Okeroa Mahara: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
Okeroa Mahara: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:624;Page:19601] 
MAHARA OKEROA (Labour—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 A maruru tena tatau. Ko tenei mihi tuatahi ki a koutou i haere maomao mai ki konei koutou mai i Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau e noho mai nei ki te wakarongo ki nga korero e wakaputa mai i etehi o nga mema Paremata e tautoko mai i te pira. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Keep cool and salutations to us. In the first instance I make this acknowledgment to those of you of Tuwharetoa at Kawerau who travelled far and are seated here listening to what some of the members of Parliament supporting the bill are saying. 
]  
I was somewhat bemused by the anthropological sociologist and economist and shadow Minister of Maori Affairs and his totally irrelevant in the main presentation with regard to the Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau bill. I fail to understand how in any way the debate on the John Tamihere articulation to the media has anything to do with the mana of Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau. It has absolutely no relationship whatsoever. It breeds the suspicion that maybe that member has overindulged somewhere because I thought that he might have been struggling to have any context to his korero. I would be embarrassed if it were me because I would be saying to myself: “Beam me up Scotty.” 
Hon Mita Ririnui 
: It would be heavy. 
MAHARA OKEROA 
: I know it is heavy but I would say: “Beam me up Scotty.” in terms of the embarrassment that that would occasion on the Government side of the House. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: We’re just worried they have been duped by the change of just one word. 
MAHARA OKEROA 
: That member has never been known for saying just one word! 
The Maori members on the Government side of the House have a principle that has been agreed to and is often stated—that no Maori member on this side of the House would ever vote against claims legislation that is put forward by another iwi. So I hope that my colleague opposite from New Zealand First does not repeat the embarrassment of not voting for this bill at its third reading. 
Pita Paraone 
: Who was embarrassed? 
MAHARA OKEROA 
: We were not embarrassed but I think that that member was. No Maori member has the right to takahia te mana a tipuna of another tribe because— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Ha ha ha! 
MAHARA OKEROA 
:—that member is making more noise than he did when making a speech—it is not acceptable. No iwi that comes before this House and that goes through a whole process of not less than 9 years of jumping through hoops seeking a mandate seeking ratification and joining its people together and taking a very difficult path in its interfacing with the Crown should ever be denied the full support of every Maori member of this House—irrespective of whatever political party the members belong to. I felt that I needed to say that because the member opposite— 
Pita Paraone 
: Do you feel good? 
MAHARA OKEROA 
: Mr Paraone understands that because he was brought up under the old rules. It is not that I feel good about it. That is not the question I should be asking myself; it is actually the question he should ask himself. We just make the assumption that a person who has been brought up in a traditional way with due respect for every other iwi would support it. It is no less the reason why the Maori members and others members of the Maori Affairs Committee in debating the issues surrounding fishing allocation took it upon themselves to represent the case on behalf of Ngati Hine. It is because we understood the tikanga. 
Pita Paraone 
: Don’t use that argument brother. 
MAHARA OKEROA 
: No no. We understood the tikanga that that implied. It implied that we should have equal rights. Any Maori member may I repeat who votes against this bill needs to ask himself or herself key questions. 
Having said that—and it is totally irrelevant—I want to commend Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau as a relatively small group of people for managing to overcome with due regard and respect all those obstacles that could have served as an impediment to the claims process. It takes first a helluva lot of self-belief; second a helluva lot of self-commitment; and third a belief that eventually a goal can be reached from which people can move on to other challenges. The reason in my view why Maori have not moved on to a large extent was that we had not first really settled the issues that have a historical basis before moving on to address what we have now in a contemporary sense—before moving on to our future. 
So on behalf of the Maori Labour caucus on behalf of the Maori Affairs Committee that considered the bill and in spite of the constant communications made from issues that raised themselves within the select committee process via the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations to Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau in order to progress this bill to where it is now I thank all its people for their ability to continue to make those adjustments that have helped this bill into its second reading. Of course in the future it will no doubt culminate—hopefully in May when the people will come back te hokitanga mai ki te whenua [ 
back to the land 
]—in their joining together with this House in rejoicing and celebrating what is without doubt a unique experience for those people who constitute a specific claimant group. 
No reira koutou ra Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau me te ope e hara mai nei na ki te tautoko i tenei wahanga tuarua 
[ 
And so to those of you indeed of Tuwharetoa at Kawerau and the group that came in support of this second part 
] 
I wish the group the best in the future and even though it has been difficult especially surrounding the issues dealing with geothermal power I say that we have been able to progress this bill to its present state. No reira tena tatau tena tatau a ka noho tenei ki raro. 
[ 
S 
o greetings to us greetings to us I resume my seat 
.]