Goldsmith PaulNGĀTI HEI CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I present a legislative statement on the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I move That the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill be now read a second time. Tihei mauri ora! E te Whare Mīere tēnā koe. Te papa i waho nei tēnā koe. Te mana whenua o tēnei rohe tēnā koutou. Te hunga mate haere haere haere. Haere ki te whenua o ngā tūpuna. Ki te hunga ora tēnā tātou katoa. Ka mihi ki ngā maunga kōrero ki ngā awa rangatira ki te whenua taurikura o Ngāti Hei. E ngā kāwai rangatira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[To the Beehive building greetings to you. To the land outside greetings to you. The people of this region greetings to you. Our loved ones who have passed farewell. Farewell back to your ancestors. To the living salutations. I acknowledge the many speaking mountains the formidable rivers and the homeland of the Ngāti Hei people. To your esteemed leaders thank you thank you thank you.]This bill gives effect to the deed of settlement signed by Ngāti Hei and the Crown in August 2017. The deed settles all the remaining historical Treaty of Waitangi claims of Ngāti Hei. Ngāti Hei are an iwi associated on the eastern seaboard of the Coromandel Peninsula from Onemana to Whangapoua. Their rohe is centred around Tairua and Ahuahu and includes offshore islands extending north to Cuvier Island. The historical claims of Ngāti Hei relate to the cumulative effect of the Crown's actions and omissions. This includes land acquisition and the operation and impact of native land laws that rendered Ngāti Hei virtually landless. The Crown prejudiced Ngāti Hei by promoting laws and policies which led to the loss of their whenua damaged their environment and severely undermined the wellbeing and ability of Ngāti Hei to pass on matauranga Māori to their mokopuna. The bill comprises four parts detailing cultural redress commercial redress and the Crown's apology redress. Ngāti Hei have established the Hei o Wharekaho Settlement Trust a post-settlement governance entity that will receive the settlement assets on behalf of Ngāti Hei and will represent the iwi in its future dealings with the Crown. We remember and pay tribute to the tūpuna and many generations of Ngāti Hei who have suffered from historical Crown acts and omissions who are not here in the House and of course this is the second reading. We fully expect that we'll have many representatives from Ngāti Hei in the third reading but I'm sure there will be many tuning in on their computer screens and maybe listening in on the radio to this speech. So we do want to acknowledge those who were part of the negotiations early on and who are not here today with us and whose grievances are addressed through this settlement. I acknowledge the many members of Ngāti Hei who have passed away over the course of this settlement and for whom justice did not come soon enough. I acknowledge the contribution of the negotiators for Ngāti Hei the late Peter Tiki Johnston Peter Matai Johnson and Joe Davis. And on the Crown side I acknowledge the chief Crown negotiators Micheal Dreaver and the Hon Rick Barker. I also acknowledge my predecessors the Hon Chris Finlayson and the Hon Andrew Little for their contributions to this settlement and I thank my ministerial colleagues Crown agencies and counsel for their support to progress this settlement. The bill was referred to the Māori Affairs Committee on 20 June 2023. The committee received and considered 11 written submissions and heard oral evidence from two submitters. There was one submission opposed to the bill but that did not relate to the bill itself. Based on the submissions and advice received the committee does not recommend any significant changes though the committee recommends some minor and technical amendments to ensure consistency with other Hauraki iwi settlements and to reflect the result of property surveys and updated property interests. I'd like to thank the committee for their diligent work and consideration of this bill. I'm satisfied with the committee's recommendations as they will ensure that the redress agreed in the Ngāti Hei deed of settlement can be properly implemented through this bill. The second reading is part of the last stage of the settlement process that seeks to provide redress to Ngāti Hei for the Crown's historical breaches of the Treaty. This is a move towards acknowledgment recognition and reconciliation and I hope that this settlement not only allows for Ngāti Hei to increase confidence in their own future but in their future relationship with the Crown. I do look forward to speaking more about this bill when it is read a third time and I do look forward to hosting Ngāti Hei here in Parliament for that important occasion. I commend this bill to the House. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.