Korako NukNUK KORAKO (National): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare e huri noa i Te Whare nei e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. Ā tēnei te mihi e nau mai haere mai te iwi o Kahukunu-mātaki-rau Ngāti Kahungunu. Nō reira mauria mai ō whakaako ki te kaupapa e huihui ā-tākata. E mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker and salutations to you all throughout this House I greet and bid you welcome. Welcome to the people of Kahukunu-mātaki-rau Ngāti Kahungunu. Therefore bring forth your teachings to the matter that brings people together. I acknowledge you all.]It is indeed a privilege accorded to very few of us to speak on auspicious occasions like this—on the occasion of the first reading of the Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill. I stand here as a proud son of Kai Tahu. I stand here as a proud old boy of Tīpene. I stand here also as a proud father of a son who went to Te Aute College. If I go back before my parliamentary career up there in the gallery I see some faces whom I was honoured to take across to North Africa and to Italy from the 28th Māori Battalion D Company or Ngāti Walkabout from Ngāti Kahungunu. I stand here today to acknowledge all of that and also as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. In saying that—I need to do this for the record—I will go through and highlight again the important parts of this Treaty settlement bill. I was there that day at Te Aute when we signed the deed of settlement and now this is the start of the journey of your bill—of this bill—through Te Whare Pāremata. This bill settles the historic treaty claims of a large group of hapū that occupy and continue to occupy the rohe of Heretaunga Tamatea in Hawke's Bay. Naturally I would suggest that the most notable of these hapū would be a name very familiar to me Ngāi Tahu ki Takapau but actually this is a collective of many hapū working in harmony together for the benefit of all—for the benefit of all. It is real kotahitaka in motion and that is manifested in the inspiring motto for this group reflected in the name of the representative entity He Toa Takitini. Our strength is in unity. If that is not kotahitaka I do not know what is. So kia ora for that particular part of this process which is actually ensuring that the waka is being hoe-ed so that we get to the final end when that happens in the third reading. The hapū of Heretaunga Tamatea encountered Pākehā very early coming into contact with the Endeavour in 1769 when several men lost their lives at the hands of the European sailors. They had contact with the Resolution 4 years later when they traded cloaks and a pou toki for goods and foods and that went on to form an important part of the food economy of Heretaunga Tamatea. What a fascinating part of the history of the first contact with Ngāti Pākehā and also the way that it was used when we look at the use of that fertile and beautiful land of Heretaunga Tamatea. The hapū always sought to remain friendly and this part to me is the essence of the beautiful korowai or cloak of Ngāti Kahungunu. It is that friendliness and passiveness that they have with which they extended the hand of friendship and the hand of a people whom I thought were actually the ones who had that real commercial sense of entrepreneurship. That was part of relationships that were reflected by that. So that is why Kāi Tahu—tēnei te mihi o te whanauka o te waka o Tākitimu [this is the tribute of the relative of the Tākitimu canoe]. So maybe that is how we all get it possibly through Kahungunu Kāi Tahu—who knows? But that is a good reflection of what happened in the historical account. In the 1840s local rakatira wanted to attract more settlers—and this is the other part of this—in their rohe to increase their economic opportunities. So what did they do? They hoe-ed their waka to Wellington to offer land to the Crown. The Crown set about arranging this but told Māori that the real payment for their lands was not the money but the advantages of civilisation that settlers would actually bring including superior schools and the enhanced value of the remaining lands. The initial planned sale was not completed due to differing assessments of the value but discussions about offering land to the Crown soon recommenced after an extensive negotiation. What we see there today though is the fact that along with that entrepreneurship there is that incredible value around how important education is and that is manifested again in the great college that you actually have in Heretaunga Tamatea. Unfortunately at the time of the sale the Crown reiterated the benefits of civilisation that Māori could expect to enjoy. This large sale—particularly the Waipukurau purchase—was at least negotiated relatively openly with the exception of the extra area of the land added right before the sale. There is another interesting part of this. The next land sales became known as ngā hoko tāhae or the secret sales when the Crown negotiated with very few rakatira in Wellington and some of the deeds of sale had five or fewer signatories. So we start seeing the unfortunate aspects of the trust that was actually compromised by Ngāti Pākehā towards Ngāti Kahungunu and as they say a lot of it—the rest of it—is actual history. But what happened is that we then see all of the negative effects of the strategy even the caution by some of its own officials about purchasing land where ownership was disputed. We see as we come through the historical account that then we have the disputes of ownership of title that was sold without the consent of all of the owners—only by a few—so even when the Crown has acknowledged the things that have happened it was an unfortunate situation. We have heard today in other Treaty settlements about the role of the Crown and it was despicable in a lot of these things. But what we need to understand today is that the role of the Crown is to actually try to right those wrongs. It cannot do all of it but at least it can do what it can do under the auspices of being able to have at least the apology the historical account and then after that the commercial redress as well which is part of it. Within the 1 minute and 10 seconds remaining what I want to also do is say that this is my last speech in the House as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee in the 51st Parliament. What better way to say farewell to this 51st Parliament than to have the iwi of Ngāti Kahungunu here and to be able to be part of this first reading. The other thing too is acknowledging all of my members on the Māori Affairs Committee. One thing that we always did 3 years ago was we said Let's park our political affiliations at the door and let's get on with what's good for our people." and that has been our kaupapa for 3 years. That is a reflection of what we have here today. So this bill the Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill has started its journey its hīkoi through the House of Te Whare Pāramata. I wish you all well and hopefully if I am honoured to be back here again I look forward to continuing the progress of this bill. Nō reira e koutou rā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou e mihi atu e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.[And so to you collectively I acknowledge and commend you collectively and pay a tribute and salutations to you all.]"