Paraone Pita: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Paraone Pita: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:635;Page:6530] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 Tena koe e te Kaiwhakawa tena hoki tatou o te Whare nei. Kei te tautoko nga mihi ki a Ngati Mutunga i a koutou i tu i mua i a au. 
Nga mihi hoki ki a koutou nga kaumatua nga kuia nga rangatira katoa i tau mai i roto i te Whare i te ra nei koutou hoki i kawe nei i te kaupapa e whakatakoto mai i mua i a tatou inaianei. He mihi hoki ki a koutou e noho ana i raro te maunga tapu o Taranaki e whakarongo ki nga korero whakamutunga kia whakatau atu i te pire nei. 
Engari i mua i te haere tonu o nga korero e mihi hoki ki a koe e kara e Jamie me to ropu mo nga mahi pakeke nga mahi whakahirahira i mahia koutou ki te whakaotingia nga mahi taumaha i hoatu to iwi i runga ou pokohiwi. 
I te ra nei ka hoki mai te pire nei mo te wa tuatoru i runga te huarahi e kawe mai tenei kaupapa. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to you Madam Speaker and to us also of this House. I endorse the acknowledgments of Ngati Mutunga by those who stood before me. 
My greetings to you the elders the elderly womenfolk all the chiefs who have arrived in the House today those of you responsible for the matter that is before us at this moment. I also acknowledge those of you at home beneath the hallowed mountain of Taranaki listening in to the closing speeches that are to settle this bill. 
Before I continue I offer my congratulations to you Jamie and your team on the hard work and tremendous efforts undertaken by you collectively to complete such an onerous task that your people placed upon your shoulders. 
This bill comes back for its third reading in much the same way that brought this matter here. 
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Madam Speaker before I continue I want to acknowledge your presence because I think history is being made in that I think you are the first person to as Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations initiate a Treaty claim and also to sit in the Chair in your position as Speaker to oversee the progress of the legislation to its conclusion. Quite clearly history will show the uniqueness of your position at this very time. 
On behalf of New Zealand First it is my pleasure to participate in the third reading of this Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill; a bill that provides a chapter in the history of Ngati Mutunga that evidences the settlement of their claim arising from breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown. This bill is intended to help bring some closure to events of the 19th century that were manifested in actions commenced on 5 September 1866. Such events as I have already stated during earlier debates saw the people of Ngati Mutunga and of course other iwi of Taranaki subjected to one of the darkest hours in our history as a nation. It is significant to reiterate the comments of the Waitangi Tribunal during its consideration of this claim: “There may be no [other claims] where as many Treaty breaches had equivalent force and effect over a comparable time …”. 
It is important to say at the outset that any amount of apology and compensation cannot truly amend the events of the past. Having said that the passing of this legislation today will however provide some redress for the people of Ngati Mutunga. To this end I say that the offer that was made by the Crown and was accepted by the negotiators on behalf of Ngati Mutunga is of a quantum such that it raised concerns within the Maori Affairs Committee which considered this bill. I say this again in the context of the view expressed by the Waitangi Tribunal: “Generous reparation policies are needed to remove the prejudice to Maori to restore the honour of the Government to ensure cultural survival and to re-establish effective interaction between the Treaty partners.” I suppose that the comments made recently by the chairman of the tribunal that suggested that the total amount of all the settlements once concluded would rise to about $3 billion should not have come as any surprise. 
This bill will bring finality to the claims made by Ngati Mutunga—that is the descendants of Mutunga—and it follows the consideration of submissions made to the Maori Affairs Committee. Compared with other settlements of this nature I ought to say that the submissions received on this bill were in the main of a supportive nature. The only concern expressed was that of the local body which was concerned about the fee simple of a reserve that is currently its responsibility being vested in Ngati Mutunga. I should say that this support was further evidenced by the iwi ballot to accept the negotiated settlement and the new body to receive the proceeds from this settlement. Although the agreement was not as strong as we all would like to see the fact is that people were given the opportunity to participate in the process and if they chose not to then that should not be a reflection on the ability of the negotiators to advance this settlement. 
The question of a new entity to receive the proceeds from this settlement raised some discussion during the Committee stage particularly with regard to having it included in this bill. I think that the essence of the intent of this was articulated in a point of order raised by a member from National. I am disappointed that it could not proceed any further and I ought to say that the only reason why it did not proceed was a technicality. The saddening part was that it was supported by the claimants themselves. 
During the hearing of submissions representatives from Ngati Mutunga—although having completed a deed of settlement entered into negotiations and accepted the settlement with the Crown to be fair in the circumstances—expressed some disquiet about elements of the final settlement. The source of this disquiet included the formula used by the Crown negotiators to arrive at the quantum that was used to reach this settlement. In the view of Ngati Mutunga the total area of land that was originally confiscated amounted to 150000 acres. However the settlement is based on a much lesser amount and is drawn from Sim Commission evidence and findings—the source of information in developing this quantum offer. The Office of Treaty Settlements might want to review the approach it takes with future settlements given the comments and the lessons we have learnt from this particular settlement. 
Another point of disquiet was the apparent reluctance to provide the claimants with the full formula used to arrive at the quantum for this claim. Although I accept the explanation given by the Office of Treaty Settlements to the select committee I think that the time taken to address that particular issue could be minimised if in fact the formula was provided to the claimants during the negotiations. However we also found that in ascertaining this formula the size or population of an iwi contributed to the overall quantum for each claim. Notwithstanding the extent and the seriousness of the breaches of the Treaty if an iwi is of small numbers then that contributes to the size of the settlement. Given the small size of this iwi against the amount of land confiscated and its commercial value one can easily see Ngati Mutunga’s position. Also if any credence is to be given to the recent comments of the chairman of the Waitangi Tribunal this becomes an issue for future settlements. 
I conclude by making reference to my party’s concern about the inclusion of references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Looking at the bill I see that reference is made to breaches of the Treaty and its principles. I suggest that not including any such reference to the principles of the Treaty would make no difference to the need to settle claims such as this one. 
In conclusion I wish the people of Ngati Mutunga all the best for the future and also say to this House that a lot of members here will never appreciate the responsibility that has been put on the young shoulders of Jamie Tuuta and his whanaunga by the people of Ngati Mutunga. In years to come people will be critical of the size of this settlement. They will be critical of the process that was taken. In terms of Maoridom Jamie and his descendants will have to bear the brunt of this. 
Hiahia ana ahau ki te mihi atu ki a ratou nga manaakitanga o Te Runga Rawa kei runga i a koutou mo nga ra kei te heke. Na reira tena koutou tena koutou huri noa ki tenei o tatou Whare. Kia ora mai ano tatou. 
[ 
I want to extend the blessings of The Almighty Above upon them for the future. So greetings to you and to us throughout this House of ours; once again greetings. 
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