McKelvie IanIAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. It's a privilege to be asked to make a contribution on behalf of the National Opposition on the Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill this afternoon. I just wanted to start I guess by making mention of the Hon Chris Finlayson and Andrew Little. Because I think that in Finlayson's time as the Minister he did a wonderful job with a very difficult task. And I want to comment in a minute on a couple of things that the previous speaker said—Willie Jackson—because I don't agree with one or two of the things he said and I'm going to make a point of that. But I think this process—and I absolutely agree with what he said about that—has been pretty amazing.And I think if you think about our time in this House probably the most rewarding thing that we're able to participate in as parliamentarians is the Treaty settlement process. And I absolutely agree with the previous speaker Willie Jackson that the process will never compensate fully for what went on in our past in New Zealand. And I'll get into some boarding school issues later on that we won't compensate for either. But I do want to take one thing up with the previous speaker. I don't think—whatever happened in the Treaty settlement process—that the process would have bankrupted New Zealand. And the reason I say that is because all the Treaty settlements I've witnessed to date have been hugely beneficial to the communities that they are settled on. They're hugely beneficial to New Zealand. And I know very well that the Māori people are very like the Scottish—they don't part with stuff readily. And so when they get it they make the most of it and I think that's pretty special. So I don't think it matters how much or what goes on in the course of the Treaty settlement process it's always valued and it's always looked after in a pretty amazing way. I also think that in my case in the Rangitīkei we've had a couple of settlements; one that's been around for a little while a very small settlement around Ngāti Apa. And to watch the progress that they've made—and in fact Mr Assistant Speaker your own area and your own people to some extent—with their settlement I think is spectacular and the partnerships that they've built with their community that they live in as a result of those settlements are also spectacular. I think that we can expect the same thing to happen throughout New Zealand and I think that's the exciting thing about it.So I have no mandate to speak about the wonderful personalities of Heretaunga Tamatea who have worked so hard to achieve this settlement other than to say that I admire them greatly and I admire their persistence their determination and congratulate them on achieving the settlement. And I want to make another observation because I think that one of the really intimidating things about this process for anyone who participates in it is that you're really making a decision that's almost like a settlement for life. So you're almost giving yourself a life sentence because you are making a decision on behalf of future generations. That's hugely important not only for those future generations but for this country. And so it is a very challenging thing to go through. So I congratulate all those people who have been involved in it.I think from the Crown's side of it too those Ministers and members of the teams that put these settlements together are pretty special as well. They do a great job and whilst we may as Willie Jackson said never get to the full extent or get to a position that perhaps we'd have ideally got to I hope we'll get to a position where again the issues that the previous speaker raised where you can walk down the street and we can be proud of the fact that we've got to a point in New Zealand where we have at least repaired the damage and we accept that as a community and a society it's a very good way to go.I want to talk about the Heretaunga Plains for a minute in Hawke's Bay. It's a wonderful pretty hugely fertile and amazing place. It's a place where I was fortunate when I was young to spend a lot of time. It's a place that's managed I guess to capture my mother my sister and my daughter—some bloke got them all and took them out of the Manawatū or out of the Rangitīkei and took them to Hawke's Bay. That's about the only connection I've got with Hawke's Bay. It's interesting they only ever get the females; they don't get the males to shift over there but it is an interesting place. I think whether you start at Cape Kidnappers and go all the way to Porangahau it is a beautiful part of New Zealand and it's a part of New Zealand that we should all be very proud of. And I think that Marama Davidson mentioned in her speech the environmental challenges that that part of New Zealand has. I think there's been some spectacular progress made with respect to that as well.I wanted to talk briefly about Te Aute because I remember as a skinny little winger getting beaten up by a big boy from Te Aute. Luckily the score ended up in our favour at the end of it. But I went to I suppose the brother-school of Te Aute in Whanganui. And I noticed that the very good Catholic former Minister Finlayson was talking about Hato Pāora College—well we also beat them. But he couldn't resist bringing that Catholic piece into it. And I know us Anglicans are very suspicious of them but I am also equally sure that the settlement process while I think that it will be great for Te Aute I just hope that the history and the value of schools like Te Aute Hato Pāora and Turakina Māori Girls College which unfortunately has since closed—I think they're so important to New Zealand and to our future that I think we should do everything we can to preserve them. I notice Wanganui Collegiate School has allowed girls to go to the school. I'm not sure Te Aute has got to that point yet but that's obviously some progress that could be made if it does.So I think that it's really important that we do make the most of these pieces of history for us really because they are great parts of our history. And I was fortunate as well to go to school with a grandson of Sir Māui Pōmare so he might have gone to Te Aute but his grandson went to Wanganui Collegiate. And that just shows how close together we are really as a society.I wanted to mention something else that Peeni Henare spoke about and I think it's an issue that us Scottish people have a great deal of difficulty getting our tongues around: the pronunciation of some of the—and I would have hated to take up Rino Tirikatene's role of trying to read out all those hapū. That would have got my tongue going really badly. But I think Peeni Henare made a really important point and it is that as New Zealanders we do need to learn how to pronounce Māori names properly. We need to learn how to speak the language properly. I'm sure future generations—and I know that the next generations of my family are much more proficient in this sort of thing than I am. I just hope we continue that because it is part of our heritage and I think wherever you go in the world we've often made the point—or not made the point; we've lost our heritage through basically ignoring and neglecting those sorts of things. And I think that's a really important point that we need to pick up in this Parliament. It's also an important thing that I think the Treaty settlement process gives us the opportunity to strengthen a lot of those bits of our history that we need to strengthen.So I think it's an exciting time for New Zealand frankly as we work our way through these Treaty settlement processes and I realise there's a lot of angst and as I said earlier it is a very brave decision that many of these people—these men and women—make as they go through these I guess effectively forgiving 160 years of history and setting us off on a new pathway to the future. So I think it's exciting. I look forward to that continuing and I think as a Parliament we are making the very best of what historically has been a difficult situation for us. And I think when you saw the Parliament this morning where the two sides of the House were far from agreeing with what was going on in here I think it's a real privilege for us also to be able equally to agree on something like this on the same day as this morning when we were disagreeing with stuff. I think that's the strength of this place and I just congratulate everyone in the House on their part in that and I certainly congratulate Heretaunga Tamatea and Ngāti Kahungunu on the efforts they've put in to settling this thing. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker.