Finlayson ChristopherHon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (National): Can I too begin by acknowledging Sir Tumu te Heuheu who is in the House today. Over my years as Minister in charge of Treaty negotiations he was the embodiment of the gentlemanly approach to negotiations. What he said he meant and one could always rely on his word. It is great to have him in the House today along with other members of Tūwharetoa. Can I also acknowledge the Hon Louise Upston the MP for Taupō. She sent me a text just before the House started. She's in hospital because her father is unwell but she wanted to say how much she was hoping to be here today and to send her very best wishes to the good people of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. I acknowledge Sir Michael Cullen who is in the Chamber. I thank him and Gina Rangi and George Asher and the other members of the Tūwharetoa negotiating team—tough but principled—and I think they have achieved a great settlement for the iwi. I acknowledge the chief Crown negotiator John Isles for all his good work. Of course John's greatest claim to fame is not the Ngāti Tūwharetoa settlement but it's the fact that he—and he alone—witnessed my hole in one at Heretaunga a couple of years ago. He's also witnessed quite a few treble bogeys over the years. It pains him to have to acknowledge to people that I actually did that while he was stuck in a bunker. But he's a good fellow who has done great work for the Crown over the years and I acknowledge him. He's in the final stages of finishing his house in the land of Ngāpuhi and so he's unable to be here today. I acknowledge my successor Andrew Little. Some of my colleagues say I've been far too nice about him as we've transitioned from one administration to the other but I think people know that my greatest failing is that I am generous and kind. So I do acknowledge him and wish him all the best. I simply say to Mr Little that Tūwharetoa are fantastic to deal with and—please I hope Mr Henare doesn't take this personally—all the very best with Ngāpuhi. I think it's very important to analyse just what this claim is all about because there are a number of really nasty mean-spirited people out there who say Oh Tūwharetoa are always coming back for more." But the reality of the matter is that unlike some settlements where you deal with all issues at once there has been a more episodic approach to Treaty settlements with Ngāti Tūwharetoa and it's a perfectly legitimate approach that has been taken. Because of where they are positioned in the central North Island there are inevitably overlaps—so for example the Waikato River settlement. Ngāti Tūwharetoa needed to be brought into the Waikato River arrangements after Nanaia Mahuta's iwi Tainui began that process and of course Raukawa and Te Arawa and others have also been brought in. There was the forests agreement which was negotiated by Sir Michael Cullen in the closing stages of the Clark administration and Ngāti Tūwharetoa were also involved in that. Then of course there was the 2007 agreement that was negotiated by Mark Burton over Tauranga—not Tauranga Moana please; that's another one that I'm sure Andrew's going to enjoy dealing with—Taupō Moana over the waters of Lake Taupō. That didn't give rise to legislation but it's very much an enforceable agreement—as certain people are going to find out in the next little period—because that gave rise to a little bit of strife before the election. The leader of New Zealand First was making all sorts of his usual volcanic and explosive comments saying that I'd given away the waters of Lake Taupō to Ngāti Tūwharetoa. He was making all those sorts of allegations all of which—as is customary with him—were false. A number of the commercial operators were very concerned about those arrangements. I met with them and I offered to arrange a mediation but unfortunately many of the things that I said to them which I thought were in confidence and were for the purposes of creating a peaceful outcome were leaked to either Mr Peters or New Zealand fishing and so it's on its way to the High Court and all the very best to them. There will be other settlements that will need to be concluded. My wonderful colleague John Wood has been very instrumental in negotiating and talking to people about the national park and about settlement of the maunga. Those issues are going to have to be dealt with over the next few years and that is the way it should be. Can I suggest to those who are cynical about Treaty settlements that they should look at the history of this claim. As Mr Tirikatene has said it's clearly set out in the historical account which is drawn out of the deed and then the apology that follows. Ngāti Tūwharetoa didn't necessarily suffer raupatu but it has had a very rough ride through New Zealand history because—as Mr Tirikatene observed—of that insatiable desire on the part of the Crown for land. The iwi greeted the new settlers of our land in the years following 1840 and basically they were let down. That's what the settlement's all about and also when it comes to the way in which lakes and rivers have been treated. On the western side of the island we've been negotiating with the iwi there and it's very instructive to actually see what the Tongariro power development actually did to rivers and the effect it had on the iwi of the central North Island. I'll never forget a site visit to certain rivers. Basically they vanish before your eyes and all that water is turned from the south to the north and irreparable harm has been caused to the environment up there that there needs to be redress for. So these are the sorts of issues that have arisen over the years with Ngāti Tūwharetoa. That is why there need to be these settlements and why I was so pleased to be the Minister who signed the deed of settlement with my dear friend Sir Tumu earlier this year and the legislation is now before the House. I have a couple of concluding comments. Part of the settlement marries as it were the settlement provisions into other settlements—so for example I refer honourable members to clauses 184 and 185. Some years ago in the Ngāti Whare settlement we set up the Rangitaiki River Forum. Ngāti Tūwharetoa becomes a member of that forum which is as the term suggests designed to improve the quality of the Rangitaiki River—which I think flows through the Deputy Speaker's electorate and probably four other electorates as well—and then there's also the Hawke's Bay Regional Planning Committee where there is admittedly a lesser interest than other Hawke's Bay iwi but none the less Ngāti Tūwharetoa needs to be involved in that settlement as well. So I very much look forward to the legislation going to the Māori Affairs Committee which Mr Tirikatene is going to be chairing. I look forward to this bill returning to the House and I look forward to the negotiation and resolution of the other issues that I have referred to. There's one issue that does need to be addressed in the future—and the iwi are alert to it—and that is the fact that the Ngāti Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board is holding some settlement assets from other settlements as indeed is another body holding assets arising from the forestry settlement. At some stage in the future there will need to be a rationalisation of settlement bodies but it seemed sensible to say that those are issues the iwi can work through over the next few years in its own way and in its own time and I didn't feel the need to shoehorn them into a particular settlement with one post-settlement governance entity. I think that that's where probably it should end up in the fullness of time but I'm sure that they'll be able to work through those issues over the next few years. So with those remarks I join with other honourable members in commending the bill to the House."