Rurawhe Adrian: Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10586. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru):Ā tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare otirā kei te mi’i ‘oki au ki a koutou ngā uri o Kahukura-Ariki ngā whānau katoa o Ngāti Aukiwa Te Hoia Ngāti Kaitangata Te Pohotiare Ngāti Rangimatamomoe Ngāti Roha Ngāti Rua arā Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa tēnā koutou katoa nau mai haere mai tēnā koutou.Otirā e tika hoki kia mi’i atu anō ki te ā’uatanga ki ō tātau tini mate rātau katoa i hinga mai nā puta noa i ngā moutere nei ngā pīwaiwaka tītakataka ngā reo whakaoriori otirā te iti me te rahi te rangatira me te rawakore. Haere atu rā ki tua o te ārai ki te kāinga tūturu mō tātau mō te tangata. Oti atu te wā ki a koutou e ‘oki e moe e moe ā kāti mō tēnā.[And so thank you Mr Deputy Speaker but at the same time I acknowledge you the descendants of Kahukura-Ariki all the families of Ngāti Aukiwa Te Hoia Ngāti Kaitangata Te Pohotiare Ngāti Rangimatamomoe Ngāti Roha Ngāti Rua in other words Ngātikahu at Whangaroa welcome come hither and greetings to you collectively.But at the same time it is fitting for me to pay a tribute once again to the circumstances of our very many deaths all of those who have fallen throughout these islands:the song birds the fantails the insignificant the outstanding the privilegedand the impoverished. Depart beyond the veil to the place destined for us for mankind. Your part is done depart sleep and rest so enough in regardto that.]It is always a great honour to speak on Treaty settlement bills and this is no exception. I too am a descendant of Kahukura Ariki on the side of my grandfather Paki Rurawhe. He comes from a small marae called Te Huia at Pupuke near Kaeō just south of the area of interest that we are speaking about today. I want to acknowledge aku whanaunga my relations who have come here today for this reading of this bill.Treaty settlements are always difficult and I want to focus in on the historical account the acknowledgments and the apology in so far as they all fit together. The historical account is an agreed historical account—negotiated. It would be interesting to know what was left out of this because the Crown did not want it in there. In that historical account—and Marama Davidson in her contribution mentioned the acknowledgments the Crown has made in this settlement—it talks about acknowledging the compulsory taking of 700 acres for a scenic reserve. There are acknowledgments around public works around the taking of 6 acres at Matakaraka for public works and other acknowledgments as well.Then we come on to the apology and I want to repeat some of the words that my colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta read out in Te Reo Māori. I want to in particular read this part of the apology: “The Crown has promoted injurious laws and policies that undermined Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa wellbeing and disrespected Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa rangatiratanga. For its acts which contributed to the loss of Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa autonomy and damaged Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa’s tribal structures the Crown is deeply sorry.” And so the Crown should be.We should be acknowledging this apology but the value of any apology is its sustainability. It says here: “The Crown has promoted injurious laws …”. The apology has value only if every single law from now on no longer injures Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa. That is the challenge for this House—to ensure that we scrutinise every single piece of legislation to make certain that laws are no longer passed that are injurious to Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa and indeed to every single iwi that has settled their claims through settlement Acts. I mention that and join with my other colleagues who have spoken about current issues which no doubt if passed through this House will be injurious to Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa and every other iwi. So I just want to make certain that this is recorded and that we make certain that this House passes laws that are good laws for all of us.I also want to talk about the process. It is an arduous process and like others I acknowledge the negotiators from Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa. I acknowledge the Crown negotiators as well and the officials who have worked on this settlement. The process is indeed another step towards reconciling those wrongs of the past. This bill will go to the Māori Affairs Committee and I encourage everyone who supports this bill to make a submission and to tell the select committee why they support this bill. Too often I think we make submissions only if we disagree with something and I think it is really important that the voices of those who support the bill are heard as well. It is an opportunity also for those who disagree with the bill to make their thoughts known to the select committee.I can assure Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa that from my experience the Māori Affairs Committee will look very carefully at all of the issues. Its members will ask the difficult questions and they will expect compelling answers from the officials and I am sure that those answers will come from the officials. That is really the final step in the process to be able to acknowledge those things that people have concerns about so I also encourage them to make their submissions.On a number of occasions I have said this and I am going to say it again: we are here today despite all of the difficulties of the horrendous history that is outlined in the historical account and despite the challenges faced by Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa. Despite all of this we find ourselves here today for the first reading of this bill and we are here today because Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa have performed an act of generosity to this country. They perform an act of generosity to this country because of the magnitude of what they lost in comparison with the settlement that they will receive. We should all be thankful to them for this act of generosity. But we should also always ask why you would do that. Why would you settle for much less than what you lost? You do that for the future generations. You do that to move on from being in that claimant phase into a development phase. Sotaku kōrero w’akamutunga ki a Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa tēnei ahau tuku mi’i atu ki a koutou e kaha ana kia tae mai ki tēnei wāhanga o tēnei whakahaerenga kia whakatau tō koutou kerēme ngā mi’i nui ki a koutou. Kāore e kore mai i ō koutou mahi ka whai hua ngā tamariki mokopuna o Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa nō reira koutou mā tēnā koutou otirā tātau o Te Whare nei tēnā tātau katoa.[So in my closing remarks to you Ngātikahu at Whangaroa I commend you for working so hard to get here for this part of the proceedings that settles your claim and does so greatly. Without a doubt your work will benefit the children and grandchildren of Ngātikahu at Whangaroa therefore well done to you collectively but at the same to us this House my appreciation to us all.]