te Heuheu Georgina: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:648;Page:16825] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
A e aku koroua e aku kuia e nga whaea e nga papa Te Arawa waka Te Arawa tangata tena koutou tena koutou tenatatou katoa. 
[ 
To my elders my elderly womenfolk aunts fathers the canoe and people of Te Arawa greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to us all. 
] 
I am very pleased to stand to speak on the first reading of the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill. National supports the bill being referred to the select committee and is pleased to do so. 
I personally am pleased to be here in the House this afternoon. I stand here in the presence of whanaunga and it is a great privilege to be here when this bill is being presented to Parliament. Notwithstanding that we are whanaunga I congratulate those who negotiated this settlement on behalf of the hapu and iwi of Te Arawa because I along with everyone else in this House know the complexity of the matters involved in achieving such a settlement. Their achievement in negotiating a settlement with significant support across the waka is no mean feat. I am very proud to be part of the consideration that the bill will have in this House. 
The other reason that I am very proud to be here this afternoon is that looking at the bigger picture this settlement today follows in the path of others forged over the last two decades on the Treaty settlement platform developed by Sir Douglas Graham and the National Party under the leadership of the Rt Hon Jim Bolger. That platform has continued into this decade—albeit with mixed effort and mixed results up until recently I might say under the Labour Government but it has continued nevertheless. It has continued up to this settlement today to another major settlement tomorrow and to others to follow in the future—there is no doubt about that. 
The important feature of these settlements is that they are testament to the efforts of a small nation that is leading the way internationally in many respects and to how a nation State treats its indigenous population in terms of addressing longstanding historic injustice. Fortunately New Zealand has long since moved on from the time when this process was condemned more than it ever deserved to be and that in my view is thanks to the patience of iwi; to their faith in the law and their perseverance; to the inherent fairness of the Kiwi character the New Zealand character; and to the almost universal acceptance by parliamentarians across the House of the importance of settlements. We have made great progress since the land marches and occupations of some 30 years ago and we will continue that progress until we complete the process. 
With these settlements Maori see that the laws and Government of their country however imperfect they may seem at times are capable of representing their interests and the Crown on behalf of all New Zealanders can redeem its honour for questionable conduct in the past. These things are important for all New Zealanders and the settlement that comes into the House today is part of that process. It is a huge process it is complicated but it is necessary. We have made great progress and the part that Te Arawa have played in it is very important. 
I turn to the bill before us. Dr Cullen has reviewed its contents. Importantly the bill contains an apology. If we think about it we realise that much of the grievance that gave rise to this settlement had its genesis back in the 1880s I would suggest with the rearrangement of title by the Maori Land Court which as we know was set up to convert collective title into individual title so as to make it easier for ownership of land to pass from Maori hands into those of the Crown or settlers. So this bill has a longstanding genesis; again I think that adds to its importance. 
I commend the Minister for his efforts in bringing some considerable momentum to a process that by last year was exhibiting all the signs of Treaty meltdown. I refer in that regard to a rather scathing report from the Waitangi Tribunal that criticised the Crown for certain things—we will not go into that for the moment. What these settlements show I think is that passion effort energy and enthusiasm must be put into this process to ensure that the momentum is maintained. Fortunately that momentum has come back into the process now. I might add though that it may be that the Labour Government in appointing Dr Cullen to the position of Minister in charge of Treaty Negotiations has learnt something; in the end we have rangatira negotiating settlements on behalf of their people and in a way they look for equivalence in terms of the negotiator on the part of the Government of the day. It may be that in terms of getting iwi and the Te Arawa affiliates—and the other tribes involved in tomorrow’s settlement—back to the table the appointment of Dr Cullen was an important factor. 
As I said earlier the apology is important and all our settlements contain an apology. In that respect it is important not just for the consideration by the House but also for New Zealanders at large to remind ourselves that the settlement settles all historical claims of the affiliate of tribes and that henceforth when this bill becomes law the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal will have no further involvement in considering anything to do with the settlement. That is important. 
In terms of issues that have been raised briefly with me—and National members will raise them in the select committee—there are issues around whether private land is involved. The briefing note that the Minister supplied us with says that it is not involved and we will want to make sure that that is the case. The other issue is whether public access will be maintained and a statement in the briefing note says that generally yes it will be. The select committee process gives us an opportunity to look at those matters. Another matter which has been raised on the iwi side is the combining of tribes which is seen to be problematic particularly if one is asking Ngati Tahu - Ngati Whaoa to be represented by one voice. Clearly those issues are still capable of resolution and if my colleagues and I can play a part in addressing them I am sure we would be very happy to do so. 
In terms of the set-back I suppose that was put upon this process last year we can take lessons from it as to what seems not to work and those things that seem to work well. It may be that in relation to the settlement that is before us today and the one that comes before us tomorrow there are lessons for us all to learn. I think the biggest lesson is that in the end the iwi must feel that their rangatiratanga is intact all of the way through the process. Any hint that the Government of the day and ultimately the Crown are imposing anything on them or being prescriptive will not work. That seems to have been the point reached last year. 
Happily National supports the settlement. We will work with the other members of the select committee to make sure that the process that gets under way—the scrutiny of the bill—brings into effect the settlement that Te Arawa iwi have negotiated. I look forward to that process and we give our commitment to it. In closing again I would like to say congratulations—very good. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa.