Paraone PitaPITA PARAONE (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker tēnā hoki tātou i Te Whare he tū wāhi poto tēnei ki te tautoko i ngā mihi i mihingia e koutou ngā kaikōrero i tū ake i mua i a au ki wā tātou manuhiri mai i a Rangitāne o Manawatu. Nā reira koutou ngā kaikawe o tēnei kaupapa tēnā koutou. Tēnā hoki koutou i ngā tini mate i waenganui i a koutou kei te tūhonohono ki tēnā o ngā mate kei waenganui i a mātou i roto i Te Whare nei ēngari i tēnei wā e tika ana e mihi kau ana ki ēnā o ngā kaikawe o tēnei kaupapa kāore rātou i waenganui i a tātou i te rā nei ahakoa mōhio ana i a tātou kei konei rātou i roto i te wairuatanga. Nā reira e tika ana kia mihi kau ki a rātou. Nā reira kua ea te wāhi mā rātou ka hoki mai ki a tātou e te hunga ora ā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā kia ora mai anō tātou.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and to us as well in the House. I rise to make this short call to endorse the tributes accorded by the speakers who stood before to our visitors from Rangitāne of Manawatu. And so to you the bearers of this matter I commend you. Commiserations to you also in regard to the many many deaths amongst you that link up to that one of the deaths amongst us in this House but for now it is fitting that I acknowledge those bearers of this matter who are no longer amongst us today even though we know they are here spiritually. It is therefore appropriate that we acknowledge them so the part in regard to them has now been satisfied. Now I come back once again to us the living and commend and congratulate you collectively; my appreciation once again to all of us.]I stand on behalf of New Zealand First to support this bill and to recognise that this bill by way of the Crown acknowledging unfortunate episodes in our country's history tries to rectify the situation by way of redress as is articulated in the bill. As the previous speaker Nuk Korako alluded to this bill was referred to the Māori Affairs Committee and the committee recommended that the bill pass with some amendments which include some resulting from surveys of the redress sites and these amendments would update the legal descriptions of a number of land provisions. We received nine submissions and as previously alluded to not all of the submitters supported the passing of the bill and that was one of the issues that the committee had to consider before making its recommendation back to this House. Like all settlements it does not please everyone but the attempt has been made to try to offer redress for the actions of the Crown which have in this case left Rangitāne o Manawatu almost landless. This bill is intended to protect what land they have left and ensure that the land that is being offered in this bill helps to secure the long-term future of this iwi. The bill was introduced in December last year. It was referred to the Māori Affairs Committee in March of this year and we reported back to this House at the beginning of this month. Although the physical journey may be regarded as a long one in terms of the processes of this House I think it has been fairly quick compared with other settlement bills and so I want to acknowledge this House for at least giving some urgency to this claim. Prior to this bill being presented in the House some comments were made and I just want to quote some of the words that were articulated in earlier readings of this bill: The people of Rangitāne o Manawatū were subjected to legislative prejudice which made their land more susceptible to partition fragmentation and alienation. This was enacted in the hope that Māori would abandon their tribal and communal structures of traditional land holdings." It goes on further to say: "By the end of 1880 Rangitāne o Manawatū held about 20000 acres of land." Fifty years later this iwi's landholdings had reduced to 2903 acres so you can see why this particular bill is very important to the long-term future—particularly the economic future—of Rangitāne o Manawatu. When this bill is enacted it will give effect to the deed of settlement signed between Rangitāne o Manawatu and the Crown in November last year which again signals the rapid progress of this bill through the parliamentary process today. Again I think that is a reflection of the commitment made by those people who are responsible for this bill and also on the work that the Māori Affairs Committee did in ensuring that the bill got to this stage. Just in closing I heard the Minister make reference to the lady who has led this charge Danielle Harris and everyone has been talking about their whakapapa. I just want to remind this House and I might have to remind Danielle as well that she has connections to the north—very strong connections to the north. Perhaps Danielle we may need to have you come home and help us with our particular settlement process. Be that as it may I just make reference to Danielle because I worked with her grandmother—her maternal grandmother—and I will never forget that lady because she was one of my early mentors when I started with the Māori Affairs department in Auckland. Danielle spent some time working in the office of the Māori Trustee when I was working there so I have a lot of regard for her. Can I say Danielle that I do feel sorry for you—sorry for the fact that it does not matter how much you may have worked to get the settlement to this stage there will always be people within your iwi who will criticise you and not thank you for the work that you have done.Hei aha koinā te āhuatanga o tātou Te Ao Māori nā reira e te tuahine koutou ngā kaitautoko i a ia koutou i hāpaihia tēnei kaupapa i mau mai ki konei i roto i Te Whare nei ngā mihi hoki ki a koutou. [Never mind that is how it is with us of Māoridom so to you sister colleague and to those of you who supported her who elevated this matter who brought it here into this House my acknowledgments as well to you collectively.]Nā reira I just want to conclude by saying that I commend this bill to the House."