Whaitiri Meka: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 12 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16658. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā tātou e te Whare nei. I join with all members of this House in celebrating the third reading of the Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill. Ā tuatahi e te iwi Raukawa nau mai nau mai haere mai. Haere mai ki tō tātou Whare i runga i te kaupapa whakahirahira i tēnei wā. Nō reira ōku rau rangatira mā kui mā koro mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Firstly to the tribe of Raukawa welcome welcome welcome. Welcome to our House in regards to this matter of enormous importance at this point in time. So therefore to my leaders of a hundredfold to the elderly women and menfolk salutations and greetings to you collectively and to us all.]I join with all members in celebrating the third reading of this most important bill of Raukawa. I want to pick up on the comments of the Hon Tariana Turia who talked about the unique qualities of this bill particularly around the tensions of the relationships and overlapping iwi interests. I want to add my support and say that it is often not an easy thing to manoeuvre yourself through Treaty processes when you have such competing interests in this area. So I want to particularly acknowledge the leadership of those who have been mentioned—Chris McKenzie and Vanessa Eparaima particularly—for ensuring that your settlement waka has come to this point today. So I do mihi to you for the efforts of your negotiators and your leadership particularly.Just picking up on the complexity particularly around the overlapping interests when looking through at the progress on this bill I noted that the deed of mandate was signed in September 2008. Ten months later in July 2009 the terms of negotiation were signed and then the deed of settlement was signed in September 2011. My point is that that is a 3-year journey from the deed of mandate to the deed of settlement. I want to acknowledge that there have been very few claims where iwi can say that they have achieved it in such a short space of time given the complexity issues that were talked about earlier. So I want to labour that point because I recall a particular iwi that was first off the block under a Labour-led policy called the large natural groupings. The Tūranganui a Kiwa claims were the first off as part of that process and we did not meet the time lines that Raukawa has clearly met in terms of 3 years of settling. I think we took somewhere in the vicinity of 8 years.But the point is that for iwi to get to the deed of settlement process it is no short undertaking and I do want to acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Chris Finlayson and the officials who played their part to ensure that we were getting to this point. Like I say a 3-year journey is something to be proud of given the backdrop of the relationship issues and the overlapping claims that came through. So for me that speaks volumes about the leadership demonstrated by the Raukawa people in ensuring that we have got to this point in the process and to the bill having its third reading. But I do want to make the observation that although the deed of settlement was in September 2011 this bill was not referred to the Māori Affairs Committee until August 2013. So I am in my own head doing my calculation of what the delay was in getting from a deed of settlement to the select committee process.None the less it was referred and can I say that the work that the Māori Affairs Committee ably led by the Hon Tau Henare gave this bill was a very good look over. We had I believe a number of submissions. It was interesting for us to travel to Tokoroa where we heard submissions. We had some 22 submissions of which we heard 10 including during the hearings we held in Tokoroa. Can I say that there were some very strong submissions made before the Māori Affairs Committee. Like my colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta I can say that the select committee gave consideration to all submissions supported by the advice of the officials. So when you see the recommendations from the select committee you can see the comprehensiveness with which the committee members particularly addressed the issues of the submitters.But this is about the third reading and it is about celebrating the success of Raukawa at this point in their history. Like everybody else I am looking forward to the next part of Raukawa’s journey in terms of how this settlement will assist and enable their development as an iwi in their area. But this was a short call to support the third reading and to acknowledge particularly the work of people like Vanessa and Chris for their leadership on this particular bill. Can I say that if Raukawa’s future is anything like Mōtai Tangata Rau in taking out the Tainui regional kapa hakas this country is in for an exciting innovative and very entertaining future. Nō reira. I stand to support and commend the third reading. Kia ora tātou katoa.