Coffey TamatiTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Ngāti Hinerangi tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou kua tae mai nei ki tēnei Whare ātaahua rawa atu i tēnei rā te kaupapa whakahirahira kei mua i a tātou nō reira tēnā koutou.[Greetings Mr Speaker. Greetings Ngāti Hinerangi. Greetings to you all who have arrived here to this beautiful House today on this auspicious occasion greetings all.]Can I acknowledge you and the journey that you've been on. Just before I was looking at a newsletter that you put out back in 2015 talking about the start of this journey but I know that it had been started well before then. Can I acknowledge the part that history plays in this actually digging into the past and actually fleshing out all of the details—sometimes the uncomfortable stuff as well—that you really have to get your fingers into and try to understand and then pass that around to the whānau to try and build a narrative to build a story as you have done with your settlement as we are confirming here today in this House. So I want to acknowledge the part that your historians have played in this the Māori Land Court people from the Department of Conservation people from Land Information New Zealand and your own people. This has been an amalgamation of your journey so far and I'm stoked to be here to acknowledge your journey Te Puāwaitanga o Ngāti Hinerangi. Let's keep saying that because this is a very momentous occasion and it's the start of a very special journey for you.I wanted to acknowledge as well that although the agreement in principle was signed a while back actually you have been on a journey with this. There's a lot of conversations that need to be had and sometimes they can be hōhā. Sometimes actually turning up to those hui after hui and I guess with COVID zui after zui—being able to have those hui and make sure that you're taking all the whānau on the journey through these really big times—actually they need to be acknowledged.I want to also acknowledge you for what it says on your website about how you would like to revitalise the iwi. There were some really strong things on there and I wrote them down because actually I believe that this is the time that we need to be setting that direction the roadmap ahead for you so that for the privilege of this House and for people that might be watching at home they understand what your goals are the whole reason that you put yourself through this—what this whole Treaty settlement is for. According to your very good website it says the revitalisation of Ngāti Hinerangi is to restore the mana the pride and your own identity that you have in yourselves that you've become a leader within your own rohe. And I know that that rohe kind of is a little bit the Waikato side a little bit the Tauranga side on that side but you know you fullas work it out. But actually can I acknowledge you as well for the role that you've played with our whānau from Tauranga Moana in being able to iron out some of those little issues in there as well and making sure that you're doing it in a tikanga way. You bring honour to the process and to the people involved by doing things like that. So I acknowledge you for that.Ngāti Hinerangi I want to maximise your human potential—oh I like the sound of that—your human potential and expertise developed to assist grow and develop your iwi your hapū and your whānau. Tēnā koe. You want to ensure that they have a social and socio-economic restoration of your health and wellbeing. I get that. You want some facility restoration in there as well. So being able to do some restoration to marae and do some upgrading in that area as well. I wish you all the best.You are looking to restore the traditional knowledge systems and the tikanga that you have lost over the years. And we as a Government we're supportive of any initiatives to be able to revitalise our reo revitalise our tikanga in some of the small remote but hearty parts of Aotearoa. So that's part of your mission as well and I acknowledge that.To raise the educational the social the cultural and the political aspirations of Ngāti Hinerangi as well—awesome. Short-term and future long-term strategies for future development: to assist with the development of some commercial ventures as well and to establish a centre of knowledge and learning. All of those are incredibly admirable goals and I commend you for putting that stake in the ground and actually for setting the pathway forward for yourselves. There'll be a lot of people around the country that don't know your story but you have a story to tell and it's a story of struggle and it's a story of loss and it's a story that hopefully when the kids go to school next year and they learn New Zealand history in schools—hopefully some of the local kids around Matamata will learn about the story of Ngāti Hinerangi because you can guarantee there will be some that have no idea about what your story entails and the journey that you've been on. But you're here today and all of the work that you've done in getting your settlement to this point basically that's good fodder for a New Zealand history class. That's good fodder for our kids to be learning in the various schools in Matamata in the South Waikato on our side of the Kaimai Ranges as well. Let everybody know what your story is because it's a poignant one and it's one that I'm sure we will hear more of as we unpick what the history of New Zealand really has been the warts and all" story. No doubt we're going to hear more and more of that coming out over time. Can I just finish by actually sitting down. I just want to finish by absolutely saying that your presence in this House today is incredibly special because one of the criticisms of this House is that—have a look around you—it's very monocultural. Actually we need to have settlements coming through here. We need to be telling our Māori stories within this Chamber because there are also some members of this Parliament that need to hear those stories. They acknowledge it but they don't live in our world. They don't understand the pain and suffering that we've faced. So whilst it might be nice for them to stand and give a lightly once-over kind of contribution actually your presence in being here today and for us to be able to take as long as we want—10 minutes—to be able to really draw out some of those stories is really important. Every member of Parliament needs to hear stories like yours to keep it front and centre because it's important. It's important for our capability as members of Parliament as windows into the communities that we represent to be able to continue telling the stories of hurt and loss and make sure that once it's moved through this House we keep hearing those stories that we can't just let these stories be documents for a shelf in a back room somewhere because they are stories that are meaningful and they are stories of people and of a journey. So with that said I acknowledge you all here today. I'm grateful to be here. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa."