Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e te Pīka tēnā tātou ngā mema o te Whare i tēnei pō. Tēnā koutou ngā uri o ngā hapū o Ahuriri. Ngā uri o Ngāti Hinepare ngā uri o Ngāti Māhū ngā uri o Ngāti Matepū ngā uri o Ngāti Pārau ngā uri o Ngāi Tāwhao ngā uri o Ngāti Tū ngā uri o Ngāti Te Ruruku.[Greetings Mr Speaker. Greetings to the members of the House this evening. Greetings to all the descendants of the sub-tribes of Ahuriri. The descendants of Ngāti Hinepare of Ngāti Māhu of Ngāti Matepū of Ngāti Pārau of Ngāi Tāwhao of Ngāti Tū and of Ngāti Te Ruruku.]Can I also start by acknowledging those tipuna whose names are recorded for ever in this bill which acknowledges both their legacy and the legacy of everyone who's been involved in the settlement to bring about a more positive future for their descendants. I acknowledge tonight Hikateko for Ngāti Hinepare Tumahuki for Ngāti Māhu Te Atawhaki or Te Putanga-Ō-Te Rangi for Ngāti Matepū Hikawera for Ngāti Paarau Tāwhao for Ngāi Tāwhao Tūkapua for Ngāti Tū Wharerakau or Te Hiku for Ngāi Te Ruruku and the other ancestors who are acknowledged in those trustees. I do that to ground us in Parliament's discussions tonight about those tipuna who are acknowledged in the settlement from the Crown which sets out a series of acknowledgments and apologies to right the wrongs that were inflicted by the Crown towards these people of Ahuriri. And it's those tipuna that bear a legacy of wrongs by the Crown that it is a privilege to stand here in the House tonight to acknowledge.I want to start by briefly touching on the future-focused nature of this bill. I commend the Minister and the negotiating teams for their work in allowing a process which is somewhat novel but I think really needed in this case where there were a number of decisions to be made after this bill is introduced for the Mana Ahuriri Trust. But these represent choices that the trust can make for the benefit of its people: things like a one-year period to elect to purchase 10 land-banked properties and two years to purchase Ahuriri Station. It also includes a right of first refusal over 10 properties for the next 174 years and the choice about whether to buy the Crown interest in Hawke's Bay Airport. Why I touch on that is because often those things are negotiated pre-settlement but what's been important here is to establish the ability of the Crown to negotiate with this group formally and then to establish the correct sort of procedural process that will mean that the people who we are trying to acknowledge here in this settlement and those uri of the tipuna who I read out are properly represented.I also want to touch briefly on what I think is arguably the very most important part of this settlement and that is Ōmarunui and the acknowledgments that the Crown gives about that historical event. I'll start not with the wording of the deed of settlement but by reading from the newspaper The Colonist in its report from 19 October 1866. And this before the negotiation of these claims in the process of the Waitangi Tribunal was the accepted account of the history on that day. And they write The body of about 70 Hauhaus who arrived at Pētane Hawke's Bay a fortnight ago having been reinforced by about 40 others and refusing to explain their intention Mr McLean the superintendent of Hawke's Bay determined to enforce their removal. On Monday 8 October the militia were called out and drilled during the three following days Major Frasier's party at Wairoa having been sent by sea. On Thursday night nearly 200 militia and volunteers and same numbers of natives marched to Ōmarunui pā and completely surrounded the Hauhaus before daybreak. One hour was given to them to surrender and at the end of two they were still refusing. At seven the attack commenced and in half an hour they hoisted the flag in truce and 47 surrendered. Several of these escaped but all accept four were retaken and the whole marched to the Napier Barracks. The casualties were 23 Hauhaus killed and the same number wounded."I read that account because it's really important in these Treaty settlement bills that we acknowledge the history that took place and the effect of that both on the settlors and the people of these pā who in this case were occupied by what was an invading force. And to see them all as one part of "the Hauhaus" which here was a derogatory term used for rebels would not be accurate.So I very proudly read from the apology afforded by the Crown in the acknowledgment section which says "Kei te whakaae te Karauna—i tuku i te tau 1866 i tētahi tauākī whakamutunga kutikuti i whakahau kia whakahauraro te katoa i roto i Ōmarunui tae atu ki ngā tāngata nō Ngāti Matepū rāua ko Ngāti Māhū mahue atu te whakariterite haere tonu i te hohou rongo; ā he mea whakamōrea ngā oranga o ngā tāne wāhine tamariki katoa i roto i te pā e te whakaekenga o Ōmarunui i te mōnehutanga o te tauākī whakamutunga; ā i whakamatea e te Karauna neke atu i te 30 tāngata e wawao ana i a rātou anō i Ōmarunui i tētahi atu whakaekenga o te Karauna i Herepoho; ā he mahi tūkino ngā whakaekenga o Ōmarunui me Herepoho me te takahi i te Tiriti o Waitangi me ōna mātāpono."[The Crown acknowledges that—in 1866 it issued an unreasonable ultimatum demanding the surrender of all those inside Ōmarunui including individuals from Ngāti Matepū and Ngāti Māhū rather than continue negotiations to preserve the peace; and Crown forces endangered the lives of all men women and children inside the pā by attacking Ōmarunui when the ultimatum expired; and Crown forces killed more than 30 people who were defending themselves at Ōmarunui and during another Crown attack at Herepoho; and the attacks at Ōmarunui and Herepoho were an injustice and breached the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.]That's really important because what that speaks to is the breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the Treaty itself when the Crown descended on Ōmarunui pā to evict those people and it acted in a way which was dangerous to the people who were ordinarily resident there. It speaks to those women and children whose lives were lost in a militaristic action that was taken by the Crown and was an overreaction to the occupant's failure to take into account the Crown's ultimatum. Statements like that are important in establishing the history of what went on in this and it's really important that the settlement goes on to address some of those wrongs of the Crown.We've heard tonight about what transpired after those events which I read about which was the taking of prisoners from Ahuriri Hapū to the Chatham Islands with the whakarau as they came to be known. Many of those escaped two years later with Te Kooti Arikirangi on the Rifleman when he captured it but many of them perished there on the Chatham Islands. I also want to acknowledge ngā uri o Rēkohu mea Ngāti Mutunga for their care not only of the people when they were there of Ahuriri but also of their spirits because as I know as someone who's recently travelled to Rēkohu with the Māori Affairs Committee some of Rēkohu is a very inhospitable place and for the people of the East Coast to be there without the protection of their whānau without the skills to live in such a place it would have been a very hard thing. And for their remains which are there we thank the mana whenua there for their care for that.It's important that the Crown acknowledges that what was breached there was the commitment to the rule of law from the Crown. And the acknowledgment here is about the rights of the inhabitants of those pā. And when they were prisoners they should have been treated as all New Zealand citizens would have been at the time and in fact some of them who were captured after Ngātapa they were given no trial and they were executed there. And then a very small number were tried under the Execution of Criminals Act 1858 which led to New Zealand's first and only capital punishment for Hamiora Pere.So I don't dwell on those facts to bring down the mood but I do want to touch on what was a very troubling time in New Zealand history where the rule of law was not upheld and the importance of Treaty settlements not only in righting the wrongs of the Crown to Māori and rebuilding the relationship—Te Arawhiti if you will; rebuilding the bridge between the Crown and Māori—but also about acknowledging simply where the rule of law has not been followed and the importance of the Crown in acting to right those wrongs and to commit ourselves to upholding the rights of prisoners in our system. So I look forward to discussing this bill more at third reading and commend it to the House.Bill read a second time."