SpeechTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour) (remote): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe.Te riri o te atua i whiua ki te tangata I whiua ki te whenua E hora noa mai rā i te pōuriuri te pōtangotangoWaiho nei te aroha waiho nei te mamae Ka tae ki ngau i taku kiriI maringi a-wai te roimata i akū kamoKi te iwi ka wehe.—It was thus the anger of the god who destroyed the people and the landThe people lie scattered in the world of darkness and the world of the deadLeaving anguish and painTo gnaw unceasingly withinAnd the tears drop copiously from my eyesFor those who have departed this life.Ngāti Rangitihi karanga mai. Ki o iwi ki ō hapū ki ō whānau ki ō tūpuna ngā kuia ngā koroua kua whetūrangitia ki ngā tamariki ngā mokopuna kei te heke mai. Ko tēnei tō rā i tēnei Whare nō reira ka tika me mihi. Ko au tētahi o Tūhourangi e mihi atu e tangi ana ki a koutou. Ka tika me waiatatia te waiata mamae rongonui o Tūhourangi ki a koutou Ōku Hoa Moenga."[Ngāti Rangitihi welcome. To your tribe to your sub-tribes to your families to your ancestors to the female and male elders who have become stars in the heavens to the children and grandchildren yet to come this is your day in this House therefore it only right to pay tribute to you. I am someone of Tūhourangi who greets and mourns with you. It is appropriate that we should sing the famous lament of Tūhourangi to you "Ōku Hoa Moenga."]The Māori Affairs Committee examined the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill and recommended that it be passed with all amendments which were minor and technical unanimously. E te Minita mō tēnei kaupapa Anaru Iti ngā kaimahi o Te Arawhiti ngā mema o te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori me ngā āpiha o te komiti he mihi anō.[To the Minister responsible for this work Andrew Little; to the staff of Te Arawhiti; and the officers of the Māori Affairs Committee thank you again.]Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust I apologise for not being able to travel to your only marae Rangiaohia in our beautiful coastal township of Matatā the gateway to the Eastern Bay of Plenty and I apologise for not being there with you today. Thankfully we live in the future enabling me to be able to sit here at home in Ōwhata and some of you there in Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara with everybody else sitting back home in Matatā. To those that don't know the Ngāti Rangitihi rohe stretches all the way up the Tarawera Awa across Ruawāhia at Tarawera and out into Kaingaroa. It's where the deed of settlement was signed as mentioned by our Minister in December 2020. The coastal settlement is the location of Te Awa o Te Atua the former outlets of the combined flows of the Rangitaiki the Tarawera and the Orini rivers. The township is surrounded by large reserves featuring nationally important flora. Historically and contemporarily Te Awa o Te Atua is historically significant to both Ngāti Rangitihi and to Te Arawa whānui; neighbours Ngāti Awa Ngāti Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau. It was the landing place of many waka including Mātaatua waka and the Arawa waka as well. In pre-European times and into the 1800s Matatā was the food basket of the Tarawera valley. Te Awa o Te Atua was a significant port shipping food and flax to markets both in New Zealand and in Australia. Te Awa o Te Atua was also significantly a highway connecting Ngāti Rangitihi at the coast with its whenua inland. In particular Ngāti Rangitihi see the mauri of the Tarawera Awa as a reflection of iwi members' wellbeing. Crown actions in the early and mid-20th century destroyed the place. The cutting of the Tarawera and the Rangitaiki awa directly out to sea and also enabling the mill at Tarawera to discharge anything it wanted into the Tarawera River were the acts that caused the destruction. The Crown has taken the first step in righting these wrongs by acknowledging that it breached its Treaty obligations to Ngāti Rangitihi. But let's be honest it's never enough. I'll say it again: it will never be enough. The Treaty settlement does provide final closure for past grievances yes but at the same time it opens a big wide open door for the Government. For many iwi it's been firmly closed for many years. So Ministers Ngāti Rangitihi is ready to take their seat and we owe it to every Treaty settlement to do better for them through protocols and partnerships. And if co-governance and co-management are what iwi want to be able to provide for their own rangatiratanga then let it be. And on that note we must also do better to take New Zealanders on that journey because once these settlements pass historical amnesia has a tendency to set in and sometimes the general public forgets. We must keep reminding New Zealanders that at the end of a settlement it's merely the start of a long journey for iwi and today Ngāti Rangitihi we wish you well on your journey and may this House never forget what you lost because of actions of the Crown. As I've come to understand about Treaty settlements financial redress is important but one of the biggest things that allows the healing process to begin is the Crown acknowledgments and the Crown apology. That said I want the rest of my time to be dedicated to the Crown apology directed for all uri of Ngāti Rangitihi: "The Crown makes the following apology to Ngāti Rangitihi to your tūpuna and to your mokopuna and recognises your arduous journey in pursuit of justice. This apology is long overdue. The Crown is profoundly sorry for the many hardships and tribulations that Ngāti Rangitihi have endured and unreservedly apologises for its failure to fulfil its obligations to you under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. "The Crown sincerely apologises for its aggressive acquisition of Ngāti Rangitihi lands even when Ngāti Rangitihi were dealing with the tragic consequences of the Tarawera eruption. The Crown deeply regrets that in the aftermath of the eruption and despite recognising that Ngāti Rangitihi were a 'wandering landless people' suffering deprivation and uncertainty it still took almost 30 years to provide Ngāti Rangitihi with the secure title for the Hauani land. The Crown apologises for failing to ensure that Ngāti Rangitihi had sufficient land for your present and future needs. The Crown's failure to protect the Tarawera River a taonga of immense economic cultural and spiritual significance for Ngāti Rangitihi left the river defiled degraded and polluted. "The Crown's acquisition of Ngāti Rangitihi lands combined with environmental damage has had a devastating social economic impact on Ngāti Rangitihi undermined your cultural hauora and left you feeling as strangers in your own rohe. For this the Crown apologises. "It is the Crown's wish that through this settlement it can restore its sullied honour and atone for the past injustices it has inflicted on Ngāti Rangitihi. The Crown pays tribute to your proven loyalty including your long and honourable record of military service in many countries and your resilience in the face of great adversity. "The Crown hopes that this settlement will be a starting point rather than an end and will signal the beginning of a new strengthened relationship between Ngāti Rangitihi and the Crown based on cooperation mutual trust and respect for the Treaty of Waitangi."I commend this bill to the House."