Davis Kelvin: Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavis Kelvin: Third Readings[Sitting date: 08 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6412. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. “Ruia ruia tahia tahia kia hemo te kākoakoa kia herea mai i te kawau korokī kia tātaki mai i tāna i pūkorokoro whaikoro. Ko te kūaka he kūaka mārangaranga kotahi te manu i tau ki te tahuna tau ana tau ana”. Tau ana ngā kūaka o Te Hiku o Te Ika kei raro i te tuanui o tēnei Whare i te rā nei nā reira e ōku whanaunga rau rangatira mā mai i Ngāti Kurī Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto Te Rarawa tēnā koutou nau mai haere mai haere mai whakatau mai. Whakatau mai nei pīkaungia mai ngā tini mate kei runga i ō koutou pokowhiwhi. Kua rongo ake nei ngā īngoa o wētahi pērā i a Dame Whina pērā i a Matiu Rata pērā i a Gloria inanahi rā i a Ngāreta Mete i a Dame Emily rātou katoa mā kore au e taea te ‘hakahuahuatia ngā īngoa katoa ēngari pīkaungia mai rātou katoa hei utaina mai ki runga i ngā mate o te motu kia tūhonohono ai rātou te hunga wairua ki te hunga wairua. Kia tūtakitaki ai rātou pēnei i a tātou te hunga ora e tūhonohono ana e tūtakitaki ana nā reira tēnā koutou.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. “Scatter scatter sweep on sweep on let us not be plundered by our foe by the rope that has been stretched out and fastened let us rejoice by moving along the rope. Godwits flock together. When one rises flies away and lands on the beach others follow.” The godwits of the Tail of the Fish have landed beneath the roof of this house. And so to you my relatives and esteemed leaders of a hundredfold of Ngāti Kurī Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto and Te Rarawa greetings to you welcome come hither welcome welcome. Welcome bring forth the myriad of deaths that are upon your shoulders. I heard some names like Dame Whina Cooper Matiu Rata Gloria yesterday Ngāreta Mete and Dame Emily—all of them. I cannot recall them all but nevertheless bring them all here and place them upon the deaths of the nation so that they can engage with each other like we the living meet and link up with each other. So acknowledgments to you collectively.]Yesterday as I left the tangi for Ngāreta Mete Shane Jones’ wife I was at the airport in Kerikeri. There were a number of people from Te Hiku who had to come down to Kerikeri to fly out. I listened to their stories and I see Errol Murray up there. Errol told me the story about how in the mid-1980s as a young man I guess in his 20s—at least eh Errol—he went with a number of kaumātua and their names have been said: Matiu Rata Simon Snowden and those great people. He said his job was just to be the driver. He just drove them around from hui to hui as they talked about whether to settle or not and the pros and the cons. Now here he is as a young grandfather and those men have passed on. Although they are not here in body we know they are here in spirit. They started the journey; these people here are here to finish the journey. They are not here to listen to the third reading of a bill. They are here to realise a dream that was started—actually 180 years ago it all kicked off.It was 180 years ago when everything started to happen that affected our people in such a way that we actually have not realised our potential as we should as Māori across the whole country. And so the likes of Matiu kicked things off in the mid-1980s and people like Errol and many others were there as young people just listening and hearing and as our old people have passed on they have had to carry the mantle so that we have got to this stage here where basically the prologue of the story has been written and now further chapters in the book that is going to be the history of Ngāti Kuri Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto and Te Rarawa are about to be written.As I said in the earlier debate on Te Kawerau ā Maki Claims Settlement Bill I had an uncle who once said to me on the marae: “If ever you stuff up fix it.” The Crown over generations has stuffed up and it has taken way too long for those errors to be fixed. So here we are as the members in this House. Be we sitting on that side of the Whare or this side of the Whare or anywhere around we are charged with the task of fixing up the mistakes that the Crown which we represent perpetuated upon our people for those 180 years. So it is a great pleasure and it is with the utmost humility that I stand here and take part in this great day.This day belongs to Ngāti Kuri Te Aupōuri NgāiTakoto and Te Rarawa. Let us not let anything else that is going on around our rohe diminish from the fact that this day has arrived after way too long. I was sitting with John Paitai yesterday at the airport. We were colleagues. He was the deputy principal at Kaitāia College; I was the principal of Kaitāia Intermediate School. He now happens to be the principal of Bay of Islands College an auspicious educational institution I must say. Its first XV of 1984 was well led. It did not actually lose to Kaitāia College at all—three wins two draws. John was telling me about his parents. He said they gave their lives for this kaupapa for this cause to see this through and there are so many others who have done that.And it is all—who is it for? Actually it is for those young people sitting in the other room over there from Te Kura Taumata o Panguru Te Rangi Āniwaniwa and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pukemiro. That is what this is all happening for: not so that these people up here can really benefit but so those young people those mokopuna those rangatahi—so that they can move forward. Those kura are doing a fantastic job and I hope those young people—that you are listening and that you are going to be the people who are going to take this mantle that these people up here have negotiated for you taking this settlement and moving it into the future so that your mokopuna can also benefit and grow and thrive and reach their potential not just in Te Hiku o Te Ika but throughout New Zealand and throughout the world.I thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for his comprehensive summary of everything that has occurred. You know it just defies belief that people can lose so much and yet still survive. When we look at Ngāti Kuri for instance who did not sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the time of te Tiriti tikanga Māori—and for many years tikanga Māori just prevailed. That was the way it was. And then these people turn up and they just start changing the rules. They start alienating Ngāti Kuri from their land. They start alienating them from their reo their tikanga and their traditions so that by 1890 in fact over 70 percent of Ngāti Kuri’s land had been alienated.And then of course the Native Land Court turns up and they have their hearings and land is surveyed out and only 10 people can own any piece of land. That was all set up basically just so the land could be chopped and divvied up and partitioned off. Of course the surveys that went on they all cost money and people who did not have money were charged. So they went into debt and so they had to sell more land to pay off that debt and it was just a snowball effect. Ngāti Kuri repeatedly asked for the return of their land and were repeatedly denied. It is due to the Crown’s actions and omissions that Ngāti Kuri were left with very little land and fewer economic opportunities.Te Aupōuri—the story is very similar. There was an incident in 1842 where a schooner washed up on the beach and some of the locals saw these gifts from Tangaroa washed up there and took them. The Crown comes along and says: “You need to compensate the owner.” The Crown took 2482 acres of land. It gave 1000 to the owner of the schooner for his lost goods and kept the other 1482 as Crown-surplus land. Surplus land I think is just a euphemism for theft. For those people who do not know the surplus land—basically someone like a surveyor could go along and say “Oh it looks like here there’s 100000 acres.” when in reality there were only 70000 acres. Then 70000 acres were surveyed out and the other 30000 acres just went to the Crown. It was systematic systemic theft of land. In 1858 100000 acres was purchased after the Crown agent deliberately underestimated the acreage—100000 acres of land. In 1896 surveys again created huge debts and the land was vested in what became known as the Tokerau District Māori Land Board. That organisation has a lot to answer for.After the collapse of the gun trade in the 1920s the Crown tried to implement a land consolidation scheme that failed leading to further debt and land alienation. In the 1950s a failed attempt to develop dairy farms created more problems. So this is something that New Zealand has to understand: we are not just talking about what happened in the 1800s; we are talking about things that have happened in the lifetimes of these people sitting here. It is not all just historical grievance; it is actually contemporary grievance but the Crown just continued along its merry way further alienating our people from their land and as a consequence from language customs and culture.So throughout the 20th century Te Aupōuri and Te Hiku have been deprived meaning whānau have often had to leave. I remember my auntie who had the good sense to marry my uncle Toss Tetai who lives in Kāretu. Auntie Janie—she was a Wells—said that when she was going to Te Kura o Te Kao there was 260-odd students. Now I think there are something like 30. So again the Crown’s actions and omissions left Te Aupōuri without sufficient land and as a result they have lost a lot of their language and their tikanga.NgāiTakoto—they were not included in many land transactions prior to te Tiriti. A lot of the negotiations were just done around them as if they did not exist. Post-Treaty land claims commissioners confirmed the alienation of 32000 acres of NgāiTakoto land—32000 acres. It just rolls off the tongue but we actually need to stop and take stock of the size of 32000 acres. When you take that amount of land off somebody—and a lot of it was along the river so it denied them access to the most fertile lands—imagine the harm that causes to a people and that is what happened to NgāiTakoto. They were also victims of that schooner incident. They had interests in the land that was given back to that schooner captain and the Crown took surplus land. In 1858 and 1859 112613 acres were lost. By 1859 some 19 years after Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed NgāiTakoto were virtually landless. They were left almost unable to manage the traditional natural resources. Their cultural foundations and tribal structures were all but destroyed.Te Rarawa signed He Whakaputanga and te Tiriti. After 1840 21500 acres went to the Crown as surplus land. By 1865 100000 acres had been alienated by purchasing with the aim basically of extinguishing customary title. From the 1870s 130000 acres of Te Rarawa land and forest was purchased even though previous sales had not brought any economic benefits. By the start of the 20th century Te Rarawa held less than a third of their original land. Again the Crown’s actions and omissions have left Te Rarawa without sufficient or suitable land and the ability to develop economically socially and culturally.It is only appropriate that this legislation is passed and that the apologies are made and reiterated. It gives me great joy that Ninety Mile Beach is going to be renamed Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. Even though I was born and bred in Kawakawa an hour or so south of Te Hiku area my whakapapa ties go right back to Tōhe the tupuna whose name is Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. It means the long beach of Tōhe. That means I whakapapa directly to these people here. Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe has extensive spiritual meaning to us. It is what we call Te Ara Wairua the spiritual pathway. Yesterday at the tangihanga in Kohukohu I was able to recite: Mai i Whāro ki Waimimiha ki Ngāpae ki te pā o Utea ki Ngātamarāwaho ki Te Arai ki Whakatehaua ki a Waipakaru ki a Waikānae ki a Kōhangatī ki a Kauwaeparāoa ki a Te Neke [from Wharo to Waimimiha Ngāpae the fortress of Utea Ngātamarāwaho Te Ārai Whakatehaua Waipakaru Waikānae Kōhangatī Kauwaeparāoa and Te Neke].It is the length of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. Those are the names of the places that our spirits pass by as they head up the west coast: Ka haere rātou ki a Haumu ki a Maringinoa ki a Waingurunguru ki a Motuōpao i Hērangi ki a Waitarau ki a Te Wērahi ki a Tarawamaomao ki a Ngaatua-peruperu heke iho i te puke rā ki Te Waiora o Tāne ki Te Wai Whero o Rata ki te wāhi e kīia nei ko Moetatau arā ko Te Rerenga o Ngā Wairua [they go on to Haumu Maringinoa Waingurunguru Motuōpao i Hērangi Waitarau Te Wērahi Tarawamaomao and Ngaatua-peruperu and down that hillock to Te Waiora o Tāne Te Wai Whero o Rata to the place Moetatau—in other words Te Rerenga o Ngā Wairua].It has immense spiritual connection to us as Māori and it is only appropriate that the name is restored and also that the board set up to protect and look after Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe happens. It is not going to be just a group of Māori who turn up and start laying down the law in terms of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe. It is half made up of representatives from Te Hiku tribes and half made up of the regional council. Why? So that we can restore the mana the wairua of that beach to what it was so many years ago. That is the beauty of this bill. Also there is te korowai. As the Minister has mentioned that provision enables the iwi to look after a large area of what was conservation land.I think that we have a—sorry I do not think; we do have a positive future to look forward to up in Te Hiku. I would just like to acknowledge all the names all the people all the negotiators. All the names were read out and I am sorry I cannot do justice to that. I know I would definitely leave out names so I will not try to recite them all. But you have done a fantastic job in terms of leading our people up in the north towards a better future—our mokopuna up north towards a better future.So I thank you all very much for being here to share this day. It is a day for Ngāti Kuri for Te Aupōuri for Te Rarawa and for NgāiTakoto. It is your day. Let us not let anything spoil it. Let us have a great celebration tonight and I thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for his invitation to the dinner—or else I would have been having sandwiches in my office! Nā reira tātou mā huri rauna i tō tātou Whare tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[So acknowledgments greetings and congratulations to us all throughout our House.]