Little Andrew; O'Connor GregNGĀTI KAHUNGUNU KI WAIRARAPA TĀMAKI NUI-A-RUA CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I present a legislative statement on the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Claims Settlement Bill.SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I move That the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Claims Settlement Bill be now read a second time. Tākiri mai ana te ata ki runga o ngākau mārohirohi. Korihi ana te manu kaupapa ka ao ka ao ka awatea. Tihei mauri ora. E mihi ana ki a koutou kua tae mai nei i runga i te karanga o te kaupapa o te rā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. E mihi ana ki te hunga mate haere haere haere atu rā. Ki a tātou te hunga ora tēnā tātou. Kia whakamānawatia ngā mana o ēnei whenua e tū āhuru nei tēnei au otirā mātou te Kāwanatanga e mihi nei ki te kaupapa o te wā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Dawn breaks a new morning and a dauntless heart. The voice of this issue now sings a new dawn leads to the full light of day. I now begin. Greetings to you all who have responded to the call of this issue to be here today. I acknowledge those who have passed may you rest in peace. And to us who remain welcome one and all. To pay tribute to these comfortable lands I stand here we the Government stands here acknowledging the present issue greetings to you all greetings greetings one and all.]It's my privilege to support the second reading of the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Claims Settlement Bill. Second readings are an important opportunity and milestone in the legislative process. It signals that a bill has passed through the select committee stage while facing the scrutiny of the public; and for Treaty settlement bills it indicates one step closer towards reconciliation between the Crown and iwi.I begin by acknowledging the people of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua many of whom will be watching this reading online. It's been a long and incredibly difficult journey but those people have shown real determination and persistence in supporting their settlement and its progression in this House. It's important that we remember the real people behind bills like this. Their grievances are not forgotten; their desire to move forward with this bill is also not forgotten. I'd like to reassure Ngāti Kahungunu that this Government is in full support of them and their Treaty settlement bill.Turning now to the consideration of the bill by the Māori Affairs Committee can I just first of all thank the Māori Affairs Committee and its chair Tāmati Coffey for their very careful consideration of this bill because there were some sensitive issues that were associated with it. There was a lot of interest—173 submissions in total were made. Submissions to the Māori Affairs Committee covered a range of topics and were varied in their levels of support. But these submissions illustrate a common occurrence in Treaty settlements where differing and sometimes irreconcilable points of view must be balanced with the need to move forward. Some members of Rangitāne submitted on the claimant definition and that they did not agree with the inclusion of two hāpu in the bill who are also included in the Rangitāne Treaty settlement. I wholeheartedly respect Rangitāne's right to determine their whakapapa. That is a matter for them. Ngāti Kahungunu members of those two hāpu also told the Māori Affairs Committee that their hāpu is both Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu I therefore don't consider that it's appropriate for those hāpu to be removed. I understand that this will be disappointing to Rangitāne but Ngāti Kahungunu have the right to have their whakapapa reflected in their Treaty settlement.The Legislation Design and Advisory Committee also submitted to the Māori Affairs Committee recommending the select committee request an explanation from Ministers as to why the Crown considers it appropriate to legislate this bill now. The Legislation Design and Advisory Committee's guidelines state that Parliament can pass legislation that affects existing legal proceedings if it is justified as being in the public interest." After considering this bill and the views of parties very carefully I believe progressing this legislation will enable the true start of the restoration of the Ngāti Kahungunu and Crown relationship and that that is in the public interest. I'll come back to this point a little later in my comments to the House.Next however I'd like to thank all members of the Māori Affairs Committee again for their time and the care they took in examining the complex issues that were up for consideration in the bill—and their dedicated work to understand these fully before making their findings. The committee voted by majority to commend the bill to the House with only minor amendments. The amendments are technical points that do not change the substance of the bill. I want to come back to the issue of the litigation that has surrounded this bill. As a consequence of the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee's submission the committee invited me to present to them about why as Minister I had introduced the bill and why it was important to bring this bill forward. As I've already touched on that litigation has been continuing. The litigation started in the Waitangi Tribunal it went to the High Court and there is litigation currently before the Supreme Court that relates to that original litigation. To put that in context I have to say the Crown has a policy of comprehensively settling historic Treaty of Waitangi claims; settling all claims of a group at once. This policy has existed for many years through all Governments and has been supported through many changes of Government. In almost every settlement there are claimants who do not agree with the policy. In all of these cases Parliament has accepted there is a balance to be struck.As I've indicated the House will be aware of extant litigation around the issues that are related to this legislation. The first relates to a 2017 application for resumption over land at Pouākani which includes Maraetai Power Station. The land at Pouākani is in the rohe of Raukawa and Ngāti Tuwharetoa. In 1915 the Crown gifted 20000 hectares of land at Pouākani to Ngāti Kahungunu from Wairarapa in exchange for Ngāti Kahungunu's land and lakes in the Wairarapa. In 1949 some of this land was then purchased by the Crown for the use of a power station. The gifting of the land at Pouākani to Ngāti Kahungunu is the source of great grievance for Raukawa. Parliament passed the Raukawa Claims Settlement Act in 2014 which included an apology to Raukawa for the Crown's past failures to acknowledge the mana and the rangatiratanga of Raukawa. The Crown meant this apology and it's important that the Crown does not undermine that Act in 2014 now. The Crown's actions back in the early 1900s also left Wairarapa Māori with their own grievances. They lost their land their lakes and many were left alienated in another iwi's land. The Crown is trying to make this right through this settlement as well as through the Raukawa settlement. The second issue relates to the Ngāumu Crown forest licensed land and was sought by claimants in 2018 on behalf of Ngāi Tūmapūhia-ā-Rangi who whakapapa to Ngāti Kahungunu. The Crown acknowledges there are multiple hāpu with interests at Ngāumu and the forest will return to Ngāti Kahungunu as a whole through this bill. The claimants of Ngāi Tūmapūhia-ā-Rangi will benefit from this settlement.Despite a clear majority of Ngāti Kahungunu voting to proceed with settlement in 2018 the Crown opted to pause the settlement in light of the litigation but the tribunal decided against these applications in March 2020. There is no ambiguity about the tribunal's determinations. It said and I quote: "We do not consider we should recommend the return to the shareholders of Pouākani of the 787 acres … because the value of that land and the [Incorporation's] assets located there is not proportionate to the prejudice they suffered as shareholders in 1949." The tribunal further said "We are satisfied that the return of the land to Wai 85"—that's the Wairarapa Moana Incorporation—"would not be a just outcome." And also "We do not think it is appropriate to return land and compensation to Ngāi Tūmapūhia-ā-Rangi." These findings have not been challenged in the subsequent court proceedings in the High Court and in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has not been asked by any party to find that the tribunal made a mistake when it decided the return of the land sought was a disproportionate remedy to these claims. The Supreme Court is considering the relevance of manawhenua interests to the tribunal's resumption decisions as well specific matters relating to the statutory scheme for resumption of Crown forest licenced land. We are still awaiting the Supreme Court decision.The crucial point is the litigation before the court doesn't involve any challenge to the tribunal's earlier determinations which is that the claimants pursuing resumption are not appropriate recipients of the resumable assets and the assets are disproportionate to their claims. It's simply not conceivable that the remedies that the litigants seeks would be awarded to them. In order for that to happen the Waitangi Tribunal would have to abandon the principle of stare decisis. On the basis of this obvious fact and the determination of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua it is in the public interest that we proceed to pass this legislation.My view is that the balance is in favour of ending further delay and bringing the benefits of comprehensive Waitangi settlement redress to all of Ngāti Kahungunu. This is why I stand here today asking Parliament to support the bill. I am hopeful that the bill is an opportunity for all of us to move forward towards a true partnership one that is based on cooperation mutual trust and respect for Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles and I look forward to hosting Ngāti Kahungunu for their third reading at the Parliament. On that note I commend this bill to the House. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to."