Delahunty Catherine: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Delahunty Catherine: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 18 July 2012. Volume:681;Page:3738. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe. He mihi nui ki a Ngai Tamanuhiri me te iwi o Te Tai Rawhiti katoa tena koutou a he mihi nui ki te Whare Paremata. 
[ 
Thank you. A huge acknowledgment to Ngai Tamanuhiri and the entire tribe of the East Coast salutations to you collectively and a big greeting to Parliament. 
]  
The waiata “Haramai a Paoa” 
refers to Paoa the navigator the great navigator who came here and lost his dog around Te Kuri a Paoa. I am not an expert on that waiata but in Tai Rawhiti it is always sung and it is always said because of the significance of Te Kuri a Paoa. So it is a great day to see Te Kuri a Paoa having its name vested and its mana acknowledged—a mana that can never really be taken away no matter what. So the mana of the people of Ngai Tamanuhiri who have asked me to speak about this settlement today also cannot be taken away. I mihi to them today and say thank you to them for their guidance and their support. 
Muriwai is a beautiful but small community at the foot of Te Kuri a Paoa. It is about a 10-acre block surrounded by land that has been alienated through various means which we have outlined in many Treaty settlement discussions. Te Kuri a Paoa has a history that goes way back to Paoa and then to the events that Minister Turia referred to around the arrival of Captain Cook. I always wonder whether Young Nick saw them first or whether the people of Ngai Tamanuhiri saw him coming first. It is not something anyone actually knows. But it was the beginning of a very interesting history between two peoples. That is why Te Kuri a Paoa is such a significant part of the settlement. 
It does sadden me that John Griffin a New York stockbroker gets to decide who has access to Te Kuri a Paoa. Although Te Kuri a Paoa / Young Nick’s Head Historic Reserve is now vested in Ngai Tamanuhiri they have to ask an American stockbroker whether they can go there. There is something not quite right about that that needs more work. Maybe it was not possible to settle it through a Treaty claim but it is about saying to Mr Griffin: “Actually there were some people here already and their mana is on that maunga and they fought hard for that maunga.” I have climbed that maunga a number of times with kaumatua. In fact during the struggle for Te Kuri a Paoa I was in charge of the chocolate run. They got me to run up the mountain to take chocolate to those who were sitting on top of the mountain doing their noho to raise the issue of their right to their maunga. To those people who stood on that maunga who camped on the top of that maunga in the freezing cold in winter to whom I delivered chocolate I want to pay tribute because it has been a long time coming and honestly to honour some of those kaumatua who got up that maunga which is no mean feat. 
Ngai Tamanuhiri just like their beautiful and wild maunga are a staunch people with whom I have shed tears. So it is not with a feeling of superiority but with a feeling of respect that I stand here to acknowledge them in all their struggles and to acknowledge that they in many ways have accepted the settlement but they would have liked more. When I am disparaged for talking about deals I think it is important to acknowledge where that rhetoric came from and who gave it to me. So I honour those people who feel they could have had more but accept that this is all they could get. That is not to diminish the efforts of the Maori Affairs Committee or the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations or anyone else involved. We are all children of history. We are all negotiating what we can. But I will also be honest and say that that is how some of those people feel. They may not speak for all but they speak and they want me to speak as well. 
In terms of the redress the Wharerata Forest and other things will be a very powerful part of the settlement but also challenging. Ngati Rangiwaho who are part of Ngai Tamanuhiri are already concerned about the catchment the river and the effect of forestry on that river. Hopefully today means that they will have more ability to look after their catchment because for Ngati Rangiwaho it is really important. What happens upstream affects what happens downstream. They were struggling with Juken Nissho and other forestry people in terms of how that forest got managed. They now have 50 percent ownership with possible future rights and I hope that works for them because it is a very important part of the settlement. 
I also would like to leap back in history for a moment and think about Te Kooti because Ngai Tamanuhiri are people who paid a huge price for their association with Te Kooti. Te Kooti landed at Whareongaonga an amazing place inside their rohe and the very first Ringatu sermon was given on the beach at Whareongaonga. So within their rohe there are many things that represent not just Pakeha history which is very important but Maori history and the coming together of both those histories. The more we learn about those things the better we can understand how Ngai Tamanuhiri have survived this process. 
 They live on a small block of land surrounded by people who have wealth who have land and who have many things that they have lost but their spirit in terms of the hikoi that Ngai Tamanuhiri took on Te Kuri a Paoa will never be lost. I really do honour the fight that has led to this point the struggle which some of us were part of that led to this point. Under the previous Labour Government we asked for a full return. We do not have a full return of the maunga and we do not have full access but what we do have is a very important symbolic moment in time around the ingoa around the naming. So there are things to celebrate as well as things to stand up for. 
I think that the first refusal for the land under Muriwai School is another one of those examples where it would be great if we could go further than that and actually acknowledge that that land is their land that it always has been their land and that that is their kura. The people of Muriwai School also went on the hikoi to Wellington to call for the return of Te Kuri a Paoa. So they have more than paid their dues. These people have more than paid their dues and paid their time in terms of fighting for their place and for their right to their place. I think it is important to acknowledge that even though they are an iwi of 1700 they are iconic in so many ways and their place in the history of the nation belongs to all of us. 
I agree with other speakers—I think it was the Hon Tau Henare—when they talk about the story of this country needing to be known. So everyone who has heard of Young Nick also needs to know who Paoa is and everyone who has heard of Captain Cook needs to know who Te Kooti is and not just the scaremongering but the true history of Te Kooti his relationship with Te Tai Rawhiti and everything that the people went through. I urge all of us to keep telling the story of Te Kuri a Paoa / Young Nick’s Head as an opportunity for peacemaking because if there is one thing that the Green Party believes is important about the settlement processes the Waitangi Tribunal and the negotiations—whether you call them settlements or deals—it is that they are an opportunity for education and peacemaking and that is our responsibility from here on. 
Ngai Tamanuhiri are still not wealthy. They still have very little land. But they do have their mana and one of the things that people from that iwi said to me about being part of the Waitangi process was how powerful it was for them to tell their story to themselves to their young people to their rangatahi; for kuia and kaumatua to get up and talk about Te Kuri a Paoa and talk about the issues with Wharerata for Ngati Rangiwaho to tell their story; for all of that storytelling to be laid before the tribunal so that redress could be developed and an apology could be fully made which is what the settlement process has always been about. 
But there is more than that. There is still that issue—and I will keep on saying it—about resourcing Pakeha to get educated. There is more that we need to do to get educated about the history that has taken place not only in Te Tai Rawhiti but in other parts of the country. But having I suppose family connections with farming families who live at Muriwai having attended Anzac Day at Muriwai I know that we come together on Anzac Day but there is other coming together that also needs to happen. Part of that coming together is Pakeha people not only on the East Coast but in other parts of the country saying “Hey I need to know more about these words.” Te Kuri a Paoa should not be just something that slips off the tongue; it is a story of a dog and a man of a people of a time of a present a past and a future and of a mountain where important things happened for all of us—to our nation. 
Anyone who flies in on a plane over Gisborne will see that the mist hovers around the maunga and then it becomes clear and you see the sharp edges. That is like the history of Te Tai Rawhiti which we are talking about this morning in debating these two settlement bills related to Tai Rawhiti. This history is sharp. We need to keep progressing it. I am proud to speak and proud to see progress. Kia ora.