Tirikatene Rino: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tirikatene Rino: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
[Sitting date: 16 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:550. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson nga mihi tino pai o tenei tau. Tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou nga rangatira o Ngai Tamanuhiri me Ngati Makino. Ko koutou te reo karanga o te ra. Mihi tonu atu ki a koutou katoa tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson and the very finest of this year to you. Greetings to you the leaders of Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Makino greetings. It is your voice that calls today. This acknowledgment is directed at you all so salutations and greetings 
.]  
I am very proud to join with my Labour colleagues here in support of the two bills before this House this evening: the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill. It is an honour because I completed my maiden speech just a couple of days ago and today is my first official speech before the House so I am very thrilled to be talking to these very important bills.  
I acknowledge Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Makino for travelling here today to celebrate this significant occasion and the passage of these important bills before the House and in the progression of your Treaty settlements. So I mihi to you all.  
As an uri of Tahupotiki—Ngai Tahu—I would like to specifically just focus at this point of my speech on the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill. I acknowledge the whanaungatanga connections that I have and that all of us in Te Tai Tonga and Ngai Tahu whanui whom I represent have with Ngai Tamanuhiri. I acknowledge the common ancestry we that we have as cousins. The Ngai Tamanuhiri claims settlement is the first of the Turanga claims which is the first in the Gisborne area. So I also acknowledge getting first off the blocks in terms of the progression of this bill to this stage. I look forward to seeing other progress made across the Turanga region.  
We would not be here today without the support effort hard work and toil over many years that has gone into the claims from both of the respective iwi. I acknowledge all of those who have gone before—who have progressed and championed and gone through tribunal processes and the hard sweat and toil that goes into bringing the settlements to this point in time. In particular I would like to acknowledge all of those who were involved in the Ngai Tamanuhiri lands claim negotiations team: Dawn Pomana Reuben Riki who died just before the land claims hearings commenced Melanie Tarsau and Pauline Hill; then in 2007 Hope Tupara; and from 2008 to 2011 Na Rongowhakaata Raihania. I also acknowledge the research team that was involved with the Ngai Tamanuhiri claims: Warren Pohatu Noel Pohatu Hope Tupara kaumatua Na Raihania Hare Pohatu who is deceased Rose Thompson who is also deceased—and we acknowledge them—Temple Isaacs and Nolan Raihania who I understand are in the House tonight. I acknowledge all of those individuals in regard to participating in the hard work of advancing these important claims through to this point in time to this stage of the bill.  
In terms of my own association with Ngai Tamanuhiri I would like to relate my own firsthand experience dealing with Ngai Tamanuhiri when I was with Ngai Tahu. I mentioned the close association that we have whakapapa-wise and that extended right in terms of the fisheries settlements with the Treaty tribes coalition and the kaupapa that we stood on with mana whenua mana moana. So I acknowledge Ngai Tamanuhiri in that respect and in the history that we have in those other areas of Treaty settlements. In particular what I learnt from my associations with Ngai Tamanuhiri—and in particular Dawn Pomana—was the very principled approach that they have to their tikanga. That was to the fore in all the dealings that Ngai Tahu had with Ngai Tamanuhiri in terms of our annual dealings around our fisheries transactions and the like. That has flowed through to all of the mahi that has gone on culminating this evening in the presentation of this bill for its first reading.  
I would like to also acknowledge the history that is embodied in the settlement that is now before us in this bill which was ratified through the deed of settlement. That actually goes back to all of the historical injustices and grievances that were inflicted upon Ngai Tamanuhiri by the Crown right through from the 1860s in terms of land dealings and the operation of the Poverty Bay Commission and the impact of the operation of the Native Land Court. There is a lot of history and a lot of grievances there and they were fully expressed through the Waitangi Tribunal reports. They highlighted the very severe breaches of the Treaty in the Turanga area and in particular against Ngai Tamanuhiri.  
The historical background is there and these settlements go some way towards trying to acknowledge the grievances of the past and I know the Crown does include its apologies but it does not nearly compensate for all of the lost opportunities the mamae and the grievance that has been inflicted upon the iwi and the many generations of whanau. That is why I am very proud to be here this evening to play my part in advancing this important bill through to the next stage so we can actually enact some measure of redress and compensation and apologies through this legislation and so we can address the issues of the past and also lay a platform for ongoing relationships for Ngai Tamanuhiri and the Crown and also for Ngati Makino and the Crown.  
I would just like to support again with my Labour colleagues the passage of this legislation through to the select committee stage. I acknowledge my whanaunga the Hon Tau Henare no te nota as our chair of the Maori Affairs Committee. I look forward to playing my part on the committee especially when we will be breaking into two subcommittees so we can advance the progression of these bills and to leading this legislation right through this House so that we can finally put the seal on it and pass it right the way through the House. I commend the passage of this legislation at this time. Kia ora ano tatou katoa.