Davis KelvinTE PIRE HAEATA KI PARIHAKA / PARIHAKA RECONCILIATION BILLFirst ReadingHon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister for Crown/Māori Relations): I move That the Te Pire Haeata ki Parihaka / Parihaka Reconciliation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. Ka ao ka ao ka pō ka pō. Ka korihi te manu ka tākiri te ata ka pō ka ao ka awatea. Tihewa mauri ora.E Te Whare ka titiro ake au ki ngā kanohi ātaahua i tae mai mai i raro i Taranaki maunga ki roto i tēnei Whare. Kei te mihi atu ahau ki tēnā ki tēnā o koutou te whānau o Parihaka. Nau mai haere mai ki konei ki roto i tō tatou Whare; haere mai i runga i te karanga o tēnei o ngā kaupapa tino ātaahua. Kua roa koutou e tatari ana mō tēnei wā nā reira nau mai haere mai haere mai.Kei te huri ōku whakaaro ki ō tātou tini aituā ngā aituā nā koutou i mau mai ki konei kia utaina mai ki runga i ngā mate nā mātou i mau mai kia tangihia tātou i a rātou; rātou ki a rātou te hunga wairua ko tātou ngā kanohi ora tātou ki a tātou anō. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. Nau mai haere mai.[Day dawns night falls. Birds sing to herald the break of day night falls dawn breaks we have daylight. Behold there is life.As I address the House I look up at the beautiful faces of those whom have come from Mount Taranaki to this House. I greet each and every one of you from the Parihaka community. Welcome welcome to this House; welcome in the name of the wonderful occasion that brings you here. You have waited a very long time for this day therefore welcome welcome welcome.Let me turn to our many dearly departed those dearly departed whom you have brought with you that we may mourn together our collective deceased; having paid our respects to the spiritual world we may now turn back to the land of the living.Warm greetings to you all. I salute you welcome.]I want to extend a warm welcome to the members of the Parihaka community who have come to Parliament for the first reading of this bill Te Pire Haeata ki Parihaka / Parihaka Reconciliation Bill. The Parihaka community is a broad one and I acknowledge the many people here today from Taranaki and throughout the country who have connections to Parihaka and support its legacy of peace and self-determination.Many generations of the Parihaka community have passed on while they have waited for the Crown to appropriately recognise the damage its actions caused. I acknowledge those people and the fact that it's taken far too long to reach this point. I want to make a special acknowledgment of the late Rangikōtuku Rukuwai the great-great-grandson of Te Whiti o Rongomai and a whanaunga of Tohu Kākahi. Rangikōtuku was a leader of Parihaka an integral part of the Parihaka community and the reconciliation process and made an immense contribution to ensuring the legacy of Tohu and Te Whiti continues today.Welcome also to the trustees of the Parihaka Papakāinga Trust. Nōku te hōnore i nanahi rā nā koutou i tau mai ki roto i tōku tari. Nā reira e koutou mā tēnā rā koutou.[I was honoured to receive you in my office yesterday. Therefore once again warm greetings to you all.]Throughout this process you have been the voice of your community and have worked tirelessly to ensure that they can participate in the reconciliation journey. Your leadership and hard work and integrity have made this bill possible. To the members of Kawe Tutaki—Dame Tariana Turia the Rt Hon Jim Bolger the Hon Mahara Okeroa Amokura Panoho and Ruakere Hond—I thank you for the guidance you have provided to the Crown.In 2015 you recommended that the Crown take steps to develop a new relationship with Parihaka and enshrine its commitment to that new relationship in legislation. Today represents an important step in implementing your recommendations. Of course today would not have achievable without the previous Minister for Māori Development the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell who has been a strong advocate for Parihaka and the Hon Christopher Finlayson whose commitment to justice made this bill and indeed this reconciliation process possible. I'd just like to say to the honourable member I have immense respect for the work that you have done in the whole settlement process.This bill is the result of a long journey. In 2014 Taranaki iwi Parihaka and the Crown agreed to establish a working group aptly named Kawe Tutaki which means a vehicle towards closure". Kawe Tutaki advised Ministers on how the Crown could best support the Parihaka community outside the Treaty settlement process. After careful consultation with the Parihaka community Ministers Crown agencies and local authorities Kawe Tutaki recommended the Crown reconcile its troubled relationship with Parihaka and recognise the community's important legacy and assist Parihaka to again become a vibrant and sustainable community founded on principles established by its visionary leaders Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai.A compact of trust was signed on 22 May 2016 as a first step to rebuild the relationship. In November that year the Crown proposed a reconciliation package that included formal relationship agreements with Government agencies and local bodies a financial contribution towards Parihaka's future development a Parihaka-Crown relationship forum and a formal apology from the Crown. The Parihaka Papakāinga Trust then led an innovative consultation process with the community to decide whether the package was acceptable.I acknowledge the decision was not an easy one and that in ultimately deciding to accept this package the people of Parihaka have chosen to look towards the future. On 9 June 2017 a reconciliation ceremony took place at Parihaka where the Crown and Parihaka signed Te Kawenata ō Rongo the deed of reconciliation which records the elements of the reconciliation package. The reconciliation ceremony was not only an important turning point in the relationship between the Crown and the people of Parihaka but a day of national significance.I now turn the bill. The bill drafted in both Te Reo Māori and English records the elements of Te Kawenata ō Rongo the deed of reconciliation that the Crown and Parihaka have agreed should be recorded in legislation to improve the understanding of Parihaka's history recognise the mana of the community promote its legacy and enshrine the Crown's commitment to a new relationship with Parihaka. The bill contains Parihaka's legacy statement and the Crown's formal apology that was delivered to the community on 9 June 2017.In addition the bill records the Acts of Parliament under which the Crown attempted to end Parihaka's resistance to the loss of Taranaki lands. The Crown acting upon this legislation was responsible for the suffering of the Parihaka people and therefore it is fitting that the authority of Parliament is used to acknowledge and apologise for these wrongs.I would like to focus for a moment on the legacy statement Te Tikanga Tuku Iho which was recited at the reconciliation ceremony and is included in the bill. For those of us who have read the statement—and I recommend that every member of this House does—it is clear that this is a document that speaks at many levels.At one level it is a work of history: an account of the origins of Parihaka—of the rapid growth of the community as a refuge from war and confiscation and of the development of a set of principles that defined the community and shaped their response to Crown actions that are among the most deeply unjust in this country's history. It tells the story of the Crown's historical greed for land and control and its preference to crush resistance rather than to compromise. It speaks about the imprisonment without trial and the rape of Parihaka's residents and the destruction of their settlement.It speaks about decline forgetting survival and ultimately recovery. At another level it is a description of the community's aspirations for itself and a confirmation of its commitment to principles that are no less visionary and no less applicable today than they were 150 years ago. But perhaps most of all Te Tikanga Tuku Iho is a living manifestation of those principles. Critically it is a statement written about Parihaka by Parihaka. It is a powerful expression of the self-determination that has for so long underpinned the community which for too long was viewed by the Crown as a direct threat to its authority. Similarly the use of Te Reo and English symbolises Parihaka's desire for Pākehā and Māori to coexist each on their own terms. Finally its use of language taken from traditional Parihaka oratory and song illustrates the deep respect with which this special community views its past and shows how it draws upon that past to meet the challenges of the present. The legacy it describes is very much a living legacy.I move That Te Pire Haeata ki Parihaka / Parihaka Reconciliation Bill be now read a first time. I consider the bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee. I commend this bill to the House."