Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Huri noa i Te Whare nei e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa. Tēnei te mihi ki ngā rangatira o Kurahaupō waka ki ngā rangatira o te iwi o Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa nō reira nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare Paremata. Mauria mai ō whakaaro ki te kaupapa nunui nō reira e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.[I acknowledge you all throughout the House. I acknowledge the esteemed ones of the Kurahaupō canoe and of the tribe of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa so come forth and welcome to Parliament House. Bring forth your views on this important matter and so I commend you all.]It is indeed my pleasure as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee to speak on the Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa Claims Settlement Bill at the second reading. I want to be quite specific in what I am going to present here because it is very much reflective of the work that the Māori Affairs Committee has done since the first reading particularly going out to Waitangi to hear submissions from right across the whānau hapū and iwi of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa and also to get a very very good insight into the feelings of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa. As has been said in this House this morning I must say that it has not been an easy journey but there are a number of things and the first one would be the question around participation in that ratification process of the Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa deed of settlement. We are advised that the level of participation was about 30.9 percent and when we look at the total number of voting packs that were actually distributed they accounted for about 2426 but only 756 votes were received. This participation rate may seem in some ways disappointing but we do understand that if you look at other Treaty settlements this is considered a middle range of participation. That is the first point. Although we would all like overall participation to be higher and for more members of the iwi to have been involved in this process our main concern is that members have had the opportunity and we saw this. Members did have the opportunity to partake in this consensus actually. That is the first point. The next one is that to me there was also a very open and transparent process to ratify the settlement including widespread advertising of the hui and voting packs that were widely distributed. That is that second point. But we can only hope particularly when we look at this ratification process—it is a signal though that once this settlement debate is completed in the third reading there is still a lot of work to be done to actually bring everyone together to work together to hoe the waka together around that really important value of kotahitanga. The next part is that during the select committee process we heard about the disagreement over Mangawhero Marae and the settlement boundary. Looking at that we were satisfied that the boundaries used in the settlement were appropriate and given the support of most people in both Mangawhero Marae and Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa that the marae is a Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa marae. That was really important and that is something that we really did listen to and we are very comfortable with that particular outcome. We also heard about the issues surrounding the ownership of Stony Creek Station—it has been mentioned here before. I just want to mention the fact that it had been demonstrated to us that the station had been illegally occupied by some members of Ngāti Aukiwa. That has been an ongoing thing since 2007. It was quite disappointing that these members as a subgroup of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa had devalued the asset that forms the key feature of the redress in the iwi settlement. We heard that most Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa hapū and marae have associations with Stony Creek Station and most members of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa are also members of Ngāti Aukiwa. We have seen this before in Treaty settlements. The fact is that we did not want to play Solomon. We actually just wanted to get a very very good overview of this issue. From the outside looking in we were comfortable with the fact that there is that close association—bloodlines; whanauka—and so that is another part of the work that still needs to be done once this Treaty settlement has been finalised. The other part of this is that we were alerted to the concerns that the bill would extinguish other hapū claims and relationships with the Whakaangi mauka and the Whangaroa Harbour. The relationship of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa to the Whakaangi Scenic Reserve is recognised through an overlay classification. However this does not preclude other iwi or hapū from establishing a similar customary relationship on this site. So again it is actually acknowledging all of those who are involved and have relationships with the site. The other part of this is that we note that this settlement does not include any redress related to Whangaroa Harbour. There was also some discussion as to whether the Crown should make acknowledgments to individual hapū—and this was a really important one; particularly the acknowledgement to hapū. However the Crown's approach—as we all know working within the Treaty settlement process—is to settle with large natural groups which in this case means that the acknowledgments and apologies are directed to Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa as an iwi rather than to any particular hapū. That was our resolution and our understanding. The only amendments we have recommended to this bill though are very technical in nature and relate to changes to land descriptions. I look forward to taking this bill further after this second reading. I want to acknowledge those who have come from the Far North here to Pōneke today and to also just acknowledge your manaaki to me to our party and to the Minister when we came to Ōtangaroa Marae in December to sign the deed of settlement. I was a witness to that. On that note it has been a long journey. It will be a little longer—but we have been there—but it will suffice and the third reading will come and you will have your settlement. As I have mentioned in my speech this is only really the start of building that kotahitanga amongst your people and to taking that forward so that you are all hoe-ing that waka together.Nō reira e Te Mana Whakawā e huri noa Te Whare nei e ngā manuhiri tuaraki tēnā koutou tēnā koutou e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.[Therefore to you Mr Assistant Speaker to those throughout this House and to visitors from afar acknowledgments and salutations to you collectively I commend you all.]I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.