Finlayson Christopher: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 12 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16656. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations):Welcome to the people and the friends of Raukawa who have joined us today to mark this significant milestone in the relationship between the Crown and Ngāti Raukawa. I greet those of you in the House and those watching and listening elsewhere. Our guests in the House may have wondered why it was that when Mrs Turia stood up I walked out. Well it is not because I have the pip with Mrs Turia—far from it. She is my favourite member of Parliament. She is a great woman. [Interruption] Maurice Williamson always gets very upset when I say that. But I have to say this to Maurice in the immortal words of Lloyd Bentsen: Maurice is a friend of mine Maurice is a great politician but Maurice is not Tariana Turia. So I stood up and walked out because Mrs Turia has been the local member of Parliament for many years and I thought it was entirely fitting and proper that she should lead off in this debate because I know how closely she has followed the debate and how keen she has been to see a just and durable settlement with Ngāti Raukawa.Ngāti Raukawa have settled their Treaty grievance against the Crown not only for the present generation but for those before who carried a great burden and for those who will follow as Raukawa usher in a more optimistic future for the people of Raukawa. I acknowledge the weight of responsibility that all have felt in undertaking such a responsibility. I say in the third reading that that is not formulaic because I know from negotiations just what people have done. I am confident that the mana of Raukawa will be widely evident as they use the opportunities this settlement provides to enhance the well-being of their people their river and their lands and to advance the standing of Ngāti Raukawa within the community at large.I begin by acknowledging Kīngi Tuheitia me Te Whare o te Kāhui Ariki. I acknowledge too the respected kaumātua and kuia of Raukawa and those who maintain the home fires of the marae within the Waikato and the surrounding regions. When I introduced the bill I acknowledged past and present negotiators: Chris McKenzie Vanessa Eparaima Nigel Te Hiko and Patricia Cowley. I want to say that I first met Chris McKenzie in 2007. I know that his family is up there in the gallery. He and others like Stephanie O’Sullivan who was present at the meeting in Hamilton briefed me on Raukawa’s historical river claims. Chris has worked for his iwi for many years. This is a bipartisan debate so I am not allowed to say that I look forward to seeing him in here at the end of the year. My respect for them and for all their hard work for their achievements on behalf of their people and for the way they have conducted themselves in what at times has been a very vigorous debate is something that I wish to place on record again.Above all on this special day our thoughts naturally gravitate towards those who have suffered the grievances that are settled today. We also remember those who worked in so many ways and for so long to get the Crown to a position where it acknowledged its wrongs and we remember those who are not here to see the outcome of their endeavours. I know that the people of Raukawa along with many members of the House have many special people in mind at this time. I need to acknowledge the late Fraser Te Hiko Marīna Jacobs Ēmare Nīkora Ngira Simmonds Pita Thompson Tommy Rangitūtia and so many others who had the foresight to establish the Raukawa Trust Board.I salute the very special role played by the late George Rangitūtia. As many of you in the gallery know I had a wonderful day in January 2011 when George and you got me in that bus and we drove around the rohe. He played a pivotal part in the negotiations and it was very sad that his health did not allow him to attend the formal signing ceremony for the deed of settlement. After the signing ceremony Vanessa Louise Upston and I took the deed to George in Waikato Hospital so that he could sign it. It was a very special moment that I will always treasure. The last thing that I said to him was: “Well George I’ll see you in a few weeks.” But that was not to be; the next time I saw him was on the marae for his tangi.This settlement is a fitting legacy for George and demonstrates all his efforts over many years on behalf of his people. The other day I was in Tāneatua for the opening of the great Tūhoe House and I said to Tāmati Kruger that he reminded me of something that Harry Truman once said: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” I think that is the epitaph of George Rangitūtia. This settlement has been built on the foresight determination and courage of all these people.As is well-known Raukawa are based in the Waikato region and have been represented in negotiations by the Raukawa Settlement Trust. Its connections cover a significant area from Taupō-nui-a-tia in the south to Maungatautari in the north westward into the Rangitoto Range and the Waipā Valley and eastwards into the Kaimai and Mamaku Ranges. I am certain that members will also be well aware of the importance to Raukawa of the Waikato River as historically it was the centre of commercial social and spiritual life.In 2008 Raukawa began negotiations for its comprehensive settlement. These negotiations as I have said were not without their complexities but they reached their conclusion with Raukawa and the Crown signing the deed of settlement on 2 June 2012. Mrs Turia has outlined the essence of the settlement redress and I will not repeat those comments here but I want to say something about the historical aspect of the claim. First let me say that that the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Act 2008 and the Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Act 2010 both addressed aspects of the historical Treaty claims of this iwi. It is this bill however that brings together all the remaining historical Treaty claims.As the bill acknowledges in 1863 the Crown sent its armed forces into the Waikato and Raukawa were drawn into the fighting that followed through their whakapapa connections and links to the Kīngitanga. I think the historical account and the acknowledgment set out in clauses 8 and 9 of the bill are so very important because what they do is set out in detail further breaches of the Treaty visited upon Raukawa in the years that followed including loss of life through raupatu confiscation and privatisation of land through the operation of the Native Land Court the Crown’s failure to acknowledge the mana and rangatiratanga of Raukawa and the failure of the Crown to protect Raukawa interests in their customary resources and significant sites. It is a very sad history. It is a sorry list of dishonoured obligations on the part of the Crown.I will always remember that day in Tokoroa where we had the airing of grievances. It occurred about 18 months ago. One does not have to be some kind of bleeding-heart liberal to be affected by this history. This history is not good. I take as an example the old kuia who stayed in her house until the water was lapping around her porch before she left. So my plea to those who send me rude emails as most assuredly they will do after this speech—they send them after every settlement especially some strange person in Nelson. She is always telling me I am an unelected list MP which is of course an oxymoron. All I say to her is: “Look just study the history. Look at the facts because if you look at the facts the facts speak for themselves and the facts are not flash.”What has been done cannot be undone. Most of what has been lost cannot be returned but the generous people sitting in the gallery today have accepted the redress contained in their deed of settlement and in this bill. I very much look forward to continuing to work with and getting to know the people of Raukawa. I hope we shall keep in touch long after I have left this place and I am sure Mrs Turia feels the same. I look forward to a new era in the relationship between Raukawa and the Crown one that does really live up to the principles of the Treaty. So I wish those in the gallery and the iwi at large all the very best for the future and I commend the bill to the House.