Seymour David; Dean JacquiDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Well thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in support of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. ACT has long supported the Treaty settlement process. It comes from a belief in property rights justice and the rule of law that where it can be established through a fairly lengthy process—and it is a very thorough process that the Waitangi Tribunal goes through with claimants and the Office of Treaty Settlements goes through in trying to propose redress for claims and then Parliament and select committees debate a bill; a very lengthy process—it's right and proper for any country to put right wrongs that have happened in its past.This particular bill the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill I think is one that actually a lot of people might find interesting because there has been such a popular—although completely incorrect—mythology around who the Moriori people are and what role they've played in the history of New Zealand. I myself was somebody who grew up and went to a primary school and was subjected to edition after edition of the School Journal in our primary school library all neatly packed into their boxes year after year and the School Journal—I have to say somewhat earlier than the times I was at school—has been responsible for all sorts of mythology carried through New Zealand culture over the last century or so. It told a story that I suspect many New Zealanders probably still believe to be true which goes something like this: that the Moriori were the original inhabitants of New Zealand before Māori and were effectively pushed out of New Zealand or at least the main North and South Island part of New Zealand to reside in the Chatham Islands. That has been used for various purposes and had many various arguments based upon it over a long period of time.But as clause 8 of this bill recounts this actual story was somewhat different and I think it's very helpful that Parliament is passing a very short and abridged version of the history but nonetheless a factual one that during the select committee process has been challenged by others and the select committee has decided that actually they are going to maintain the historical account that they themselves had received. It goes something like: the Moriori arrived in the Chathams around about 1000 to 1400 AD. They lived for about 400 to 800 years in what is said to be a peaceful and harmonious way—although it is a pretty exposed sort of a part of the world out there but nevertheless set about a sustainable society. It wasn't until the late 1800s with the arrival of English ships that they made contact again with what you might call the outside world. It wasn't until 1835 that they were again made contact with by the Māori people or at least representatives of two iwi who effectively colonised the Chatham Islands some would argue—and certainly in this account—taking advantage of historic Moriori pacifism.The overall results of this were devastating and it's a very sad story that occurred in the years to come. The Māori Land Court established by the Crown actually decided to award about 97 percent of all land in the Chathams not to Moriori but to those who had more recently arrived and done considerable violence against them. Now it's not the first or the last people to be upset about a court case outcome but this was particularly egregious I think most people would say. There were any number of injustices. When the Electoral Act said that there was a franchise with four Māori seats the country was divided into four districts but for some time the Chatham Islands were actually excluded—literally geographically excluded—from the franchise. The Chatham Islands were outside any electorate and this wasn't resolved I think until around about 1922 it says here. So again one injustice after another.The result of this is that by the turn of the century a population of around 2000 Moriori who had lived pre-1835 had been reduced to only 31 and at about that time a lot of elders passed on. It seemed that the Moriori culture might be erased from the surface of the Earth by this series of events. It's a great tribute to those survivors who have gone on to rebuild the culture and to re-establish its identity to fight back against the myths of the School Journal and to actually establish identity and some rights and this legislation which acknowledges that history issues an apology from the Crown is a big part of that.It's particularly ironic some of the violations of rights—you know those people who were enslaved by the arrival of Māori iwi in the mid to late 1830s this happened at a time when the British Crown in England had just famously under the leadership of William Wilberforce outlawed the slave trade. It was a time when the Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840 said that people would have their rights and duties secured their taonga—and surely that means self-ownership of their own bodies—protected by the Crown and the Crown really failed to uphold people's basic rights in their law and order within New Zealand allowing one group of people to be subjugated by another group of citizens. So given that that was what the British Crown was standing for at the time and what actually happened I think the apology in this legislation is very appropriate.Of course it goes on: where possible and with the confines of Treaty settlements given that Treaty settlements do not award privately held property to other people it goes on to give back what is possible to give some claims over customary fishing rights and restore something like what those people in the Chathams might've had had it not been for that failure but also acknowledging that much has happened in that time. Of course there won't be ever a full cultural or commercial redress of these rights.So that is the story of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. I think it's a very worthwhile milestone. It's a very important story in New Zealand history. It's one that has been subject to so much mythology by so many New Zealanders over such a long period of time. I think the pursuit of truth universal human rights justice and property rights that this legislation exists in is a very worthy thing that the ACT Party is very happy to support. Thank you Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): I call Paul Little.Paul Eagle: Tēnā koe—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Oh beg your pardon—beg your pardon. Apologies; I call Paul Eagle.