Mahuta Nanaia: Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMahuta Nanaia: Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 24 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11232. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):Tēnā tātou katoa. Tēnei e tāpiri atu ngā mihi ki ngā puna ngā mātāpuna ngā wai marino ngā wai rere ngā ripo ngā ū kaha o Te Awa o Whanganui tēnei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.Tēnei e tāpiri atu taku mihi ki a rātou i whakahuatia maitia nei i roto i Te Whare rātou kei te wāhi ngaro. E kore e mutu ngā whakaaro ki a rātou e kawea nei tēnei kaupapa tae noa ki tēnei wā kei konei rātou katoa. Ka nui te mihi atu heke iho mai ki a koutou ngā mahuetanga iho nei te mihi aroha nei te mihi maioha ki a koutou katoa tēnā koutou.Me te hoki mahara ki ngā kōrero i waihotia i te wā i haere mātou ki runga i Te Awa o Whanganui ki te taha o tō tātau nei Āriki tērā kōrero i whakatō mai i roto i te whakatumanawa kia tuitui ki te tino taonga i waenganui i ā koutou pononga ki Te Awa o Whanganui. E rua ngā roimata i heke mai nā Rangi Nui i runga i Te Maunga o Ruapehu inā ko Te Awa o Whanganui ko Te Awa o Waikato mai i Te Kāhuinga Maunga ki Tangaroa tēnei te nui o te mihi maioha ki a koutou katoa tēnā koutou![Salutations to us all. I add my acknowledgments to the pools sources calm waters waterfalls eddies and strong currents of the Whanganui River; I acknowledge you all.I add my tribute to those who were mentioned in the House to those at the unseen place. Thoughts about those who carried this matter right upto this moment will never cease;they are all here. Much appreciation to themright down to you the ones left behind;a loving and affectionate regard to you all.I reflect also on the stories that were left behind when we went on the Whanganui River with ourparamount leader yours and ours that legendary account that welled up from within you and was woven into the priceless heirloom the core of your collective belief about the Whanganui River. There were two tears that came down from theGreatSky above that fell upon Mount Ruapehu and flowed down to Tangaroa the sea from the mountain cluster: one was the Whanganui River and the other was the Waikato River. I acknowledge you greatly well done!]In standing to support the contribution of my colleague Adrian Rurawhe on this particular bill I had prepared a certain speech to read today then I heard the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations speak and recollect a number of important people and then I heard Adrian speak and recollect a number of people. I have to say that during my brief opportunity—actually privilege—to journey down the Whanganui River one person came to mind very specifically and that was Piripi.Hon Members: Ha ha!Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: Ha ha! But let me come back to Piripi. Let me come back to Piripi. I had the good fortune to be able to be one of a small group of people who travelled in support of a tono from Matiu Māreikura to Taiaroa and John Tahupārae to Te Arikinui to travel down the Whanganui River. We started in Taumarunui and went all the way down. Actually before we even got there we talked about how they were going to take us down on kōpapa and you know we had better get all fit and all of this. Actually we got there and we went down on speedboats. There was so much more to that journey than physically being on the river and travelling down it. It was all the kōrero and all the things that we witnessed along the way. Actually Morgan was with us as well—Morgan Kāwana. We knew that every day he did a flip of that good book something special was happening.It was in that recollection that I want to perhaps share—there has been some talk in the House today about the metaphysical identity and tikanga merging with law and things like that. Actually to know one’s awa like you can smell its different fragrances; to know one’s awa when you can witness a change albeit so subtle; to know one’s awa to the point where you understand something else is happening in our world but it has been read through the awa—that is what we were able to experience in coming down the Whanganui River.I think it is a great day today because it has been a long journey for the people of Whanganui to get to this point. It is not without context if we think about the Waitangi Tribunal and the opportunity that has been offered to people to look to redress historical claims and just the journey of our rivers. Waikato lodged their claim to the tribunal in 1987 Whanganui lodged their claim in 1990 Tūwharetoa got the Crown to vest the lake to Tūwharetoa in 1992 and then we had a claims process. It is all interconnected.It is the journey of our waters I think that leads us to some very important conversations today. For me this is quite historic today because it is happening within the context of very important conversations that this nation is having around the health and well-being of our waterways and the issues of fresh water. I want to acknowledge that because when we talk about the role that Parliament plays yes to give effect to the intent of the deed of settlement for the Whanganui River it is within a context and some broader conversations. I think the Māori Affairs Committee is quite cognisant of that. We will use the opportunity of the submission process to ask questions within context—for example the resource management legislation going through that is talking about collaborative planning that is proposing models for collaborative planning and that does not address issues of fresh water but that impacts potentially on any river settlement that has already been reached. We will ask the types of questions about what is the anticipated connection between what you are seeking to achieve for the awa of Whanganui and what is being proposed. That is to ensure that the intent and the integrity of your settlement can be preserved.Many people before us have always said that Governments come and go but funnily enough the institutional memory of the iwi stays very determined over a long period of time and it is a very long institutional memory that keeps any Government accountable. We are mindful of that too. It is with that view in mind that I think we will be considering very carefully the submissions coming to the select committee. I am hopeful actually that we might have a sitting at Tieke. We would actually have to get on a waka and then get to Tieke and then appreciate the fullness of the experience of what is being talked about—he whakaaro noa iho [it is just a thought].Coming back to Piripi now on another occasion after the opportunity with Te Arikinui I did have the opportunity to join a few tira hoe. My very first tira hoe that I joined little did I know—after karakia I was assigned my crew mate. It was Piripi. Then one of the whanaunga said to me “Don’t worry Piripi is the best in the river. You’ll never fall out.” because I was kind of in a bit of trepidation. Well I can guarantee you every ripo every curve of that river we fell in. I think I may as well have just swum the Whanganui River. But my gratitude goes to Piripi because in the great joy of experiencing you know tērā āhua te ruruki te wai o ngā mātua tūpuna tērā āhua [that aspect of waters to ancestral forefathers it was nourishing]. It was nourishing. The fact that we could laugh about it all the way down—and I remained his crew member—was I think a testament in itself. But all the people who have gone who lived the river who enjoyed sharing the river with the next generation who told stories from their own place of reference I think are a richness that this settlement will never convey but we know it is there. I have certainly witnessed that and I want to acknowledge it.The other thing—eating piharau. Was that legal then? We ate piharau. I had never tasted piharau before and I am from people where we have lots of eels but I have never tasted such a beautiful delicacy ever in my life. That taste has remained with me right to this day. Every time I hear that word “piharau” oh boy everything starts coming back.The other thing—when you are going along the river and you see how the canoes got through and you see the dents in the sides of the river you know those are stories that cannot be captured in settlement legislation but they tell us that long before the British came to New Zealand there was a history well before their time that was long established. I hope that the settlement in some small way will contribute to what you have always lived always believed. You have not lost anything; the legislation just had an impact on you. Even going to a marae where they talked about the health legislation during Māui Pōmare’s time the Maori Councils Act “Pire Kiore” I think they called it and learning that history how relevant it was in the physical presence along the river and how you told the story of its context and impact on yourselves—those are the treasures that have stayed with me for life.Those are the treasures that I think about when within the context of today’s world we talk about Archie Matiu Māreikura and John Tahupārae and their thinking—Ao Māori thinking wairua Māori thinking—and how it impacts on what we are trying to achieve today. Archie—Sir Archie Taiaroa—led the freshwater issues after the settlement and helped implement the fisheries claim. It is within that context—although we are mentioning their names here within the settlement today they have had such a broad impact on the way that New Zealand has evolved its understanding to be a lot more complementary and coexisting with our Māori world and that is to create a better New Zealand.With that I am not going to take up too much time. Can I just leave you with one lasting memory that I will never ever forget. I think I was in my early teens then coming down the river but I was always inspired by Nanny Nui Te Manawanui Pauro. At her age—and I think she was well over 80 at that time; could have been 90—she was still paddling down the Whanganui River. Her love for the river gave her a level of I think kind of like a supernatural effervescence about her. Never did she waver never did she tire. That is the type of sustenance that the next generation can draw on as those types of exemplars all of them. Nō reira ki a koutou katoa tēnā koutou.