te Heuheu Georgina: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19137] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I take this opportunity to salute you Mr Deputy Speaker in your Chair your Turu and repeat the sentiments expressed by the previous speaker that it is very fitting given your whanaunga in the gallery that you sit in the Chair for the passing into law of the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill. 
I am very proud to take a call on the third reading of this bill. I am conscious as is everybody in this House of the long years that Te Roroa have put in and I salute Te Roroa who are in the gallery today: a nga mihi ki a koutou e nga iwi e nga whanau o Te Roroa. I think your patience your doggedness your absolute humility in pursuing your settlement yet not pushing yourselves in a way that in your view might bring discredit to yourselves has been a lesson to watch. I became acquainted more directly with your claim when I was an Associate Minister to the Hon Doug Graham and we had some meetings way back then. But of course as Dr Cullen has made reference to the meetings for the settlement of your claim started much earlier in 1992. So that is a long time and you will have witnessed some real energy put into more recent claims that had their negotiations begin after yours but as I say you have been quiet but forceful and humble. I certainly admire the approach you have taken and congratulate you on the passage of your legislation here today and on the fact that finally you have accepted that you can move on. 
The Minister Dr Cullen traversed the additional aspects of the claim which have been negotiated recently. National opposed the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill up until these new additions were brought in. We did that on the basis and on the strength of the concerns that were put to us particularly when the select committee came to hear your submissions but also on the basis that we knew the offer was not sufficient. In your hearts you know that what is being offered here today is but a tiny fraction of what you once had which hopefully you will one day be able to build up from these small beginnings into something that is a fitting legacy for your grandchildren. In the end I think the Government had no choice. But that is fine because it has resulted in a settlement that Te Roroa can accept and which National now gladly supports. Basically the majority of Te Roroa says that this is finished it is enough and they want to move on. The claims had different aspects; we have seen a couple go through the House this morning. 
Te Roroa’s is unique. As a people they hail from ancient beginnings. They were once proud and substantial people living on land that they owned yet quite soon after their rangatira signed the Treaty they found themselves slowly but surely dispossessed of that which was theirs. Today we are here to celebrate and to congratulate Te Roroa. We can feel pleased and we can feel proud that we have a process in place that restores to them some of that which was taken from them. 
This claim relates to breaches by the Crown of its obligations under the Treaty—obviously it is a Treaty settlement claim. The breaches include the cession of land at Te Kopuru in 1842 Crown land purchases from 1876 and the operation and impacts of the Maori Land Court the institution that we as Maori love so much! Thankfully in the 21st century it is easy to look back and see how and why things went wrong. The upside of it all is that in the 21st century our generation has been given the marvellous opportunity to right those things that for so long have been a blot on our historical landscape. 
Te Roroa have travelled a long road to have these claims addressed by the Government. They have sought redress on a number of issues. They have a package here today and hopefully—as I have already expressed—though it is small with the leadership and the love for their own and for others that they have shown particularly in these last 15 years they will be able to grow it. In any event they have decided—as the Crown did by making this additional offer—that it is time to recognise properly their situation and give them a basis on which to move forward. As hard and as difficult as these last 15 years and indeed all of the previous decades have been I always think that the hardest part comes when the settlement bill passes into law. Then Te Roroa will have to demonstrate further responsibility and leadership for their people their mokopuna and those still to come—the future generations. But what a good position to be in! Their tupuna looking down will feel much pleased for this day and no doubt are egging Te Roroa on to succeed. 
For us in this Parliament—I have said this many times but I feel it is important to repeat it every time because Te Roroa’s settlement is important to them—it is a privilege to be a parliamentarian in this House at this time. Today we are dealing with five settlements and it is a proud moment—certainly for Maori MPs and I am sure for all our colleagues across the House as well. Mr Deputy Speaker in your valedictory speech you made reference to your birth and upbringing in the places that Te Roroa hail from. That was enlightening for those of us who did not know the detail of your upbringing. It is rather fitting that you preside at a time when this bill passes into law. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa.