te Heuheu Georgina: Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:608;Page:5650] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (NZ National) 
: 
 I am very pleased to rise to the first reading of the Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill and I want to pay tribute to those who have come here tonight representing the maunga Taranaki. Nga mihi ki a koutou ki te maunga o Taranaki mai i Tongariro te whare o te Heuheu tena koutou. 
[ 
Greetings to you from the mountain of Tongariro and the household of te Heuheu Taranaki mountain 
.] 
I always think it is a proud moment for this House when a settlement bill comes to finality after years of negotiation between the Government and the people involved and which we as parliamentarians can commit to and ensure its passage through this Parliament. 
The Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill is no different. I was pleased to rise to the third reading of the Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement Bill and it is pleasing to see the second of the Taranaki claims now before us in this House. I say that because as Minister Turia just recounted the claims of the Taranaki people were heard in the mid-1990s and the report issued has been with us for some years now. Although we know that settlements are complicated matters and take time to conclude none the less it is pleasing to see the Ngati Tama Claims Settlement Bill come close upon the heels of the Ngati Ruanui claims settlement legislation. 
It is pleasing also from my point of view because the Rt Hon Sir Douglas Graham began negotiating this settlement—[ 
Interruption 
] Madam Chair there is some talk across the House and it is a bit distracting. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: There is too much chatter and would the member please be seated. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: It is distracting; our people are in the gallery and I would like to think they are able to hear what is said—not just what I am saying but all of us who take part in this debate tonight. 
Ngati Tama from Taranaki are one of the eight iwi from that area whose claims were investigated and reported on by the Waitangi Tribunal in 1996. The general background to these claims are the Taranaki land wars of the 1860s; the loss of lives and destruction of property; land confiscations and the sacking of Parihaka; and the imprisonment without just cause or in some cases without trial of the tupuna of these people who are here in this Chamber tonight and their imprisonment in caves in Dunedin where some of them were left to die. That is a blight on this country’s history and it is a blight which the sooner it is removed the sooner we can say that there is one standard of citizenship in this country and we can all go forward together as one nation many peoples with shared values. Because there is no doubt that the values that New Zealanders share are the same for Maori Pakeha Chinese Indian and all of us. We all share the same values. That is the wider background against which these claims are being settled. That is why it is so important that this Parliament works to ensure that the historic grievances that are part of our history—our shared history—are dealt with addressed in the most just way that we can find and are put behind us. Because we are one nation and we all do want to make a worthwhile contribution. From the point of view of Ngati Tama this is their chance to get on with their future which after all is the future of all of us. 
Following the tribunal’s report the National Government and Ngati Tama commenced negotiations in 1996 culminating in the signing of a heads of agreement in September 1999. I was privileged to be an Associate Minister to Doug Graham when that signing took place. The settlement offer has since been ratified by the majority of Ngati Tama and we were given the figure of 98 percent which is pleasing. In December 2001 the parties entered into a deed of settlement. The key elements of this settlement package are those elements that were developed by the National Government under the leadership of Sir Douglas Graham acknowledging what happened in the past together with a formal apology. 
That apology of course—and I have said this before and I will say it again—will be a huge matter for the people of Ngati Tama. It proved to be so in the settlements that have been concluded in the past and it is the case here as well. There is financial and commercial redress and a right of first refusal over certain Crown-owned properties; the vesting of cultural redress properties deeds of recognition and statutory acknowledgments; an acknowledgment of Ngati Tama’s associations in the area; protocols for engagement with Crown agencies; and undertakings in relation to fish and coastal tendering. Those appear to be some of the main elements of this settlement. 
The bill provides for the final settlement of all Ngati Tama historical claims releases and discharges the Crown from all obligations and liabilities in respect of them and removes the jurisdiction of the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal. Provision is also made for the removal of resumptive memorials on State-owned enterprise land and private land. 
National is pleased to support this bill to the Maori Affairs Committee. Although we have a job to scrutinise this legislation of course the committee’s role is fairly limited. But I am certain that we will address that task in the way we have in previous settlements and in time hopefully sooner rather than later we will see the passage of this settlement into law. 
Settlements of course are only a beginning and I think I said this last week in relation to the Ngati Ruanui Claims Settlement legislation; they put the parties back to where they were when certain undertakings were given and they give both sides of this agreement—that is Ngati Tama and the Crown—the opportunity to reconcile their past and the opportunity for both to go forward together in a spirit of cooperation and mutual and shared obligations. 
I am certain that is what Ngati Tama want. I congratulate them on working hard because it does take commitment and hard work and it takes true leadership in my view to finally commit one’s people to these settlements. Sometimes I think some leaders tend to show an approach that says: well maybe we will just hang on here. But as I say I think it takes true leadership to finally come to an agreement and decide on behalf of one’s people to go forward together. 
The other point that might be of some value is that the protection of land and other resources is a guarantee for the protection of something more. Those are the economic social and cultural underpinnings of a once proud people who sought protection for their identity the right to live and go forward as people of Ngati Tama and for the opportunity to exercise their mana—their rangatiratanga—in respect of themselves and all those things that they hold dear. 
I congratulate Ngati Tama and I also commend the Crown and the Minister on bringing this settlement to the House so closely upon the previous Taranaki settlement and I commend all members in this Parliament to let us work together to ensure swift passage of this legislation into law. No reira tena koutou tena tatou katoa.