te Heuheu Georgina: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
te Heuheu Georgina: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:5054] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 With the leave of the Committee I would like to make a few comments. Part 2 of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill deals with cultural redress as my colleague the Hon Tau Henare has already indicated. As members will know cultural redress is a very important part of any settlement the protocols around which and the format of which were developed quite some time ago a decade ago when Treaty settlements got under way particularly in respect of the Ngai Tahu settlement and the Tainui settlement. We have followed protocols for cultural redress in each settlement since. 
I will not pre-empt colleagues in this Committee in terms of what they wish to say about this part other than to refer to the issue of the Pipitea Marae. I will come to the reason why this is an important provision for me personally as well. I also want to make a comment about the great privilege it is to be in this House when these settlements come through and members have all referred to that privilege. I had the privilege of sitting on this claim back in the early 1990s. I left the claim to come into Parliament in 1996 so the report that was issued in the end was without my input. But I have to say that also at an earlier time I sat on the Commission of Inquiry into Maori Reserved Land under Matiu Rata which was quite some time ago. That also looked at the issue of reserved land and the leases which the Wellington Tenths had some involvement in as well. It is a great privilege for me to have a wee opportunity to be in the chair standing in for my colleague the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Chris Finlayson and to have a little bit of an input at this point. 
The other thing I will say and I know that my colleagues have all referred to it is that Treaty settlements are not an end; they are a beginning. I have to say watching those who have had their Treaty settlements over the past 15-odd years they are a very challenging beginning. If any of the iwi who have settled thought that they could have a big sigh and sit down and think “We got there. We are here now.” then clearly immediately they find they have reached a certain phase in this process but the real challenges are still to come. I think Hekia Parata touched upon the issue of working out tino rangatiratanga on the ground every day with our families around us and with the whanau hapu and iwi and that is the real challenge. In making these assets work making the cultural redress the protocols around those making all of those things work the challenge comes now. I know that Taranaki Whanui will be very aware of that and clearly they already have some clear plans in place as to how they will manage the settlement. 
If I can just come to the issue of Pipitea Marae part of the reason it is of interest to me is that in my earlier days—and I will not say how long ago—when I came to Wellington to study at Victoria University Pipitea Marae was a bit of a haven for young or youngish Maori like myself who had basically come from the sticks the bush our isolated community areas wherever we came from. That was already on the back of the urban drift of Maori people from their rural areas. Pipitea Marae provided a haven for those of us who oftentimes felt lost in the city in the 1960s and 1970s. We knew that there would be not only Maori from this region at the marae but also other Maori who had also come from the homes that we had all come from—our whanaunga with whom we would most likely be connected. 
It is pleasing to me to see that the parties involved here were able to work out an accommodation that basically recognises the role that the Ngati Poneke Maori Association has played in the Wellington City area for a long long time. It also recognises the interests of Taranaki Whanui who are the traditional owners in this area and clearly would be looking for a marae base within the city itself. Clause 45A accommodates those wishes and recognises the longstanding role that the Ngati Poneke Maori Association has played and the support it has given to Maori people from all around the country over a long period of time while also paying proper respect to and recognising the role of the tangata whenua. 
The settlement bill provides for the land under the Pipitea Marae and the improvements to be transferred to the Pipitea Marae Charitable Trust as requested by the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust which is the trust that will now take over the settlement. This is an exciting accommodation between the two. I understand particularly from looking at the commentary from the Maori Affairs Committee that there was quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing around this issue. Eventually the accommodation has been found and no less through the support and the work put in by the select committee. The Crown has agreed to gift the land only under Pipitea Marae to Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika in recognition of their historical ties and the Ngati Poneke Maori Association which had a perpetually renewable lease over the marae basically gets to maintain an interest here as well. 
From the Minister’s point of view the Hon Chris Finlayson he was at pains to make clear that the association should not be disadvantaged by the vesting of the marae land in the settlement trust and that the current lease arrangements should be protected. The Crown has provided an ex gratia payment to the Ngati Poneke Maori Association for any loss of right the association suffered as a result of the inclusion of Pipitea Marae in the settlement and that association subsequently requested that the ex gratia payment be provided to the Pipitea Marae Charitable Trust which it has established with the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust to jointly own and manage the marae. 
Like a lot of other aspects of this settlement hard work and good work has been put in by all involved but particularly by the iwi. We have come to an arrangement that obviously suits both sides and I congratulate them particularly on the accommodation of Taranaki Whanui and also the select committee on the work it has put into this as well. Thank you.