te Heuheu Georgina: Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill 
te Heuheu Georgina: Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill 
[Volume:672;Page:18715] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 E nga uri o ratou ma kua riro ki tua o te pae Ngati Porou Ngati Pahauwera Ngati Maniapoto haere mai nau mai ki te Whare Paremata. He Whare tenei kua rongo i nga nawe i nga hiahia o nga iwi o nga tau kua hipa. No koutou tenei ra. Koia nei te timatanga mai o te korero i nga pakitara o te Whare Paremata. I mua o te mutunga o tenei tau ka eke ki te puawaitanga. No reira tena koutou tena tatou katoa.  
[ 
To the descendants of those who have crossed beyond the horizon of Ngati Porou Ngati Pahauwera and Ngati Maniapoto welcome welcome and welcome to Parliament House. This House is one that has heard about the complaints and aspirations of tribes in years past. This is your day. It is the beginning of the talk that will emanate from the walls of Parliament House. By the end of this year the talk will come to fruition. So greetings to you and to us all 
.] 
I am very pleased and proud to stand and talk to the first readings of three separate bills: firstly the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill which is a companion to the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill; secondly the Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill of which the deed of settlement was signed on 17 December 2010; and thirdly the Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill of which the deed of settlement was signed in December last year. This bill represents the settlement of all Ngati Porou historical Treaty of Waitangi claims and therefore is hugely significant—as they all are. I will make a few comments on each of the bills and hopefully I will have time to make a few comments on the importance of Treaty settlements. 
On the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill the Waipa River is a significant contributor to the waters of the lower Waikato River and to the social cultural environmental and economic well-being within its region. We recognise that the Waipa River is taonga to Maniapoto. Their relationship with the river lies at the heart of their spiritual and physical well-being and has been the prime influencer in the way we have interacted with them. The restoration and maintenance of the river as part of a larger catchment needs to be coordinated with the management restoration and protection of the Waikato River and Maniapoto involvement in co-governance and co-management of their river is key for the longer-term sustainability not only of their river but also of the larger Waikato as well. 
The bill gives effect to a deed entered into between the Crown and Maniapoto by which they agree to extend a co-governance framework over the whole of the Waipa River and provide for Maniapoto to participate in the framework that governs the river. It establishes co-management and related arrangements with Maniapoto in relation to their river. 
Although it is a great advantage to deal with the three bills within the one debate not one of the iwi sitting in the gallery this afternoon should take the briefness of the comments relating to each of their settlement bills as a sign in any way that we are skimming over the importance of their settlements. We are not. 
In respect of the Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill I acknowledge my whanaunga and note that this is the first deed of settlement to be signed as the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations said on the eastern seaboard of the North Island. I say congratulations to the iwi. The first of a series of settlements is always the biggest and I hope that the whanaunga alongside you take this as a sign that they ought to move as well. As with other historical settlement bills the package includes a Crown apology as well as financial redress of $20 million and cultural redress involving 16 sites totalling around 1087 hectares. These claims relate mainly to the Crown’s failure to ensure the iwi retained sufficient lands for its future needs the Crown’s failure to provide adequate support during the New Zealand Wars the Crown’s failure to monitor the impact of further land purchases and the fact that by the middle of the 20th century Ngati Pahauwera was virtually landless which contributed to the decline of its economic social and spiritual well-being. This settlement will hopefully enable Ngati Pahauwera to build the partnership with the Crown that it has for so long sought and to flourish as a people. 
The Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill puts longstanding historic grievances to rest and will bring significant benefits not only to Ngati Porou and the East Coast region but also like all settlements to New Zealand. Ngati Porou is New Zealand’s second-largest iwi with 72000 members 58 hapu and 48 marae on the East Coast of the North Island. The takiwa covered by the bill is the area from Potikirua Point on the East Cape in the north to Te Toka-a-Taiau in the south at the mouth of the Turanga River which runs through the centre of Gisborne. The takiwa relates as I said earlier to a great number of hapu and marae. Ngati Porou has a proud history of working with the Crown to preserve the New Zealand way of life and I am very proud to be part of the National Party and to recall that I follow in the footsteps of a number of eminent Maori MPs not least of which of course was Ta Apirana Ngata who has left a huge legacy in this place. 
The bill records the acknowledgments and apology offered by the Crown to Ngati Porou and provides that the settlement of the Ngati Porou historical claims is final. It includes financial redress of $110 million it includes the return of sites of high cultural significance to Ngati Porou totalling approximately 5898 hectares and it provides for Ngati Porou input into the strategic governance of specific conservation sites in relationship agreements designed to facilitate good working relationships between specific Crown agencies and Ngati Porou. 
I will make some general remarks. The importance of what we do this afternoon will be illustrated by the fact that there is near universal agreement in this House for these three settlements. I am not sure whether ACT will vote for these settlements because its history to date has been not to vote for any of them. But we can put that to one side and rejoice in the fact that in the balance of the House which is the larger part of the House all members support these settlement bills—and why would they not? 
As parliamentarians we have done some of our best work in bringing settlements to this House. I have had the privilege of being here since 1996 working with Sir Doug Graham under the leadership of Jim Bolger and being part of a Government that set itself at the time a pretty cracking pace to try to settle historic grievances. What that Government did which was important in respect of all the settlements that have followed was set a framework within which these settlements—which are hugely complex and take much time and energy of both the Crown and iwi—can be brought to a conclusion. So when a bill arrives at its first reading like this one has today it in no way gives any indication of the huge commitment the longstanding dedication and the kaha really that is required particularly on the part of the iwi and of the Crown to bring the settlement to this point. 
I say to the three separate iwi sitting in the gallery that they give us the Crown a chance to make amends for the wrongs that have been done in the past. They give us the chance to set a pathway with themselves for the future that will be far far better. We are hopeful that the grievances that iwi have carried through the generations can be—not forgotten because they are never forgotten—put in their place allowing people to move on. 
I add my congratulations and my support to the speakers who have gone before and say how very pleased we are that we can do this this afternoon. I look forward to the ongoing debates on the three bills and more than anything I look forward to finally concluding these settlements. I think that Maori are on the verge of another huge development phase and the settlement of these claims will provide a very strong platform for that development to go forward. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.