Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister for Māori Development): Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa ngā mihi ki a koutou i whakarangatira i a mātou i tēnei wā.Engari aroha mai tuatahi e tika pea ki te mihi ki ngā mate kātahi anō kua hinga. Ā kua hinga ngā kapua pōuri i runga i Taranaki Maunga kua wehe atu rā te tumuaki o Te Hāhi Rātana arā ko Matua Harerangi Meihana. E koro moe mai rā me piki ake koe mā runga i te aroha o te iwi ki te taha o tō koroua arā a Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana.E Harerangi he kākano rangatira koe i ruia mai i Rangiātea he maha anō ngā tini kākano kua tiakina e ō ringa. Kua waiho rā āianei i te ātārangi o te haerenga otirā ahakoa te pōuri me whiti mai te rā kia ahu mai ngā otaota mō ngā rā kei tua. E te pou haere atu rā hoki atu rā kei raro i te aroha o Te Matua Te Tama Te Wairua Tapu me ngā Anahera Pono me Te Māngai e tautoko mai āianei āke nei āe.Huri au ināianei ki taku hoa tawhito kātahi anō kua hinga inā nā ko Anaru Robb. Ahakoa he tangata Pākehā he ngākau Māori tēnei tangata. I ngā wā o mua e mahi ana ia i taha o ahau mātou ko Derek Fox i runga i te ao pāpāho Mana Māori Media. He tangata i tautoko Huirangi Waikerepuru me ngā rangatira i roto i te ao Māori. E tika ana ki te maumahara tēnei tangata he tangata i whawhai mō ngā tikanga Māori ahakoa he Pākehā. He tangata momo he tangata mōhio tō tātou reo Māori. Nō reira e tōku hoa Anaru moe mai moe mai moe mai rā. Ka nui tēnā. Ki a koutou ngā rangatira tae mai nei i tēnei wā. He rawe rawe ki te kite a koutou i tēnei wā. Ahakoa i raro i te kapua o te pōuri i tēnei wā tēnei te tino mihi ki a koutou. Tika ana pea ki te haramai ki te maumahara ngā wā o mua ki te whakanui tēnei kaupapa hoki tēnei te tino mihi ki a koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā anō tātou katoa.[Greetings to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa to you who are ennobling us today.My apologies firstly we should acknowledge those who have passed recently. Dark clouds hang over Taranaki Mountain as the leader of the Rātana Church Matua Harerangi Meihana has passed. To my elder rest ascend upon the love of the people alongside your grandfather Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana.Harerangi you were a chiefly seed sown from Rangiātea and there have been numerous other seeds tended by your hands. We are left in the shadow of your absence and in spite of the sadness the sun will shine so that the grass will grow for the days to come. To the stalwart go return within the love of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit the Faithful Angels and The Mouthpiece to uphold us now and for evermore.I turn now to also my old friend who has only just died Andrew Robb. Although he was a Pākehā this man had a Māori heart. In the past he worked in broadcasting with myself and Derek Fox at Mana Māori Media. He was supported by Huirangi Waikerepuru and other leaders within the Māori world. It is appropriate that we remember this man who fought for Māori customary practice even though he was Pākehā. He was a character and a man that knew our Māori language. Therefore my friend Andrew may you rest in peace. I will leave it there.To you the chiefs who have arrived here today. It is marvellous marvellous to see you at this time. In spite of the dark clouds of the time this is a very special greeting to you all. It is perhaps appropriate to come and remember the old days and as well as celebrate this issue warm greeting to you all greetings greetings greetings one and all.]Welcome our manuhiri here today; lovely to have you here today. A sad day when we have to announce the loss of the head of the Rātana Church who no doubt some of our whānau who come here today will be a whanaunga to. It is a significant loss for this country—not just for Labour but for this country. Everyone knows about the connections with Labour but these sorts of connection are with Te Ao Māori. If you go there you'll see all different denominations there and we mourn the loss of a leader today: Harerangi Meihana or Harry as we used to call him. I always liked him. I liked him because of his understated ways and not out the front there like other kaiārahi—understated unsung hero in terms of Te Ao Māori. So we mihi to Ratana at this time.I also did a mihi to one of our old mates a Pākehā fellow who worked with myself and Derek Fox in Māori media; a guy who got fluent in the reo and was a huge supporter of Te Ao Māori—supported Te Ao Māori all his life and supported people like Debbie Packer's whanaunga Huirangi Waikerepuru. Huge. One of those kaitautoko there all the time. Anaru Robb—we called him Anaru—Andrew Robb one of the neatest people you could ever come across; I was very saddened to hear of his loss yesterday and just a wonderful contributor in terms of Te Ao Māori so we mihi to him and his whānau.And I mihi to you all today. You've heard all the kōrero about the statement you heard our Minister and you've heard Harete Hipango and Meka Whaitiri. We know all the background to it; I don't want to pour anything on this kaupapa because there's a lot to celebrate—that's why we're all here. I don't want pour any worry on the kaupapa.I always say in these types of situations it's always good to reflect on the Treaty settlements process. I was probably one of them who opposed it to start off with—all those years ago when I was a lot younger of course—and was against the settlement process because who was going to settle for $1 billion; you know? I'm sure some of our audience here would remember those days where we had Tame Iti standing on a ladder and pointing looking down at Doug Graham—those were the days you know! And Māoridom sort of moved en masse against the settlement process but in the end we sort of all—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Woke up!Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Well I wouldn't say—Gerry Brownlee says woke up"; he's probably not far away actually. "Gave up" might be the other side of the argument.It's an interesting kōrero and I respect Gerry Brownlee because he's been part of that kōrero—because the challenge is: do you take nothing or do you take something? That's the challenge always for our Māori leadership: do you take nothing or something? That was the challenge for Mahuta and for O'Regan. These are not silly men; these are not silly rangatira. So you're talking about these people taking $170 million in 1995 1996. Gerry Brownlee might know the economists at the time particularly in terms of Ngāi Tahu were talking about Ngāi Tahu being worth—Hon Gerry Brownlee: Six billion dollars.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Somewhere between $15 and $18 billion.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Yeah.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Yeah that's right. Gerry knows.So what does that say about our people? It says they want to get on with things. And against all odds our leadership—and of course the allegations of being called sell-outs and all that sort of thing that goes with the territory; that goes with the territory. Rawiri Waititi knows this now being a member of the Crown. He refuses to accept it but he's a member of the Crown; him and Deb they're staunch as but we all know. He actually speaks for me now at formal gatherings—got better reo you see so I've got to utilise him.But these are the things that we have to wear. If you want to get into Māori leadership then you've got to take it from our people. That's why I admire the Mahutas and the O'Regans because they got called this. I remember Sandra Lee who I worked with in the past she opposed the Ngāi Tahu bill—but they did the deal and look where those tribes are today.My hope is that this tribe will go down the same track. We can scorn or criticise the pūtea that's been put there but it's a good pūtea. I'm saying now to people don't work out what percentage it is; you only have to go the Māori Party site and they'll tell you every two minutes what it's worth! But it's no good doing that otherwise you get negative you see! You listen to these fellas too much you'll go jump off the Auckland Harbour Bridge!Rawiri Waititi: Well hurry up!Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Ha ha! But the reality is it's a good pūtea and you can do something with it; make something of it. How are we going to look after our—we work with the tribes now. We work with the tribes now; myself Minister Whaitiri and Minister Kiritapu Allan. The challenge now is where do we go as iwi? How does that iwi utilise that pūtea? How does that iwi work with Government? What pūtea are they going to put up? Do you think that the Government should be putting everything up or should there be a partnership? How are you connecting with urban Māori? These are all the challenges for people who settle.We all have to remember this: some tribes most tribes are doing well. There's one or two where there's a few questions—there's a few questions probably not too far from where yous are. There's a few questions and we have to utilise this pūtea well because we're talking about advancing our young people. That's the challenge for the negotiators. I want to thank all the negotiators and they have already been named for your fortitude and for putting in the time to make this happen. The real challenge will be: what do we get out of it what do our rangatahi get out of it how can we preserve that pūtea and actively work?Don't sit there and just—you know invest here. There's a lot of things we've learnt through the process: we've learnt to work with Governments whoever that Government is; be constructive; be creative; be good partners and the $100 million could become a $1 billion just like with Ngāi Tahu and Tainui.I didn't go into the settlement. I thought I'd just have a general kōrero just to tautoko the kaupapa and have a bit of a poroporoaki to my old mates. Mihi to you and so well done. Is that you up there the new chair of Kahungunu? You look very flash very sharp. Congratulations to yous and don't forget Ngahiwi—don't forget Ngahiwi Tomoana. Mihi to our mate Ngahiwi.Mihi ana ki a koutou tātou katoa. Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou tēnā koutou tēnā anō tātou katoa kia ora. [Greetings to you all to all of us. This is my acknowledgment to you all greetings to you all greetings one and all thank you.]"