Warren-Clark Angie; Salesa JennyANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou tēnei te mihi o te wā. I stand somewhat nervously today to speak to this bill. I say that I stand somewhat nervously" because this bill means an awful lot to not only the people of Rangitihi but also those of us here in the House who have the opportunity to speak. As tangata Tiriti and my people have been here since 1842 I can say that it is an honour to speak in the redress of your claim. It has moved me and it feels to be a huge honour to stand here to do so.I want to very quickly put on record once again what the apology says. I think it is important that we do that because I feel a little bit like we've strayed from the purpose of being here today. So "The settlement contains [the] Crown acknowledgements of and an apology for well-founded breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. The Crown acknowledges it breached … Treaty obligations when it failed—to protect the tribal structures of Ngāti Rangitihi … act in good faith when leasing and purchasing Ngāti Rangitihi land blocks … protect Ngāti Rangitihi from becoming virtually landless … protect the Tarawera River … actively protect te reo Māori and [to] encourage its use … protect Ngāti Rangitihi from the impact of high survey costs … [and] act in good faith by taking excessive land at Te Ariki for public works purposes." The importance of saying those words over and over again will not be enough but as we all know here in this House it is incredibly important that we say these things and that we learn the history of our country—the good the bad and the ugly—and we acknowledge and we seek redress.I want to acknowledge Ngāti Rangitihi for the work for the years and years of advocacy and for the grace that you have shown in coming again and again and doing what is tika and working the processes and the laws of this land in order to seek redress. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for the efforts and for the people who have gone before you and for your loss. I thank you for telling the stories and laying the story of your loss out for us. It is so very important that we as a nation come to understand what happens in this country when we have loss. It is generational and it is painful. I want to say this small quote: "Trauma is not what happens to us but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness." May you understand that we will become that empathetic witness and that we will hear you.I also want to acknowledge the Minister who's brought this bill to the House. I want to also acknowledge my friend the Hon Kiritapu Allan who because of the Matatā connection would have been here and would have spoken but for her illness. So I want to just acknowledge my friend Kiritapu Allan and acknowledge that she is not here today to do this task—probably a better job than what I'm doing to be fair!I read the settlement and I read the bill which is quite long and technical but this is my understanding for those people out there who do not understand the history—and this is a very brief history; my apologies if I do a disservice. So in the 1860s with a change of land title from collective to individual title Ngāti Rangitihi were required to pay the fees associated with the cost of surveying and title registration. The Crown leased Ngāti Rangitihi lands before that title had been awarded. Then the Crown stopped paying for those leases. The Crown then treated those lease payments as advance purchase payments acting as a monopoly purchaser. During this time Ngāti Rangitihi suffered the devastation of the eruption at Mount Tarawera in 1886. So with the approximately 110 people killed in the eruption that was not the best position to hold in negotiation and the devastation of the land the terraces and the loss of life resulted in wholesale movement to Matatā. Ngāti Rangitihi had to sell the land that they would have otherwise wanted to retain. In 1910 the Crown drained the Rangitihi swamp which is a great source of kai and further degraded the awa. In 1954 the Crown legislation allowed the Tasman Pulp and Paper Co. to discharge into the Tarawera River.These are the things that build over years and years of history. These are the things that people can never I guess understand the links and the losses that you've suffered. But one of the ways that I think of it is that if something like that had happened to me how I would feel; so I think I can have some empathy to understanding some small part of your story. I think it is so very important that we here in this House stand up and say as representatives of the Crown that we are sorry and that this should not have happened. It has happened we must acknowledge it and I do so today. Ngā mihi nui.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): Kia ora welcome back to the House—I call Harete Hipango."