Clendon DavidDAVID CLENDON (Green): Ā kei te mihi nui kei te mihi aroha ki ngā manuhiri nau mai haere mai ki Te Whare Pāremata ā Te Whare Raruraru o Te Motu. E ngā rangatira mā kuia mā e te mana o Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa tēnā koutou katoa. [A huge acknowledgment and a loving one to the visitors; welcome. Come hither to the House of Parliament and the Perplexed House of the country. To the esteemed ones the elderly womenfolk and to the integrity of Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa salutations to you all.]I had not intended to take a call in this debate. I have not followed this bill through the select committee process and other processes but I did want to take a short call in part just to acknowledge the kind words of Minister Finlayson when he introduced this debate. I am sure he very generously overstates my real contribution to the settlement process but nevertheless over the last 8 years it has been a genuine privilege and a pleasure to be in this House when settlement bills have gone through. It is of particular interest to me of course when bills have gone through for iwi and hapū of Tai Tokerau. We all look forward I am sure with longing to the happy day when Ngāpuhi finally settles in this House and may that day be sooner rather than later. But today is the day for Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa. This settlement like all settlements is necessary but few would suggest it is sufficient. It is necessary because we must acknowledge the wrongdoing of the past and in the spirit of goodwill we must seek to offer redress to put right what has been done wrong in the past. There has never been a bill where the material return was sufficient—the land returned—and the pūtea is never more than a fraction of what was lost in the past but nevertheless it is a commitment that wrong was done. I think inevitably that the most powerful and meaningful elements of settlement bills are the cultural redress and the acknowledgment of mana—mana that was never lost. It was not always acknowledged but the mana was never lost over the land and the wāhi tapu and so on which is so crucially important to the hapū and to the whānau. But even more so perhaps are the apologies—the printed apologies entered into the documents and entered into the Hansard—that the actions of the Crown were wrong and that the claims of the hapū and the iwi and the whānau over generations have been well-founded. Now in the spirit of goodwill it is our duty and our great privilege to be able as parliamentarians and as a Parliament to offer some redress. I think these settlement bills are often when you see Parliament at its best because there is always that level of humility I believe. And believe me humility is often a rare quality in this House. Nevertheless it does express that we are returning something of what was taken and it is necessary but seldom sufficient. It is of particular interest that a lot of the wrong that was done relates to pre-Treaty deals that were done I guess and transactions that occurred. That is of particular interest to me because of course my own Pākehā ancestors were involved in land dealings well in advance of Te Tiriti. By 1830 my Pākehā tūpuna had taken title—had accepted title—to land at Ōkiato at Manawaora Bay and later in the Hokianga. So I think I have a reasonably clear view that there was often goodwill on both sides but equally there was a lot of wrongdoing. There was a lot of taking rather than gifting. I think one of the most sad but also revealing stories within this document is the notion that the Crown at the time considered that the fact that Lord Ranfurly had graced a place with his presence to have a picnic meant that that gave that site sufficient mana to establish a reserve. The iwi generously offered 10 acres and had 709 acres taken from them. It is incredibly revealing of some of the attitudes and belief systems of the time and I do hope that is well behind us and stays behind us as part of a regrettable past as we look forward to a much better future. I think that as ever these settlements are a gift from the elders from those who have worked so hard over generations to bring back the mana to bring back the recognition and to bring back in some part some material benefit to the people who live in these rohe now and who will live there in the future. If I may be so bold as to lay down a wero—a challenge—to the young people it is to use that gift well. I say to our young people who will be the beneficiaries of these settlements that if you are guided by tikanga and if you are guided by commitment to manaakitanga and to aroha you may still make mistakes if you are so guided but you will not do anything wrong. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.