Finlayson Christopher: Maraeroa A and B Blocks Claims Settlement Bill Maraeroa A and B Blocks Incorporation Bill — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Finlayson Christopher: Maraeroa A and B Blocks Claims Settlement Bill Maraeroa A and B Blocks Incorporation Bill — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 25 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:3977. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 E nga mana e nga reo e rau rangatira ma tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. I am very pleased to take a call to speak in these third readings of what are known in Parliament as cognate bills. The debate brings together a bill that is promoted by Mrs Turia as the local MP the Maraeroa A and B Blocks Incorporation Bill and also the bill that gives effect to the settlement the Maraeroa A and B Blocks Claims Settlement Bill and I am very grateful to Mrs Turia for her help during the parliamentary work that has been going on during the last couple of months. 
I too stand to welcome the representatives who have come here today: the people of Ngati Rereahu Maniapoto Raukawa Tuwharetoa and the other iwi and hapu whose ancestors make up the original owners of these blocks. I welcome you. I know that some of you have travelled a long distance to listen to the third readings of both these bills which as I have said are being taken together. Today is very important for the descendants of the original owners of the blocks and the Crown because there have been as previous speakers have said serious Treaty grievances. They are being addressed through this legislation and that is going to pave the way for a very positive future. I too acknowledge all those who have worked so very very hard to bring us to this time: the leadership who have provided that necessary inspiration; the negotiators who have worked for their people; and the descendants of the original owners. 
I also want to acknowledge my fellow members of Parliament for their work. As Mr Horomia said that started under the previous administration when he and Dr Michael Cullen—Sir Michael it is now—were very involved in the terms of negotiation. After the change of Government in 2008 we continued that work. But these Treaty settlement bills are necessarily bipartisan work. Yes one administration pushes it along but we rely very heavily on the support of the other big party in Parliament which understands that these are not mere deals; they are something more profound and more sacred than that. They are essential to the life of our country—undoing the burdens of the past so that we can move on together. 
 These blocks as Mrs Turia said are situated on a volcanic plateau to the east of Te Kuiti and both she and Mr Horomia have very carefully and comprehensively set out the detail of the grievances and the redress. I do not think I need to repeat that material lest it be thought I am reading my speech—a charge that is sometimes quite inaccurately and unfairly levelled at members of Parliament of all parties. Sometimes people take offence at that particular charge but so often one then has to move on and demonstrate by one’s words that one is not actually reading a speech at all.  
We are allocated 10 minutes but I do not think we need to fill the House with 10 minutes of our wisdom; sometimes a short pithy and focused address is what is required. But I do want to acknowledge the support of all members of Parliament. The Maori Affairs Committee is a very important select committee in this place run under the chairmanship of the resourceful and the indomitable Mr Henare. He grabs hold of these bills when they go to the select committee and he and his colleagues deal with them very efficiently indeed.  
The only other point I wanted to make is to pick up on what I think Louisa Wall said last week which was that these are important occasions for Parliament. I cannot see it from here but I would be surprised if anyone from the press gallery was here today. I think it is a great dishonour—oh no it was Brendan Horan I think who said it was a great disappointment—because today we are dealing through extended hours and then this afternoon with the third readings of four settlement bills. I think they were described in the newspaper last week as small settlement bills. Well I actually think that term is rather offensive because all bills are important all Treaty grievances are unique—to use that term as it should be used—and all are very important to the future of our country. The quantum in this matter may be relatively small—and Mr Horomia always does that trick of standing up and saying in the third reading speech from the comfort of Opposition: “Oh you could increase the quantum.”; it is a little ruse he and I have—but none the less these are very important matters. They are important to the country and they ought to be publicised a lot more than they are.  
So that is I think enough from me. As I have demonstrated I am not reading my speech. I am very happy—very happy—to welcome the good folk of Waikato here today. I thank them for their perseverance and their hard work. This is a great day for you and I very much look forward to a positive relationship between the Crown and the incorporation in the years to come.  
That often is regarded as some kind of formulaic statement but it is not. It is very important and somehow we have got a lot of work to do on it to make sure that the undertakings that are given in settlement bills are carried through in the years that follow. I think one of the big problems is that the Crown does not always possess the institutional memory that it should. It signs up these deeds of settlement in good faith thanks people for their efforts promises a good future and then as officials change and time moves on it tends to forget. Well it cannot forget and institutionally I think we have got something to work on to make sure that in the years to come the undertakings that are given in these bills are in fact honoured.