Brownlee Gerry: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
Brownlee Gerry: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:624;Page:19599] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 The National Party will support the passage of this bill through the Committee stage and the third reading and we do so wishing Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty all the goodwill we can as they go about the process of taking life forward post-settlement. I cannot help but reflect on some of the words that were discussed in the House today those words being the words of the honourable John Tamihere who was very influential in the House today. Certainly he was a centrepiece of the business. 
In a recent article John Tamihere spoke about a number of things the Labour Government has said were trifling nonsense that the Prime Minister has said were all rubbish and that the Prime Minister has said New Zealanders should not believe. In that article John Tamihere spoke about the need for Maori to move on. 
Jill Pettis 
: What’s this got to do with Ngati Tuwharetoa? 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: There we have the outgoing member for Whanganui—the soon-to-be-retired-by-her-voters member for Whanganui the senior Government whip formerly known as the wallpaper stripper—striking out across the House in a most unparliamentary manner trying to interrupt my contribution. Well I will tell that member exactly what John Tamihere’s article in  
Investigate 
 magazine where he described many of his colleagues in the most derogatory terms has to do with this bill. It has lots to do with this bill because he did not talk only about some of the undue influences that come to bear on the Prime Minister and make her remote from the rest of New Zealand he did not only call the Minister of Finance devious and deceitful he did not only call the Minister of Conservation a tosser and he did not only say that the Minister for Social Development and Employment is an empty vessel—he also said a lot of other things. Among those things were comments he made— 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member should speak to the second reading of the bill. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I was making a speech and I was getting to the point when I was rudely heckled by the senior Government whip. I needed to clarify to the House what my position was and I will now come to the point of the speech. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I will rule on the point of order. The member knows that he was taking a long time to come to the point of the speech and I ask him to come to the bill. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I know that members of the Labour Government do not like being told what John Tamihere had to say in  
Investigate 
 magazine—today the Prime Minister said that no one should believe anything that was in it. But one of the most important and relevant things in that article was John Tamihere’s view that it was time for Maori to move on and to take control of their destiny. In fact he went further and said that through the settlement process Maori won or were winning—and we agree with him. It is sad that the Prime Minister does not and it is sad that the senior whip from the Labour Government does not and that the Deputy Prime Minister does not. They did not read the important things in that article about ordinary New Zealanders who want to make their lives better. They read the things that offended them—the truths about their inability to connect properly with ordinary New Zealanders. 
We agree with John Tamihere on this one point: if we are to have a country where all people can say that they are participating that they are looking forward and that they are part of moving this country to a better future then settling long-held grievances such as this one is important. No matter what anybody may have heard about the National Party’s views on the Treaty of Waitangi and on the grievance industry that has grown up around it we do support proper settlements being concluded with appropriately mandated iwi authorities. I am interested in making a point about some of the material that has been removed from this bill. 
Jill Pettis 
: He wouldn’t know a principle if it hit him in the face. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I do not want you running the House just for the sake of the Labour Government. I ask you to look at some of the discussion that is going on while I am trying to make my contribution. The Chair is always very quick to give me a hard time but tonight I think that a little bit of fairness would be in order. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: There have been interjections and certainly I ask the member to restrain herself in terms of the interjections. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: That sort of banter with the volume put up about 10 times from the Opposition was the reason the Prime Minister had to ask to be heard in silence in the House today. I ask those who are engaging in some banter to do so on a reasonable basis. 
The settlement bill originally carried a number of clauses that essentially put into law some of the stories I suppose one would say that are particularly important to Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty—stories about their connection to their ancestors and the way in which their ancestors went about establishing them as an iwi. Although that may be fine for Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty in the wider context it is not appropriate to put that sort of thing into law because the stories the add-ons I suppose one would say to whakapapa that give particular credence to the story of any particular iwi are sacred to that iwi and it would not be appropriate to put into this bill things that may offend some other group who may seek a settlement at another time. 
I thank the negotiators from Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty for their willingness to understand the dilemma that Parliament was in and for their willingness to accept that their story would always be theirs that no one could take that from them and that there was no need to enshrine it in the law of this land—because it was always there before this sort of law was ever in place. 
I conclude my remarks by saying that this is also a bill where there is a significant Maori commentary and indeed a parallel recital of the bill in Maori throughout. The process that was established just a few months ago has been repeated in this bill so there can be no doubt that the two versions of the bill mean the same thing. I hope that my friend Mr Pita Paraone who has been instrumental in having this approach taken will agree with those comments. I also reserve my last few comments for the issue of the mandate that any group has to negotiate a settlement. Although we accept that this settlement is a genuine settlement and that Parliament will pass it and it will become part of the settlement process it does alarm me that some of the claimants coming to this Parliament asking to have their grievances settled do so with a very low number of their local iwi participants voting for them to have that role. As well as that there is a is a very low turn-out in some of the polls that are conducted when it comes to ratifications of settlements. 
We are not happy that the Office of Treaty Settlements continues to tell the Government that very low turn-outs in ratification ballots are acceptable and OK to progress with. I do want to put it on the parliamentary record that from the National Party’s perspective this is a full and final settlement because Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty have come to Parliament to ask for it. It has not been pushed upon them; it is the result of negotiations. Although the acceptance of the position may well be generous from Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty—and I acknowledge that it is—it is nonetheless full and final.