Brownlee Gerry: Ngati Awa Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Brownlee Gerry: Ngati Awa Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
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GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 I stand on behalf of the National Party to indicate our support for the passing of this settlement bill today. We do so in an environment in which some of our political opponents would want to say that we do not have the right attitude towards settlement or indeed towards the Treaty of Waitangi and the consequences that flow from that. So I want to take a minute or two to discourage those views and to put very strongly on the record the reasons why the National Party strongly supports settlement of historical grievances. 
We do not accept that the concept of the Treaty of Waitangi is about the partnership of two peoples. We see the treaty as being a point from which two peoples got together to become one nation. That might seem to be a very subtle point; nonetheless it is a very important one. The genesis of our thinking might be best expressed in the Maori proverb first brought prominently to the attention of the nation by Whina Cooper back in 1990—“He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata.” What is the most important thing in the world? It is people it is people it is people. 
In settling grievances like this it is simply a grievance brought by New Zealanders who are Maori to the Government which now stands as the Crown and the discussions that result from that grievance being laid on the table coming to a point where there is settlement. We accept that the settlements can never fully compensate for the loss—the loss on many levels—or for the full amount of grievance that might be taken. We acknowledge the generosity of Ngati Awa and other settlor groups who accept that the Government is doing this in good faith. We will continue to seek settlement of treaty grievances on that basis. 
However it does raise the issue of how a settlement is mandated by those who are the recipients of it. I have expressed a number of times now my concerns about the very low levels of the vote in favour of settlement. It worries us on this side of the House that only about 30 percent of those eligible to participate in the vote that ratified the settlement chose to do so and of those a lesser number actually accepted it. Although the Office of Treaty Settlements might want to say to the Government: “Go ahead with this anyway because the rest of the people are so happy they don’t feel the need to vote.” it does leave the uncomfortable feeling that at some time in the future there may be successive generations or future generations who say: “Well our people didn’t sign up to this. We weren’t happy at the time and we’re not happy now.” That potentially threatens the idea that settlements are full and final that there is a leaving behind of the grievance in the moving forward to a new future. So I want to put it very clearly on the record that this Parliament understands and believes firmly that what is before us today is a full and final settlement and that Ngati Awa will not be back for more. 
There are also another couple of issues that I should raise. There was in this House a considerable amount of kerfuffle over the preamble to this bill. It is the first bill I understand that has a full text in Maori. It was therefore very important for that text to be reflected in the English translation and we took some time to insist that that was achieved. That should not be taken in any disparaging way by Ngati Awa; rather it should be accepted that it was the start of a new way of doing things. Our point simply was that as we have had so many years of disagreement about what was meant in the Treaty of Waitangi surely we should not have a bill settling a grievance that flowed from that time also creating the possibility of difference in the two understandings. I think we have now got to a position where we can say that that is not the case and that this bill is well understood to mean in both texts what exactly each understands of the other. 
A question was raised yesterday in the debate that established the runanga organisation that will receive the settlement assets. There was a suggestion in that debate that this new entity was being exempted from many of the encumbrances one might say that go with trusts companies and other entities that hold assets on behalf of other people. I have some sympathy for the view that was expressed by the Hon Richard Prebble— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Oh come on! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: —but in essence I say to Mr Parekura Horomia what we are doing today is handing to a group of people assets that are theirs. The choice as to how those assets are administered nurtured and managed in order for them to grow belongs to those people. For too long I think Maori have had an excessive amount of Government involvement in their governance. Trust boards and such over the years have had pretty onerous duties put on them by this House. So a freer structure is something we are not too concerned about. But I say again for the record that it would not be appropriate for future generations of Ngati Awa to come back to this House and say that the structure the House gave them in 2005 failed them—because it is not this place’s structure; it is Ngati Awa’s. 
Pita Paraone 
: The Act might be wrong. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Well the Act is not wrong of course because it was Ngati Awa’s Act that was brought here. It was a member’s bill as the member will remember. It was not a Government bill and that is the important thing. 
I think I should conclude by saying to Ngati Awa that the National Party wishes the iwi every success for the future. We are greatly encouraged by the way in which the plans for the future have been expressed to us and we would want to support Ngati Awa as New Zealanders as much as any others. We wish for them a governance structure that makes absolutely certain that the best of this asset will flow to the young people of Ngati Awa in the future. 
To those who took so many years to negotiate on behalf of the iwi I say that they certainly have my respect. It is no easy thing to dedicate years of one’s life to a cause that at times must have seemed distant and lost. Today must give great joy to the heart as it comes to fruition. But its fullest fruition will be seen in the many years ahead when the benefits flow to the people of Ngati Awa.