Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Minister of Customs): Mr Speaker tēnā koe. He uri ahau o Te Tairāwhiti. Nō reira ka huri ki te mihi whakatau ki ngā hapū maha o Ngāti Rangi. Nō reira e te iwi nau mai haramai nau mai haramai nau mai haramai i runga i te kaupapa whakahirahira te pānui tuatahi o koutou pire. Nō reira tēnā koutou ōku rau rangatira kui mā koro mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Thank you Mr Speaker. I descend from Te Tairāwhiti. I therefore turn to add my words of welcome to the many subtribes of Ngāti Rangi. To you all welcome thrice welcome to this important occasion which is the first reading of your bill. Therefore distinguished leaders esteemed elders; greetings greetings to one and all.]It is indeed an honour to stand and rise from a region that is first to see the light the Tai Rāwhiti to celebrate this important first reading of the Ngāti Rangi Claims Settlement Bill. We've had some amazing speakers who've got up and honoured these fine folk and I just wanted to add my warm congratulations to the beginning of the last part of the puzzle which is the legislative part. On behalf of the people I represent from the Tai Rāwhiti I bring you warm greetings in acknowledging the hard mahi that has gone on to get to this place.We talk about connections—I want to talk about a fulla that's sitting up there by the name of Che Wilson. Che and I worked together many many years ago so I want to lay claim to some of the attributes—the good parts; the rest well someone else can lay claim to that. But I do want to acknowledge Che and all the negotiators for all the hard mahi that you have done in bringing this bill to the House. Of course we only get the easy part. We don't get to see the raru and hardship of the hui at home to get our people to understand that this is the best deal we're going to get so we can move on. We don't see that. We spend two hours of that reading acknowledging the efforts that we know—I know I can't do justice to the amount of struggle and strife and all the angst that has gone into this bill but I do want to say I am indeed pleased and privileged to join in the voices of everyone in this House in acknowledging this first reading of the Ngāti Rangi bill.It might be of some use to my colleagues in this House just to touch on the Treaty process because my colleague Adrian Rurawhe did speak about how difficult and challenging Treaty processes are. Adrian and of course our other colleague Minister Nanaia Mahuta—we've all been former Treaty negotiators for our iwi. So we come from that perspective around the struggles of the process that Adrian Rurawhe talked about. First and foremost you've got to have claims. And before you have claims I want to acknowledge the great tōtara from the north the Hon Matiu Rata who in 1975 established the Waitangi Tribunal which gave fit to us to raise our concerns in that tribunal. So I want to acknowledge Matiu but I say we've got to first and foremost put claims down. So to all those whānau members that have put claims in the Ngāti Rangi settlement bill I want to acknowledge you. Some of them unfortunately may not be with us but their kaupapa and their strength to get a decent hearing over that struggle is really important to acknowledge.Then you have deed of mandate. Some would say that's the hardest process because it's about convincing your own that you're going to speak on their behalf with the Crown. So that's the deed of mandate and of course we see that playing out in the Far North—I'm looking around for my colleagues from the Far North. The deed of mandate is really critical. Just to say kia kaha—sorry that was a kia kaha" moment to our Ngāpuhi whānau up north. Once we've got our deed of mandate sorted then we go into negotiations. And of course the Crown will offer and we counteroffer and it goes back and forth. That's the process of negotiation. Then we sign an agreement in principle. The agreement in principle generally says this is where we got to—Crown and iwi. Then we make some ultimate changes around the edges and then we sign the deed of settlement. So this is what's happened on this occasion. Of course once the deed of settlement is signed the legislative process kicks in where we're having the first reading select committee second reading third reading done and dusted.But for me coming into Parliament it was always about beyond Treaty settlements. It is around saying to the Crown "What ongoing relationship should we have with iwi Māori?" It's a valid question to ask and I'm pleased that the coalition Government recognises that we have an ongoing commitment if iwi choose—and the offer is only if iwi choose; they can choose to opt in opt out. That's why under the Jacinda-led Government we have the new Crown/Māori relations—SPEAKER: Order! The Prime Minister or Jacinda Ardern maybe.Hon MEKA WHAITIRI: Sorry Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has in her wisdom created the Crown/Māori relations portfolio which is to address how we maintain our relationships going forward.But back to the bill the Ngāti Rangi Claims Settlement Bill has four parts. I don't profess to go through them. They will definitely get scrutinised through the select committee. But of course as I went through the bill I was distinctly looking for any particular mechanisms that will fall into my lap as the Associate Minister of Local Government responsible for post - Treaty settlement tools. As I said I look forward to the report back from the select committee because as we well know once iwi settle there are these ongoing challenges and when it comes to consenting and land use and getting access to water a lot of that actually sits in the domain of local government not central government. It is really important that the councils in which Ngāti Rangi resides actually take the challenge to start engaging with the iwi early on. I applaud and plead to the councils to do that actively because the benefits as the iwi go forward are not just going to be to their members only. Treaty settlements are a way in which we can unlock economic potential in regions that have often been neglected; the step change or the catalyst for change is actually iwi Treaty settlements. It's important I believe that if we are going to maximise the value of the Ngāti Rangi Claims Settlement Bill and what will flow on that we are actively working—councils—with iwi with industry because we have land and we have people. But we need the tools to unlock that economic potential and social potential that I mentioned earlier.I want to also acknowledge the essential issue that is burning around Treaty settlements as we speak now and that's one around overlapping claims. I'm pleased to hear that Ngāti Rangi has not got an issue around overlapping claims but I know in other Treaty settlements it's a big issue. I want to acknowledge the tikanga process that we've heard in recent times as a mechanism to break the deadlock between conflicting boundaries. It just made me think. It made me think: what do you think would happen to the Treaty settlement process if we started with a tikanga process? It's a question I pose seriously. What would happen to the Treaty settlement process as we know it if we start with a tikanga process?For one the Crown and iwi would save a heck of a lot of money on lawyer fees but it would just mean that away from the scrutiny of public eyes which we've seen around this place in recent days two people who have a shared interest in the same area sit down and hui and talk to one another with nobody else in the room. What would happen to the Treaty process if we adopted that? It's just something to think about knowing that many of these claims are settled but there are still overlapping issues on claims that are yet to make their way to this House. All I'm saying is that the use of tikanga processes as I understand it of getting people in a room to hui to talk about their issues whether it's on whakapapa or other connections I believe has merit—has merit. We should look at using tikanga processes I believe more at the front end of Treaty settlement processes rather than as a last resort when we can't agree.I do again want to acknowledge the strength and sacrifice of Ngāti Rangi. I want to acknowledge all their negotiators all the officials that also worked on behalf of the Crown to get to this point. I too want to acknowledge the leadership of the Hon Andrew Little and the former Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson for their work in ushering this bill to this stage. But today is Ngāti Rangi's day. I want to acknowledge and stand again and salute them. Thank you for your contribution to this nation. Thank you for the sacrifice and for your patience. I look forward to the bill coming back so we can celebrate with you in the third and final reading. Nō reira e te rangatira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.Bill read a first time. Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.Waiata"