Henare Tau: Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Henare Tau: Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
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Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. I say “well done” to the central North Island collective. This settlement process is absolutely unique to Maori. I want to echo Bill English who said that we may have our differences and there may be differences along the road but—in my eloquent way of putting what Bill English said into the words of South Auckland—“At least we don’t go around blowing each other up.” That has to be a good thing—it is certainly a good thing for those who might be blown up. The uniqueness is that the settlement process belonged to Maori and as colleagues in this House have said maybe we are looking at a model that will stand us in good stead for the future—who knows? 
I have one concern but that concern is not particularly for the central North Island collective; it is for future Governments whoever they may be. The concern is that the settlement process has taken us back to a time prior to the individualisation of Maori land. That is not the concern of the central North Island collective; its concern was to settle the package and it has done that. My concern is specifically for those who out of the native land process the Native Land Court and the Maori Land Court process have parcels of land—or think they might have—and that maybe their rights have somehow been taken away. I think we need to start looking at that in the future; as I said it is not a big concern of the central North Island collective. 
I will be brief at least in my response to the speech of the Minister of Maori Affairs Parekura Horomia. I recognised in the speech of the Minister and in his voice that there might be an election on the horizon. He talked about scurrilous rumours and rumour-mongering and said this was a great day and a beautiful day—well it is outside. But I wonder whether I am letting him off the hook in terms of Labour members seeing this as an opportunity to pat themselves on the back because in 7 weeks’ time we will be going to the polls. I suppose if I were in Labour’s position I would be doing the same thing. So I congratulate the Minister of Maori Affairs but I tell him not to overwork it. He should pat himself on the back but he should not overwork it. 
I am concerned in this respect: we are in urgency at the end of a parliamentary session. In fact we are at the end of the 48th Parliament and we are trying to nut out these bills and rush through these third readings. It would have been all right if there were one or two bills—I could handle that—but if we look at the Order Paper we see that we are working our way through a number of issues. So although I congratulate the Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister for his erstwhile work we should not have let it come to being part of an urgency motion. 
I finish by mentioning the Treaty of Waitangi and the Treaty principles as my tuakana from New Zealand First has mentioned. He mentioned that there were no Treaty principles in the bill but I say that they do not have to be in the bill or even in settlements to be there. 
Pita Paraone 
: That’s what I’ve been saying. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well actually the member did not really say it in that way. I do not want to get into a big argument with New Zealand First; suffice it to say that the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are worked out over time—they are worked out through the law courts they are worked out through bills in Parliament and they are worked out through how we live. Maybe one day we will all be getting around on our little mobility scooters thinking that the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are what make this country tick. I think it is wrong to say that the reason they are not in there is that iwi did not want them in there. We all in one way or another take the Treaty principles to heart and we operate with them on a daily basis. 
No reira e te Whare e te Kaihautu o te Whare kei a koutou e aku rangatira tena koutou a tena koutou kia ora mai tatou katoa. 
[ 
So to the House the Assistant Speaker of the House and to you my chiefs greetings to you greetings to you and to all of us 
.]