much time but I think the key point that was made by Louisa Wall around the reconciliation process is important—that we are on that line in particular with the efforts around settling Treaty settlements and that the work that has been done by Mr Chris Finlayson is along the way. Talking about the other 80 percent as Louisa Wall said it will be interesting to see what the people think about the other 80 percent of land that might come back to them. For those who are travelling through Tauranga Moana I think the easiest way to find this place is to look for the best fish and chip shop in Tauranga Moana down on the harbour—they are blinking nice fish and chips from the Palmerwhānau I think it is. They look after that fish and chip shop and I hope they give me free fish and chips when I go up next time. But also theSebel Hotel is sitting right on that land. It has all been reclaimed I think right on the harbour. If you are flying over there I am sure you cannot miss it.I look forward to hearing the stories from the people up in Tauranga Moana and congratulate them on advancing this bill. Today I think of the korouaMōrehu—the old koroua up there atNgāiTamarāwaho. I am sure that he would be pretty proud to finally get this land in their hands. Ka nui te mihi kia oratātou.Bill read a first time.Billreferred to the Māori Affairs Committee.