Mahuta Nanaia: Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMahuta Nanaia: Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill — Third Readings[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17156. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):Tēnei e tū ana ki te tuku mihi ki Ngā Puna Wai o Te Tokotoru koutou Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi me Tapuika. Anei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.[I stand to acknowledge you the Three Water Springs Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika. My congratulations to you all.]It gives me great pleasure to be able to make a small contribution on the third and final reading of these three bills the Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill the Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill and the Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill. The submission process was informative for the Māori Affairs Committee and gave a sense that we were doing the right thing at somewhat the right time. In 20 days’ time there will be a commemoration event at Pukehinahina recollecting the Land Wars that took place in the 1860s and the alliances that occurred over that time and recognising that Māori fought for their lands the assertion of their identity and the continuation of their mana motuhake within their own country. It is somewhat serendipitous that we have Treaty settlements occurring during this period. The time is right.I want to in my small contribution recognise the efforts of each of the respective claimant groups and your negotiators for bringing your settlement to fruition and providing an opportunity for the next generation to look forward. Firstly I will make my contribution with regards to Ngāti Rangiwewehi. It is a testament to the modernisation of aspirations amongst Ngāti Rangiwewehi that people can go to a website and see what is happening. They can see that actually over the last 150 years you have not been sitting around doing nothing and twiddling your thumbs. In fact if anything it is indicative that there has been a lot of innovation and creativity and a lot of looking towards yourselves for solutions around some challenges. What the Treaty settlement will do is I guess boost effort that has already been taking place. I want to acknowledge that because often when people come to the House to debate Treaty settlement bills there is a thought that Treaty settlements are the beginning of something. In fact it is the beginning of something more but it does not mean that nothing has happened before if I can say it like that. I want to acknowledge that for Ngāti Rangiwewehi.I want to acknowledge and support the comments of the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations with regards to the components of your redress which have restored and repatriated significant taonga to you so that you can look at ways to build your cultural history your asset base and also the cultural heritage and natural heritage that exists within your rohe. Not enough can be said about Hamurana Springs a significant component of your redress and Taniwha Springs because they are iconic features of the landscape within your rohe and it is really important that New Zealanders gain an appreciation of not only the natural beauty of these places in your rohe but the history that goes with them. This is a significant and positive step that all New Zealanders gain from.I want to also recognise that yes there is commercial redress but it is kind of like a seed. I am absolutely confident that Ngāti Rangiwewehi will grow the seed to its maximum potential and opportunity. Treaty settlements are always a space where the Government if it changes its frame around how to continue the Treaty relationship looks for active partnerships with Rangiwewehi when it comes to developments in your own rohe. So that is that.To Tapuika again your Treaty settlement provides added impetus to developments that have already taken place but can I say that when I look through websites—because it is a good sense of how you are engaging with your tribal members to promote information and to secure feedback—I would have to say that the Tapuika website provided a very clear and logical approach to how some of your tribal members from outside the rohe might be wanting to understand what is happening with the iwi and where we are going. In terms of the presentation of your website it was a pretty cool fulla or “fulless” who developed that website because it provided a really good snapshot and entry for people wanting to learn more.My sense of this settlement especially around the issues the instruments and the cultural redress component is that the Kaituna River through a co-governance framework will be a real opportunity for you to engage with local government importantly and also with users of your waterway to ensure the well-being of it and the ongoing sustainability and use of the water resource. Also your decision making in resource use starts with the Kaituna River but it does not stop there. So I hope that the co-governance framework will be I guess a further peg in the ladder to secure your ongoing advocacy with local government about ongoing resource use of all kinds within your particular rohe.For Ngāti Rangiteaorere this is a discrete continuation of a settlement. We had heard quite clearly from the submitters that although the 1993 settlement took place the geothermal interests were not covered and that in part informs some of the contribution here. We were reminded that there were some aspects of the settlement with relation to the Māori Land Court that you brought to the attention of the select committee although we could not address them. We recognise that those were some of the challenges that you were facing. Can I say that in so far as Ngāti Rangiteaorere interests are concerned it seemed to me that as a discrete settlement it did provide an avenue for others to follow when they are thinking about how to advance within a large natural grouping some very discrete components of settlements that must be recognised by the Crown. So that is a learning that I took forward anyway when I considered how things were put together by the Minister.Lastly can I say that I am under no shadow of a doubt that although there may well have been trials and tribulations in getting to this point this point is the continuation of a really important chapter for each of the respective groups that are here today and it pegs a firm stake in the ground for another generation to be able to look beyond those of their ancestors and their tūpuna to carve out a future of opportunity. That is the space that these three iwi in my mind have brought in front of Parliament and politicians. That opportunity through innovation and the total sum efforts of just pure determination have been captured within each of the components of these settlements and I am sure that given further feathers to fly with they will soar very high. Nō reira kia koutou katoa. Tēnā koutou katoa.