Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe e ngā mema tēnā koutou.[Madam Speaker greetings to all the members greetings to you all.]Karanga mai ki a Tākitimu waka e kōkiri anaKaranga mai ki a Ruahine Maunga e tū whakahī anaKaranga mai ki a Manawatū awa e rere anaKaranga mai ki a Ngāti Kahungunu whānau whānuiTēnā koutou ngā rangatira me ngā mokopuna hoki.[I call to the Tākitimu canoe moving forwardsI call to the Ruahine Range standing proudI call to the flowing Manawatū RiverI call to the extensive family of Ngāti KahungunuGreetings from the chiefs down to the grandchildren.]It is always special to welcome the whānau for whom these settlements are negotiated into this House which is your House. And I'm glad that our COVID restrictions in Parliament now allow us to share this day together. May I start by acknowledging the settlement trust chairman and the settlement trustees particularly Ron Mark Ian Perry Robin Potangaroa Haami Te Whaiti and Hayden Hape as well as their tireless advocates including Jennifer Braithwaite and all those who stand as kaitiaki and custodians of this process. Tēnā koutou katoa; tēnei te mihi mahana ki a koutou i tēnei rangi ātaahua.[Greetings to you; these are my warm greetings to you on this beautiful day.]Let me also acknowledge and thank the Hon Andrew Little for his work and before him the Hon Chris Finlayson and negotiators on both sides including the Hon Rick Barker—tēnā koe te rangatira. I want to also thank officials and advisers who have worked on this bill and the settlement arrangements which accompany it which represent decades of work between the Crown and this rōpū. I want to also acknowledge the settlement trust's work in engaging directly with the people who will benefit from this settlement—through its proactive approach to communication whether it was sending mail directly to its people or whether that was communication on Facebook and through digital methods and through its voting process by hosting and live streaming hui. I want to acknowledge those who have been advocates for this whānau and the whenua that are no longer with us as well.The first claims were lodged when I was just a small child and their work has informed the lively and valuable debate that we have had over the years about this settlement and the wider exploration of these issues in the Waitangi Tribunal and in other bodies. And I thank them. I have heard the calls from the trust's chairman for everyone involved to look to the future and it is in that vein that I want to assist the House in understanding the future-focused arrangements in this bill between the Crown and the iwi—the arrangements that sit beneath it.The redress package includes commercial redress and the valuable opportunity to buy Crown-owned properties. But it's the other redress that I want to highlight which relates to the Wairarapa Moana which I will speak to later as well as the right to taonga tūturu and to work with Government departments as kaitiaki. These things are very important and we haven't yet addressed them in this House. I look forward as a member of the Māori Affairs Committee to scrutinising those arrangements in great detail but I want to touch on them now and the sorts of discussion that we will get into. For the bed of Lake Wairarapa the arrangements in this settlement negotiation include a statutory board that will include four members from Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua Settlement Trust. That board will be responsible for managing not only the lake and those assets but also the reserves around it. It's a really important step because managing that process and creating this sort of board brings people together to share their ideas about what's important in this natural asset which is so important to the people who use it and to the neighbours of the whenua. It's also a way that promotes the sort of dialogue that we need in our regions and also in our enduring settlement process.I also want to touch on the sites of significance particularly Castlepoint Scenic Reserve o Rangiwhakaoma. It recognises the cultural and spiritual associations that this iwi has with this whenua. And this particular place includes a cave where the lighthouse is today named Te Ana o te wheke o Muturangi which is a particularly important site and one where an ancestor of mine Whātunga established a pā. That's one where our ongoing associations with this particular piece of whenua are incredibly important to not only this iwi now and its children who are alive now but those children who come after us and the way that they experience their land and the associations that we place on it and the way that we teach our history to our children.Now let me touch on the taonga tūturu protocols in this bill which is something that is often overlooked in Treaty settlements but which is particularly important and something we should take note of. These are relationship agreements issued by the CE of Manatū Taonga—the Ministry for Culture and Heritage—to the iwi and they support the cultural and heritage aspirations of the iwi. They help iwi engage in policy and legislation reviews and give iwi a say on the relevant appointments to the boards that make decisions about arts and cultural institutions in their area. That's so important when we have a thriving arts and culture sector in New Zealand but we desperately need more Māori leadership in those organisations. We get that with iwi who feel empowered to come to the table. We get that with Māori coming through with scholarships and with assistance into the arts sector to take those leadership roles because for too long New Zealand's art sector has been led by people who have come from overseas but we need iwi to take the leadership and to take the reins in that sector.They also set in place agreements for iwi to be involved in arts and culture events and celebrations at a state level and at a council level like Matariki which is coming up very soon and we're proud that it will be a New Zealand holiday this year. These sorts of agreements will make sure that we have the leading role in making sure that it is celebrated in a way which is relevant and celebrates that day appropriately. Most importantly in my view these agreements cover those matters set out in the Protected Objects Act. That is where taonga—things like kō things like axes adze—when they are found and when agencies are involved these set out how the iwi should be consulted; when they should be brought into the process; what role they should play; and whether they are displayed kept or not kept. Because for a very long time it was up to the State and it was up to our State institutions and they always went in museums and on display. It's so important for the whānau to say that sometimes the creators of these taonga wanted them in the ground. It also creates recognition for 30 geographic name changes. You might think that that was not significant that that was a matter for councils but it is incredibly significant for the way that our children relate to the land. When they see the names of their tūpuna on street signs; when they see the names in their whakapapa; when they bear the names of their maunga of their awa of their whenua it creates that important knowledge of who we are and where we stand in the world which is what these settlement agreements can do when they are negotiated well. I'm looking forward to considering this bill in the Māori Affairs Committee which is ably chaired by my colleague Tāmati Coffey. We will consider this carefully. We will listen to the submissions of all people and we will really benefit I think from a lively discussion in that committee which I welcome. I commend this bill.