Ririnui Mita: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
Ririnui Mita: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:5046] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to follow the speech made by Aaron Gilmore who gave us his understanding of the history of this matter from his perspective particularly in relation to his earlier contact with the reputable the honourable and the most feared Dr Ngatata Love. He is one of the nicest gentlemen one could ever meet—until one gets to the difficult issues amidst the negotiations! As we are still on Part 1 I think it is important to mention Dr Love and all those who accompanied him throughout the negotiations. They were represented in the House last evening during the second reading of the settlement legislation and I am sure they will continue to be mentioned during the remaining passage of this bill. 
Earlier I referred to the steps undertaken by the former National Government throughout the 1990s. As I read through the bill I was reminded again of the contribution it made in particular the release of the Taranaki report in 1996 and how important that was to the iwi of Taranaki who went into negotiations with the Crown having rewritten their history—having told their story from their perspective and no one else’s. As I listened to Hekia Parata I recalled that in a former life both of us were bureaucrats down the road and were involved in this process. I think that is why we find that there is no dissension between myself and former colleagues because we saw the difficulties faced by a range of bureaucrats in particular those of Te Puni Kokiri who were charged with the responsibility of accompanying Sir Douglas Graham in the promotion of his Treaty settlements policy. In other words we were the sacrificial troops. We took the bullets. But that is OK. One does not mind stepping up front when one knows that at the end of it the benefit is for one’s people. So I need to acknowledge that part of this bill. 
Something else I need to acknowledge is that the Taranaki report included a whole list of acknowledgments. As I recall one of the people who was acknowledged was an uncle of mine from Tauranga a former Eastern Maori Labour MP the late Brown Reweti who had an incredible wisdom about him. As Tau Henare said this is about settling the grievances of the past accepting the apology and in this case forgiveness and moving on. My uncle whilst heavily criticised as politicians are made a tremendous contribution in terms of his advice to the iwi of Taranaki which he has a connection to as do many of us. His advice was along the lines of this being the opportunity for the iwi of Taranaki to tell their story to tell the people of New Zealand what happened to them what the Crown did to them and the impact of the Crown’s actions on them. 
I take the opportunity while I am acknowledging a whole lot of other people—the officials the previous Government the Ministers the Associate Ministers and members of this House—to also acknowledge the contribution that my uncle made. He adopted the same approach to his own people in Tauranga Moana. Unfortunately I am not sure we heard because we are still working our way to the starting-line to get our historical grievances settled but I am sure we will get there. We did give Te Arawa the priority and rightly so. They were ahead of us in the line. Many of us in Tauranga Moana are of Te Arawa descent. All of our negotiators in Te Arawa are male. As to why that is one needs to understand who we are as a people and the role of males and females. It is a complementary role. As I say the roles are complementary but I think that in Ngati Porou Hekia Parata broke the mould. She actually stepped up front and said “I can do this.” and now she has proven herself to be very good at it. Finally I want to thank all those who made a contribution. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I have given the member a further call because he was still on his feet. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Thank you very much. I thank you for your generosity and for the manner in which you are conducting the Committee stage of this Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill. I know that it disappoints my colleague the Hon Tau Henare who was seeking the call but I am sure he will rise to his feet soon enough. 
As we said earlier on in our contributions to the Committee stage of this bill it is about moving on. It is about acknowledging the tremendous sacrifice of the people of Taranaki Whanui and it is also about future collaboration and future partnerships between the Crown and the iwi of Taranaki Whanui so that they in their endeavours to improve the lives of their people as a result of this legislation—and this is not a silver bullet towards that I will concede—will have an ongoing relationship. I am sure and it is only my view at this point in time that Taranaki Whanui have said “We accept your apology and we go further: we forgive you.” because it means a sense of brotherhood a sense of comradeship and a sense of moving forward together. I know that Taranaki Whanui will live up to their end of the arrangement; I am sure that the Maori members and all the members in this House will do their best to ensure that the Crown does likewise. In saying that I extend my congratulations once again to all those involved in bringing this settlement legislation through the deed of settlement and all the difficulties they have faced over the past to the Committee stage and hopefully on to the third reading very soon so that Taranaki Whanui can move on with all that baggage all that weight off their shoulders. Thank you.