Paraone Pita: Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngā Pōtiki Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParaone Pita: Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngā Pōtiki Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11213. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PITA PARAONE (NZ First):Tīhei wā mauri ora tuku mauri ora ki te whei ao ki te ao mārama! E tū ake tēnei ki te tautoko i ngā mihi i mihingia e aku tuākana i tū ake i mua i a au ki te ’hakatau i a koutou kua tae mai nei i te rā nei.E Ngāi Te Rangi e Ngā Pōtiki karekau e mōhio ana ko wai koutou e noho nei ēngari ’hakarongongia e au ngā kōrero a Te Minita i ’hakahuangia ētahi o ngā ingoa. Nā reira e kara e Mita hoki mai koe ki te wā kāinga. Charlie ngā mihi hoki ki a koe i arahi mai i tō rōpū kia ’hakatau tēnei kaupapa i te Whare nei ā ki a koe hoki e Haueta. Hoki te mahara i te wā e noho ana koe i roto i a mātou i Te Tai Tokerau kia haututu i a tāua kia ahatia? Ēngari ka nui ngā mihi ki a koutou. Ēngari i mua i te haere tonu o tēnei kaupapa e tika ana kia mihi kau ana ki a koe e te rangatira e Tumu ā me tō rōpū i tae mai nei i roto i Te Whare i te rā nei.E ’hakaaro ana au: “He aha ngā take kārekau au i kite atu i a koutou Ngāi Te Rangi Ngā Pōtiki?” Nā te mea e noho ana koutou ki tēnei taha ki te titiro ā-kanohi i tēnā e noho nei i te wā taha o Te Kāwanatanga. Ēngari māku e mea atu ki a koutou kia mahara ā te tau e tū mai he kōhiringa pōti i muri mai i tēnā kei a mātou o tēnei taha i neke atu ki tērā taha mēnā e tautoko ana i a koutou ki mātou kia ahatia? Kia hoki mai ki te kaupapa i mua i a tātau i te rā nei.[Behold the breath of life! Well-being to the natural and enlightened world! I rise to endorse the words of welcome accorded by my elder colleagues who got up before me to you who have arrived here.Although I cannot see any of you who are seated Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngā Pōtiki I did listen to what the Minister forMāori Developmentwas saying and to some of the names he mentioned. And so to you my friend Mita welcome back home. I compliment you Charlie who led your group here to this House to settle this matter and now to you Haueta. I think back to the time when you lived amongst us in the north and we got up to mischief—so what! But much appreciation to you collectively. Before I go on with this matter it is only proper that I acknowledge you esteemed one Tumu and your group that has arrived here inside the House today.I am thinking: “Why am I not able to see you Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngā Pōtiki?” Because you are sitting on this side so you can face that lot on the Government side. But I want to warn you that there is an election next year and afterwards we on this side might shift to that side if you support us so what are you going to do about it? But let us come back to the matter in front of us today.]On behalf of New Zealand First I stand to make a contribution to this debate which deals with the Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngā Pōtiki Claims Settlement Bill. Can I say that unlike other settlement bills that have come to this House at this point in time this is the first one that I have seen where two claimant groups are being dealt with through the claims process under one bill.I want to commend those who have been responsible for bringing the claim to this stage. As the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiatons quite rightly pointed out that could have happened only with the cooperation of the parties involved. However having said that I look forward to the time when the Māori Affairs Committee will have the opportunity to hear submissions from the claimants particularly those who support the claim but also those who probably do not support the claim. I think it is important that they have the opportunity to be able to express their view.The settlement is about cultural and financial redress and is a financial settlement as well in terms of the assessed value of the claim. I say “assessed” because as the speaker before me Denise Roche quite rightly pointed out these claims although they are regarded as full and final cannot really be regarded as fully compensating the various iwi.One speaker mentioned that he was somewhat annoyed at being badgered when he went to a restaurant by people who clearly did not understand the process that iwi have to go through to reach this stage. Part of the problem is that not too many people know the history of our nation particularly the history involving our people.I want to take this opportunity for those who are sitting in the gallery to say that in a few weeks’ time school boards of trustees will be having their elections. When the Māori Affairs Committee heard submissions regarding the recognition of New Zealand battles we were told by the Ministry of Education that in order to change the curriculum submissions had to be made by the boards of governors of each school. If that is the case then I want to say to you in the gallery to take the opportunity to put up our people to stand for boards of trustees so that you can influence the schools to be able to teach our history. It is a sad commentary that we have to do it by that process because if the Government wants to change something it does not go back to each community to seek its approval; it just makes the decision. I just wonder why the Government cannot take the opportunity given the highlight that has been given to New Zealand history over recent months to make the decision to include the teaching of New Zealand history in the curricula of our schools. Be that as it may that is the situation at the moment.But that is no consolation to the people of Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngā Pōtiki. They certainly have grounds to be concerned about the loss of land over the 1850s and the balance of that century. This is an opportunity to try to rectify that. I think that with a will they will certainly be in a position to advance the economic cause of their people by way of this settlement.I just want to say one thing about this and other settlements. It seems to me that prior to settlements actually being made once the quantum is mentioned other interests are wanting to lean on the iwi to contribute to the wider benefit of the community. I just want to signal that that should not be a signal for Māori to necessarily assist their local bodies or even central government in terms of addressing some of the social issues confronting our people.I just want to take this opportunity to say that New Zealand First supports this bill and it commends its referral to the Māori Affairs Committee. Kia ora.