Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill — First Reading 
Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13929] 
Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill 
First Reading 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Maori Affairs Committee that the committee report back to the House on or before 27 March 2008 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 192 and 195(1)(b) and (c).  
This bill transfers ownership of the fee simple estate in the Mauao historic reserve generally referred to as Mount Maunganui to the iwi of Tauranga Moana—Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga—in recognition of the significant cultural traditional historical and spiritual importance of Mauao to them. It also recognises the relationship between Waitaha and Mauao and the importance of Mauao to the wider public.  
I would like to acknowledge the initiative of Kiri Toha Tangitu in the mid-1990s who started discussions on Tauranga Moana and with my colleague the Hon Mita Ririnui regarding Mauao. Mike O’Brien and Wi Parera Te Kani who have both since passed over should also be mentioned because of their energy in progressing the proposal on behalf of iwi for the Crown to consider returning Mauao to the ownership of tangata whenua.  
I would also like to recognise the kaumatua of Tauranga Moana Iwi and the trustees of the Mauao Trust who have demonstrated considerable patience while the technical aspects of the bill have been finalised. I recall meeting the trustees and iwi representatives on 11 August 2007 in Tauranga when we signed an agreement to introduce this bill. That in itself was a significant milestone after many many months of discussion negotiation and finalising the finer points of the transfer proposals to return Mauao to the iwi.  
The bill transfers the fee simple estate to iwi. Like other maunga tapu the hapu and iwi of Tauranga Moana are bound to their ancestral mountain Mauao. The whakatauki “Ko Mauao te maunga ko Tauranga te moana” reflects the central part of Mauao in their collective identity from times gone by and into the future. This bill gives effect to the agreement that was signed by the Crown Tauranga Moana Iwi the trustees and Waitaha representatives on 11 August 2007 to introduce vesting legislation.  
The bill will transfer the fee simple estate of the Mauao historic reserve to Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga. Mauao will retain its historic reserve status under the Reserves Act 1977 but as the Act does not provide for the transfer of reserves enabling legislation is necessary. The bill guarantees that the public will continue to enjoy access to Mauao and the Tauranga City Council will continue to administer the reserve. The increased involvement of iwi over time will complement and enhance the already iconic status that Mauao has for the country. This bill and the agreement it seeks to implement are not consideration of any Treaty settlement nor will the bill affect any historical Treaty negotiations in the future.  
The bill is not long with 16 clauses. Its brevity however should not be seen to overshadow its significance. The vesting of the fee simple estate in iwi recognises the mana of Mauao. It is not concerned with determining ownership or mana whenua at 1840. It recognises that each of the four iwi have through the ages had significant ties to Mauao that are enduring for those iwi and hapu today. The Waitangi Tribunal understands that all the hapu of Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui Ngati Pukenga and Waitaha have associations with Tauranga Moana and Mauao. This bill fulfils the initiative of those representatives of Tauranga Moana and makes good on the agreement brokered by the body mandated by the iwi to progress the proposal through to legislation—Te Runanganui o Tauranga Moana.  
For these reasons I consider that the bill should proceed without delay to the Maori Affairs Committee and be reported back on or before 31 March 2008. This will allow the Maori Affairs Committee sufficient time to receive submissions on the bill after the Christmas break. I commend the bill to the House. 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 After 8 years we all of a sudden have four bills from the Minister of Maori Affairs. That is an amazing stint. Why now and what is the rush? 
First of all I want to concentrate on Mauao. Myself and my colleagues the Hon Georgina te Heuheu Chris Finlayson and the local member Bob Clarkson sat down with some of the local people. We asked them whether the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill was a good thing. They said that it was but they had one big gripe. And that one big gripe was that it was a Clayton’s bill. Basically the bill says: “You can have Mauao your historic maunga but you don’t really get it; all you get is a name on a piece of paper and that is all you’re going to get.” And it says so in the bill: “the Crown for all legal purposes continues to bear the rights and obligations in respect of the reserve … as if the fee simple in the reserve were still vested in the Crown.” That is what the bill states; that is not from us. That is I suppose an issue with the local people. They still think that there could be some movement on this bill even though they and we support the Government in putting it forward. 
Members will hear from my colleagues and me that we are not opposed to this measure. What we are opposed to I suppose is the fact that these sorts of bills are becoming far too frequent—where someone is gifted something but not really. One does not really get the Christmas present. One is getting a Christmas present but Santa Claus is saying: “You can have this but not really.” 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Even if that is what the iwi wants? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh no hang on. The Minister of Maori Affairs is saying that that is what the iwi wants. Well actually we were there. We talked to the local iwi and the local iwi said this— 
Hon Mita Ririnui 
: No you didn’t. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh so where were we when we met with the local people? 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: In cuckoo-land. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: The Minister of Maori Affairs is now saying that the local iwi office is in cuckoo-land. The people in Tauranga should know that the Minister of Maori Affairs has just referred to their officers as being in cuckoo-land. 
We were there. We were even there with Te Ururoa Flavell from the Maori Party. We heard from the local people and the local people told us that they were being forced— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: I bet he loves Gerry Brownlee! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh no they were being forced to sign and agree with this. What worries me is that although it is a good thing that we recognise the historic traditional and cultural— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: But! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well there is a “but” because the Crown gets away with too much. If the local people say they do not want it then the Crown walks away. It is no skin off the Crown’s nose whatsoever. But for over 100 years the local people have been saying: “Please hand back the title to this maunga.” In essence they are being told that they will get the fee simple title but not really. Everything shall remain the same even though there is a bill stating that they will get the maunga back. They cannot do anything with it. They have to work with other people. That is fine. Let them work with other people—let them do all sorts of things—but at the end of the day this bill is a do-nothing bill. It forces the local people into saying: “Yes we want a Christmas present even though we are not really going to get to play with the toy.” I just wonder whether we could have done a wee bit more than what we are doing now. 
I want to turn my thoughts now to 8 years of this administration for good or for bad— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Mostly good. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Mostly bad thank you Darren. I want to turn my thoughts to the Minister of Maori Affairs who within the space of 24 hours will have introduced three bills into this House. One or two of his bills are controversial and one or two are purely and simply mechanical bills. Suddenly the Minister has got busy. Suddenly Te Puni Kokiri has got busy. Suddenly the Minister has looked at the calendar and thought to himself: “Crikey we’ve got an election soon. I had better get busy. I had better say to the public: ‘Look what I’ve done over the last 8 years of a useless administration.’ ”. It has been a no-hoper administration. So the Minister comes to the House in urgency just before everybody is about to go on holiday and he introduces three bills. For 8 years he has been sitting on $180000 a year and a Crown car and all he has come up with in those 8 years is three or four bills. One of those bills which we are talking about today forces the local people to sign on the dotted line. 
If that is the sum total of the 8 years in office of this Minister of Maori Affairs then the Maori community is in bad shape. I think the Maori community is in good shape despite the Minister. I think the Maori community is in good shape not because of this administration which wants to give and take with the same bill but because it wants to be in good shape and to move on. It is doing things despite this Government. It is not because of this Government that Maori are succeeding beyond people’s imagination. 
We have had 8 years of this administration and suddenly we have four bills. Why now? What is the rush just before Christmas? We are here in urgency and urgency requires that there is something urgent to be brought to the House. The word is “urgency”. I know that the Leader of the House may have had something urgent to bring to the House—or he may not have—but certainly this bill is not urgent. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Oh you don’t want them to have it? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: The Minister should ask the local people—you know the ones he said lived in cuckoo-land. It was the Minister of Maori Affairs who said that those people up in Tauranga lived in cuckoo-land. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: You are making it up Tau. You’re always in cuckoo-land. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: The Minister can read his  
Hansard 
 afterwards; that is fine. 
After 8 years all we have is a bill that says the local people can have something but not really. They can sit on a committee but not really. They can sit around the table and make— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: What did you give them Tau? You gave them nothing. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is what we hear after 8 years of uselessness. After 8 years of doing nothing the Minister suddenly sees the writing on the wall and he says: “Whoops-a-daisy I had better put something on the agenda so that the people out there can think that I have been doing something.” Well I have news for the Minister and it is all bad. Come election day people will not worry about the four bills the Minister of Maori Affairs tried to put up in the last days of this session. They will be thinking about the future of Maoridom and they will not be looking backwards as the Minister will be come the day after the election. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 E nga iwi o Tauranga Moana tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa. I am very pleased to take a call on the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. Unlike the bill that the Minister rammed through its first reading last night the Waka Umanga (Maori Corporations) Bill which no Maori leader as far as I know and no Maori tribe as far as I know requested asked for or wanted this bill is different. The presence of some of the locals from Tauranga Moana in the House today hopefully says something about the level of support for the bill now before us. That makes me feel comfortable about standing and on behalf of National supporting this bill through its first reading and on to the Maori Affairs Committee.  
My colleague the Hon Tau Henare is right though. He and I and two others of our colleagues did meet recently with some of Ngai Te Rangi and we got a sense that they felt a little bit cheated that on the one hand Mount Maunganui is being returned to them at least in the form of a vesting in trustees for the Tauranga Moana iwi but on the other hand as Tau Henare said it was a Clayton’s return. That is a shame and it takes some of the gloss off what should otherwise be a very important and significant moment in their history.  
However we are very happy to support the bill’s first reading because we are told there is a general level of support for it. It is something that the iwi of Tauranga Moana have been asking for over a long number of years. Here we are today considering this bill admittedly under urgency but I guess that for them they would see it as a priority for the House to give this bill some urgency. Most Maori who have been waiting for the return of assets or the vesting of various pieces of land or landscape to be returned to them have been waiting for a long time so if we are in urgency this is a bill that ought to get priority anyway.  
This House will have become accustomed to the importance of maunga to tribes and although parliamentarians may not have been aware of it 15 years ago or two decades ago they are certainly now aware of the importance of natural landscape features to Maori. All of us Maori in the House who sit here today can be identified through our maunga our awa and our land and that is why this should be seen as something very important for these several iwi.  
The example was set by a National Government back in the 1990s which recognised the importance of these things. I guess there is room in the future for further recognition of other maunga. We will not say where they sit but it is not far from here. Who knows whether there is a way of getting a form of ownership back. Even though it is not really ownership it is certainly a recognition of the importance of maunga to iwi and no doubt other iwi will be very interested in seeing what is going on here today. 
As the Minister has outlined Mount Maunganui which was acquired by the Crown in the 1880s has been administered as a historic reserve since 1981. Essentially it will carry on in that vein except that it will be vested in trustees consisting of representatives of the three iwi—Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga—and all of the activity that has gone on before on this maunga will continue. That was an issue that my colleague Bob Clarkson the local member for Tauranga was intent on ensuring as we all were. No doubt he will articulate these issues when he takes a call.  
Bob was with us when we had a meeting with representatives of Ngai Te Rangi and it is very clear that he is a good local member. He is a very good local member. He is an excellent local member because he has this pretty wide view of the interests of all but he has a keen sense of how important the vesting of this maunga is to the iwi. That is why he is in the House today and that is why he will also support this bill going to a select committee.  
National members support this bill and there is probably not a lot more that could be said about it. We support it for very good reasons. This vesting is wanted by the iwi it is something they have yearned for for a long time and it is part of the way that they identify themselves. Like all iwi of course I identify myself with Ngauruhoe and Tongariro the mountains in the middle of the North Island and I can totally accept why this vesting would be important to them. It is just a pity that they feel this reservation that they supposedly get ownership but they do not. But I think that on the other side of that equation the upside is that if they were to get complete ownership they would also get all the liabilities and obligations that go with it— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Hear hear! Ka pai Georgina. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: —ae I thank the Minister very much—and of course that then becomes a return of an asset that could end up being a little bit of a chain around one’s neck. But that is up to them to decide and they have decided it.  
We will look at this bill in the select committee. We probably will not spend too long on it because it is reasonably simple but obviously if there are deeper concerns about the form of vesting—the sort of Clayton’s ownership that is being returned—then we will hear from them on that. But as I say it is quite good to leave all the responsibility with someone else and still be able to say “We own that mountain.” National supports this bill going to a select committee and my colleague the local member Bob Clarkson will have other things to say about it. I am pleased to be here today to acknowledge the iwi of Tauranga Moana and to acknowledge this step in their development and their future progress forward. Tena koutou katoa. 
DAVE HEREORA (Labour) 
: 
 I rise in support of the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill which will acknowledge the significance of this important ancestral mountain to the tangata whenua of Tauranga Moana while preserving the conservation values of Mauao to the nation. One of the principles of this bill is about the Tauranga community coming together with the iwi and Tauranga Moana and supporting the principle of preserving the conservation values of Mauao to the nation. I think that is quite significant because it shows that where there is a willingness within the community to work together and support a common goal we end up with good legislation that supports that principle.  
The transfer will recognise the value of Mauao to iwi and will elevate the values already associated with the Mauao historic reserve. The bill does not include the recreation reserve at the foot of Mauao but it includes the three parcels that comprise the historic reserve—the bulk of the mountain. From the outset kaumatua have expressed their desire to protect Mauao from alienation and commercialisation.  
This bill provides for the continuance of the provisions of the Reserves Act 1977 which already provides for those key planks. Clause 6 of the bill prohibits the trustees from disposing of transferring or charging the reserve or any part of it. Similarly the bill prevents the Minister of Conservation from exercising any power under section 26 of the Reserves Act 1977 to vest the reserve in other persons. The bill therefore achieves the transfer of the fee simple estate in Mauao historic reserve to Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga in perpetuity. The only remunerative activity that could occur would be under the provisions of the Reserves Act. For example interpretive tours could be undertaken and the receipts paid back into the administration of that activity. Third-party access and use rights for the incumbents such as those regarding the reservoir navigational beacon and trig station will continue and public access is guaranteed.  
There is no intention to revoke the reserve status of Mauao historic reserve. The Minister of Conservation will retain the power to appoint the administering body of the Mauao historic reserve. I consider this bill to provide a great compromise that provides for iwi to own the reserve as its registered proprietors and for all New Zealanders to continue to enjoy Mauao. The bill does not preclude iwi from investigating options with the Crown and the Tauranga City Council around the joint management of the historic reserve under the Reserves Act 1977 in the future.  
I would like to mention some of the finer points of the bill. Clause 7 has been the source of some debate. It provides that the Mauao historic reserve must be treated as if the fee simple estate were still vested in the Crown. Although that clause may sound contradictory with the proposal to transfer the ownership of Mauao it is necessary for several reasons that clause 7 provides that the Crown for all legal purposes continues to bear the rights and obligations in respect of the reserve as if it were the owner of the reserve. This clause ensures that the trustees of the Mauao Trust are not liable for any obligations that currently fall to the Crown such as those under the Building Act 2004 that the holder of the fee simple estate may have in relation to the structures or alterations to structures on the reserve.  
Clause 8 is a particular application of clause 7 and it provides that the Mauao historic reserve remains a historic reserve and that in respect of it the Minister of Conservation continues to have the functions obligations and powers of the Minister in relation to a reserve vested in the Crown. Clause 8 also maintains the current position of the Tauranga City Council as the administering body for the reserve. Without the explicit provisions in clauses 7 and 8 the Minister of Conservation would not be able to appoint that administering body and the legal status of the reserve would be unclear. 
The Tauranga Moana iwi and Waitaha are to assume more of a role in managing the Mauao historic reserve in future. When the administration infrastructure is in place the full extent of the rights obligations and potential liabilities associated with that will fall to the trustees of the management body. Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui Ngati Pukenga and Waitaha are currently represented on an advisory committee that has input into council management decisions over the reserve. A revised proposal recently submitted to the Government which formed the basis of the agreement by iwi to progress this bill includes Waitaha also being represented at the management level. Tauranga Moana iwi and Waitaha have signed the agreement and have indicated broad support for the bill.  
In summary speaking as the chair of the Maori Affairs Committee we look forward to receiving this bill. We look forward to being given the opportunity to analyse this bill through the select committee process and obviously we will be commending it when it comes back to the House. Kia ora. 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 I will take just a short call on the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. The Greens are very pleased to support the bill going to the select committee and we are pleased to hear that there is generally broad support for this legislation.  
I agree with the Hon Georgina te Heuheu that it would be nice to see more of this kind of legislation where recognition is given to Maori for their ownership where there is recognition that title is not something to be feared by the community and where one can enable Maori and iwi to have title of their traditional properties without it being used as a scaremongering tactic as we have seen in the past with other kinds of properties. It does not have to be done within the framework of the Treaty settlement but through other more rational processes with the Government and with Government agencies.  
Unfortunately I was not able to meet with the iwi before this bill came to the House but I do understand that there is generally broad support and I certainly take the advice of other colleagues who have spoken with them about that. In so far as the bill provides for the maunga to go back to those who are its traditional original and rightful owners the Greens are very pleased to be able to enable that to occur to some extent. Thank you. 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 I rise to take just a very brief call also on the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. I support the bill’s intent and I support its being sent to the select committee. There would have been a time in New Zealand’s history when Mauao would have been known only as Mount Maunganui which is tied to the shackles of our colonial past but this bill certainly signals a new way forward. The bill should be supported. The intent with which those people who want to see the restoration of the maunga back to iwi happen should be supported. The bill should also be supported because there is clearly an intention to maintain a link with everybody who now sees Mauao as their maunga not just the iwi of Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga but also the people of Tauranga. This is a model of what is perhaps possible.  
Some of the members who spoke before me pointed to the issue of what the benefit would be of giving back a maunga in fee simple title when the management still rests to some extent with the local authority. I will tell members what the benefit is. Partly the benefit is to ensure that iwi are now a very critical part of the management of Mauao. The other aspect is that it locks in a long-term relationship with the local authority no matter who the people around the council table of the day are and it enables iwi to say: “This is what we want to see happen with our maunga.”  
The other benefit which is made clear by the very nature of the name of this bill—the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill—is that the identity of that maunga within that rohe will now be forever known as Mauao. I think the benefits of that when leveraged by iwi will be realised in the tourism sector because now more than ever before it is not just our clean green image that is well recognised in terms of our identity throughout the world but also the living landscapes that exist and the stories we have within our areas. So people will want to know about Mauao. Just as people know about the volcanic cones in Ngati Whatua land and now a whole industry shares the history of Tamaki-makau-rau with all visitors—New Zealanders and international visitors—so too can the opportunity be for Mauao. Therein lies the benefit of vision.  
I certainly support the intent of local iwi to see their maunga returned and vested in them. Clearly recognition of the mana of Mauao within the district will be realised in current-day opportunities and certainly tourism is one part of that. More critically the opportunity to leverage a long-term relationship with local authorities in the long-term management of Mauao is something that we will continue to see realised as a result of this bill.  
I applaud the hard work and effort of the local member Mita Ririnui and also the Minister of Maori Affairs Parekura Horomia for bringing this bill to the House. In spite of the assertion by Tau Henare that the bill has come forward all of a sudden I say that no this bill has taken some time and people have had to get their minds around it. What does it really mean? Is it of benefit or is it not? Is it something that will realise opportunity or will it not? Those types of things take time and really in the sense of good faith both the Minister of Maori Affairs and the Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations have taken a coordinated approach to ensure that they are working in sync with the people who are really set to benefit from this.  
I say to the people of Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga that they have set a fine model. It is our role along every part of the way to ensure that that can be realised. I see future opportunities and potential models for other iwi but it could be something else. We should always uphold the principle that where there is greater benefit to the broader interests of all New Zealanders then surely we should support that. I would hate to see people make politics of it at this stage of the process and I would like to see full support for the intent of this bill. Tena koutou katoa. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
:  
Madam Speaker kia ora tatau katoa. Tauranga Moana mena kai te whakarongo mai koutou i te wa kainga tera pea kai runga i te rori a tera pea kai te noho mai i nga pakitara o te Whare nei ko taku noa ake ki te whaiwhai haere i nga mihi a tena a tena ki a koutou tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou. 
[ 
Greetings to us all Madam Speaker. To you of the Tauranga Harbour whether you are listening in perhaps from home on the road or seated within the confines of this House my part is merely to follow up the acknowledgments made by each of those before me saying: greetings to you greetings to you and to all of us 
.]  
There is a short video clip on YouTube called “Mauao Bombs” which features some Maori kids in baggy black pants doing bombs off Salisbury Wharf in Tauranga. The creative acrobatics and diving prowess of these young rangatahi is capped off at the end of the clip by a close-up of a sign that states “NO JUMPING”. The comments alongside the video clip state: “It’s a shame the council decided after decades of fun to ban jumping from this wharf.”  
With a healthy appreciation of the skills that are required to jump off a bridge having spent some of my childhood perfecting the art of bombing at school and anywhere else I could show off I can say that the video grabbed my attention as I was thinking about this Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. For those who are unfamiliar with the name by the way—and it has been discussed already—Mauao is the original name for what is now known to most as Mount Maunganui in Tauranga.  
The video made me wonder whether the mana and integrity of Tauranga Moana iwi will be as constrained by the enactments of this bill as the Mauao boys are constrained by the local council by-laws. The big question as we consider this bill is how the ownership rights of Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga will be respected when all rights remain with the Crown through the Minister of Conservation devolved in part to the Tauranga City Council. That is the question.  
Who will end up doing the jumping and who will end up nailing down the signs of possession and control? I ask this question with all due respect to the signatories from Tauranga Moana. As I understand it Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga sought a comprehensive package in respect of the transfer of title management arrangements and Treaty settlement negotiations for Mauao. Their expectation was that they would receive the entire Mauao historic reserve. Their expectation was also that the process and outcome would uphold the mana of the three iwi of Tauranga Moana.  
To cut to the chase I say that they want their maunga back. It is that simple. In case someone tries to use the old scare tactic of saying that Maori will not allow access I am clear that that claim is absolute rubbish just as it was for the seabed and foreshore legislation. The challenge for this House is to gauge whether the way in which this bill vests the fee simple estate of Mauao historic reserve in the trustees of the Mauao Trust goes anywhere near to reaching this expectation.  
In its most practical form the bill gives effect to the agreement to introduce vesting legislation in relation to Mauao signed by the Crown and iwi in August of this year. Importantly the bill makes explicit the objective of the Crown. The Crown says that it is all about building healthy relationships with Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui Ngati Pukenga and Waitaha. On the face of it it all seems to be pretty good stuff—positive expectations of the iwi constructive commitment from the Crown and at the heart of it all acknowledgment of the historic significance of Mauao.  
As the story goes I am told that the Patupaiarehe gave the name Mauao to this mountain following a battle of love between a humble nameless hill and a great chiefly mountain Otanewainuku both of whom were vying for the love of Puwhenua. Unsuccessful in his pursuit for the heart of Puwhenua the nameless one longed for the sea. The Patupaiarehe drew on all of their magical powers to drag him to the places where he now stands which marks the entrance to Tauranga Moana. He became known as Mauao—caught by the dawn—and in time he has assumed greater mana than his lifelong rival Otanewainuku.  
Mauao features throughout the mythologies whakapapa and korero known to Ngati Pukenga Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Waitaha. The archaeological landscape within the Mauao historic reserve is also of lasting local national and international significance. It represents the physical remains of approximately 600 years of human occupation. The archaeological features of Mauao have considerable cultural significance to iwi of Tauranga Moana. In short it is the most sacred landmark of the whole Tauranga area and is the reason that Tauranga iwi have actively resisted any commercial imposition on the mountain.  
Huge pa sites from Ngati Ranginui and Waitaha were located on the mountain. The history also includes the occupation of Ngai Te Rangi iwi through the battle of Kokowhai and the archaeological heritage of Mauao as a wahi tapu ensures that the cultural and historical significance will never be lost.  
There is also a post-contact history in which the Government of the late 1800s forcibly acquired ownership of the maunga by forcing owners to pay for expensive surveys of the land—surveys that in themselves were so prohibitive that the owners were eventually placed under no alternative but to sell their interest to extinguish the debt. According to other records fossicking by European settlers also desecrated the maunga.  
The sacred maunga of Mauao was central in the stories and whakapapa of Tauranga Moana iwi and Waitaha. His name features in the tribal pepeha. He is central to the mana rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga of the three Tauranga Moana iwi. Members should think about it. Clause 7 of this bill states that the general law continues to apply as if the Mauao historic reserve was still vested in the Crown. What I am saying is that iwi have only the title. That is right; this is a Clayton’s return of the maunga which has the potential to completely stifle the ownership interests of Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga.  
Yet again we remember the words of Nopea Panakareao at the signing of the Treaty who passed comment: “The shadow of the land goes to Queen Victoria but the substance remains to us.” The problem is that only a year later he was to rephrase that original statement concluding: “The substance of the land goes to the Europeans the shadow only will be our portion.”  
In the case of Mauao it must be said that there was concern about the difference between the shadow and the substance even before the vesting agreement was signed. As I understand it on 14 July this year Ngati Pukenga attended a ratification hui at Hairini Marae at which 87 percent of them voted against the signing of the agreement. At this stage the understanding was that if the vote of the four iwi was split or consensus was not reached another hui would be called a month later for a final vote to be taken. But hello what happened? Suddenly the Crown intervened and shifted the threshold of the vote concluding that a mere 66 percent of all voters would be sufficient—a decision made without consulting or notifying the iwi runanga and in particular the people of Ngati Pukenga in this case. It was all done in the shadow of the Crown.  
We have on record information that informs us that Ngati Pukenga twice voted resoundingly for not signing the agreement. We also have statements that describe how the resolve of Ngati Pukenga has been tested unduly and unnecessarily and I quote: “The process thus far has been seriously flawed and our people have been alienated because the mana of our iwi was not respected.”  
We contrast this statement with the emphasis the Crown gave in the preamble of the bill about its so-called commitment to healthy relationships with the iwi of Tauranga Moana. But yet again the Crown comes up sadly wanting. We have a situation in which to all intents and purposes Mauao remains in Crown ownership. We have a situation in which Tauranga Moana iwi were unable to find resolutions to their concerns about the long-term impacts of clause 7 which clearly sets out that the Crown continues to bear the rights and obligations as if it was the owner of the reserve.  
Iwi wanted to know exactly how clause 7 would have an impact. Ngai Te Rangi remind us that although their old people wanted the maunga returned at all costs the price of clause 7 may be too high. I have met with representatives of Ngai Te Rangi and some of them are not happy. It is the classic divide and rule tactic. It is the same old story with settlements: “Take it or leave it. But if you leave it don’t come back and don’t do a tangiweto.” So what happens? The people become divided. It is an all too familiar feature of the interactions set in train by Crown intervention.  
What makes me angry is that the Crown will never fully understand the long-term impacts and trauma that come about through provoking such division. These are iwi just like the high-spirited young boys jumping off the wharf who see Mauao as being central to their identity and to the sense of who they are. They deserve the House’s full respect for the way they have acted and for the integrity and commitment they have always upheld in trying to achieve the best outcomes for Tauranga Moana iwi and for Mauao.  
We will support this bill going through to the select committee to ensure that all the voices that need to be heard in this debate have the chance to put their concerns. But we will be watching to see that securing Mauao remains of the highest priority for those iwi who have always called it “He maunga tipua he maunga tapu ae he maunga nui”. 
BOB CLARKSON (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 It is good to see everybody heading in the same direction. We are not actually even slagging off each other which I think is a pretty good sign. I keep going up to the Waitangi celebrations on the top of the Mount and I have to say “sorry” every time I go up. The various Maori groups know what I am talking about. I am talking about the ownership of the Mount. I have done that for several years now and it is quite sickening. So it is good to see a bit of movement here. I am pleased to talk on this Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill of course because the Mount is in my area and is quite dominant within it. I do not see too much wrong with doing this deal. It will help to build a healthy relationship between the Crown and the different Maori groups. Sad to say it is a bit of a Clayton’s deal. We are vesting it to the Maori groups; we are not giving it to them. This needs to be debated in the select committee to see whether there is a better way to do it. By partly giving it it will be kept out of the Treaty settlements because there is no monetary gain in the future. If it was a simple transfer of title it could be argued that it could be part of a land Treaty settlement—which might drag on for years—and have a value put on it. I do not think that the people of Tauranga would be happy to give full title; they want free access to walk around or up the Mount at any time— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: That’s not what Georgina said. 
BOB CLARKSON 
: I said that there was no heckling today. And that access would be for the foreseeable future. Full title might cause some access problems in the future. 
A couple of points need to be dealt with in the select committee. If extra access rights are needed for various things like water reticulation water tanks navigation lights and those things some provisions might have to be put in the bill to cover them in the future—there are some access provisions in it at the moment—but only if they are needed for good reason. It should be made clear how we will deal with those issues. We do not need a situation whereby a future Minister can revoke the reserve status and the land become private property. This needs discussing in the select committee as well. I want to hear clearly that the camping ground is out of the equation and will not be affected. I believe it is but I would like to hear it. 
Generally to finish my short speech let us get a result. It is good to see us all moving in the same direction. I think we can get a result out of this and we need to. I need the ownership declared because I have asked the Maori groups up there to bury me on the top of the Mount when it is all sorted out. Thank you Madam Speaker. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou. I rise naturally to support the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. But before I do that I want to acknowledge something very important that I almost overlooked. A tremendous event took place this morning in Parliament: the signing of the Te Atiawa (Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara) agreement in principle in relation to their historic claim. That is a huge achievement not only for the Government but in particular for Te Atiawa. The korero here in the meeting room echoed how we must appreciate our arrival at this point. So I congratulate the Minister and all the Ministers—including me—who were involved in bringing the claim to this point.  
I want to make it clear in this House that our ancestral association with our maunga Mauao has never never never been severed—not by anyone. I recite these words which we call our popular pepeha: “Papaki tu ana nga tai ki Mauao i whakanukunukuhia i whakanekenekehia. I whiua reretia e Hotu rawa he mea rua ki te wai ki tai wiwi ki tai wawa te whai ao te ao marama tihei mauri ora.” 
[ 
The tides rendered and crashed upon Mauao casting the waters about in turbulent movements. Hotu cast two things upon the tides here and yonder. Upon the physical world and the world of enlightenment as well and behold there was life 
.] 
Essentially that pepeha is attributed to the arrival of the Tainui waka into the Tauranga Harbour. On its arrival there was not much of a welcoming committee. The seas were high the winds were strong and the weather was bad. The ariki of the Tainui canoe Huturoa said that there was a bad spirit here and that we had to make a sacrifice. So an old woman from the canoe said “I will be the sacrifice.” and threw herself into the tide. From that moment on the seas settled the clouds cleared the wind went away and settlement began. So we called Mauao Mount Maunganui our maunga iringa korero. All our history all our poetry all our culture surrounds this particular maunga at the mouth of the Tauranga Harbour. When people go on and on about transferral fee simple title and Clayton’s arrangements I wonder to myself what those people are talking about. This is our ancestral maunga. Its mana has always been with us.  
The purpose of this legislation is basically to bring authorities at a local level into line so that we can manage this very important taonga resource in an appropriate manner. That is what this is about. But there are roles and responsibilities for all those involved. Clause 3 of this transfer bill highlights what some of those are including the obligations of the Crown. In other words it removes the obligation of the trustees of the Mauao Trust from any public liability and that is an honourable thing. That is an acknowledgment of the status of local tangata whenua and we applaud that regardless of what has been said in this House.  
When people use the word “Clayton’s” the only Clayton’s phrase that comes to mind for me is “Clayton’s consultation”. What the Hon Georgina te Heuheu the Hon Tau Henare the local member Bob Clarkson and the member for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell had with a small organisation in Tauranga is Clayton’s consultation. If they had gone right through the moana and talked to everyone they would have come back with a better appreciation—and certainly with a better line. So when I use this tone of voice it is because I realise that although some people who have spoken in this House live very close to the vicinity of the maunga they have no understanding of its people and iwi dynamics.  
When I stand to support this Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill I have to make it clear that our relationship with our ancestral maunga comes in many different forms. We describe it in the first sense as spiritual. In the second sense it is historic. In the third sense it is cultural. In the fourth and very important sense it is economic because it did form part of the base of the economic development in the times before colonisation.  
I want to respond to the member for Tauranga’s comments around his desire to be buried up on that maunga. I say to Bob that I am sorry but it cannot be done. There was a point some time this year where he made that statement clear and I offered to do it for him straight away but that was not to be.  
I need to acknowledge the wisdom of many of the kaumatua of Tauranga who have been involved in this project right from its inception but to do that I need to go right back to our old kaumatua rangatira who have always asked the question of why our maunga has been alienated from its people. As I come forward into more contemporary times up to the 1960s and 1970s and I think about the decisions that were made by local authorities to alienate the Mauao even further from the people including the public I am reminded of people like my kaumatua Turirangi Te Kani; Charlie Kuka; Bill Ohia; and my uncle and predecessor the member for Eastern Maori Paraone Rewiti who lobbied Parliament for justice in terms of the return of this ancestral maunga to the people of Tauranga.  
But as you will recall Madam Speaker—and I must acknowledge your role in bringing this legislation into the House—even in the year 2000 a delegation of Tauranga moana kaumatua met with you for the very purpose of discussing ways and means of returning their maunga to them although they did make it clear at that time that kei te pupuri tonu matou i te mana o to matou maunga. 
[ 
We will continue to retain ownership of our mountain 
.] 
Even though we still hold the mana of our maunga we want it recognised in law for its protection and everybody else’s protection. So that is very important and it needs to be acknowledged.  
I acknowledge those who have passed on since that first meeting—Wi Parera Te Kani a very very instrumental person in bringing about very difficult decisions; the late Mike O’Brien; and Kiri Toha Tangitu as mentioned by the Minister of Maori Affairs. I also acknowledge other kaumatua including my uncle Kihi Ngatai and his wife; the representative from Waitaha Tame McCausland and his wife; the Ngati Pukenga kaumatua Monty Ohia and his wife; and also Ngati Ranginui kaumatua Morehu Ngatoko and his whanau. Very important wise and level-headed people in Tauranga have been involved throughout these negotiations. They decided following that first meeting with you and myself that they wanted the return of the maunga in fee simple form although they understood that public access was important. They had no intention whatsoever of preventing that from continuing.  
So when I hear people in this House say that the people of Tauranga were forced to sign the agreement that transfers the maunga back to the people I wonder where they get those stories from because I have not been at any meetings where anybody has been forced to do anything and I say that in all sincerity. The kaumatua of Tauranga made a decision. They wanted the maunga back understanding that public access issues were involved. They can never be forced to do anything and you yourself Madam Speaker are aware of that. They are very clear-minded people. I suppose some people when it came close to signing the deed of transfer regardless of the positions they took thought it important to have their names on the document. They were given the opportunity to do that. But to turn around in the next breath and say that they were forced to do it is a load of rubbish and that needs to be said in this House.  
Once again there are a lot of stories I could tell about this incredible maunga—this maunga iringa korero—in this House but I believe I have only 10 minutes and one of the bells has already gone. So in closing I thank yourself Madam Speaker; my colleague the Minister of Maori Affairs; the Hon Nanaia Mahuta who spoke in this House earlier on and who does have an ancient association with the maunga with the arrival of the Tainui waka; and also the member Dave Hereora who was very humble and modest when he spoke in the House and who also has the same connections to the maunga as I have.  
I appreciate in particular all those members on the other side of House—the Greens the Maori Party and others including the member for Tauranga—because throughout this whole process an incredible level of patience has been shown by all parties. In conclusion I thank the Mayor of Tauranga Stuart Crosby his councillors his chief executive and all the officers of the Tauranga City Council who did all the groundwork all the legwork to make sure this day happened. On that note I thank everybody who contributed to the positive outcome of the return of the maunga Mauao to the people of Tauranga moana. Kia ora. 
Bill read a first time. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 I move  
That the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill be considered by the Maori Affairs Committee 
 that the committee report back to the House on or before 27 March 2008 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 192 and 195(1)(b) and (c). 
A party vote was called for on the question  
That the motion be agreed to. 
Ayes 70 
New Zealand Labour 49; New Zealand First 7; Green Party 6; Maori Party 4; United Future 2; Progressive 1; Independent: Field. 
Noes 51 
New Zealand National 48; ACT New Zealand 2; Independent: Copeland. 
Motion agreed to.