Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Ā tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā tēnei te mihi ki te waka o Kurahaupō ki ngā uri o Whātonga nō reira mauria mai ō whakaako ki te kaupapa e huihui tākata tēnā koutou tēnā koutou e mihi atu ana ki a koutou katoa. [Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I greet the Kurahaupō canoe and the descendants of Whātonga. Therefore bring forth your learnings to the policy that people come together for. Congratulations and well done. I acknowledge you all.]I take great honour and pride in being part of the third reading of the Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā (Wairarapa Tamaki nui-ā-Rua) Claims Settlement Bill. It is always a momentous occasion in this House when we can tautoko our Treaty settlement through its final stage and launch an iwi into the next stage of their history and of their development.But before I talk about the future I want to reflect on the past. The future is important. We see here today the rangatahi of Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā. Over 200 of you have come here for this momentous occasion. But the future is what the money the commercial redress is about. It is important to the people as I said especially the rangatahi of Rangitāne in that there is an economic base provided here for the iwi to deliver better opportunities for its people in the future.But I think what is more important here—and I remember the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations reflecting on this in his first reading speech. The Minister said: The thing that is most meaningful to iwi is the acknowledgment of their history through the cultural redress in their settlements." I know this from my own experiences in Kai Tahu. Kai Tahu have done great things with their financial settlement and I have been proud to be part of that important work that is happening at home. But when we received our settlement the first thing on our minds was the acknowledgment first of all of our history—the cultural redress that gave us back some of our connection to our lands and our taoka in the heartfelt apology that was delivered by the Crown.Rangitāne were one of the iwi that actively welcomed Pākehā to their rohe. They adapted quickly to the European style of commerce and benefited from leasing land and trading with the settlers. But as in so many other areas of the country the Crown put a stop to this mutually beneficial relationship and insisted that Rangitāne could sell their land only to the Crown. Through the various means of applying pressure and defrauding Rangitāne the Crown acquired huge swathes of land and broke the promises it had made to Rangitāne to provide them with substantial reserves and social benefits like better health and education. Rangitāne had land the Crown wanted and trading with the Crown and with settlers should have given them great prosperity. Instead they were left landless with none of the resources that would have allowed them to build the prosperity for themselves.This is a very brief summary of Rangitāne's history with the Crown. There is much more that happened but in a nutshell it is a familiar story of an iwi that wanted to engage positively with the Pākehā settlers and a Crown that took advantage and gave Rangitāne reason to regret ever welcoming Pākehā to their rohe. That is the history the Crown has now apologised for.Rangitāne now looks to a future in which they can be full and welcome participants in a society that treated them originally as second-class citizens for so long a future in which Rangitāne have the economic base to establish themselves as full participants in their local economy and in the wider Māori economy as well and a future in which their people can expect greater opportunities to get ahead.I want to acknowledge all of those from Rangitāne who are here today and I acknowledge those iwi members who will be watching this debate far from this House. As MPs most of us only really get to be involved in the Treaty settlement process here in Parliament as we carry out the formalities of giving legal effect to the settlements that have been negotiated by others. In saying that it has often reflected many years of heartache and I know this particular settlement has—the many years of heartache of fighting for justice and of hard work on the part of many who have passed on into the long night and many who are here today. I acknowledge Rangitāne's forebears who have worked to bring it to this point. I acknowledge the negotiators the ones whom I actually as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee had direct engagement with. Rangatira like Tīpene Chrisp Mavis Mullins Jason Kerehi and Tīpene—if I could say—that after working on behalf of the Government on behalf the Crown on so many other Treaty settlements it must be a proud moment for you to now be seeing this one be passed to the benefit of your own people. Nō reira e mihi atu ki a koe. I also acknowledge the Hon Rick Barker who negotiated on behalf the Crown for this settlement. Tēnei te mihi ki a koe.To Rangitāne I say that today marks the end of one journey but the start of another. You have shown great generosity by accepting a settlement that is symbolic and that provides you with greater opportunities but that cannot and does not compensate you for the losses you suffered due to the past Crown actions. Your leaders now have the huge responsibility of making sure this settlement benefits your people and they will—and they will.With that today here marks the final reading before the Royal assent when this becomes law—and it is at that point that the iwi can then move on and be very much involved in their development for those future people: those rangatahi whom we see here and those future generations. In all of that it comes back down to one thing though: again just to reiterate it is not about the money; it is actually about the apology. It is actually about the historical account of what happened and then from there it gives the opportunity to move forward. E Te Mana Whakawā tēnā koe. Huri noa i Te Whare e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa and I do indeed commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou."