Cameron MarkMARK CAMERON (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker and thank you for the opportunity to speak to the second reading and take a short call on the Ngāti Hei Claims Settlement Bill. As previously canvassed in the House the bill was formerly part of the Māori Affairs Committee and as a matter of course I don't sit on that committee as a permanent member. The Māori Affairs Committee called for submissions which closed on 2 August 2023 with 11 groups and individuals submitting. I'm told two of those submissions were heard orally. No significant amendments were proposed in the bill by those that submitted.I have some time this evening to digest what I've heard and what was presented in the bill and the importance of redress and what it has meant to the whānau and iwi and members of Ngāti Hei today. The process began almost 200 years ago in the 1830s with lands lost and confiscated. This is beyond debate. Subsequently over the preceding years further land was moved across as part of European claimants' interests. The Crown at the time continued to purchase the land even though boundaries of those transactional arrangements remained unclear. This continued from the late 1850s all the way through to the 1890s and was previously canvassed by the other speaker Steve Abel beyond.I noted in some of the literature presented to the Māori Affairs Committee that as part of the transactional agreements in the 1850s certain Hauraki iwi were consulted on the sale. That was well canvassed in some of the literature but it came to light that Ngāti Hei was not consulted at the time. By the 1890s a significant land area was permanently alienated from Ngāti Hei totalling 93000 hectares. Just if I can for the sake of the House contextualise that in a physical area: when we're looking at a place like the Chatham Islands which is 192000 acres. This is almost half if my mathematics is correct of the Chathams by physical area.As we've heard post this period which involved several periods involving timber harvesting leases—previous members mentioned fishing gold mining and even gum digging and flex weaving of which Ngāti Hei received little fiscal benefit from. Litigation claim and counterclaim—Ngāti Hei were ultimately left landless which was transgressed previously by other speakers. The 1920s much of the natural fabric and known whenua of Ngāti Hei was irreversibly changed in this process. We all here accept the important genuine redress that needs to happen for iwi Māori and those affected by these historical decisions. This deed of settlement has been years in its delivery and development and I wish to acknowledge those that will ultimately be here in the third reading to hear this passage of the bill. As witness they can see their deeds made right with and have them finally addressed.This bill was agreed to progress by the Māori Affairs Committee to restore and bring about final settlement and acknowledgement of the historical account by the Crown and its previous actions and offer the needed cultural and commercial redress to Ngāti Hei. This bill effectually will pass into law in a third reading—I think we're all of that determination—and final reading which is due in the coming weeks and months and create a comprehensive settlement agreement of significance to both Ngāti Hei and the Crown.