Jones Shane: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — In Committee 
Jones Shane: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:662;Page:10487] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 A kia ora ano tatau. I te tuatahi ka tukua ki roto i te reo Maori enei korero oku. Etahi wahanga hei tirohanga ma tatau i roto i tenei pire. I te tuatahi kua tukua te hohonutanga o te Tiriti o Waitangi kia whai waewae ai ki roto i tena iwi o tatau ara a Waikato-Tainui. Kua tukua te Tiriti o Waitangi me tona upoko tuarua kia whiwhi ringaringa ai i roto i te mana whakahaere kua waihangatia ki roto i tenei pire. 
Ehara i te mea he ra hari tenei kao he ra pouri na te mea i rainei roa i te tatari ratau kia whiwhi reo ai ratau mo nga taonga e hangai tonu ana ki o ratau whatumanawa ki o ratau ngakau. Na reira e tika ana tatau kia mihi atu ki te iwi na ratau te kaupapa nei i poipoi na ratau te kaupapa nei i manaaki i to ratau wa. Ma te wa e titiro pehea ke ranei nga uri whakatupu me ta ratau taka ta ratau poipoi i tenei kaupapa. Otira mihi noa atu tenei ki a ratau i nga taha e rua i hahau i manaaki katahi ka whakapuawaitia i to tatau aroaro i tenei ra. Na reira tena tatau katoa. 
[ 
So greetings to us all once again. Firstly I would like to make some statements in Maori in respect of some provisions for us to consider in this bill—in the first instance the provision for the Treaty of Waitangi and its enormous implications in the bill which gives traction to that tribe of ours Waikato-Tainui. Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi provides the governance entity created in this bill with the tools and mechanisms to carry out its functions.  
It is not as though this is a joyous day—no not at all. It is tinged with sadness too because they have waited a very long time to have a say in how things so close to their hearts and very existence are managed and conserved. Therefore it is appropriate that we acknowledge the people who nurtured and took care of this matter when they were alive. Time will tell how the younger ones treat and nurture what this bill will generate. Indeed I acknowledge those on both sides of the House who fashioned and developed the bill that is before us today. Thank you 
.] 
There are two aspects to the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill that are very deserving of some focus in the most positive way. The first is the real meat that is given to the concept of co-management. I refer here to the obligation on those statutory authorities to work with the tangata whenua to detail plans that deal with plant life nga hua whenua the flora and fauna customary practices—not the least of which is fishing—and a host of other things. It is a genuine attempt to try to build into the machinery of the law some processes where both perspectives can be brought to bear. That is not easy. This most certainly will be not the last attempt that is made. I dare say that refinements will take place on this bill in the future. But unlike colleagues from that side of the House we have to trust ourselves. And we have to trust the people to whom we are bequeathing this responsibility not only physically but also in a chronological and a generational sense so that they will want to carry this perspective forward so that we can create in our resource management and with those ancestral treasures as the Waikato refer to them something larger than ourselves. 
That is what is sadly missing in this bleak impoverished view being given on that side of the House. It is not so much that those members do not believe in themselves; it is that they do not seem to believe in anything. They seem to think that their status will rise by deriding and attempting to humiliate or to belittle those features of identity in the current cultural mix that represent modern New Zealand society in so far as we are dealing with the implementation of the Treaty settlement. I think that that is probably the most worrying aspect. 
But we can derive great solace from the fact that those members will not be here for long anyhow and the Waikato-Tainui will be here well beyond us and our families as they are a group whose identity is derived from a cosmic metaphor. It is a blend of the taha wairua and te taha tangata. That is what will go on to define New Zealand when we celebrate 200 years of the Treaty of Waitangi and well beyond not the view reflected in this sort of “Prendergastian” blast this afternoon. All that that is doing is reminding voters that we must never surrender the future of New Zealand’s race relations stewardship to such barren minds who have a very narrow and self-serving agenda which is to cause themselves to grow and to try to impoverish the rest of us in our zest to hand on something better to our mokopuna to our children so that these ancestral squabbles can pass by. 
That is why it is a pleasure to stand with our colleagues today. Who knows? Maybe Waikato-Tainui will one day be able to stop the State-owned enterprises from privatising that Huntly power station because it will have the first right of refusal. This is a great day. Kia ora tatou katoa.