Finlayson Christopher: Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 05 June 2013. Volume:690;Page:10820. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): Shane always makes those promises. I am really pleased to be here today. I want to begin by offering an explanation to those in the gallery because when Dr Sharples stood up to speak I shot out the door. It is not because I do not like listening to Dr Sharples or working with him—he is a fantastic Minister of Māori Affairs and I work with him very closely as his Associate Minister of Māori Affairs—it is just that I am responsible for the Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara Claims Settlement Bill and for some peculiar reason I am not allowed to be here if someone else is giving the first speech. Let it be clear that I have the greatest of respect for Dr Sharples who has worked with me very closely on this settlement but the rules are the rules and if I disobeyed them the Speaker would scold me. Anyway it is a great day today.As I said in a speech that I gave at the signing of the Ngāi Tūhoe deed of settlement it is not the end because this is not a deal. This is a very sacred settlement but it is the beginning of a new relationship. There are going to be ups and downs there are going to be irritations but the Crown and Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara have committed to work together to address those difficulties going into the future. It is a great day for Ngāti Whātua generally because with this third reading we now have concluded settlements with Te Uri o Hau and Te Rōroa last year we had Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei and of course today we have Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara.The acknowledgments have been given and it would be repetitious to go through all the names again but I particularly want to acknowledge Margaret Kāwharu for all her wonderful work. I see that great leader of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua Naida Glavish in the gallery. She does so much for this country. She is on the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. I look her in the eye and I say: “I know we have unfinished business. We have the harbour.” She said to me some years ago that we have to deal with issues relating to the Kaipara and I am very keen to get on to those. I give her and Ngāti Whātua my undertaking that that is a very important piece of work. It is about this time that the Office of Treaty Settlements staff start cringing because they will say: “Oh he is making promises again.” But that is the way it is. It is important work not to do a deal but to do a settlement with Ngāti Whātua in relation to the harbour.Treaty settlement days are wonderful days for Parliament. They have become a regular occurrence in the House. It is because of cross-party arrangements to facilitate what are called extended sitting hours. We do not like dealing with Treaty settlement legislation in urgency because that would be disrespectful in terms of what we are trying to achieve. So through the agreement of the House we have Thursday mornings in some sessions when we can debate these issues. Every settlement is unique. Of course there are common features but every settlement is unique and is tailored to address the uniqueness of the relationship and the failings between the Crown and the particular iwi.We all know the history here because Mr Tirikatene has mentioned it. Ngāti Whātua signed the Treaty when it was brought to Tāmaki in March 1840. From then the Ngāti Whātua community of the south Kaipara adopted a strategy of inclusion and engagement. They transacted large areas of land with the Crown to be made available for settlers. They welcomed the settlers and then they were let down. A meeting house was erected by Ngāti Whātua at Aotea and a plinth was placed in front of the house with the words of the Treaty of Waitangi inscribed on it. When the rangatira Te KeeneTangaroa wrote to George Grey about the plinth he explained it was meant as “a sign for us and our European friends to see”. So the tragedy which this important settlement bill seeks to put right is that despite their endorsement and their open and willing engagement with the Crown by the early 20th century Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara were in a position that was no better than that of other iwi. They were effectively landless and of course with landlessness came poverty and destitution.The tribunal as part of its historical work undertook an inquiry into your claims just over a decade ago. You describe living conditions for Ngāti Whātua in the 1950s and 1960s as resembling rural slums. The history is set out in the introduction to the Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara Claims Settlement Bill and in the deed of settlement as are the Crown’s acknowledgments—and they should be. I say what I said in the previous debate: it is very important that people who doubt the validity of what this country is doing with its historical claims work should read the historical account should read the acknowledgments and should acknowledge the facts because the facts speak for themselves.I do not want to talk at any great length about the economic and the cultural packages. I believe the economic package puts you in a very great position to work with other iwi in the area to develop a good strong economic base and I believe that with the work that is being done in the wider Tāmaki area there are great opportunities.I want to acknowledge the Department of Conservation because it will be working with you in years to come on a co-management framework. The Department of Conservation has some wonderful policy people at its head office and it has some really great people on the ground who care for this work and I know that they are going to do a good job with you into the future.There are some people on my side whom I want to acknowledge. The Parliamentary Counsel Office does a great job drafting the legislation often in conditions of great urgency. The Māori Affairs Committee chaired by Tau Henare does a wonderful job in going out hearing submissions on bills and then reporting the bills back to the House. Tau frankly makes mincemeat of those who get in the way. There was a submission on the Ōrākei bill that he did not like and I think the submitter left the worse for wear.I want to acknowledge the Office of Treaty Settlements which does a great job. I particularly acknowledge my chief Crown negotiator in the Tāmaki area Mike Dreaver. He has done fabulous work over the last few years. Whenever there is an adjournment he has me in the general area working and meeting people. In the last adjournment I had 3 days of meetings in Hauraki. He is a very hard-working and dedicated individual and I am pleased to place on record my admiration for the work he has done because it was he who started this work with Sir Douglas Graham a couple of years ago and no one would ever have imagined that we would get this far.But today is your day and I acknowledge the presence of so many of you in the gallery. Thank you very much for your hard work the hard work of your lawyer Grant Powell and the hard work of your negotiators. So many people have done a great job to get to this stage. I have to say that in Treaty settlements terms it has worked very very well indeed. I signed the agreement in principle on the eve of Christmas a couple of years ago and because of the dedication of the Kaipara team we are where we are today so thank you very much and all the very best for the future. As I say there is some unfinished business in relation to a certain harbour and once again I give my undertaking that we are on to it.