Ririnui Mita: Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill — Second Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6716] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 Otira kei Te Kaihautu hei tuatahi maku e tika ana kia mihi atu ra ki te riu o te waka o Te Arawa kua tatu mai i roto i te Whare i tenei ahiahi. Na ratou i haere tawhiti mai runga ano i te tumanako te tutuki pai ai te kaupapa i haria mai e ratau mai i te hau kainga tae noa mai ki te Whare Miere. No reira kai oku papa kai oku tuakana rangatira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Indeed the first thing for me Mr Assistant Speaker and appropriately enough is to acknowledge the bilge of the Te Arawa canoe which has landed here in the House this afternoon. They have travelled some distance in the hope that the matter they have brought here from home to the Beehive will be successfully completed. So greetings to you my fathers elder siblings and chiefs greetings to you all 
.] 
I briefly take this opportunity to acknowledge the presence of esteemed kaumatua my kaumatua from Te Arawa who have on many occasions travelled from their homes to support legislation to transfer iconic assets and iconic korero by way of legislation. It probably would suit them better to do it a different way without the need for parliamentary interference but we do not live in that type of society. So here we are today ensuring the passage of this particular vesting legislation. 
I also acknowledge the person who is not here in the House today the previous Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Parekura Horomia and his determination to see Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke returned to its rightful owners the iwi that has been mentioned here today. I thank the current Minister of Maori Affairs Dr Pita Sharples for the historical overview he gave in terms of the importance of Whakarewarewa and the lands around Whakarewarewa and also for his support of the passage of this legislation. The Minister of Maori Affairs made a number of references to history but I do not particularly want to go into the history. It is a very emotional history. It is a history that goes back several decades to some tragic circumstances that happened to the people of Tuhourangi and Ngati Wahiao including Ngati Whakaue and this brought about a particular relationship that cannot be severed by this House or any future generations of Ngati Whakaue Tuhourangi or Ngati Wahiao. I will speak specifically about the technical aspects of the bill because it is less emotional and it is more appropriate for the second reading debate on this bill. 
To make my point obvious I support the Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill and in doing so I declare as I did in the first reading debate on this bill a vested interest in it. In other words I am associated with this settlement. I also want to acknowledge the collective efforts of those members of the Maori Affairs Committee who over a long period of time heard submissions and went through a very difficult process to attempt to listen to all the views that were expressed particularly the concerns from a number of groups who attended the hearings in Rotorua. Having said that I think the Minister of Maori Affairs made a very very relevant point which was that some issues that were brought before the Maori Affairs Committee were best resolved by the iwi themselves. There is no way that this House can interfere or attempt to interfere with decisions that were made by the people the leaders of Te Arawa some several decades ago particularly at the time of the Mount Tarawera eruption with all the devastation that took place as a result of that. There was the loss of life loss of estates loss of communities and the displacement of people. 
As I said early on this is a very very important transfer. I also wanted to say that this is not the first time that this type of arrangement has been entered into particularly by the previous Government. As the Minister of Maori Affairs highlighted this is not a Treaty settlement; this is basically a transfer of assets to their rightful owners. 
I want to congratulate the Minister on acknowledging that point and also I want to acknowledge the Government for supporting the Minister with this legislation because it is a better way of settling longstanding grievances between iwi and the Crown. As I said earlier on this is not the first time this has happened. I recall that only weeks before the first reading debate on this legislation we also had in the House the third reading of the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill which basically ensured the return of the iconic maunga to the people of Tauranga Moana and the fee simple title to those people. This of course protected the iconic sites around the maunga and the history of the maunga by way of the Reserves Act. I congratulate the Minister and the Government on supporting him in that. 
Having said that I point out that there are other iconic places around the Bay of Plenty that deserve the same sort of attention and the same sort of treatment. I hope the Minister of Maori Affairs is able to persuade the Government to look at for instance the issues of Tuhoe in particular Te Urewera forest which is an indigenous forest that is probably recognised internationally as being one of the finest indigenous forests in the world. This is an issue for Tuhoe particularly in terms of the return of the fee simple title of Te Urewera forest to Tuhoe people. If the Government trusts Maori people to manage Whakarewarewa and Te Roto-a-Tamaheke and Mauao in a way that is of an acceptable standard—and I do not see any reason why it should not—then surely it can have enough trust to trust Tuhoe and other iwi around the country that want the same sort of settlement arrangements. 
So we are entering into a new approach. That new approach is one where iwi and the Crown sit down and ask each other whether they trust each other. They ask each other whether they can do this without having to open the history books and prove that they have an association with this particular piece of land this particular piece of forest these particular lakes this particular foreshore and seabed or these particular iconic sites. If both parties can say to themselves that there is a need for both parties to demonstrate trust then I am sure that all the issues that the Maori Affairs Committee has had to hear to deal with and to instruct officials to facilitate a positive outcome on will not necessarily need to happen. You see this process was delayed and I believe it was delayed unnecessarily. However there were those who felt that they were not part of the process or that their interests may not necessarily be protected or represented through this legislation. Therefore the Maori Affairs Committee had no option but to listen to and respond to requests by the Minister of Maori Affairs to allow in this case the member for Waiariki accompanied by Office of Treaty Settlements officials to facilitate meetings to progress the next important stages of this legislation. 
One thing we need to acknowledge is that although there was a positive outcome there was also an issue that was best dealt with between the respective iwi. If we can as I said earlier on develop a high level of trust between Crown and Maori we may overcome all those issues. In most cases and this legislation is one of those cases I think there may have been times when there was very little trust on either side of the table. As a former Associate Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and having been involved in negotiations for this particular transfer I know that that was the case. 
There is always room for improvement and I have said to the member for Waiariki on many occasions that we can only get better at doing this. This particular method of transfer in terms of Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke is another case where trust has eventually been shown—I repeat eventually shown. 
I do not have much more to say. The Minister of Maori Affairs rightly highlighted all the technical aspects of this particular bill. I had intended to do so but I find myself running out of time. I say to those representatives of Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa who basically drove this process and the return of these iconic sites that I once again acknowledge their efforts particularly the difficult issues they had to deal with in terms of criticism ridicule and some very very uncomplimentary remarks that were made to them. They stuck with it; they did not run away or drop the ball. There were no hospital passes. They kept on with it and they made sure it came to a satisfactory conclusion. I acknowledge their presence here today. Kia ora.