Coffey TāmatiTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker.Ko te manuHe kaikōkiri ataHe pānui mānaMō te ao katoaKia mōhio ai te nuinga o te whenuaKua tata mai rā Ka awatea.[The bird Calls in the morningIt has an announcementFor the whole worldSo that they knowThat in most of the landDaylightIs near.]Today is a new day for Ngāti Rangitihi. It's a new day on what has been a very very long journey for them and I want to acknowledge them today in the gallery for coming here for traversing Te Ika-a-Māui to end up here in our House in your House on this very very auspicious day. So thank you for being here.Can I note that on the long journey to this point we were talking not long ago about Wai 7. We were talking about the Central North Island Forest Land Collective. We were talking about just at the end of last year signing the deed of settlement over in Matatā at the marae and how significant all of those occasions have been. But my friends my relations the journey is not yet over. We have a bit of processing that we need to do in this House and until that happens we won't be able to finally tick it off.But we are involved in a process and I do want to thank the chair of Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Leith Comer for the work that you've done. Leith it's not an easy journey jumping through the Government hoops but your career in the Public Service has served you well and you have guided our iwi to this House today. Can I also acknowledge the other trustees Merepeka Cathy; the negotiators Ken Tīpene Del; and can I also acknowledge the officers from Te Arawhiti who do a brilliant job in trying to mirimiri and manaaki through a process which has its ups and downs.Can I mention as well that Rangitihi have a very special place in Te Arawa. We identify as Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru o Te Arawa. They are the children the eight children of Rangitihi. They are Rātōrua Tāuruao Rangiwhakaekeau Rangiaohia Rākeiao Kawatapuarangi Apumoana and Tuhourangi.Mr Speaker anei tētehi uru o Tūhourangi e tū ake nei e mihi atu nei ki a koutou ōku hoa moenga. [Mr Speaker this is a descendant of Tūhourangi standing before you greetings to you all my bed fellows.]That's a line that we sing in one of our waiata—our waiata poroporoaki our waiata aroha—about a significant event that we were both involved in both Ngāti Rangitihi and Tūhourangi back in 1886 in the pahūtanga o Tarawera maunga—the eruption of Tarawera—which to this date happened 135 years ago and about a week. So our whānau travelled to the top of Mount Tarawera to pay their respects and to remember those of our whānau that died in that eruption.It's beholden on me as a descendent of Monita Te Kitua and his wife Ngakawhena who proudly sits there in our whakapapa but who passed away in the eruption at Tarawera. Since then there has been a relationship that has gone on between Tūhourangi and Ngāti Rangitihi which has stood us in good stead even up until today and our Minister as he stood before did a mihi to Alan Skipwith who was crucial in helping to navigate some of those issues those border issues that are so fraught in this House when we start talking about things like overlapping claims. Actually the good relationship between Tūhourangi and Ngāti Rangitihi meant that we navigated that with mana and with dignity. So I want to acknowledge the late Alan Skipwith and the part that he had to play in this as well.There are a lot of stories to come out of this and as we move this bill through the Māori Affairs Committee we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other and sharing in those stories that are yet to be told. Through the submissions hearing process we'll put the call out and anybody that wants to put in a submission is able to. We'll hear about those people that are very supportive of the bill and there may even be some people that aren't very supportive and that will create an opportunity for them to be able to come forward and be heard.A precedent that we set when we listened to the submission hearings for our Moriori whānau on Rēkohu on Wharekauri on the Chatham Islands was that we went to the Moriori marae to listen to their submission hearings. It's new territory because I can understand that a very risk-averse Government process would not want to go to one particular marae for fear of alienating another particular iwi or something like that and so it's been standard practice to go to the local hotel—not that there's any in Matatā. Anyway. Or even the local rugby club—we could head there as well.But I'm going to be supportive and I'll be talking to the whānau and also our members of our select committee about actually going to the marae. There's only one that we want to go to and I think it's appropriate that we go there. The main thing is that we're able to create a safe space for those submission hearings to be heard and I hope that we can work together to try and create that outcome and that safe space that's necessary for a process like this. I look forward to hearing the various submissions and the different pūrākau the different kōrero that will come out of this inevitably but most of all I look forward to tracking this through to the second and eventually the third reading.I had a question before from Auntie Cathy and her question was: what will happen—she had concern about through the process our ability to block this Treaty settlement and I was able to let her know that generally when a Treaty settlement comes to this House actually it has already done a pretty thorough due diligence process by the iwi but by also our Crown officials through Te Arawhiti and this Treaty settlement is no different.There is a process that we have to go through though and we'll do that but the intention at the outset is to support this bill through the House because as we mentioned before it's been a long process just to get to this point right now. So we will go forward with good faith and listen to people that want to be heard. Our select committee is made up of various members from across the House. We have members of the National Party members of the Green Party and a member from the Māori Party. But actually you're in good hands as we go through this process.So I know in the select committee process that we're going to flesh through all of the detail that's considered in this very hefty piece of legislation right here but if this is the product of the due diligence if this is what the iwi want then actually it's up to us not just to ensure that there's a good process but to actually ensure that it moves through so that we can sign it off and we can put to rest an injustice and a hē. Hopefully through identifying that through fleshing out some of the details talking about the good stuff and the bad stuff we'll get to a place of enlightenment of māramatanga and the ability for the iwi to move forward and achieve their aspirations which is really about the oranga of the iwi—the oranga of the iwi. Whether it's the oranga of reo of tikanga of hauora we want to create through this process an avenue for them to be able to realise their own aspirations for the uri of Ngāti Rangitihi that they have so desperately wanted for a very long time.So whānau let's get this show on the road. I look forward to the process. I commend this bill to the House.