Ririnui Mita: Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:666;Page:13743] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 A kati ake kia ora tatou kei te Whare. Hoi ano ra kua hoki mai ano ra tatou ki tenei pire e pa ana ki te iwi o Whanganui ki te Tonga me tera o nga iwi o Ngati Apa. Hoi ano ra ahua roroa te haere o tenei pire. E matorotoro haere ana i waenganui i a tatou. I tenei wa ka tata tonu na ki te mutunga o tana hikoi tana matoro a te wa ka puta na ko te ture ka oti. 
[ 
So greetings to us the House. We have come back again to this bill relating to the people of southern Whanganui and Ngati Apa. The process for this bill has been a somewhat lengthy one. We have deliberated it and taken it apart amongst ourselves. At this point its journey and deliberation is nearly at its conclusion. In time it will be enacted and then it is done 
.]  
I congratulate all the previous speakers who have spoken in support of the Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill. I do that because I am impressed by the level of collaboration and cooperation that there has been throughout the parliamentary process—in particular during the select committee process. During the hearing of submissions I witnessed a strong willingness to get the bill through the House. Southern Whanganui iwi and Ngati Apa expressed very strongly that they had reached a conclusion on how these matters should be settled and they therefore wanted to expedite the bill without any delay. 
The problem with being as far down the speaking order as this is that one is often left with very little to say. 
Chris Tremain 
: I can’t believe that. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I thank the senior Government whip; now I will take an extra 10 minutes because the member wants me to continue speaking. 
My colleagues on this side of the House have covered all the technical aspects of the bill. They have even made reference to the addition of the “h” in the pronunciation of Whanganui. One thing I find very unusual is that before the “h” was an issue I pronounced Wanganui as Wanganui; after the “h” I pronounced Whanganui as Wanganui. I wonder to myself whether te reo Maori has a problem or written English has a problem because nothing has actually changed. I cannot work out why there is all this emotion around the “h”. We talk about the tino rangatiratanga of our te reo Maori and ona tikanga katoa yet the “h” in the English alphabet can become such an issue in the pronunciation of Maori words. Hoi ano that is my opinion and it may not be shared by too many in the south. I cannot for the life of me understand why it is such an emotional issue. 
At this point in time I should also acknowledge the commitment of the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson. My colleague the Hon Parekura Horomia has acknowledged him in his speech. I congratulate the Minister on supporting the bill through all stages of the parliamentary process. It needs to be acknowledged that the bill is one of many settlement bills that this Government has picked up but it is yet to actually go through a process where it not only initiates negotiation between the Crown and iwi but also completes it. I am waiting with bated breath for that to happen. Hopefully in the next 18 months we may see that aspiration manifest before us. I will not talk about any area in particular. 
I come back to the bill. Earlier I mentioned the level of cooperation between MPs particularly the members on the Maori Affairs Committee. The incredible cooperation between the Ngati Apa iwi of the North Island and the southern Whanganui iwi needs to be acknowledged. In particular I am referring to the fact that during the initial negotiations the Whanganui iwi raised the issue that they had interests in the whenua of Kaitoke Prison—in the prison site—and also a 50 percent share in forestry. Usually when these issues are raised it takes quite a bit of time to resolve them and it is not an easy undertaking. In fact some of these issues can delay settlement bills for a year or so and I have experienced such situations. Some instances still exist whereby issues of overlapping interests have been raised and have yet to be resolved. I can think of one example in particular where it has probably been a couple of years since negotiations about overlapping interests were entered into yet today they have still not been resolved. 
In terms of this settlement bill the iwi in question understood that there were overlapping interests and that they themselves had the responsibility to resolve them. They called the various stakeholder groups together with the intention of resolving the interests and achieving a win-win outcome in relation to all overlapping issues pertinent to the iwi mentioned. We have to congratulate the negotiators involved and the Crown officials who participated in facilitating many of the discussions on the overlapping interests and to congratulate the iwi and the officials on the outcome which in this case is an agreement that southern Whanganui iwi did have interests in these two particular areas. 
Contrary to what the previous speaker Simon Bridges stated this is the first on-account settlement in the Whanganui district. The Whanganui courthouse matter was not a settlement; it was outside the settlement process—but let us not split hairs over that. I congratulate the Whanganui iwi and Ngati Apa on this ground-breaking decision to agree to an on-account settlement. This is the first time I have seen an on-account settlement introduced to the House by way of legislation. I was a Treaty settlements Minister for some 6 years and I do not recall a specific bill being introduced over that time to that effect. This is ground-breaking territory and everybody involved has to be acknowledged and congratulated. 
If anybody were to visit the Whanganui district and look at the countryside—at the rivers the mountains the hills the farmland and the farming operations—he or she would admire the primary sector in that area for the advances that have been made in agriculture and horticulture and other primary industries particularly forestry. But what is not apparent in the district is Maori participation in these primary sector activities. What is expected from this settlement is that Maori in the area—Ngati Apa and southern Whanganui iwi included—will no longer be bystanders watching development opportunities pass them by. In fact they will actively participate in contributing to the local economy particularly in the primary sector. 
Once again I congratulate the Minister. He has certainly picked up the challenge as the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and taken on all the fine work that the Labour Government put in place. Hopefully he will be able to bring to completion much of what he has taken on board. I look forward to some of the challenges that are ahead of him. Thank you.