Clendon David: Ngati Whatua Orakei Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Clendon David: Ngati Whatua Orakei Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6687. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Kei te mihi nui ki a koutou ki te mana o Ngati Whatua o Orakei me nga hapu katoa o Tamaki-makau-rau nga rangatira ma nga kuia ma tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker. I acknowledge you greatly the authority of Ngati Whatua of Orakei and all the subtribes of Auckland the leaders and elderly womenfolk salutations to you all. 
] 
May I take a moment to express on behalf of the Greens our best wishes to the rangatira who became unwell this morning. That gentleman bears a name that has long been associated with strength and determination and may those qualities assure a swift and complete recovery. 
It is customary when standing to speak in this House to speak of one’s pleasure at contributing to the debate about this or that bill. It can be somewhat formulaic but on this occasion for me personally it is a genuine pleasure to speak to this important bill the Ngati Whatua Orakei Claims Settlement Bill. It is a step in a long journey—a significant step in the beginning of a new journey. 
Although my whakapapa goes to the north particularly to Hokianga nevertheless I have spent much of my life in Auckland. It is a place I hold very dear. I grew up there and continue to enjoy the time that I spend there. Tamaki-makau-rau—Auckland—is our largest our most diverse and our most complex city. It is arguably our most important city though others will perhaps dispute that point. For New Zealand to do well Auckland must do well. The acknowledgment today of Ngati Whatua as mana whenua the restoration of some of the commercial redress that is involved in this bill and some of the other empowering provisions that enable Ngati Whatua to better exercise that mana whenua—these things give Ngati Whatua more capacity to contribute to a better and more prosperous future for both Maori and non-Maori in Tamaki-makau-rau and indeed across New Zealand. 
With this settlement acknowledging the wrongs done in the 19th and 20th centuries there is the return of a token amount of material wealth. The point has been made that these settlements at best are only token in the sense of returning material wealth. We cannot hope to see a full restitution. It is to the great honour of all Maori that that partial restitution has been accepted in the spirit of ensuring a better future for all of us. All of this that is contained in this bill today is an important step towards Auckland all Aucklanders and all New Zealanders enjoying a better and a richer future. Ngati Whatua have always been and are and will continue to be a powerhouse in the development of Auckland socially culturally and economically and long may that continue. 
In an earlier speech I referred to the strategic plan of Ngati Whatua which is an extremely sophisticated document. I think it reflects in part on what Mr Horomia referred to earlier in terms of the particular governance model that has been established by Ngati Whatua to respond to the situation of the 21st century. The basic structure of Maori society will not change: whanau hapu iwi and the relationships within and between those structures. They will sustain us over time. That is not to say that cultures remain static. We are not locked in 1840 or 1780 or any other time. Cultures are dynamic not least of all Maori. We will see the evolution of new ways of dealing with and responding to the demands of the 21st century but always grounded in that commitment to and acknowledgment of our being part of a place and that place is part of us. 
I would like to make some brief reference to the text of the bill. One of the great benefits of these settlement bills is that they put on paper the stories the record of what happened. They are an incredibly rich resource for all New Zealanders now and into the future to remind us constantly of our history and how we can resolve the bad that was done and seek to establish a better future for all of us. The acknowledgments of the bill recognise that Ngati Whatua endeavoured to establish a positive and meaningful relationship with the Crown. They demonstrated extraordinarily good faith and trust in the Crown and sought to make that relationship work to everybody’s advantage. There is a line in the bill that says: “The Crown acknowledges that the benefits and protection that Ngati Whatua Orakei expected to flow from its relationship with the Crown were not always realised.” That is a magnificent understatement but nevertheless we acknowledge that that commitment has been made. It has been made honestly and openly and that is to our mutual benefit. 
The Crown also acknowledges that the alienation of land has diminished the ability of Ngati Whatua o Orakei to exercise mana whenua and again the unique provisions of this bill acknowledge the mana whenua and better enable Ngati Whatua to exercise that and that is as it should be. There is reference made to the inadequate protections applied to pa and urupa including Maungakiekie. Again in an earlier speech I noted that the use of the correct names the older names the Maori names for some of these key features of the Auckland landscape is becoming more commonplace. We are now referring without embarrassment to Maungakiekie and to the other significant sites around Auckland. That is a sign of the evolution of the understanding of non-Maori of the importance of the naming of places. These names embed stories. They refer to tupuna and to events that created that place as it is today and long may we continue to utilise and understand those names better. This is not to diminish or undermine the importance of some of the Pakeha names that have been assigned to these places but to recognise that naming is an important part of place and an important part of the exercise of mana whenua. 
There is a reference also in the apology of the Crown and again the apologies are always such an important part of these settlement bills. The material redress of course is important. That provides the putea the means to advance the aspirations of nga iwi. But the apology is profoundly important of course. It is an acknowledgment that wrong was done. From that point on we can progress together. In the reference in the apology the Crown “regrets and is deeply sorry for its actions which left Ngati Whatua Orakei virtually landless” and notes that this landlessness led to consequences including to their “social economic and spiritual well-being”—a diminished well-being for these people and for all of us. 
I do not believe that it is too long a bow to draw to suggest that the current deprivation the fact that Maori appear at the wrong end of all of the social statistics and all of the social indices is a reflection of the spiritual harm as much as the material harm. The harm to the spirit reflects very directly on the well-being of the emotions and the mental health of people. It is well known that Maori suffer significantly in terms of mental health. Our prisons across the country are full of Maori and often that is a reflection of the lack of robust mental health. That is a disease of the spirit as much as of the mind. There is acknowledgment that the deprivation of the land affected the wairua of the people and led to the situation where we no longer have that strength in ourselves and in our purpose. These settlements are part of the restoration of that wairua enabling our young ones to grow up knowing who they are knowing their place and knowing the mana of their people. That is an important part of the future for all of us. 
This bill talks of healing and it talks of trust and those are significant aspirations. May this bill represent a step towards the healing of Ngati Whatua and of the relationship between Ngati Whatua the Crown and non-Maori. Ngati Whatua have long demonstrated that they are trustworthy. It is now incumbent on the Crown and all of us who represent the Crown to prove that we also are trustworthy and that this relationship that is established by this settlement bill will be honoured into the future. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.