Katene Rahui: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Katene Rahui: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12772] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 E te Rangatu Pou Mua o te Reo o te Whare tena koe. E aku koko tataki tena koutou katoa. We come to this vote in the context of a damning statement from the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples—namely that “the Treaty’s principles appear to be vulnerable to political discretion resulting in their perpetual insecurity and instability.” Of course we understand that the appropriation for Vote Treaty Negotiations is not the sole and exclusive authority of Treaty principles but it is as good a place as any in which to start. 
We join the select committee in being generally very impressed by the momentum driven by the Minister towards the aspirational goal of achieving just and durable settlements. It is very heartening that from practically the moment the coalition agreement and the ministerial warrant were signed the Minister took off at a cracking pace. Over the last 18 months this Government can now boast of having reached 39 significant negotiation milestones including seven deeds of settlement. That is something to be proud of! There are also some achievements that distinguish this vote and they include recognising the progress since the Te Kokiri Ngatahi hui held last year the Minister’s commitment to addressing issues relating to the asset value of the land bank and the investment in the rangatira ki te rangatira approach preferred by iwi. This third concept the promotion of chief to chief negotiation is something that we the Maori Party campaigned on and brought into the coalition so it is great to see that concept coming to fruition. 
With such positive progress being advanced how is it that the special rapporteur could be so harsh in his comments about political discretion? That comes down to one word: Tuhoe. Although the pace of settlement negotiations is commendable the manifestation of Treaty principles is primarily observed in practice. So when the Government failed to honour commitments that Tuhoe felt had been promised specifically in the return of ownership of Te Urewera National Park to Tuhoe many questions were asked about how genuine the commitment was to the Government’s dealing with iwi and specifically with Tuhoe. 
Anyone who has questions around the Tuhoe claim need look no further than the research of historian Dame Judith Binney who has traced the history of the Crown’s treatment of Tuhoe back to 1871 and a promise made by Donald MacLean the Native Minister for Tuhoe to enjoy a large degree of self-government of tribal authority over the area. Twenty-five years later in 1896 the Liberal Government of Richard Seddon passed a law granting a form of self-government to Tuhoe a measure that Binney described as unique. The action was in direct relation to the Crown’s confiscation of large amounts of land in the Tuhoe nation during the wars in 1866 and 1867—confiscation that was neither justified nor compensated for. Over the decades however the initiative of Seddon was gradually whittled away and 50 years later the Urewera National Park was formed out of the land that Tuhoe owned in 1896. Dame Judith Binney has suggested that the Prime Minister should have understood this history of the Urewera before talk of precedence entered the frame. The precedent that we in the Maori Party are interested in is how the Government can willingly offer up Department of Conservation estate for the purposes of mining yet deny Tuhoe claims to the Urewera. 
I leave the last word to a young boy from Kavanagh College who featured in that fine publication the  
Otago Daily Times 
 this morning. Sam Murphy a year 13 student wrote to the paper about his concerns that “in many cases the treaty has been ignored and dishonoured.” He describes some of the issues we have seen outlined in the estimates such as land claims and the foreshore and seabed dispute. He finished with a resounding challenge for this Minister this Government and this Parliament: “most of all we need to understand and honour the Treaty of Waitangi our nation’s founding document a fruit of the goodwill and hope of those who signed it.” Let us learn from the wisdom of our youth and put in place the policy commitment to ensure that the Treaty is indeed a foundation for goodwill an opportunity to promote the rights and identity of our indigenous people and a blueprint for unity.