Henare Tau: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Henare Tau: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:637;Page:7844] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Te mea tuatahi taku mihi ki oku whanaunga. Ahakoa kaore au e kitea e oku whanaunga. He nui te aroha nui te manaakitanga ki a ratou. 
[ 
The first thing is my acknowledgment to my relatives even though they cannot see me. Much love and respect to them. 
] 
I start by saying how disappointed I am that our whanaunga are not in the Speaker’s gallery. [ 
Interruption 
] They are not in the Speaker’s gallery; they are in the public gallery and therefore I apologise to them for speaking about the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill with my back to them. 
I start by saying that I am not going to dilly-dally or tiptoe around a number of issues. First I congratulate Te Roroa on their magnificent effort in getting the measly sum of $9 million. I say “measly sum” with respect to the whole process of Treaty settlements. I believe that the settlements we have reached previously have been measly entitlements. They have not been a representation of the true value of Treaty settlements. It was always one of the questions that my colleague the Hon Georgina te Heuheu and I had to work hard to come to grips with when we were in Government. I do not blame the present Government for that inequality. I do however blame the present Government for a number of things and we will get there in a minute. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: Of course you would. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yes well here we go. It is the “settlements by numbers” crew. It is the “Treaty settlements by numbers” party. I am amazed that in the last 7 to 8 years not one settlement has started under this Government. Negotiations have not started under this Government. I am appalled even to think back to the 1990s under Sir Douglas Graham. All the negotiations for the settlements that have been reached to this point were actually started with Sir Douglas Graham. What has this Government been doing for the last 7-odd years? Well it has been letting the process get away from it. This Government does not know how to negotiate. Its members do not know how to sit down with people talk over some issues and get the process on the road. 
Do members know why? It is because the Government does not have any negotiators in its crew in its team. Even with the advent of Shane Jones the Government still does not have the negotiating skills that are required to quickly settle Treaty settlements that tribes like Te Roroa have been waiting for for years and years. There is no experience in this team whatsoever. It never ceases to amaze me that when Treaty settlements come into this House we have acknowledgment after acknowledgment. It is quite sickening to see some of the tiptoeing around these issues. 
I want to mention Te Roroa tribal area itself the report that the tribunal put together and the many research projects that have happened over the many many years since the establishment or even getting the Wai number. They had a spin-off effect on a number of tribes and on a number of negotiations. 
 I want to pay due respect to my sister-in-law who passed away in September Yvonne Paraone-Kawiti. I give her some due for the assistance she gave to the people of the mid-north and to Te Roroa as well. 
I also say that $9 million is not that much. We all realise that; we all have come to terms with that. I can say that the crew from Te Roroa will use the $9 million wisely—and it is not all in cash. They will use the assets that have been given back or settled on in this settlement and they will use them for the benefit of those people who tatai back to Te Roroa. 
I also acknowledge the comments made by my tuakana Pita Paraone who said that Te Roroa has around 3000 members—I am sure there are more. He also said that Ngati Hine seem to have between 15000 and 25000. Well actually it is more than 15000 to 25000. Out of the 100000-odd people who have said they are of Ngapuhi descent 76000 have said they are of Ngati Hine descent. Seventy-six thousand! That is bigger than some other tribes—in fact that is bigger than a whole lot of other tribes! But hey who is counting? 
Hone Harawira 
: Te Roroa. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: This is from the Maori Party; these comments are from the Maori Party. I want to pick up on what happened yesterday. Maori Party members went around the country telling people to go and occupy land because they cannot get any assistance out of the system. Well let me ask the members of the Maori Party who will pay the fines and who will go to jail when those people end up in front of the court. Well it will not be the Maori Party! It ain’t the Maori Party! It will be the people who take action. So I say to Mr Harawira that instead of interjecting on me he should tell me who will pay the fines and who will do the time when those fullas go in front of the court. [ 
Interruption 
] Uncle Pita says: “We are.” Well I take his word for it. 
But I digress. I want to say that Te Roroa can be assured that the Maori Affairs Committee will do a sterling job as it has done before in taking this process to its finality and reporting back to this House so that a fast and good deal is done. In fact I say to Te Roroa that the select committee has already determined to travel to Dargaville to hear submissions from the hau kainga next month. 
I do not want to dwell too much on things today because this is the day when the bill has come to the House. It is the first stage of the last stage of the Treaty settlements. I do want to mention the despicable comments and the behaviour of Trevor Mallard in the House this afternoon when he referred to John McInteer as being nothing more than a Tory candidate. Let me tell the Minister and let me tell those members over there who did not even stand up to defend the honour of John McInteer that he is on the land in Whenuakite because of the lackadaisical and lacklustre performance by a number of the Ministers who sit now on the Labour side and who have sat there for the last 7 years and twiddled their thumbs. Nothing has been done about it. Whenuakite has been there for a millennium and so has Rangiputa and not once in 7 years has a Government member thought it necessary to think: “Crikey I’d better get up there and sort out a mess before some people take some action.” I do not condone illegal action but sometimes the Crown pushes people far too much.