Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Associate Minister for Māori Development): Kia ora Madam Assistant Speaker. Tuatahi he tika me mihi ki a koutou Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki ngā mihi ki a kōrua tae mai nei i tēnei wā whakarangatira i a mātou i tēnei wā; hōnore nui ki te tū i mua i a kōrua i tēnei wā. Ngā mihi ngā mihi ki a kōrua. Haramai nau mai.Ki a kōrua Te Rōpū Nāhinara ngā mihi ki a kōrua mō tō mahi i ngā wā o mua ki te kōkiri i tēnei kaupapa ngā mihi ngā mihi ki a koe e hoa; me koe hoki Rino ngā mihi ki a koe; me tika ki te mihi ki Te Minita i ngā wā o mua Chris Finlayson i tēnei wā. Nō reira koutou katoa tēnā koutou tēnā anō tātou katoa.[Firstly it is only right to greet those of you from Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki I greet you two who have come here and honour us with your presence; I am honoured to stand before you both at this time. Greetings greetings welcome welcome.To both of you from the National Party I acknowledge the work that you have already done to advance this matter well done to you my friend and to you Rino greetings to you and it is appropriate to acknowledge at this time the former Minister Chris Finlayson. Therefore greetings greetings greetings to one and all.]It's always a pleasure to take calls on these types of bills. So I need to start by just acknowledging the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki negotiators and I mihi to them for reaching this part of the settlement journey.A lot of the kōrero has been said but I think in terms of acknowledgments too I'd like to acknowledge obviously the negotiators and people who have played a part but also in terms of our Māori radio media network and in particular my own station Radio Waatea which played quite a part in it too as a sort of mediator and facilitator of this kōrero. A lot of kōrero went down from National and our side in terms of the rights and wrongs of this settlement. So I absolutely mihi to our iwi station Waatea for facilitating much of that and also my friend and brother Dale Husband who's been a kaikōrero with many people in this House.Also today I want to mihi to one of our matua Apirana Mahuika who was a strategic adviser during this kaupapa and an uncle and whanaunga to some of us in the House. He was a man of much brilliance in mātauranga and he gave a lot of advice to the tribe through the process. So never forget the contribution of that uncle who was inspirational not just to Ngāi Tai but to many of us in Te Ao Māori. Nō reira e te pāpā moe mai moe mai moe mai rā.[Therefore sir rest in peace.]For Ngāi Tai the loss of communal ancestral lands had a severe impact on their traditional tribal structure. Families left landless or with uneconomic land blocks had insufficient means to support themselves. From the 1880s Ngāi Tai increasingly left Umupuia in search of work. This dispersal of Ngāi Tai alienated many whānau and their descendants not only from their lands but from their iwi identity. This led to the loss of customary traditions tribal authority and te reo me ōna tikanga o Ngāi Tai so it's only right and proper that we're here today as part of the journey in terms of correcting the wrong.It's an opportunity for us to be reflective on what these grievances actually are rectifying. So that's why I take heart when I hear some of the kōrero from both sides from our former chair of the Māori Affairs Committee Nuk Korako who talked about these settlements not at all being any compensation for the past wrong and from our current chair of the Māori Affairs Committee Rino Tirikatene.For Ngāi Tai the ability for them to be self-sustaining and prosperous was removed all those years ago and had that not occurred who knows what their future would have looked like? The loss of land that occurred had a direct impact on their financial well-being which has impacted their choices and decision making for their own social well-being. Like most grievances this wasn't just a one-off event and in this particular case there were multiple instances of unfair land transactions. This meant Ngāi Tai for example had repeated moments forced upon them in their own history that has had a lasting impact.We will never know what the economic future of Ngāi Tai would have been had these transactions not occurred but it's an important point to remind the House and people listening that sometimes in these settlements we get focused on what sounds like relatively large sums but in real value terms it will never make up for what's been lost. For many the apology is actually more important than the financial redress. I think we all know that in the House today. You can never make up for what was lost in that respect but acknowledging and apologising for what was wrong allows a true healing to happen within a tribe and within a hapū.In many cases and particularly this one the transgressions of the past had more than just a financial impact. For Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki as in the case for most Māori the connection to their whenua runs much deeper than any financial figures. The impact of alienating a people from their whenua can never be qualified. How do we translate that? How do we compare that to anything? The disconnect has intergenerational effects—intergenerational effects. Families are affected by that alienation and by that disconnection. So the alienation really challenges iwi and hapū to group together to come together to get together a plan and the settlement asks that of the tribe and there is much optimism with the tribe.I ask the House to reflect on that because it brings to the table a whakataukī that we should all remember. Toitū te kupu toitū te whenua toitū te mana.[Hold fast to the language to the land and to personal dignity.]Translated for the House: Hold fast to Māori culture for without our language without our spirit without our land the essence of being Māori would cease to exist."And that's what alienation means. That's what alienation means for so many tribes and I take heart within this Labour Party within our Labour Government when I hear our Minister Andrew Little talk quite openly about education about explanations in terms of our kids at school in terms of Pākehā people in this country who don't understand and who don't realise the hurt the mamae the history that our people have gone through. So alienation can cripple you or you can recover and set up a plan for the future and that's what this tribe is doing in this case. So I mihi to them I salute them and I ask the House today to understand what Māori are going through in terms of Treaty settlements. I know we bring these settlements through the House but it would be good if people really understood what our people are going through—the apology the process the history means so much.So in closing I ask those in the House that are listening and those who are listening to put aside what you may or may not think about financial redress and think back about the journey that Māori have been through. Think about the struggle that has occurred the sadness of knowing that some of their own people have passed on before reaching this point.We need to think about these things today in 2018 and that's why as I continually say I salute not just this Government but the previous Government for addressing these hard issues. These are hard issues. Earlier in my lifetime I was always worried that we would get too political about this but I take heart that we have had Governments both Labour and National and Ministers both Labour and National who have stood up and said "Enough is enough. History must be addressed. There must be redress."So for Māori people we have a strong cultural and spiritual significance to the whenua but again understand: if you're only able to view your whenua from the fence that can be crippling for you and for your mokopuna who are coming through. That is no longer going to be the case here. A future is going to be built and I think our ancestors and our tīpuna will be proud of the path that is being forged today.So finally I acknowledge as I do the mana and dignity that the people are showing so that once again their connection and aroha to the whenua is rightly acknowledged and restored and I mihi again to our rangatira who've come here today to tautoko and honour the settlement.Tēnei te mihi ki a kōrua koutou katoa tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Greetings to you both greetings to one and all.]"