Whaitiri Meka: Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10568. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):E Te Māngai tēnā koe e ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou. E ngā mate ō tātou kua hinga i Te Pō haere haere haere atu rā! E ngā kaumātua tēnei te mihi ki a koutou āe Te Iwi o Ngāti Pukenga Tauranga Moana Ngāti Ranginui nau mai nau mai haere mai! Nau mai haere mai ki ō tātou Whare o Te Whare Pāremata o Aotearoa nō reira kei te mihi kei te mihi kei te mihi![Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and acknowledgments to us members of this House. I say to our dead who have fallen into the Void depart farewell and journey on. To the elders I acknowledge you and to you the tribes of Ngāti Pukenga Tauranga Moana and Ngāti Ranginui welcome draw closer and welcome. Come hither to our House of Parliament New Zealand;therefore I commend salute and congratulate you collectively.]I rise to take a short call on this important bill and to stand with all members of this House in supporting the first reading of the Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill on behalf of ngā iwi katoa o Te Rohe o Ikaroa-Rāwhiti e tautoko ana i te pire whakahirahira nei [all the tribes of the electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti we are endorsing this magnificent bill].It gives me great pleasure to stand here as the representative of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti to mihi to the people of Tauranga Moana in acknowledgment of the significant day of this first reading of your bill. There is too much in this bill to give due time to in the 5 minutes that I have but I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the negotiators for their perseverance. As a former Treaty negotiator myself—I have had some 7 or 8 years’ experience of having to sit in that seat—I know that it is not an easy seat in terms of having to hold the line with the Crown to always go to bed thinking about whether you have done the best deal for your people and also to make compromises that are sometimes uncomfortable to do because you wear the burden of your people on your shoulders. So I want to acknowledge the negotiators.As I look up there I see Dame Patsy Reddy. I want to acknowledge you in your future appointment as our Governor-General. I realise now that your movement amongst our people means that you will extend your hospitality to them when you take the big house in your appointment so I mihi to you and I mihi to that happening. But in all honesty negotiators do have a hard row to hoe and like all my colleagues here I say that having this first reading is an important step to then having it closely examined in the select committee. Like the previous speaker Pita Paraone I too look forward to hearing not only about the good parts of this bill but also about what have clearly been omissions and to seeing whether the Māori Affairs Committee can help address some of those issues.For the time I have got remaining I want to talk also about the expectation of negotiators on behalf of their people when they come to the table with the Crown. They come to the table in good faith that they will get a decent hearing by the Crown and they are constantly informed by the Crown that this is a full and final settlement. We all know as Māori people who have been in that chair that it is never ever full and final for the losses that we have all suffered. It is interesting that for Treaty settlements that are signed on behalf of the Crown—and I appreciate that we are starting this process for Ngāti Pūkenga—when the Crown signs it is a contract; it is a contract and an obligation on the Crown as full and final which acknowledges the losses of the people of Ngāti Pūkenga and it makes commitments to address the losses that they suffered.This week iwi have been challenged by a Treaty settlement that is fisheries related and it is important that when we go through and see the passage of this bill the Crown is obligated and keeps to its word that it is full and final. If there is ever a time when we challenge what that settlement means we need to be speaking to the iwi who have signed part of that contract. So all I am saying is that if we are making that obligation to iwi who come to the table—that it is full and final—then we respect that obligation and that the Crown upholds its commitment. We have a very live issue in this House this week and it has been brewing. I ask the Crown to ensure that it addresses this in the way in which iwi have always come to the table and that is in good faith. I commend this bill and look forward to it being examined in the Māori Affairs Committee. Kia ora tātou.