Smith Nick: Ngāti Kōata Ngāti Rārua Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu and Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSmith Nick: Ngāti Kōata Ngāti Rārua Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu and Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17425. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Conservation): I welcome this opportunity to join with others in supporting the third reading of the Ngāti Kōata Ngāti Rārua Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu and Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui Claims Settlement Bill which we are debating this morning. I want to acknowledge the presence of so many kaumātua and kuia here to note this historic day and particularly some of the people whom I have been privileged to know over the long journey: Roma Hippolite Priscilla Paul Barry Mason Janice Mason Fred Te Miha Reverend Harvey Ruru and people like Glenis Payne. But I also want to acknowledge the research work from John and Hilary Mitchell in my own Nelson community. It was done a long time ago and it is founding this settlement.I want to thank my colleagues particularly Chris Finlayson and Pita Sharples and their predecessors and the officials who have helped us to get to this final leg of what has been a long journey. These settlements arise from grievances that are over 100 years old and it is an important day I acknowledge for my colleague Rino Tirikatene across the House but also for all the people living in Nelson-Marlborough or Te Tau Ihu the prow of the waka that these are being resolved with these complex bills. I want to pay tribute to all of those who have laboured to bring us to this resolution.This bill strikes at the core of who we are as New Zealanders. Most nations were born in a sea of blood. I am proud of our Māori and European ancestors who founded this nation on a Treaty and more important on the notion that we can resolve our differences by discussion with respect and not by brute force and by violence. In a Nelson context our history is clear that our early colonial settlers were welcomed and were treated generously by local iwi. But it is also true that those settlers became arrogant dominant and disrespectful of Māori rights and of their culture and customs. Land agreements were not honoured and this combined with the effects of disease and economic dislocation saw our local Māori left by the end of the 19th century in an impoverished state.These Treaty settlements across Te Tau Ihu will be good for our region and good for our nation. They will be beneficial economically. Our eight iwi are more parochial than any of us Nelsonians and have a huge stake in our region’s future prosperity. The investment of the settlement funds into the regional economy will help jobs and growth in our community.There is a second benefit I also want to acknowledge. This Treaty settlement process has helped bring local iwi together and that is a good thing. We are a small populationin total across the top of the south and Māori are a small proportion relative to many other parts of New Zealand. I recognise that each of our eight iwi has different whakapapa and histories and that needs to be respected. But equally as we look to the future it makes sense as we face the challenges of education of health of economic development and of natural resource management that our iwi work more closely together. I have seen this cooperation build up through the settlement process and I hope this momentum can be maintained. I also want to acknowledge the huge improvement in relations with Ngāi Tahu to the south and see that also as a positive development.I also want to acknowledge the important new role iwi will have in so many of the special places across Nelson and Marlborough and with me and the Department of Conservation. We have a treasured environment of stunning snowcapped mountains golden beaches pristine lakes island treasures rich estuaries and beautiful sounds. The Department of Conservation was founded 25 years ago to play an important role in protecting those areas but it has not been as engaging and as inclusive as it could be. The reforms that we have made to the Department of Conservation are about it being more able to partner with others and they are part of this journey of Treaty settlements that we also celebrate today.In conclusion yes these settlements are good for our local economy; yes they are good for the management of our local environment; and yes they are good in bringing more closely together our local iwi but the real reason we should celebrate today is the values that we recommit to: those values of justice of mutual respect and of the resolution of difficult issues—old issues—by negotiation and by goodwill. Having the courage in these bills to say sorry the courage to put what was wrong right and the courage to put that behind us and face the future together—that is what I really acknowledge and celebrate today. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.