Henare Tau: Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Henare Tau: Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 25 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:4000. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Te mea tuatahi ki a koutou e aku rangatira e aku tuakana e aku teina ranei tena koutou a tena koutou. Tena koutou katoa i haere mai nei i tenei ra whakahirahira ra nunui mo tenei pire no reira ano te hari ano te aroha ki a koutou katoa. Tena koutou a tena koutou kia ora mai tatou katoa. 
[ 
Firstly I acknowledge you my leaders elder or junior siblings: greetings and salutations to you. I acknowledge you all who came here on this wonderful and truly great day for this bill. So joy and regards once again to you all. Acknowledgments and congratulations to you collectively and to us all 
.] 
You know when you go to a party eh? When you go to a party everybody is happy. It might be the celebration of Parekura’s 70th; it may be to congratulate the whanau on the birth of a new child. But there is always one person you know? There is always one person who wants to throw a spanner in the works who wants to say not nasty things but things that are not particularly right for the occasion. And I must admit I am sometimes like that myself. 
Hon Members 
: No! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Only sometimes—only sometimes. But this is a wonderful day. If we have a look at the whole day it is not only about our work as parliamentarians progressing things to their final stage. Also if you look at the big picture we have moved from around the Taihape area over to the Eastern Bay of Plenty and maybe later on this afternoon we will get down to the East Coast. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Hooray! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: What was that? My words to the hau kainga the home people are this: beware of companies bearing gifts and great ideas to grow your putea. Please beware because as we all know if you fall over everybody else in the nation says “See told you they couldn’t look after it.” So it is a big pressure on the home folk. I have no doubt whatsoever that the home folk can look after the bank account and look after the growing of Ngati Makino as only Ngati Makino can. Ngapuhi cannot tell you what to do—they would never try that anyway! Parliament cannot tell you what to do. It is in your hands and as my colleague and whanaunga Shane Jones said last week in the debate around Treaty settlements it is now upon you— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yeah yeah I know. I seek leave to use the word “you” in my speech. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Well the member is perfectly entitled to do that. What I would say is that the word “you” is generally at the Speaker’s discretion and sometimes as a Speaker when we think it is pointing incorrectly to the Speaker we will raise the issue with the member and call “Order!”. But the member is perfectly entitled to seek leave of the House. Is there any objection to that course of action being taken? There is none. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Thank you Mr Speaker. Righto you guys. I will not abuse my leave and will use the word “you” only when I refer to you. 
It is a heavy load looking at the history of each Treaty settlement and this is nothing out of the extraordinary because it has happened to us all. We fight for 150-odd years to have some closure and then when we get closure we have this huge other burden and that is the pressure on you of our peers of our whanau members of other iwi and of the nation as well. So I wish you well and please do not hesitate to seek out those whom you trust. Seek out those who have skills from within. There are lots of young people out there today who are doing marvellously well—marvellously well—and we should be proud of the fact that there are young people in universities are young people out there working in businesses and are young people out there who have the nous and the skills to assist the home people. I say “the home people” with all humility because that is where Ngati Makino is. It is at home that they are Ngati Makino. Although there are other people out there who are Ngati Makino of Ngati Makino descent it is the home people who keep the fires burning. It is the home people whom we go to when we are on our travels. At this very point in time—right now—my mother-in-law’s sister is travelling on her last journey most probably through the Eastern Bay of Plenty. So it is for the home people the hau kainga to look after all of that whakapapa all of what we expect when we look inside ourselves and discover that we are Maori that we have whakapapa here there and everywhere. 
Last week I spoke on the particular story of New Zealand. Like I said on the Maraeroa A and B Blocks legislation for iwi today is ending one chapter and tomorrow they will turn a page and it is a new chapter. It will be full of great expectations the new chapter and I want to give my salute to Ngati Makino and say that it will be OK. It will be great fun. The next part of the journey is going to be even more exciting than the last part of the journey. 
I want to refer now to what my good friend and colleague the Hon Parekura Horomia said about the Maori Affairs Committee—and also my colleague Louise Upston mentioned it as well—because I think it is very important to understand how we work in the Maori Affairs Committee. Yes we have our arguments just like at home. My arguments are mainly with my own colleagues. This is a select committee that prides itself on being able to see things from both sides and prides itself on trying to work together because at the end of the day most of our work is not concerned with the legalese dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s; it is concerned about the betterment of Maori and when you have that as a kaupapa you tend to work closer and work in a more collaborative way. 
Yes I have started smoking again. Mr Horomia outed me this morning. But here is something to ponder. Here is something to ponder while we are all so aghast at somebody smoking these days. Here is something to ponder: 150 or 180 years ago Pakehas from the other side of the world brought us tobacco and said “Here have a smoke.” and 180 years later they now tell us “You should give up.” I know I am making a joke. I know I am taking the proverbial out of it but I have just got to say—and I use this as an opportunity—that there is a line in the sand. We all know that it is harmful. We all know that—now we do and thanks to those people who have put that korero out there—but there is a line in the sand and when you step over it you start to be a nagger you start to be a zealot and you start to be a fascist. Quite frankly I have had enough of those people. I will not take it any more. When I go outside for a smoke I am proud of who I am. You know the system society might say “Oh look at that man.” I look in the mirror and say “Jeez what a handsome man.” I also look at myself and think that Maori are not just as one of my colleagues said some sort of race of people; we actually are this land—we are this land. You cannot find us anywhere else in the world except maybe Perth. No reira koutou ma taku hoa tena koutou tena koutou kia ora mai tatou katoa.