Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. E te iwi o te hau kāinga tēnei te mihi maioha ki a koutou katoa kua tae i tēnei wā. Harikoa te ngākau ka kitekite i a koutou mō tēnei wā. Nō reira e ngā mana e ngā reo ōku rau rangatira mā tēnā koutou haere mai tēnā koutou haere mai tēnā koutou katoa.E ngā mate kua wehe ki Te Pō: Uncle Dave Wati Stone Tom Tuhi Bossy Mako Auntie Kate Hakiwai George Morris ngā mea ngā mate o ia marae o ia hapū o Heretaunga Tamatea haere atu rā haere haere moe mai rā. Kāti anei te mihi ki a koutou katoa i tēnei wā.[To you the home people I greet you all affectionately who have arrived here at this moment. The heart is elated at seeing you collectively for this time. Therefore to the authorities and languages my esteemed ones of a hundredfold and others acknowledgments to you collectively welcome accolades to you collectively come forth and congratulations to you all.To you the deaths that have departed to the void: Uncle Dave Wati Stone Tom Tuhi Bossy Mako Auntie Kate Hakiwai George Morris the ones and the deaths of each marae and of each hapū of Heretaunga Tamatea depart indeed go forth journey on rest there indeed. Enough here is the formal tribute to you all at this time.]It is indeed an honour and I had best be on my best behaviour because I have got a few aunties up there in the audience but it is an absolute honour to stand in this House to acknowledge the work to acknowledge the special day of our whānau Heretaunga Tamatea o Ngāti Kahungunu. Can I first acknowledge the negotiating team: Peter Paku Brian Morris and of course the very formidable—and I am not too sure Minister Finlayson whether actually you had all to do with it because I think Liz is a formidable woman by herself—Liz Munroe. Kei te mihi ki a koutou katoa [I acknowledge you all] for the mahi that you have done to bring us thus far. I want to acknowledge He Toa Takitini taumata our kaumātua who for many years have given the wisdom and a guiding hand throughout this process. Kei te mihi ki a rātau.[I pay a tribute to them.]I want to acknowledge Dr David Tīpene-Leach the chairman of He Toa Takitini. David again your leadership through this process through trying times stands testimony that we are here today so ngā mihi ki a koe e te rangatira [salutations to you esteemed one].And of course Liz Graham our current chair of the Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Trust—I want to acknowledge Liz's work and all the board members who have helped get us this far.It is a day of celebration. Even though this House is rising tomorrow I am just so pleased that we are able to have this first reading of the Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill. I am not going to traverse what the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations has talked about but what I do want to say in this House and go on record and quote from the deed of settlement about is the beauty of this rohe of Heretaunga Tamatea. I want to acknowledge the 23 marae of Heretaunga Tamatea: Houngarea Korongatā Mangaroa Rākautātahi Tapairu Waimārama Kahurānaki Matahiwi Ōmahu Rongomaraeroa Taraia Waipatu Kairākau Mataweka Pourērere Ruahāpia Te Āwhina Whatuiāpiti Kohupātiki Mihiroa Pukehou Rūnanga and Te Rongo-ā-Tahu.The rohe of Heretaunga Tamatea—Considered the richest most fertile soils in all of Aotearoa the traditional tribal rohe of Heretaunga Tamatea comprises 1.475 million acres spread amongst lofty mountain ranges deep contouring valleys and large vast alluvial plains with five main river systems fuelled by the Heretaunga and Ruataniwha aquifers. The rohe of Heretaunga Tamatea is aptly described by 'te kanohi hōmiromiro o te hāro o te kāhu' (the all seeing eye of the hawk in flight). It starts on the coast at Te Kauwae-a-Māui/Cape Kidnappers and follows … to the [river]mouth of the Tūtaekurī River. It then [goes] westward … to the foothills and eastern slopes of the Ruahine Range. Heading south it embraces the Kāweka and Gwavas Forests to the headwaters of the Manawatū River in the south. It then crosses eastwards to the coast at Te Poroporo and turns northwards up the coast embracing Parimāhu passing one of the nation's outstanding landscapes—Kohinurākau Te Mata-o-Rongokako and Kahurānaki the sacred mountain of the rohe—to arrive back at Te Kauwae-a-Māui/Cape Kidnappers." I bring this pōhatu called Parimahu gifted by our whanaunga Robert Rōpiha when I first came into this House. This watches over me when I am in this place and I wanted to bring that out to our whanaunga who have joined us here today.Before the arrival of Europeans a system of wetlands swamps and lakes extended from the Heretaunga Plain through the Pekapeka wetlands and the Ngā Puna-ā-Tara to the Whatumā lake system in the south. This together with the area's coastal fisheries and extensive bush provides extremely rich sources of food as well as medicine and materials for the region's people. The names of the rivers streams natural features fauna and flora of Heretaunga Tamatea illustrate the long association between the land and the people it sustains. The significant wealth and prosperity of Hawke's Bay has been sourced from both the lands and the waters of the rohe and from the labour and the generosity of generations of the hapū of Heretaunga Tamatea.This generosity is the primary example of the tikanga or manaakitanga the customary practice of welcoming and embracing guests to our land—our participation with distinction through several colonial and imperial wars our major contribution to industrial pastoral agricultural and horticultural development. Our iconic academic artistic sports and I would like to acknowledge our beauty and acclaim is evidenced in the hosting of Matatini at the beginning of this year—and kei te mihi to all our marae of Heretaunga Tamatea and Ahuriri who came and offered manaaki ki te tangata to our visitors around the motu. Of course the crowning of our niece Harlem-Cruz Īhāia as Miss Universe New Zealand all the way from Ahuriri all the way from our home people—a big mihi to us all on this special day. These lands these people nourished many who lived there and many who came here. It is not surprising that through the actions of the Crown the acts of omission many of our people lost their lands. So it is right that the Crown makes some amendment. Let us be clear about that—makes some amendment.I want to also acknowledge the discussion from the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations about the $5 million to Te Aute College and that will be another kōrero at our second and third readings. I want to say thank you to you Minister Finlayson for the contribution towards Te Aute College. I know that there is still some work to be done around the lands of Te Aute but you have shown with good grace that you are open to entertaining the settling of the lands around Te Aute College. I wanted to say that particularly on behalf of my father as an old boy and also to the many leaders whom you described who have come out of that iconic school.In the time that I have left to contribute to this bill it is like I said an absolute honour to stand here to acknowledge the hard work of the negotiators and to welcome our people from home. It is your day—it is your day. It is important that we ensure that those—there will be some of us we all have them in our whānau who will disagree with what is transpiring here. All I want to say is ka aroha ki a rātau [I sympathise with them].This is an opportunity to come before the select committee to have your say—have your say. This is the beauty part of this Parliament that it is open to everybody to have their say and I encourage those who may not have felt that this is the right thing to do to come before the select committee and let your feelings be known.I want to end again as we close up the 51st Parliament—this is my fourth year. We will all be leaving this place to take on another battle. I want to acknowledge those who are leaving us who have had their final speeches in the House. I am going to send good wishes to them all. I want to wish you Mr Assistant Speaker Tisch the very best on your journey. To all members of this House thank you for making the 51st Parliament a very enjoyable one. I wish you well on the hustings. Go well. God bless. Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa tēnā tātou. I commend this bill to the House."