Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Ā kāti Tihewa mauri ora ki te whai ao ki te ao mārama!" E ngā hapū maha o Heretaunga Tamatea e Ngāti Kahungunu tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātau katoa. Nau mai whakatau mai ki Te Whare Pāremata ki te ana o te raiona e takatū nei. Nō koutou tēnei rā ko tēnei rā whakahirahira.Nō reira me mihi atu ki a rātau kua whetūrangitia ngā mate i hinga rā e hinga mai nei haere koutou haere koutou. Āpiti hono tātai hono rātau te hunga mate ki a rātau apiti hono tātai hono ko tātau te hunga ora ki a tātau tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. Nō reira ko hau tēnei tā koutou whanaunga ko Ngāti Pāhauwera tēnei e mihi atu nei e tangi atu nei ki aku mātua tini karanga maha nō reira e aku whanaunga tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ngā mātāwaka o te motu tēnā tātau katoa.[And so "Behold the breath of life to the light of dawn and to the world of light!" Salutations to you the many hapū of Heretaunga Tamatea and of Ngāti Kahungunu acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all. Welcome and pay homage to Parliament and to the lion's den standing here at the ready. This day is yours this magnificent day.Therefore let us pay a tribute to them who have become a star in the heavens the dead who have fallen and continue to fall go forth journey on. The lines are drawn the dead to the dead the lines are drawn we the living to ourselves and so salutations and acknowledgments to you collectively. And so this is I your relative and Ngāti Pāhauwera extending a tribute to you collectively and grieving to my myriad of grown-ups and many callings therefore salutations and accolades to you my relations and kinship group of the nation my appreciation to us all.]It is a great pleasure indeed to be able to speak in support of the first reading of the Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill. It is a historic day and I too will add my welcome to all of the manuhiri who have come who have travelled from afar and those who might be tuning in over the airwaves to join in celebrating this significant occasion. I will also give a little shout-out to Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tuia Te Mātangi from Whakatū who have come here.This is a significant day. I just want to add my congratulations on all of the work that has gone on in the lead-up to this point. Can I acknowledge He Toa Takitini and in particular the negotiators but also all of the many kaumātua and kuia the whānau that have been part of the mahi and the struggle to lead us up to this point. It is just great to be able to share in these occasions. Can I acknowledge the work of He Toa Takitini in particular the chair Dr David Tīpene-Leach Liz Munroe Brian Morris and Peter Paku who I know are all up there in the gallery.I want to acknowledge Dr David Tīpene-Leach just for his mahi for our pēpi which he has been doing over many years in reducing sudden unexpected death in infancy. So I do want to acknowledge you for that important mahi Dr Tīpene-Leach.So here we are. We are here at this first reading. It is a significant day. I have not been a member on the Māori Affairs Committee through this Parliament but I do acknowledge Tutehounuku my whanaunga there from the south for his chairmanship and for the work that goes on within the committee in its consideration of these important bills and settlement legislation. I know that as we go into the 52nd Parliament it will continue as we usher the passage of this bill through the House. I too acknowledge my tuahine here Meka and the work that she is doing with her people up in Ngāti Kahungunu. It is great to be able to be here to tautoko her as well as we conduct this first reading of this historic bill. I will not repeat them but there are 23 marae—23 marae—that make up Heretaunga Tamatea. I know quite a few of them very well. When I was a child growing up blowing my Rātana horn in the Rātana band I went to Ōmahu Marae and others. But I know that I have travelled up and down through the takiwā and it is just wonderful to see them all represented here. Boy they know how to manaaki. I mean we do it good down south but those are stunning stunning memories that I have of visiting those marae and enjoying the hākari and the waiata. I sure hope we get to hear some today—the wonderful waiata from Ngāti Kahungunu. Those top 10 songs—everyone who is Ngāti Kahungunu knows those top 10 numbers. Those are the memories that I have of going through and obviously I also think back to my late aunt the Hon Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan and my late grandfather who served the Southern Māori electorate which included all of Kahungunu way back in the day and I know how significant it is. So it is a pleasure to be their mokopuna to be able to speak on this occasion.We know that there is quite a dark history in terms of our country. We see it so often in all Treaty settlement legislation. What really jumps out at me in relation to Heretaunga Tamatea is the disposition of land. We know and we hear in every Treaty bill the modus operandi of the settler Government whether it was through shonky purchases whether it was through wars that were created in order to divide and rule or whether it was through the Native Lands Act 1865—that was a tino taniwha that piece of legislation. We have heard that and it is spelt out in the historical account with Heretaunga Tamatea and the loss is real. The deprivation of the economic base and what effect that has on a people is all too evident. To have 1.4 million acres and lose 1.2 million—84 percent—is just horrific. But we hear these stories all around the motu and I am so pleased that we are here now and we can acknowledge that. The Crown is apologising for that and we can now enact this settlement legislation to do our bit to rectify the wrongs of the past and build a base for Heretaunga Tamatea to launch from into the future. That is definitely what this is about.I do not want to prolong my contribution but I do want to once again just mihi to our manuhiri from Heretaunga Tamatea and Ngāti Kahungunu. I am not an old boy of Te Aute College. I was close to it though. I am the greatest old boy that never was. I had my dorm number. I had everything. I was all ready to go when I was just about to start college and then at the last minute my dad wanted me to stay and play in the Ratana band. So I stayed home there in Pōneke. But I do acknowledge the provision that has been inserted into the settlement in regard to Te Aute College—one of the great Māori colleges. And I looked forward to as we consider the bill further all of the other gestures there like the magnanimous gesture of the gifting back of significant sites. Those are huge gestures that Heretaunga Tamatea is going to be doing as a result of this legislation. So I do mihi and acknowledge them for that.But for me for this moment I just want to mihi to everybody. This is the end of the 51st Parliament. We do not know who is coming back—ha ha! But I do mihi to everyone here. As we continue on this mahi we have done our bit for this Parliament and the work will continue into the next Parliament where we will ultimately pass this bill for Heretaunga Tamatea. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa."