Turia Tariana: Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill 
Turia Tariana: Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill 
[Volume:672;Page:18704] 
Hon TARIANA TURIA (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector) 
: 
 on behalf of the  
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations 
: I move  
That the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill the Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. 
 Mai i te uranga o te ra ki te tonga o te ra ki nga iwi e toru me o ratou take Tiriti e tu nei ki mua i te W’are Paremata; no reira mai i te Waiapu ki Mohaka w’iti atu ki te awa o Waipa o nga uri katoa o enei iwi tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa. 
[ 
From the direction where the sun rises and sets upon the three tribes and their Treaty settlements at present before Parliament I therefore extend salutations to all the descendants of these tribes from Waiapu to Mohaka and across to the Waipa River. Greetings to you and to us all collectively. 
] 
I intend to move at the appropriate time that these three bills be considered by the Maori Affairs Committee that the committee report finally to the House on or before 30 June 2011 on the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill and on or before 30 August 2011 on the Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill and that for all three bills the committee has the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and to meet outside the Wellington area during a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 189(a) and 190(1)(b) and (c). 
Today is a significant day for these three iwi. It provides an important opportunity to build for the future and move ahead. These bills represent a monumental milestone in their development. They are about mending a broken relationship and critically they are about agreeing to the signposts of a better future for all. The relationships that are core to the heart of Maniapoto Ngati Porou and Ngati Pahauwera are given meaning in the agreements set forth. They will enable the iwi to grow and their future descendants to be nurtured in their heritage and their history. They provide a living working partnership model for the benefit of their people their rohe and the Crown. I mihi to them all for the courage they have shown in forging a new era. 
The Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill formalises the enduring relationship of Maniapoto with the Waipa River. It is a relationship that is based on profound respect and gives rise to responsibilities to protect te mana o te wai and to exercise kaitiakitanga in accordance with the long-established tikanga of Maniapoto. To Maniapoto the Waipa is a taonga a sacred river where the tohi rituals were performed where the umbilical rites were observed and where the purification rituals were undertaken. Indeed for Maniapoto Waipa is the river who chants her farewell to the departed ones and the river whose murmuring waters bid welcome to newborns and to visitors from afar. 
Under this bill Maniapoto achieves co-management arrangements specific to the Waipa River and its catchment. The arrangements are extended to the headwaters of the Waipa River at Pekepeke Spring in the Rangitoto Ranges. The overarching intent is to restore and maintain the quality and integrity of the waters that flow into and form part of the Waipa River for present and future generations and the care and protection of the mana tuku iho o waiwaia. Waiwaia refers to the essence and well-being of the Waipa River. To Maniapoto waiwaia is the personification of the waters of the Waipa River and its enduring spiritual guardian. 
The Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill complements the Waikato River settlement with Waikato-Tainui and the Waikato River co-management deeds with Ngati Tuw’aretoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi. Together they establish a single unified co-governance framework for both the Waipa River and the Waikato River. For these reasons a shortened consideration of the bill is both feasible and desirable. 
I now turn to the Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill the second of the three bills having their first readings. The grievances of Ngati Porou are significant and longstanding. They emerge out of the Crown’s failure to honour its Treaty promise to respect Ngati Porou rangatiratanga over their own affairs from Potikirua in the north to the mouth of the Turanganui River in the south. The Crown imposed land tenure reform on Ngati Porou which deprived iwi members of collective control over their land and made it difficult to utilise their land for economic development. This has helped to make the East Coast one of the most socioeconomically deprived regions of New Zealand—a legacy that endures to this day. 
Although it is not possible to fully compensate Ngati Porou—nor indeed any claimant group—for the loss their people have suffered the cultural redress in this bill seeks to recognise Ngati Porou’s longstanding cultural and spiritual association in the region. It is both innovative and strategic. It includes the vesting of sites of cultural and historical significance a strategic partnership over specific public conservation lands within the rohe a financial settlement of $110 million a commitment by the Crown and Ngati Porou to develop a relationship accord and much more. 
Finally I speak to the third bill having its first reading in the House today the Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill. Ngati Pahauwera is a confederation of hapu with historical interests in northern Hawke’s Bay. The claims of Ngati Pahauwera include the failure of the Crown to make sure that Ngati Pahauwera had sufficient lands for its future needs during the process of land alienation that began in the 1850s. By the middle of the 20th century Ngati Pahauwera was virtually landless and ever since they have suffered economic social and cultural impoverishment. During the New Zealand Wars the Crown provided only minimal assistance to help Ngati Pahauwera recover from a brutal attack on their pa and kainga even though the area had been left virtually defenceless because Ngati Pahauwera warriors were away with the Crown’s forces. 
The redress provided to Ngati Pahauwera can never compensate them for what has been lost. It is vital that the agreement reached with them which is embodied in this bill enhances the relationship between the Crown and Ngati Pahauwera into the future. The bill includes provisions that enable cultural redress to be provided for including the vesting of Te Heru o Tureia and 14 other cultural redress properties; the transfer of five former Wairoa District Council properties to Ngati Pahauwera; and redress in relation to licensed land within the Mohaka Forest. These are but a portion of the significant advances made today in their settlements. 
These bills signify the closing of one door and the opening of another leaving the door slightly ajar so that we may always remember the history that has brought us to this point. I celebrate the iwi who have done so much to create a new partnership arrangement and have invested in the potential and the challenge of leading themselves forward into the future which is well within their reach. I consider that the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill the Ngati Porou Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Pahauwera Treaty Claims Settlement Bill should therefore proceed without delay to the Maori Affairs Committee. I commend these bills to the House.