Cullen Michael: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Cullen Michael: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:648;Page:16823] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 I move  
That the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Maori Affairs Committee.  
I would like firstly to welcome the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu people who have joined us today for this historic occasion. Tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. The grievances of the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu are significant longstanding and well founded. This bill settles all of the historical Treaty of Waitangi claims of affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu other than those relating to the central North Island forest lands and in so doing recognises and addresses those grievances. As such the bill has to be considered in conjunction with the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill which will receive its first reading tomorrow to get the full picture of the redress proposed.  
The affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu are a collective group of iwi and hapu from the Rotorua and Kaingaroa areas with approximately 24000 members. The historical claims of the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu relate to breaches by the Crown of its obligations under the Treaty which include the operation and impact of the Native Land Court 19th century land purchases by the Crown Maori land administration in the 20th century and the compulsory acquisition of land by the Crown via public works and scenery preservation legislation.  
In 2002 and 2003 the Crown held high-level meetings with central North Island claimants to begin discussions over how to progress their claims. As a result of those meetings the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu appointed negotiators and began Treaty settlement negotiations with the Crown in 2004. In April of that year the Crown formally recognised the mandate of the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu negotiators and in November the parties signed terms of negotiations. In September 2005 the Crown and affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu signed an agreement in principle and in September 2006 a deed of settlement was signed after an overwhelming majority of voters in the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu showed their support by a postal vote. At the same time arepresentative transparent and accountable governance entity the Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Trust was ratified. The Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Trust will receive and manage the settlement assets. 
Since then much has happened. The path to get us to this point has taken on some unexpected turns. The settlement became the focus of cross-claims political controversy and tribunal hearings which meant that to proceed to legislation would have been risky and indeed more than that I think it would have upset and caused difficulties in a whole range of Treaty issues. Subsequently a proposal to settle the claims on a collective basis over the central North Island forest lands was put to the Government by central North Island iwi led by Ariki Tumu te Heuheu. That provided a path forward. 
On the basis of my assurance to Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa that a revised settlement of its claims would be at least as valuable as the already signed deed it became possible to pursue a recasting of that settlement alongside the broader central North Island land negotiations. The success of this process was dependent upon the generosity of Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa in working with the collective. In fact Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa went further than that. I want to applaud its decision to participate fully in the collective; that showed both strong leadership and a strong commitment from the membership. I am enormously excited by the prospect that this presents for all of the central North Island groups including affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu. 
The introduction of this bill signals the final stage of a long journey for affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu to have their grievances resolved. Settling these claims is also an important further step in this country’s progress towards settling all historical Treaty claims. This week apart from the first reading of this bill today we will sign the deed of settlement for the central North Island forest lands tomorrow morning; we will have the first reading of the bill relating to that tomorrow afternoon; we will sign the terms of negotiation with Raukawa early tomorrow evening; and we will sign the final deed of settlement with Taranaki Whanui (Wellington) on Thursday morning. This is an extraordinary week in the history of claim settlements within New Zealand. 
The bill gives effect to the undertakings by the Crown in the 2006 deed of settlement. It includes firstly the offering of a Crown apology for its clear breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and principles; secondly the transfer of 19 areas of Crown-owned land of special significance to Te Arawa iwi and hapu; and thirdly redress that will enable increased input into management over Crown-owned land and protocols with certain Government agencies. In addition to reflect the flexibility demonstrated by Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa additional redress has been negotiated. This redress includes the gifting of land under five Rotorua schools with lease-back arrangements to the Crown; the gifting of the Ngatamariki geothermal assets based on the value of $5 million; a statement acknowledging affiliate Te Arawa’s interest in the upper reaches of the Waikato River; and forgiveness of the current Whakarewarewa Village debt. 
I want to acknowledge the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu people who suffered the breaches of the Treaty and who carried the grievances. I particularly want to acknowledge those who are no longer with us who have waited long for this day. I acknowledge the Kaihautu Executive Council and its successor Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Trust including the members of the negotiating team. Their dedication commitment and tenacity have been vital in the long and often difficult path towards achieving this settlement. I pay particular tribute to the chief negotiator Rawiri Te Whare who has had some extraordinarily difficult meetings not just with the Crown but with others during this process particularly over the last few months. It has been a great pleasure to be across the negotiating table from Rawiri. I thank the other Ministers and departments involved in this process and colleagues in other political parties who have been supportive through this process over recent times. It has taken significant collective efforts from across the Government to reach this point. 
As New Zealanders we can all be proud that real and significant grievances suffered by Maori are recognised and settled peacefully and within the law. The public can be reassured that the Crown is confident of the validity of the claims that will be settled by this bill and that the settlement has been negotiated with the interests of all citizens in mind. In particular there have been issues in both this settlement and tomorrow’s settlement around access matters. It is not possible to compensate affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu fully for all the prejudices and loss their people have suffered. One thing that sometimes upsets me particularly in this portfolio is that there is sometimes commentary in the media and from the general public that suggests vast sums of money are being transferred to Maori as part of the Treaty settlement process. In fact the transfers represent in many many cases really only a small fraction of the total damage that has been done over the course of our history as a country. I want to acknowledge the courage and foresight of affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu in recognising this prospect moving forward and accepting this settlement and looking to the future. I have no doubt that it will be a prosperous one. 
The people represented here today in the galleries have waited a long time to have their grievances against the Crown addressed. They have worked hard and sacrificed much to reach this settlement. They seemed just 2 years ago to be on the point of proceeding to legislation and then saw it almost snatched away from them and the prospect that in fact they might not achieve their settlement. Thanks to their generosity and thanks to their courage they have been able to reach this day today. That is one reason why this bill is the first this week in terms of the number of things that are going on in the Treaty settlement area. For those reasons I consider the bill should proceed without delay to the Maori Affairs Committee and I hope the committee can deal with this bill reasonably expeditiously. That will allow for the timely transfer of settlement redress to affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu. 
I commend this bill to the House. Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker.