Horomia Parekura: Rongowhakaata Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horomia Parekura: Rongowhakaata Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 18 July 2012. Volume:681;Page:3725. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 Mr Assistant Speaker e tika atu i runga i te tu kia mihi atu i a koutou nga mea pakeke Lewis koutou e noho atu i reira nga whanaunga o te hau kainga. Ka nui te mihi i kaha atu koutou i tae mai ki konei kia rongo ai i te korero nei. Ki a koe e te Kaiwhakahaere e tautokotia atu nga korero o te Honore Tariana mo te ahua o tenei whakahoki. 
Ko tenei ano wetahi o nga tino pakanga mahi taurekareka a te Karauna ki wetahi o nga iwi o Aotearoa. E mohio atu tatau mai i te timata o te tae o te Karauna i reira e pakanga atu ratau. E kaha ana nga hoia i te mau pu e rongo atu te iwi te hapu o Rongowhakaata ki te pakopako o te pu ko te mate i hinga atu nga tamariki me wetahi o nga wahine me wetahi o nga uri. E tino rereke atu tenei mahi i roto i a Aotearoa. Na te pai hoki kua tae atu tatau i te wa e whakatikatika atu pea wetahi o nga hara nga hakihaki e mahi atu ratau ki te iwi nga hapu o Rongowhakaata. 
No reira e mihi kau ana ki a ratau e kore i konei mihi kau ana ki nga mate i roto i a ratau. Mihi kau ana ki nga mea pakeke pera i a Darcy Lena ratau ma e kore i konei. E tangi hoki te ngakau mo ratau e whawhai tonu atu roaroa atu mo te whakahoki o te tinanatanga o ratau o Rongowhakaata. No reira e tangi hoki te ngakau. Nui atu ratau e kore i konei engari mo ratau e ora ana e whawhai tonu atu e mihi kau ana ki a ratau. 
[ 
Mr Assistant Speaker it is appropriate in rising that I pay a tribute to the elder ones collectively the relatives living there back home you Lewis and others. Your efforts to get here to hear this address is greatly admired. To you Mr Assistant Speaker I endorse the sentiments expressed by the Hon Tariana Turia about the nature of this return.  
This is also one of these major conflicts that the Crown inflicted upon some tribes in New Zealand. We know that when the Crown arrived there hostilities broke out. Colonial soldiers were heavily armed the tribe and subtribes of Rongowhakaata heard the muskets go off. The tragedy was that children and some of the women and relatives went down in the gunfire. This act was something totally alien to New Zealand. A positive thing is that we have arrived at a point where some of the sins and bad outcomes inflicted by those soldiers upon the tribe and subtribes of Rongowhakaata can be settled.  
So I pay a tribute to those who are no longer here and to the deaths among them. I acknowledge the elder ones like Darcy Lena and those who are no longer here. I sympathise with those who continued the fight for the settlement of Rongowhakaata’s claims. The heart also grieves for those who have fought for a very long time to build up Rongowhakaata. So the heart mourns. There are so many of them who are no longer here but for those who remain alive and who continue to fight on I salute you 
.] 
I want to reiterate what the chair of the Maori Affairs Committee the Hon Tau Henare said and agree with the sentiments. Certainly I want to thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for his effort. I want to remember and recognise Michael Cullen who is not here and the Hon Tariana Turia for her points of fact in relation to this apology. The Maori Affairs Committee has put a lot of effort into working through this. At times it has been complicated but certainly we have got to what I believe is a good final end point both for Rongowhakaata and for Nga Uri o Te Kooti Rikirangi. I want to inform Mr Tau Henare the chair of the Maori Affairs Committee that the illustrious Trevor Mallard actually played a role as chair of the Maori Affairs Committee one time and I found that quite amazing. But I do want to recognise my colleague Trevor Mallard for being the chair of the Maori Affairs Committee. Kia ora tatou. 
But on a more serious note congratulations and thanks need to go to Willie Te Aho Stanley Pardoe Meka Whaitiri Jody Wylie Lewis Moeau Maever and Peter Moeau and a whole lot of other groups of people who have been involved in getting to this final point. 
 You know there is a lot of history in this country about the tensions between the Crown and people. For me this is at the top of the tree in relation to the dastardly deeds enacted by the Government on a people. The slaughtering in the Ngatapa and the Waerenga a Hika battles was just so imbalanced unfair and nasty that it is an honour to be here to try to put some of that right—because some of it will never be put right. But again with Rongowhakaata being who they are humble enough and keen enough to move on with life they have worked hard to get to this important point. 
The bill does record apologies to Rongowhakaata and Nga Uri o Te Kooti Rikirangi for the historical acts. As the previous speaker Tariana Turia said it was amazing that they were sent to the Chatham Islands. They were jailed and were actually chained while they were in jail. That they escaped certainly shows the tenacity and energy of Rongowhakaata people. It is one escape we should applaud. 
We need to remember that prior to 1865 Rongowhakaata had full control over their lands and resources and were participating successfully in the New Zealand economy. The Crown used military force in Turanga in November 1865 when there was no need to do so and the Crown did not pursue all reasonable possibilities for preserving peace. It actually incited the reactions not just from the iwi but amongst the soldiers. The Crown’s attack on Waerenga a Hika whose occupants included women and children was unwarranted and unjust. That attack caused severe and long-term prejudice for Rongowhakaata and breached the Treaty of Waitangi in its principles. It more than breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi it breached the basic fundamentals in a human nature sense. It was about one people trying to slaughter another people and that certainly for me is important to state not to overexcite the past but to ensure that it is stated on behalf of all of those people who are not here today because I have been privileged enough to sit in hui in Manutuke and in Muriwai and listen to old people who have had one thing on their mind about putting this right—people who are not here now like Darcy like Heni—all of those people. They were serious about this. They kept on going and kept on going and they kept on passing away and those who live now as Rongowhakaata need to be encouraged that they embellish not just that commitment by those elders but what they are going to do going forward. The Minister and officials etc. need to be commended for their part in it in this present day. It is nothing that the Crown should be proud about the slaughter and the battles in the cliffs at Ngatapa. The purposeful chasing of children and women was just outrageous. 
The Crown acknowledges the indefinite detention in the harsh lands and certainly understands about the unwarranted hardships enacted at this stage on those people. I think in terms of the returning and one of the key aspects of Te Hau ki Turanga the whare that has been in Te Papa which again they have shared with the nation and international visitors it is time to go home—it is a good time. I would ask the Minister as I have mentioned before that in relation to moving it the cost and resourcing be put behind it—and that it is serious cost; it will not be simple and it will not be straightforward—and not to sign this settlement off and then say: “Well it’s up to you now.” That is what happened when a lot of the incorporated lands were given back. People jumped at it and took it and all of a sudden they had to pay debts that were left on the lands and they could not afford it and they ended up going back into debt. I want to say that seriously about this whare. It is important to their people. It does epitomise those strengths of Rukupo of one of the great carvers in this country and it is something that we must preserve because it is a living connection with the past and shows their certain adeptness in relation to preserving who they were and who they are. 
The summary executions at Ngatapa by Crown forces in January 1869 certainly epitomise this whole gory history but it has to be recognised that the Crown has a parcel of allocations including the transfer of eight cultural sites returning Te Hau ki Turanga ki Rongowhakaata and relationships redress including protocols with the Ministers for Arts Culture and Heritage the Minister of Conservation the Minister of Energy and Resources and the fisheries Minister. Again Minister I say what I have said to you a half a dozen times but ever so much more with this iwi. At the end of the day they need all the support to correct and to build their capacity both economically and culturally. Too many times we see Government agencies saying: “Yes we are into this.” and they do not do it. Dare I mention Whanau Ora in the House as great as it is going with the effort by Minister Turia. 
I want to say that about this. Let us not just speak to this and not do what needs to be done. Ensure that you keep your beady eye on it because you are pretty good and make sure you have got your glasses on when you are watching it. There is $22.24 million redress for Nga Uri o Te Kooti Rikirangi and that is something that Peter and Maever Moeau need to be really commended on: that they have stood up and that their tupuna is being recognised in the sense that they have chosen to recognise. Certainly I wish them well. 
Minister in closing I want to encourage you. You watch those ministries you make sure that the added resources are put up behind this because it is too easy for us to sign off and forget about them. They have got fisheries issues they have got conservation issues and they have got all of those things and I think out of all the dastardly deeds that members of the Crown enacted on iwi around the country this is one of the worst. And I am not saying that because I live not too far away from it; it is a fact. It is a real important fact that Rongowhakaata have been treated like nothing on this planet and I want to commend you for being courageous— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member; his time has expired.