Mahuta Nanaia: Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:678;Page:1534] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 A tena koutou. Tenei e tapiri atu i aku mihi ki era i waihotia i mua i te aroaro ki a koutou Ngati Porou tena koutou tena koutou. Ki nga kaumatua nga whaea nga kuia koutou katoa e hapai nei i tenei o nga hiahia kia tutuki pai tenei kereme ka nui te mihi atu. 
[ 
Greetings to you collectively. I add my acknowledgments to those placed before you Ngati Porou; salutations and acknowledgments to you. I congratulate you elders aunts old women—indeed all of you who elevated the notion that these aspirations in respect of this claim be achieved well. 
] 
It gives me great pleasure to be able to join with speakers before me and support the third reading of the Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill. I was thinking in some regards as to how to approach this speech today because we have had four preceding settlements and the hope and opportunity that comes from a settlement process is very real. But we are having a very different conversation here with Ngati Porou because this settlement is in part a continuation of a conversation and a relationship that has been well established. This is a sophisticated smart and strategic settlement in that not all the issues for Ngati Porou have been resolved. So it will lock future Governments into a continued relationship of having to work with Ngati Porou to achieve the best outcomes in that area.  
I was reminded of some sage advice that was given to me by a kaumatua when I came into Parliament. He said to me: “Remember kotiro when you get up and speak on a kaupapa that is a Maori kaupapa you must be able to whakapapa to that kaupapa.” Do not get up and say something if you do not know anything about it—that is what he was telling me. 
I thought that on this particular issue the footprints of Ngati Porou have definitely left a deep impression on contemporary New Zealand history. When I think about that I think about the bust that is at the front of the Grand Hall and as you walk past that bust you cannot help as a parliamentarian and certainly as a Maori parliamentarian to be inspired by the leadership of Apirana Ngata and what he sought to achieve in his lifetime. I make mention of that particular point in history because were it not for Apirana Ngata and his relationship with Te Puea I am sure our fate may have been very different.  
I want to highlight three important strategic and significant contributions of Ngati Porou that have endured to this day and have certainly left an impression with my people. Firstly there is the contribution of the 28th Maori Battalion and that legacy of being a proud fighting people and being able to contribute towards the effort to preserve and protect who we are as a country as a nation for the benefit of our people and our citizens here in Aotearoa.  
The other contribution was really in my mind where Ta Apirana Ngata had a deep impact on Te Puea my ancestor and that was around land development. I mentioned earlier that we are having a very different conversation with Ngati Porou because unlike many other iwi they do know what it is to develop their lands have an economic base and look after their own people.  
The third important contribution was in the area of cultural restoration—our language and our taonga. We see very much in the components of this settlement those significant historical contributions being reflected in this settlement. That is why it is a sophisticated strategic settlement in my mind and I am sure a lot of iwi will be looking at how they realise the gains from it.  
But here it is at a fine point. In Ngata’s relationship with Te Puea he impressed on Waikato the importance of self-sustainability through land development. Indeed my father used to holiday in Waiuku in one of those places where Te Puea was trying to get land development back under Ngata’s times in the late 1920s and my dad can remember going to the farm that he worked on that Ngata and Te Puea had established. The other part was the importance of strategic political relationships. It would be true to say from our telling of history that Te Puea’s own relationship certainly with the powers that be of the day were reinforced because of her personal relationship with Ngata and it endured beyond their personal relationship.  
The third really important element was education. Many other iwi can tell this story but I think Ngati Porou tells it particularly well and that story is about the importance of education underpinning successful and enduring leadership for the future and that in itself I think is a huge legacy. Prior to Te Puea’s relationship with Ngata there was a huge campaign against going to schools because of our experience during the 1860s and it was only with the relationship with Ngata that Te Puea embraced the fruits of education. Indeed had that not happened my father would not have been sent to Mount Albert Grammar School. So I do have a lot to be grateful for in terms of Ngati Porou’s legacy of leadership and how it has impacted on me and that is really how I whakapapa to the conversation that is being continued here today.  
This is a great settlement in my view. There are real opportunities for other iwi to learn from what can be achieved in areas like the letter of commitment and what is being tried around the cultural redress aspects of it. I look forward to the realisation of what I am sure will be a dynamic regrouping of Ngati Porou histories traditions and taonga in some very unique ways for the benefit of future generations.  
The other I guess innovation that through the Treaty settlement process was something we grappled with was that because the direct negotiation process cut across the Waitangi Tribunal hearing phase and hearings were suspended throughout the submission process we pointed to the airing of grievances opportunity and how very real it is for iwi and people who have a historical grievance to tell their story. This is a particular innovation that has not been seen in any other settlement.  
I certainly want to highlight that throughout the hearing of submissions it was very important in some shape or form to give some prominence to people being able to air their own particular grievances so that their history could be told. Far be it from me to say the level of hurt that was felt during the submission process; I am only highlighting really that this is an innovation and could be one that could endure going forward as well for other settlement models.  
The other unique innovation I think which really ties again to how strategic Ngati Porou is around the skills value-add that they can derive from the Crown is in these unique Defence Force scholarships. We all know in our own iwi that we would love to take those 10 percent of my cousins who may not do so well at school but could do really well in the police force and the defence forces; and opportunities like these I think will be looked at very keenly to see whether they can afford more tangible ways of turning lives round but making a great contribution to our country and producing great leaders.  
I want to thank the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and former Ministers from Ngati Porou who all had a hand in this in one way or another I am sure for presenting this kind of a settlement to the House. It is an important day today but as I say we are at a different part of the conversation with Ngati Porou as a Parliament from where we are with some other iwi. What we need to be able to say and promote—na te mea ehara te kumara e korero mo tona ake reka [ 
however it is not for the sweet potato to say how tasty it is 
]—is that where there are exemplars we should be embracing and pushing and ensuring that they can continue to be exemplars. Where there are issues where lessons can be learnt let us share that experience so we do not recreate the wheel.  
He iti noa tenei naku hei tuitui ki te whariki korero i waihotia i mua i te aroaro. No reira ki a koutou katoa i tenei wa tena koutou tena koutou kia ora mai tatou. 
[ 
This contribution from me is but a small one to be woven into the fabric of the contributions put before you. Therefore acknowledgments salutations and congratulations to you and to us all. 
]