Sharples Pita: Ngati Manawa Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Whare Claims Settlement Bill — Third Readings 
Sharples Pita: Ngati Manawa Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Whare Claims Settlement Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:678;Page:1459] 
Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
on behalf of the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: I move  
That the Ngati Manawa Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Whare Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time 
. Tena koutou. Kua tae mai ahakoa te roa o te wa o te hikoi kia tae ki tenei wa kua tae mai. Na reira e tika ana kia mihi atu ki a koutou kua whakaki nei i to tatou atamira nei na reira tena koutou. Tena koutou i o tatou tini aitua. Ka hoki aku mahara ki a Bill Bird tona kaha ki te whai i tenei kereme tae noa ki tona matenga. Na reira nga mate ki a ratou haere okioki pai mai. Erangi ko te mea nui i tenei haora ko koutou nga morehu o nga tipuna matua e noho tahi nei kua whakakotahitia e te kaupapa e whakakotahi ai tatou i tenei ra. Na reira nau mai haere mai ra.  
[ 
Greetings. You have arrived at last even though it has taken a long time for the journey to make it here; it has arrived. So it is fitting that I acknowledge you because you have filled our gallery to capacity—well done. I acknowledge our many many deaths as well. My thoughts go back to Bill Bird. He worked hard to see this claim through right up to the time of his death. So farewell the dead; rest well. Let the dead remain there with the dead. The most important thing at this hour however is that you are remnants of the ancestral forefathers seated there as one and bound together by the same policy. Welcome welcome. 
] 
This legislation brings together the Treaty of Waitangi claims of the descendants of Apa-Hapai-Take-Take Tangiharuru and Toi Te Huatahi. These are peoples of the Kuhawaea and Kaingaroa Plains Rangitaiki and Whirinaki Rivers and the lands of Te Whaiti and Minginui Te Whirinaki Te Pua-o-Tane Urewera lands in the east and the mountains Tawhiuau and Tuwatawata. I welcome the descendants of Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare to this House. Ko Tawhiuau te maunga ko Rangitaiki te awa ko Rangipo te wehenga o te tuna ko Ngati Manawa te iwi. 
[ 
Tawhiuau is the mountain Rangitaiki is the river Rangipo is where the eels head off in different directions Ngati Manawa is the tribe. 
] 
The late Ngati Manawa rangatira Bill Bird was at the Rangitahi Marae with his people when I had the privilege of representing the Crown at the tribe’s signing of the deed of settlement back in December 2009. Bill was a leader a visionary but importantly Bill was a realist. “We’ve got to get real. The problem is real so the solution has to be real.” he once told a reporter. Throughout Ngati Manawa’s many years of negotiations with the Crown Bill and many others including the late Denise Howden made sure the Crown got real. Ngati Manawa leaders urged their people to stay focused and most important to stick together. Ngati Manawa me totara pakaua tatou kaua e noho totara wahi rua. 
[ 
Ngati Manawa we must be like a sinewy totara and not a splintered one. 
] 
Ngati Manawa—united we stand divided we fall. Bill spoke of how he wanted his people to get out of grievance mode and into iwi dependency mode. He also spoke of how hard this would be while the sins of the Crown had not been identified.  
The Crown’s sins against Ngati Manawa people have taken many forms perpetuated over many years and remain etched into the lives of generations of the people of Tangiharuru. Ngati Manawa’s claims relate to the region around Murupara the Kaingaroa Plains—the central Bay of Plenty. Their claims relate to the consequences of the Crown actions during the New Zealand Wars Crown actions and omissions with regards to the native land laws and Crown land purchasing techniques.  
The Crown recognises Ngati Manawa’s traditional historical cultural and spiritual interests and seeks to strengthen those bonds through the vesting of sites of particular significance cultural redress and first right of refusal to purchase certain commercial properties. Significantly today marks the gifting of the ancestral mountain Tawhiuau to the people of Ngati Manawa and then the gifting back of the maunga to all the people of New Zealand who will recognise Ngati Manawa’s sacred association with Tawhiuau. 
 Inland iwi Ngati Manawa’s destiny has been for ever linked with their waterways—their ancestral river. The Crown’s takeover of the Rangitaiki and other rivers began in the late 19th century. Large parts of New Zealand were soon powered by three hydroelectric dams located throughout the region. However while New Zealand benefited Ngati Manawa suffered. They suffered the comprehensive loss of their ancestral river the destruction of their primary food source and the demise of their cultural and economic asset base.  
Today’s legislation will see the creation of a body to restore Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare mana over the Rangitaiki and other waterways. They will by law take part in a management regime that will seek to restore and protect their ancestral waters. The Rangitaiki River Forum will be comprised of equal iwi and council representatives in order to protect and enhance the health and well-being of the Rangitaiki River catchment and its tributaries. This shared redress is a model for future relationships between iwi Maori and the Crown. Ko au ko te Whirinaki; ko te Whirinaki ko au. I am the Whirinaki; the Whirinaki is me. The people of Ngati Whare’s kaitiaki bond to Te Whirinaki Te Pua-o-Tane spans generations and has endured the challenges of land alienation disenfranchisement industrial expansion and environmental destruction.  
In recent years the rest of the world has discovered something Ngati Whare people have always known—that the Whirinaki is a unique taonga found nowhere else on the Earth. Likened by international conservationists to a living cathedral the Whirinaki is one of the planet’s last prehistoric rainforests. Of enormous cultural and spiritual value to Ngati Whare the Whirinaki contains numerous wahi tapu and sites of significance.  
After years of negotiations today the Crown and Ngati Whare are breaking new ground regarding the settlement of Treaty of Waitangi claims. Their co-governance plan for Te Whirinaki Te Pua-o-Tane forest park is another model for future negotiations. Included in this unique arrangement is Crown assistance to enable Ngati Whare to regenerate indigenous matai rimu and kahikatea in areas of pine forest within Whirinaki Crown forest licensed land.  
The claims of Ngati Whare also relate to the Crown’s shameful actions against their members during the New Zealand Wars—actions that have resonated through generations of families over 144 years. The storming of Te Harima Pa is an event that has lived in the memories and the hearts of Ngati Whare since the Crown raided this kainga in May 1869. Several men were killed in the surprise attack—some elderly some trying to escape with their families. According to Ngati Whare oral tradition women were raped during the invasion and as a consequence some committed suicide. Fifty women and children were imprisoned. Te Harima Pa their home was destroyed along with other kainga cultivations and provisions in the valley as per the Crown’s scorched earth policy at the time.  
Today the Crown acknowledges with deep regret the harm inflicted on the people of Ngati Whare during and after the attack on Te Harima. Today the Crown unreservedly apologises to Ngati Whare for these actions. Ko Tuwatawata te maunga ko Whirinaki te awa ko Wharepakau te tangata ko Ngati Whare te iwi.  
[ 
Tuwatawata is the mountain Whirinaki is the river Wharepakau is the man Ngati Whare is the tribe. 
] 
As we stand together today the Crown alongside Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare we look at the past with our eyes wide open. We do not shy away. All those things Ngati Manawa and Ngati Whare families have lost due to the actions of the Crown can never be totally replaced and yet today Ngati Whare and Ngati Manawa settle their grievances with the Crown and in doing so honour us all with their mana. To quote a Ngati Whare saying: “Kia mana ai o ratou whakapapa”. By their actions they instil their whakapapa with mana. I commend these bills to the House.