Jones ShaneHon SHANE JONES (Minister of Forestry): Hei tīmata māku hei kōrerotanga māku i te tuatahi me reo Māori. Hikurangi maunga Waiapū awa Ngāti Porou tāngata tēnā anō koutou katoa i hoki mai ki roto i te Whare nei i whakakōrerotia ai e tō mātou hoa e tā koutou tamaiti tō koutou rangatira a Parekura - nōnā e matomato ana. Tēnā tātou hoki i te āhuatanga o te kaumatua tana ingoa e whakahuatia nuitia ana i waenga tonu i ngā kaitōrangapū me koutou ngā karere koutou ngā kanohi mai i a Ngāti Porou arā ko Apirana Mahuika me te tinitini atu i tautoko i a ia ahakoa ko Te Kapunga tētahi. Nā reira tēnā anō koutou katoa.[By way of introduction I shall begin my speech in Māori.Mount Hikurangi the Waiapū River and the people of Ngāti Porou I bid you warm greetings and welcome you back to this House where speeches were made by our colleague your son your leader—Parekura—who is no longer with us.We must also pay tribute to that distinguished elder whose name has been cited often among politicians and you the press as well as by Ngāti Porou representatives; we are talking about Apirana Mahuika and his many supporters of whom Te Kapunga was one. Greetings to you all.]I have acknowledged the manuhiri to Wellington—but not strangers to this Parliament because this is the people's House. Indeed the most formidable of all our Māori parliamentarians one of the longest-serving parliamentarians in our history the great Sir Apirana Ngata and more recently Parekura Horomia are the proud sons of Ngāti Porou. Their deeds their words their stories and their contributions are still acknowledged as we—in particular the Māori members of the House—speak about our parliamentary Māori political heritage.I have acknowledged along with the other speakers Apirana Mahuika who for a period of time was an Anglican priest in Ngāpuhi. I should tell the story which is related to the heritage which this bill is designed to uphold: the heritage of the Ngāti Porou people.The Ngāti Porou people in the 1830s sent—to my historical memory—two chiefs led by Te Rangi Whakatamatama and I think Te Rukuata to the Ngāpuhi people and they sought out some of their warriors that had gone north after the Musket Wars. One of those warriors was Taumatakura and he along with Williams was taken back down along with these chiefs to the Waiapū awa and to the coast of Ngāti Porou and was reunited with his people. He followed the ancestral footsteps of his tapairu whaea of his aunt Rangipaia who during the Musket Wars had disappeared north with Kelvin Davis's tupuna Pōmare. Not satisfied with his indigenous name Pōmare from Ngāpuhi he stole the name of the Tahitian king. That is the origin of the name Pōmare.Then Pōmare seeing the error of his ways sought to reunite on the coast of Ngāti Porou on the takutai moana. After the battles of Whakawhitirā and other such places the woman Rangipaia and he dispatched a famous Ngāpuhi warrior called Te Taotaoriri. That kaumātua went musket on his back modest loincloth into the Ngāti Porou and his life was saved by their chief Uenuku who after having listened to his kōrero ended up enabling Te Taotaoriri to make the peace between my tūpunas and that part of Ngāti Porou. So when these people talk about their ancestral heritage and the fact that they've been able to retain the ownership of their land partly through that great parliamentarian Sir Apirana Ngata but also choices they made themselves theirs is a genuinely deep rich indigenous history.So we do support this bill going to the select committee and we most certainly look forward to the submissions from the select committee process but it's important that we offer some testimony as to the values the affection and the heritage that lies behind the efforts to bring this bill to its current point.Now we've said in Māori that a host of people have passed on. There was a great leader of the East Coast Tamahau Mahupuku. Tamahau Mahupuku was more Kahungunu than Ngāti Porou but his point was: kua rūpeke atu rātou ki te pō engari ko te whakatutukitanga ka pūrero tonu ka pūrero tonu. [they may have departed this world but their aspirations just keep on being to the forefront.] which means Although the men and women we refer to have passed on the fulfilment of their dreams and aspirations bubbles up with each generation." I think that's a fitting description for the House to acknowledge in both our languages about each generation making a contribution to really the nation's narrative as to how we strike a balance that respects the indigeneity the history and the ancestry but also deals with the reality of modern New Zealand society. So we support this bill.I note that parts of the takutai moana rohe are not covered by this bill. In an earlier and richer life I was the chairman of the Māori Fisheries Commission. During my period of time there I suffered verbal taunts from famous Ngāti Porou leaders Api Mahuika and Koro Dewes. They were both scholars in their own right but I recall them saying to the Māori Fisheries Commission that the strength of the East Coast—the Tai Rāwhiti the Ngāti Porou—lay in us treating it as one big block. That's one of the proudest things in my political life as a politician outside of politics—parliamentary politics—the leadership displayed by the tribe at that time has continued on with this bill.I happen to think that the high tide of discontent has passed. I happen to think that Māori and Pākehā have bigger challenges to face than scratching at each at each other when one considers the changing nature of our demography and the pressures upon our population with its traditional binary narrative of a replica of Queen Victoria and the Māori rangatira. This bill amongst other things entrenches in law a genuinely held belief about rights identity and place. Those particular qualities key to our identity are going to grow as we face growing levels of immigration with people struggling to find a better place for their lives but when they come here they must accept that our nation was founded on a binary narrative through the pioneer spirit and the contributions of spirituality land resource and sacrifice by the Māori tribes. Around this House these laurels are a fitting reminder that those are the foundation values of New Zealand. So for the people who feared the development of a piece of legislation affirming the connections of the Ngāti Porou their fears as we go forward will not be found in my view to be grounded in genuine trepidation. It's a passing phase but for those of us who are the leaders of Māoridom and the leaders of New Zealand in this House we must always uphold the foundation values that give us our essential identity.I passed through Ngāti Porou recently. I think I might have made a vague promise to build them a honey factory. I can assure you until they unite as one honey group hani to hani they'll be in a long list of people waiting. But I had a cup of tea at Ūawa—Tolaga Bay—and on behalf of all of you parliamentarians I made a small courtesy aroha visit to the Kohimārama urupā where our friend Parekura Horomia was interred. I'm also conscious that my colleague Mr Ron Mark spent Anzac Day in that Ngāti Porou rohe. Of course there is also a little bit of debate about genealogy as to how far Ngāti Porou is Ngāti Porou and all the rest of it. Being a diplomatic Ngāpuhi that's someone else's problem but it was a pleasure to go to Tolaga Bay and I'm sure it meant a lot for those people to acknowledge and receive Mr Ron Mark on that most important day of our calendar Anzac Day. Kia ora tātou."