Finlayson Christopher: Te Kawerau ā Maki Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Te Kawerau ā Maki Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:561. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations):I move That the Te Kawerau ā Maki Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider this bill.I want to begin by welcoming the representatives of Te Kawerau ā Maki who are here in Parliament today to attend this first reading. I acknowledge their ancestors and the weight of the historical grievances that they have borne. I also want to acknowledge the recent passing of Eru Thompson a kaumātua of Ngāti Māhanga and Te Kawerau ā Maki. Mr Thompson was the iwi spokesperson when we signed an agreement in principle in early 2010. Te Kawerau ā Maki representatives here today will be returning to Auckland after this first reading to attend his tangi and I acknowledge their grief.On 22 February this year I signed a deed of settlement on behalf of the Crown with Te Kawerau ā Maki. The deed and this Treaty settlement bill put to rest the longstanding grievances of Te Kawerau ā Maki. This iwi and its members are descendants of the youngest son of the ancestor Maki named Tāwhiākiterangi who also took the name Te Kawerau ā Maki. There are other iwi and hapū who claim descent from Maki’s other sons such as Ngāti Manuhiri who have their own Treaty settlement. Collectively these descendants of Maki are sometimes called the Te Kawerau confederation which can cause confusion.Te Kawerau ā Maki hold customary interests in the Tāmaki region particularly through Hikurangi and the Waitakere Ranges which can be described as the heartland of Te Kawerau ā Maki. Their customary interests extend through lands in the upper Waitematā Harbour the North Shore and into the Mahurangi coast and south Kaipara. This is a broad rohe through which Te Kawerau ā Maki maintain relationships with many other iwi.In 2008 the Crown recognised the mandate of the Te Kawerau Iwi Tribal Authority to represent Te Kawerau ā Maki in negotiations. A year later in June 2009 Sir Douglas Graham proposed that all the iwi and hapū in the Kaipara Tāmaki and Hauraki regions including Te Kawerau ā Maki enter direct negotiations with the Crown to settle their historical Treaty grievances. Sir Douglas also proposed collective redress for the iwi of Tāmaki over the maunga and the motu.In February 2010 I signed on behalf of the Crown an agreement of principle with Te Kawerau ā Maki. Negotiations continued until 12 December last year when the negotiators and I initialled the deed of settlement. After initialling the tribal authority took the deed to the wider community. Hui were held and a vote was taken. Of those who voted 99 percent support the settlement. This is an outstanding result and I congratulate Te Kawerau ā Maki on their fine efforts.In the negotiating team I must acknowledge the perseverance of Te Wārena Taua the lead negotiator and the chairman of the tribal authority. When I signed the deed of settlement in February I said he was a very difficult man to deal with and I stand by that statement of the truth. Through our negotiations we traversed a number of hard issues. We ultimately resolved them and this will be for the benefit and the durability of the settlement. Finally behind the negotiators have been the trustees for the iwi tribal authority. They have worked tirelessly to have their grievances addressed and I acknowledge that their Treaty settlement process has been a very long journey for them.It is worth saying something about these historical grievances. Te Kawerau ā Maki lost most of their land through extensive and excessive Crown purchases in the three decades after the signing of the Treaty. What reserves were set aside were never protected and were gradually alienated from tribal control. At the end of this process Te Kawerau ā Maki were rendered landless. This had a severe impact on the health and well-being of their community. Today they are one of the few iwi in Tāmaki that do not have a marae or an urupā on their own land.The financial and commercial redress provided to Te Kawerau ā Maki recognises the losses that have been suffered by them. They will receive $6.5 million plus interest and with this money they will acquire 86 percent of Riverhead Forest Crown forest licensed land. The accumulated rentals that come with the forest will provide a cash reserve and allow other commercial opportunities to be taken up. With good management this redress will provide the iwi with a commercial base for the future.Cultural redress provided to Te Kawerau ā Maki includes the vesting of nine culturally significant sites including lands on which they can establish a marae and an urupā. The balance of the cultural redress package includes an overlay classification over Te Henga Historic Reserve 11 statutory acknowledgments and other redress that is culturally significant to the iwi.I consider the bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee. As I said often in the last Parliament the committee was brilliantly chaired by Mr Henare and I have no doubt at all that the new team on the Māori Affairs Committee are going to deal with this legislation urgently and get it back to the House for its final stages. I commend the bill to the House.