McKelvie IanIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): Well Madam Speaker I don't often get the chance to speak—well actually I do get quite a few chances to speak—on these bills. But I've never had the opportunity to sit on the Māori Affairs Committee which is really quite frustrating because—well there's various reasons for it—you certainly get to understand these sorts of Treaty settlement bills in a much better manner if you go through the process than you do if you don't.I listened to members of the select committee and the Minister the Hon Andrew Little speak on this bill and I wonder what's left for me to say. So I suppose I'll put my own perspective on the process. Whilst Rangitāne and Kahungunu occupy the same region they're separate groups and they're subject to their own Treaty settlement claims bills one of which passed I think some four or five years ago and Kahungunu is in process right now and we look forward to that coming back to the House. This bill interestingly deals with the cultural redress of some I suppose you could call them assets or whatever you like to call them but certainly some recreational facilities fishing areas and other areas of significance—reserves and things like that—that the two iwi have joint interests in and so this bill specifically deals with those issues. I just want to talk about one or two of those things that it in fact deals with.It deals with for example the Ruamāhanga River which starts right in the top of what I suppose we know as the Wairarapa—and in fact Rangitāne o Manawatū could partially claim it because it probably starts right at the top of the Tararua ranges just above Shannon—and runs down through the Wairarapa and comes out to the coast; runs interestingly past what's known in this bill as the Wairarapa Moana which I guess some of us would know as Lake Wairarapa and the surrounding wetlands and areas adjacent to it as the interests of the iwi cover a large part of the Wairarapa area.The other interesting issue for me—and the previous speaker Ginny Andersen spoke of the fast wind that goes through Castlepoint—is of course Castlepoint for many years has been the venue of a historic race meeting in the Wairarapa. So some fast horses have run around that area as well and a hugely popular event it has been for many many years in the Wairarapa area. And of course Castlepoint for those who have been there is a very attractive and unusual piece of coastline in New Zealand and it just shows the rugged nature of that South Wairarapa coast—and in fact of a lot of the east coast of New Zealand—and a very different environment than the west coast of New Zealand which doesn't look as attractive but certainly I think is equally as impressive.I've watched successive Treaty Ministers—Finlayson and Little—deal with these very complex issues and I've always been impressed with the manner in which they deal with the iwi concerned. I've also been hugely impressed—on the occasions that I've been invited to attend parts of the agreements that usually are resolved and agreed to on various marae around the country—with the respect the mutual respect that both the local iwi and the Ministers and their parties are held in. And I think that signifies a great will I guess on behalf of all parties to try and resolve these issues as best we can. And clearly given the history of these things we can't always do that in a manner that's entirely satisfactory to everyone.The one matter that always concerns me in the course of these bills being agreed to is that they invariably bind the Crown. One can only hope that the modern vision of the Crown treats these bills with a great deal more respect than perhaps our earlier vision of the Crown treated some of the so-called agreements that we might have had with iwi and local Māori. And I think it's hugely important that those issues are upheld in the course of these Treaty settlements moving forward.I want to comment briefly on another comment that David Seymour made because I thought it was very relevant to some of the issues that are going on around the world. He made the comment that he couldn't imagine any other country in the world I guess revisiting or unpicking its history to settle our historic grievances. Well recently some of us under the leadership of our esteemed Speaker Adrian Rurawhe had the privilege of visiting four Latin American countries and this very issue was hugely topical particularly in Chile. Mexico I think has 68 different languages—pretty amazing really—so these issues were very topical on our visit to those countries. And I think we've got quite a lot to offer those countries and hopefully they're certainly watching the process that we're undergoing with respect to our Treaty settlements very closely. Hopefully in the future New Zealand may well be able to assist assuming that our Treaty settlement process does get to a satisfactory resolution and the process is I guess upheld by all parties.I think we'll get to the point where we could have quite a lot of influence in other parts of the world with respect to the way we've managed these Treaty processes and I think it will make quite a difference to some of those countries. So that was one of the things I noticed as really quite interesting as we travelled round four countries in South America. Particularly as I said Chile had a lot of interest in this issue. You know the other interesting thing about those South American countries—two of them are our nearest neighbours; quite a long way away but none the less our nearest neighbours. So we have quite a lot in common with them.So Madam Speaker I don't want to add any more to this bill. I just think it's all been said by those people who know a lot more about it than I do but I do think that it's a good process and it's as good a process as we can manage given the history of a lot of these issues in New Zealand. And just as I said I hope that the Government or the Crown in future honours these agreements in the manner in which they're made. Thank you.