Finlayson Christopher: Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Finlayson Christopher: Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:3995. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 Ko Te Arawa te waka ko Matawhaorua te maunga ko Waitahanui te awa ko Otamarakau te marae ko Ngati Makino te iwi rau rangatira ma nau mai haere mai. Haere mai ki tenei ra nui tino whakaharahara mo koutou mo te motu. Na koutou te kaha na koutou te manawanui kua tata te mahi. Kei te mihi atu ki te hunga kua mene atu ki te po haere nga mate tena tatou. 
[ 
Te Arawa is the canoe Matawhaorua is the mountain Waitahanui is the river Otamarakau is the marae and Ngati Makino is the tribe; welcome leaders of a hundredfold welcome. Welcome to this great and wonderful day for you and for the nation. You have been strong and stout of heart. It is nearly done. I pay a tribute to those who have assembled in the void farewell the dead and acknowledgments to us. 
]  
I am really pleased as the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations to speak in this third reading debate and I reflect on those words: “Haere mai ki tenei ra nui tino whakaharahara mo koutou mo te motu.” This is a day of significance and importance for the iwi and for the country. Those sentiments need to be emphasised time and time again because I know what is going to happen at the end of the day. I will have received some emails as other members will have received and they will fall into two distinct categories—two groups of people both of whom are ignorant mean-spirited and wrong. 
On the one hand there will be those who just do not like settlements. They say a people should just get on with it and not dwell on the past. I am sure Mr Horomia will get a few of these as well. 
Well in our own way over many years both major parties in particular—and through them the country—have developed a method of historical dispute resolution that is the best in the world. It has been a bipartisan effort. In 1975 it was the late Mat Rata who set up the Waitangi Tribunal when Bill Rowling was Prime Minister. In 1984 the jurisdiction was extended so that the tribunal could inquire into grievances like this one which go back many many years. 
In 1990 it was Jim Bolger and Doug Graham who said that all these reports were starting to pile up and something needed to be done about them. So in 1995 there was the first settlement with the late Bob Mahuta and Waikato-Tainui and in 2008 when this Government came in it committed itself to an aspirational goal—not a deadline because deadlines do not work but an aspirational goal—of just and durable settlements by 2014. When people say: “2014—why?” well you have only got to look at the example of Ngati Makino. Their claim was lodged in 1995 and yet the deed of settlement was signed by us at Otamarakau Marae on that beautiful day 2 April 2011. So there is much to be done if we are to reach a stage where there are just and durable settlements for all iwi who are willing and able to settle. 
Then there are those in the second category to which I referred who dismiss what is going on today as mere deals. These people have never been involved in negotiations they have not even read the history but they still purport to know it all. 
Well I particularly want to focus on Ngati Makino today but very briefly one can say to look at the bills we are debating today and I thank the House for facilitating that. All of them are truly unique in the real sense of that word. All reflect the special history of what has happened. We have just had the Maraeroa claims. That was not an iwi settlement but it was a bloc claim brought by various people from a number of iwi. We are now dealing with the Ngati Makino claim about the sufferings that occurred during the strife in the Bay of Plenty after the war between the Crown and Kingitanga spilled over into the Bay of Plenty in around 1863. This afternoon we will be looking at the Ngati Rongowhakaata claim and particularly the unique aspect of that is what happened to Te Hau ki Turanga when it was basically stolen and put in a museum and it is now going back to where it should be. Then there is the Ngai Tamanuhiri claim—again suffering in Tairawhiti but it has its own distinct history. 
I think a hugely significant part of the legislation that is crafted as a result of the combined efforts of the Crown and iwi is the preamble the history and the acknowledgments by the Crown. Those acknowledgments are not made lightly. They are made as a result of a very detailed analysis of the history and a recognition in 2012 that what happened in the 19th century in this part of the world was not good and that it needs to be acknowledged by the Crown. Those who are critical of Treaty settlements for one reason or another should read the preamble and should read the acknowledgments because the history matters. I often think that so often people focus on the commercial redress but the historical redress is an important—a very important—pillar of a settlement. 
 So in the deed of settlement and again in this bill the Crown acknowledges breaches of the Treaty and the impact on Ngati Makino of those breaches. Mrs Turia and Mr Horomia have referred to those breaches but it needs to be emphasised time and time again that by 1900 Ngati Makino as the preamble says were virtually landless and yet in the 20th century the Crown compulsorily acquired further land for public works and to establish scenic reserves. As Mrs Turia repeated on a number of occasions by 1992 only 0.6 percent of the combined area of the three major blocks in which Ngati Makino had interests remained in the hands of the iwi. 
When those acknowledgments are given by the Crown they are genuine and they need to be reflected on by all New Zealanders because the Crown through its Ministers and Government departments did dishonour the Treaty and demeaned Ngati Makino in the process. As both speakers have said now with the passage of this bill and the Royal assent hopefully later today or tomorrow it falls time for these grievances to be lifted. It is the real desire of the Crown to build a foundation of trust and commitment so that both parties can work together to revitalise te rangatiratanga o Ngati Makino. 
Mr Horomia is absolutely right—and it was a point I referred to during the earlier debate—that it is all very well for the Crown to give its undertakings and to send off the letters to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and various other people but the proof of the pudding as the old saying goes is in the eating. Whether or not the Crown does seek to revitalise with Ngati Makino te rangatiratanga o Ngati Makino will depend on how the Crown deals and works with the iwi in the years to come and whether or not the fine words that are spelt out in the bill are honoured in fact through practical action. That is why Mr Horomia and I are singing from the same song sheet when we say that it behoves the Crown regardless of administration—administrations come and go but the obligation on the Crown is ongoing—to make sure that what is agreed in the deed of settlement and given effect to in the legislation is honoured in the years to come. 
I want to acknowledge all the people who have come to Parliament today. I know that for some it has been a very very long bus ride and then this afternoon it will repeat itself. I thank you for your work over all those years. It is all very well for Ministers and officials as we are the ones I suppose who do it in work time. So often people who are acting for their iwi do it in their own time at some considerable financial cost and I sincerely hope that in the years to come your efforts will be recognised and realised. As I said the Crown’s work is not over; it is just the beginning. I commend this bill to the House.