Little Andrew; O'Connor GregNGĀTI HEI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I present a legislative statement on the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill.SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I move That the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill.SPEAKER: Order! Order! Can I ask members leaving to do so quickly and quietly.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Tākiri mai ana te ata ki runga o ngākau mārohirohi kōrihi ana te manu kaupapa ka ao ka ao ka awatea. Tihei mauri ora. E mihi ana ki a koutou kua tau mai nei i runga i te karanga o te kaupapa o te rā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. E mihi ana ki te hunga mate haere haere haere atu rā. Ki a tātou te hunga ora tēnā tātou. Tēnei au tēnei mātou te Kāwanatanga e mihi ana ki te kaupapa o te wā. Ngāti Hei tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Dawn breaks upon a resolute heart. The bird chorus of this issue now sings. A new dawn leads to the full light of day. Vitality and health to all.Thanks and greetings to you all who have responded to the call of this issue to be here today. I acknowledge those who have passed; may you rest in peace. And to us who remain welcome one and all. I indeed we the Government acknowledge the present issue. Ngāti Hei greetings and thanks to you—indeed to us all.]It's my honour and privilege to be here today to speak in the first reading of the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill. I extend a warm welcome to the negotiators of Ngāti Hei who have travelled from the beautiful Coromandel for this occasion and I say thank you to them. It has been my privilege and pleasure to host you here today. Can I acknowledge Peter Matai Johnston and Mātua Joe Davis who I had the good fortune to host—or they had the kai; I had to race off to prepare for the House. But to have some kōrero as we welcome them and to hear Mātua Joe's whakapapa but also the connections to the other Hauraki whanaunga who are also very important to this bill and the associated bills that will go with this.It was interesting to hear from Mātua Joe that the first kōrero over Ngāti Hei's claims were with Tā Doug Graham back those many years ago when that formidable then justice Minister led the way in opening what we might describe now as the modern Treaty of Waitangi negotiations processes. It's great however that after all that time and after many Treaty bills coming to this House that now Ngāti Hei has their bill squarely before the House after some delay too—and I'll come back to some of the reasons for that a little later.Can I also acknowledge and pay tribute to the generations of Ngāti Hei who have sought justice for their people and the many members of Ngāti Hei who have passed away before they have been able to bear witness to today's milestone. In particular in that regard I acknowledge Ngāti Hei kaumātua Peter Tiki Johnston who played a leading role in the settlement but sadly passed away in 2014. His son Peter Matai Johnston has assumed his father's mantle and is in the gallery today.On the Crown side can I acknowledge chief Crown negotiators Michael Dreaver and the Hon Rick Barker for their hands-on leadership throughout these negotiations—I might say everybody amply supported by the team from Te Arawhiti in the gallery there. Can I acknowledge my predecessor the Hon Chris Finlayson as well for his significant contribution to this Treaty settlement and of course I thank my ministerial colleagues Crown agencies and the councils who have been involved in this for their support to achieve this settlement.Today's reading marks a major milestone in the Ngāti Hei negotiations. It was back in August 2017 that Ngāti Hei and the Crown signed a deed of settlement here at Parliament. I think we can all agree that six years is a long time to wait to advance the settlement to its next significant step.The delay between signing the deed and the first reading today is due to the structure of the Hauraki negotiations. Initially the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill was drafted as part of an omnibus bill with 13 other Hauraki settlements. However each negotiation moves at its own pace and so given the varying pace and a number of other issues that had arisen I decided in 2021 that we would move away from the omnibus approach and progress the Hauraki bills that are ready and where litigation and overlapping interest claims have been dealt with or progressed sufficiently. That of course included Ngāti Hei and I thank Ngāti Hei for their incredible patience during this time.Ngāti Hei hold a unique place in New Zealand history. In November 1769 Ngāti Hei hosted the first recorded pōwhiri between Māori and Pākehā when Ngāti Hei paramount chief Toawaka invited Captain Cook no less to the fortified pā Wharetāewa in Whitianga. Cook and his crew spent 12 days at Whanga-nui-a-Hei measuring the transit of Mercury across the sun trading and resupplying the ship in what was described then as a mostly amicable cultural exchange with Ngāti Hei.Despite these positive beginnings even before Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed the negative effects of Pākehā settlement were felt by Ngāti Hei. By the 1830s Ngāti Hei had lost much of their coastal whenua due to transactions with traders. The Crown's Land Claims Commission later investigated those transactions and awarded almost 7000 acres of land in which Ngāti Hei had interests to European claimants.After the Treaty was signed Crown land acquisition and the operation and effect of the native land laws left Ngāti Hei virtually landless. The loss of land and resources reduced Ngāti Hei's ability to participate in the new economic opportunities and challenges emerging within their rohe in the 20th century.The Crown's repression of te reo Māori along with the fragmentation of Ngāti Hei tribal structures and the migration from ancestral lands severely affected Ngāti Hei's ability to pass mātauranga Māori on to their tamariki and mokopuna. The settlement is grounded in the Crown's acknowledgment of this history and the Crown's apology for its breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.The redress contained in this bill will support Ngāti Hei in realising their aspirations for their iwi and the many generations to come. The bill will give effect to the redress provided and settlement of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims including financial and commercial redress of $8.5 million; the vesting of 15 sites of cultural significance; and overlay classification and statement of association which acknowledges the traditional cultural spiritual and historical association of Ngāti Hei with certain sites of significance including Moehau and Te Aroha maunga. This settlement legislation will also enact a Māori Land Court order that will vest Ohinau Island in the Ngāti Hei governance entity.Finally relationship agreements between Ngāti Hei and Crown agencies will provide the foundation for a better future relationship between Ngāti Hei and the Crown. As I indicated earlier this bill is one of a number of bills coming under the Pare Hauraki collective of iwi in Hauraki. There are others yet to make their progress—some have already been introduced—but eventually we will bring together a Hauraki collective piece of legislation as well. Bearing in mind now with these bills and the Hauraki bills what has been very important is to ensure that the relationships between each of those Hauraki iwi are sorted but also the relationship between Hauraki iwi and other large national groups—and I'm thinking particularly of Tauranga Moana—that those are settled and healthy relationships as well.I sincerely hope that this settlement is the beginning of a stronger relationship between Ngāti Hei and the Crown based on mutual trust cooperation and respect for Te Tiriti and its principles. I propose the bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee. On that basis I commend the bill to the House. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.