Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā nō reira huri noa i Te Whare nei he mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. Ā tēnei te mihi ki Te Kaunihera o Ngāmotu. Ngā mihi nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare Pāremata ki a koutou Te Kaunihera o Ngāmotu. Nō reira e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and so acknowledgments to you all throughout the House. I extend a welcome to the New Plymouth District Council. Acknowledgments salutations welcome to Parliament House to you the council of New Plymouth. Therefore I commend you all.]It is indeed my pleasure to be able to speak in the first reading of the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill. I am speaking here as part of the Government but also as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee particularly around a perceived issue of whether this bill should be at the Māori Affairs Committee or at the Local Government and Environment Committee. My whakaaro here is that we can show true kotahitanga in the way that first of all the Māori Affairs Committee is dealing with the Te Atiawawa ki Taranaki Treaty settlement bill. What better way to actually show that kotahitanga and particularly working in with an organisation that truly believes in a resolution. To me in doing that it is important that we actually travel this road we go on this journey together as the Māori Affairs Committee to do our work with the Te Atiawawa Claims Settlement Bill and then also allow Te Kaunihera-ā-Rohe o Ngāmotu or the New Plymouth District Council to actually do their work so that we are actually hoe-ing this waka together in the right direction. So that is my whakaaro on that situation around where this bill should actually find its home.I want to also start with acknowledging Jonathan Young. Jonathan is the very hard-working locally connected MP for New Plymouth and I want to congratulate him on the work he has done along with the New Plymouth District Council to bring this bill to the House. This bill addresses some land issues in Waitara an area that has been the site of some of the most contentious episodes in New Zealand history. It was in 1865 when land in Waitara was confiscated from Te Atiawa by the Crown. It is a wrong that is only now being corrected with the Te Atiawawa Claims Settlement Bill that is currently before this House.The situation in Waitara now is that much of the town's land is vested in the council as an endowment but in a way that heavily restricts how the land may be used. One-quarter of all homes in Waitara are on this land with a perpetual lease. The residents of these homes have long sought to freehold their land but are currently not allowed to do so. The income that the council receives from these leases can be used only in very specific ways that are not necessarily what the community needs. There are three main groups with competing interests in the land: Te Atiawa would like their land returned—ideally all of it—leaseholders would like the power to freehold their land and the council would like to be able to use the funds from leases or the freeholding process. This bill is a compromise that balances these competing aims through the following three main provisions. The council will vest over 40 hectares of land in Te Atiawa allowing the iwi to add to the economic base they will begin building with in the upcoming Treaty settlement. The leaseholders will also gain a right to freehold and proceeds from the leasehold land will be vested back into Waitara. That is the really important part of this. A lot of the land that is vested back into Waitara through the New Plymouth District Council and Taranaki Regional Council—so a lot of the administration statutory boards equal appointees from the New Plymouth District Council—is actually about kotahitanga. It is about actually working together as part of the completion of this particular process.Te Atiawa would like their land returned and we know that but they have actually agreed even in discussions and kōrero with them during the Treaty settlement bill—they actually see a true resolution coming out of here working together in unity with the council itself. I think when we look at the commercial redress from this bill actually everyone wins. It is estimated that this could result in half a million dollars per year going back into the community by 2020. So it is a win-win—you know $2 million by 2040. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.