Ririnui Mita: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ririnui Mita: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7694. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 Otira kei te Kaihautu he wahi tuatahi maku he tuku whakamoemiti whakawhetai ki te wahi ngaro mo ana manaakitanga i a tatou i nga ra ki muri tae noa mai ki te haora o tenei ahiahi. I runga ano i te tumanako ka tu tonu ana manaakitanga i runga i a tatou i te roa atu o tenei ra me nga ra katoa kei mua i a tatou. Tuku atu enei ki te wahi ngaro i te ingoa kaha o te Matua o te Tama o te Wairua Tapu ana karere nga Anahera Pono te Kahui Ariki Wairua a Arepa Omeka Piri Wiri Tua me Hamuera. Mana ano hoki e tautoko mai ai enei e awhina ae? 
Otira Ngati Apa ka roa koutou e hikoi ana i te huarahi mai ra i nga marae katoa o te hau kainga huri rauna i te motu a tae a-tinana mai ki te Whare o nga Raiona. Hai aha? He kawe mai i te aroha me nga moemoea o ratou kua ngaro a-tinana atu. Na runga i tenei ka mihi kau atu nei ki a koutou mo te maia mo te kaha a mo te maramatanga kei waenganui i a koutou. Me te mihi ano ra ki ta koutou pononga e noho nei i roto i tenei Whare ta koutou mema ta koutou Minita. E tika ana mana e panuihia tenei kaupapa ki te Whare otira ki te motu katoa kia marama ai ko te whaea rangatira kua tu mai i roto i te Whare nei no roto ra i a koutou. No reira na runga i tena Ngati Apa koutou nga kuia koroua tatu iho nei ki o koutou mangai korero te hunga rangatahi tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Indeed the first thing for me Mr Assistant Speaker is to give praise and thanks to the place of the hidden and for His care over us in days gone by right up to the hour this afternoon. The hope is that He continues to protect us for the remainder of the day and in the days ahead of us. These praises and thanks are given in the name of the Father the Son the Holy Spirit His Faithful Angels and Arepa Omeka Piri Wiri Tua and Hamuera. He Jehovah will indeed support and assist these yes? 
Ngati 
 Apa you have been on the road a long time. You have come all the way from your marae at home from around the country and at last here you are in person in the lions’ den the House of Parliament. Why? To bring the love and dreams of those ones who have since passed away. It is because of this that I acknowledge you for valour fortitude and the understanding within you. I also acknowledge your member and Minister who represents you in this House. How fitting it is that she should move the reading of this for the first time in the House and to the country as a whole to make it clear that the honourable member is truly one of your own. And on that Ngati Apa I acknowledge you the elderly women and menfolk right down to your spokespersons the younger generation greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to you all 
.]  
I do not normally begin speeches in this House in the manner that I have but this is indeed a huge occasion for Ngati Apa given the journey they have been on for a very very long time. Rightly so the Hon Tariana Turia the local member for Te Tai Hauauru who is a wahine of Ngati Apa descent and also a Minister in this House has taken the responsibility of speaking in the first reading of the Ngati Apa settlement bill this afternoon. That is very appropriate. Although it was a very emotional time for her I have to say that from the perspective of members on this side of the House and for me and my colleague the Hon Parekura Horomia listening to that speech was also a very emotional time. But the Minister left a lot out and rightly so. She left out a lot because others should be speaking about what happened to Ngati Apa during those early years. 
Ministers usually categorise the nature of a settlement package. The Minister did not go into much detail today; the reason was I think that she would have found it even more difficult to touch on many of the aspects of the negotiations and of the particular components included in the settlement package. Like the Minister I also acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Christopher Finlayson. I acknowledge that he did a very very noble thing in handing that responsibility over to Minister Tariana Turia. 
I also acknowledge Minister Finlayson’s predecessors the Hon Dr Michael Cullen and the Hon Mark Burton and I acknowledge the Hon Parekura Horomia and the many others who took part in the negotiations and the process leading up to the signing of the deed of settlement on the Ngati Apa Marae up the Whangaehu River in 2008. That was also a very emotional time not only for the Ngati Apa people the kaumatua and kuia but also for those Crown representatives who were there that day. 
I have to acknowledge at this point in time that this settlement was not carried out like many other settlements. This settlement was conducted by young people—very young people. Those of us who had been involved in the Treaty settlements process for a number of years even before coming to Parliament have had to acknowledge that this was different this was new. Unlike many of the settlements that we had been involved with in the past this settlement seemed to be much easier. The reason is that those young people came with a new attitude. They came with the understanding that the Treaty of Waitangi is not about grievances and it is not about breaches. For them this particular process of the Treaty of Waitangi promotion and development has been about settling the grievances of the past putting the grievance behind them settling the issues and allowing Ngati Apa and all its whanau to move on. Certainly they spoke about that right throughout the negotiations process. 
The history is interesting as alluded to—though “alluded” is probably not the right word—by the Minister who spoke before me when she spoke about Ngati Apa’s intentions when they entered into negotiations during the late 1800s. Ngati Apa entered into a process which basically began with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi for a simple purpose: they encouraged settlement but at the same time they wanted to be recipients. They wanted to be in the position where they could benefit from much of the technology brought here by the settlers. So they entered into many discussions with Crown agents many of whom are mentioned in the preamble to this bill. Certainly they are mentioned in the historical account. 
But that did not happen. In fact Ngati Apa went through a process of being subjected to land confiscation and land acquisition to the point as the Minister mentioned in her speech where they were left with simply 1 percent of their original land holding. For them that had a tremendous impact as the Minister said. It led to the undermining of their culture the loss of their language and the fragmentation of whanau hapu and iwi to the extent that they did not participate in the development of the Rangitikei area. In fact they were what we might call onlookers. The development of that area was undertaken at their expense and they at no time were able to participate in it. We can understand why the Minister gets very emotional when she speaks about the impact on her people. That is not new just to Ngati Apa and to the Rangitikei area; it is also something that many iwi experienced through the 1800s particularly when it came to issues around the dispossession of land and assets. 
So it is incredible that the young people of Ngati Apa could bring this settlement to the House without too many problems and I can say that what problems they did have were handled very well. They spoke to their neighbouring iwi and there were iwi who had shared interests with regard to much of the areas that are identified in the settlement package. That is very important because we have not always done that to an adequate level. I come from an area where that happened; it has happened a few times. I congratulate those young people. I could go through their names and mention them in the House one by one but instead I will acknowledge the chief negotiator Andre Rurawhe who was inspired by his mum I would say and who was left a very proud legacy from his tupuna. He was referred to by the Minister in her speech. The role of those young people was to get the deal done and they have done a very good job of that. 
From here on it is basically about where Ngati Apa wish to go in the future. We have now entered the final stages of the settlement of their historical grievance and we could say that from here on Ngati Apa will develop in many many ways in terms of providing services to their local communities whether those services be in health education housing or social services—you name it. But they are already there and they have been there for a very long time. This settlement will allow them to move forward on all those initiatives they have undertaken over a number of years without the baggage of grievance. This taniwha called the baggage of grievance is a very very difficult thing to describe because although it is invisible and has no being it has a huge impact on the people who are affected by it. I am sure that many members in this House will understand what I am referring to without my having to go into too much detail. Ngati Apa have a plan. They have had it in place for some time and it will mean that this settlement will allow them to proceed forward without the baggage that has been hanging around for quite some time and the grievance that they can well do without. 
I acknowledge their tupuna the founder of the Ratana Church and movement who went on a world tour in 1922 in the hope of having a meeting with the king. As we were told there were influences here in this House who prevented that from happening. So he never got his hearing but that did not prevent him from travelling the world and certainly the length and breadth of this country to talk about a way forward. That way forward is something that we have seen here today. Ngati Apa can be very proud that they are part of that incredible legacy which has taken not only them but also all of us as Maori into the future. I have to be honest; I am in this House only because of that mirimiri otherwise I would probably be somewhere else—probably fishing. 
I have no more to say except that I congratulate the Minister and I congratulate the Hon Tariana Turia. I acknowledge the presence in the House today of her iwi her hapu and her whanau and I wish them all the best in the future. Kia ora.