van de Molen TimTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a privilege to speak on the Maniapoto Claims Settlement Bill as it nears the end of its second reading. Having spent some time in that area—and I'll touch on that shortly. It's a great part of the country. But growing up in Matamata I've recently been through this process as well and had some great discussions with Ngāti Hinerangi as they have worked through their settlement process there. When I think about the challenges of going through these sorts of processes it's never easy and I don't think anyone would say that it's full and complete and satisfactory to all parties. Indeed I think we've seen that through the select committee process here as well with 23 submitters with a range of different views on whether this bill is sufficient insufficient or too much—the real spectrum that I think highlights that over time everyone comes to the table with different views different priorities and different expectations. At some point you have to put a line in the sand and work forward from there.Having spent a bit of time in the wonderful rohe of Maniapoto on-farm chasing sheep around slippery hills mustering and hunting it's a beautiful part of the country and I am delighted—I still have family down that way at the moment. When I think about the opportunity and the challenges as I say it's complex over a long period of time and I think what I love about these sorts of bills is that it enables a springboard to be developed and an opportunity to be created to not put aside everything that's happened in the past but of course to acknowledge it and as I say put that line in the sand and then take the opportunity to move forward.When I think about that in the context of where to from here any time there's a challenge—and we all face challenges in our lives in a whole range of areas. But how we respond to that is really what defines us more so than the challenge. When we look at the key settlement details here in terms of the apology for historical breaches of the Treaty an agreed historical account cultural redress including the vesting of 36 sites of significance and financial redress of $165 million these aspects are all part of helping to enable that progression to the next step.I don't think anyone would want history to be forgotten and indeed history is an important part of any society in terms of building that understanding of where we've come from where we are now and indeed what the future might potentially look like. That's the part that excites me because we are still in a place where we have massive opportunity as a country—huge potential all around our beautiful country—to do some amazing things and I think we can rightly be proud of that.Maniapoto should rightly be proud of their rohe—the beautiful King Country area that I've spent time in—but more broadly about the potential that's on the table now. When we look at the opportunity there is limitless potential and I think that for me is one of the most appealing opportunities. As I say it's about how respond how we move forward and what the future might look like as we try to create that next journey and for Maniapoto that presents a really exciting chance to redefine what the future might look like for their children and their children's children. That's an exciting time. For me with young children I look at their future what that might be for them and where they might go and what they might look back on and say about what we did and how we operated at the time.History is always just a snapshot of what was happening at the time. It's important and I'm encouraged to see that we've been able to get to the point now where there is an agreed historic account apologies have been made for breaches that occurred and now we can look to the future with more confidence. As I said that springboard enables Maniapoto to look at how we can get on with improving and taking that opportunity to explore new ventures improving the understanding and the education and taking the opportunity within the broader iwi and across all the different communities within that area as well.So look we are very pleased to be able to support this bill noting as I mentioned that of course there's never a perfect solution. There are always a range of different perspectives on these things but ultimately it's not so much the challenge that should define us but our response. I look forward to seeing the response of Maniapoto in the years to come as they redefine what I'm sure will be a more positive future for them and their iwi. Thank you.