Mark RonHon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Ki ngā uri o Ngāti Rangi tēnā koutou katoa. He nui aku mihi mahana ngā mihi maioha me ngā mihi aroha hoki ki a koutou. Nau mai ki tēnei Whare Te Whare Pāremata tō tātou Whare. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[To you the descendants of Ngāti Rangi I greet you all. I greet you with great warmth with affection and with love. Welcome to this House Parliament House our House. Greetings greetings to one and all.]Ngāti Rangi as one of Ngāti Kahungunu I welcome you and also as one of Ngati Porou Whakatōhea Ngāti Raukawa Te Arawa Tūwharetoa Ngāti Awa Rangitāne and Ngāi Tahu I also welcome you to this place for this very important day.I acknowledge with a degree of personal humility your maunga Ruapehu who I have walked around run over and lived on beneath and under many times over the years of my military service and your awa the Whangaehu a river that I have plodded in and out of been drenched by frozen by many many times as I exercised both as a young soldier and then in years after that as an officer training young soldiers in your rohe in your taonga tuku iho. I thank you very much and I acknowledge you.Speaking to Te Rukutia Te Mana it reminds me of my own journey as a lead negotiator for the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki Nui-a-Rua's Treaty settlement. Looking at some of the issues and the special factors that are contained within your deed the matters that have now been resolved between Ngāti Rangi and the Crown I can't help but see the similarities between your claim and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki Nui-a-Rua. The quashing of leasehold agreements legally entered into between the people of Ngāti Rangi and settling Pākehā is something that was also done in the Wairarapa. For those of us who know it is actually when you look back something that one takes a little pride in knowing that your ancestors your tipuna had the foresight and the vision to see the advantage in not selling land as some people these days seem to think is the right thing to do—selling land to anyone any foreigner that steps foot on this shore. It is comforting to know that our ancestors saw that as a stupid thing and did not want to partake.They saw greater value in leasing the land on a long-term basis to encourage investment to encourage growth and development but still retain ownership of your own taonga your treasure that your children for generations to come might continue to profit and gain from such a wise strategic economic decision. Like I said it was the same thing in the Wairarapa. I would say even that our iwi had vision our ancestors had vision and they could see the economic gain in that.What is difficult to comprehend in this day and age is that a Governor and a Government would seek to quash those arrangements and supplant themselves as the only body capable of buying selling and transacting real estate contracts so denying Ngāti Rangi the opportunity to develop its own economic base. Lease-holding agreements that were collaborative and legal arrangements between those two parties would have delivered economic gain and advantages intergenerationally for eternity. The destruction of those arrangements along with confiscation via use of the Public Works Act and even just straight-out confiscation without recompense all served to undermine and destroy the social and economic fabric of the iwi the fragmentation and destruction of its people and even driving many many members of the iwi into poverty and destitution. It is a story that has been repeated up and down this land and it is an absolute pleasure to be able to stand here today and deliver New Zealand First's contribution in support of the first reading of your settlement let me assure you of that.It is also ironic that a people who served alongside the Crown loyally at great cost to themselves should have ended up in the position that they did. But again that sadly is the way it worked out for many iwi who did the very same thing. The notion that having allied oneself and fulfilled one's obligation under a treaty to support the sovereign to support the Crown the notion that one would then find oneself disadvantaged by that very same body and having to fight to retain one's own land and re-establish one's own economic base one's own very existence is something that is hard to understand today but it happened. Again I share an understanding of that from my great ancestor and namesake Rongowhitiao Te Puni Maaka also known as Arekatera who fought as one of the Te Arawa—in fact led Te Arawa and Ngāti Raukawa—only to find himself fighting in the courts to retain what was left of their land in Horohoro. So we understand. I just want you to know that I personally understand the journey that you have travelled as a people.Today I do have the privilege of standing here as the Minister of Defence and I wish to acknowledge Ngāti Rangi for its generosity its grace and for the hospitality that you showed me on 10 March this year when I attended your signing not only of the deed Te Rukutia Te Mana but also the relationship agreement between Ngāti Rangi and the New Zealand Army through the chief of army. The grace that you have shown and the recognition that you have for the importance and the value of that real estate even though it was taken to the security and the defence of this nation needs to be recognised by all of New Zealand.The fact that in your cultural settlement you are accepting ownership of—I'm just going to pop straight out of my head right now—Irirangi and that you will then gift it back to the people of New Zealand again is a hallmark of your generosity your grace and your realisation of the importance of Irirangi and the entire Waiōuru training area to this whole nation. That is something that I as the Minister of Defence I as a Minister in this Government as a former defence service person and someone who has the pleasure and the privilege of being the Minister of our entire defence force want to thank you for. We want to thank you. We applaud you for your decision and for your deed of settlement and the journey that you have walked. We look forward to a swift passage through this House and to being able to be here to congratulate you in the third reading. Thank you very much.