te Heuheu Georgina: Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13932] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 E nga iwi o Tauranga Moana tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa. I am very pleased to take a call on the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. Unlike the bill that the Minister rammed through its first reading last night the Waka Umanga (Maori Corporations) Bill which no Maori leader as far as I know and no Maori tribe as far as I know requested asked for or wanted this bill is different. The presence of some of the locals from Tauranga Moana in the House today hopefully says something about the level of support for the bill now before us. That makes me feel comfortable about standing and on behalf of National supporting this bill through its first reading and on to the Maori Affairs Committee.  
My colleague the Hon Tau Henare is right though. He and I and two others of our colleagues did meet recently with some of Ngai Te Rangi and we got a sense that they felt a little bit cheated that on the one hand Mount Maunganui is being returned to them at least in the form of a vesting in trustees for the Tauranga Moana iwi but on the other hand as Tau Henare said it was a Clayton’s return. That is a shame and it takes some of the gloss off what should otherwise be a very important and significant moment in their history.  
However we are very happy to support the bill’s first reading because we are told there is a general level of support for it. It is something that the iwi of Tauranga Moana have been asking for over a long number of years. Here we are today considering this bill admittedly under urgency but I guess that for them they would see it as a priority for the House to give this bill some urgency. Most Maori who have been waiting for the return of assets or the vesting of various pieces of land or landscape to be returned to them have been waiting for a long time so if we are in urgency this is a bill that ought to get priority anyway.  
This House will have become accustomed to the importance of maunga to tribes and although parliamentarians may not have been aware of it 15 years ago or two decades ago they are certainly now aware of the importance of natural landscape features to Maori. All of us Maori in the House who sit here today can be identified through our maunga our awa and our land and that is why this should be seen as something very important for these several iwi.  
The example was set by a National Government back in the 1990s which recognised the importance of these things. I guess there is room in the future for further recognition of other maunga. We will not say where they sit but it is not far from here. Who knows whether there is a way of getting a form of ownership back. Even though it is not really ownership it is certainly a recognition of the importance of maunga to iwi and no doubt other iwi will be very interested in seeing what is going on here today. 
As the Minister has outlined Mount Maunganui which was acquired by the Crown in the 1880s has been administered as a historic reserve since 1981. Essentially it will carry on in that vein except that it will be vested in trustees consisting of representatives of the three iwi—Ngai Te Rangi Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga—and all of the activity that has gone on before on this maunga will continue. That was an issue that my colleague Bob Clarkson the local member for Tauranga was intent on ensuring as we all were. No doubt he will articulate these issues when he takes a call.  
Bob was with us when we had a meeting with representatives of Ngai Te Rangi and it is very clear that he is a good local member. He is a very good local member. He is an excellent local member because he has this pretty wide view of the interests of all but he has a keen sense of how important the vesting of this maunga is to the iwi. That is why he is in the House today and that is why he will also support this bill going to a select committee.  
National members support this bill and there is probably not a lot more that could be said about it. We support it for very good reasons. This vesting is wanted by the iwi it is something they have yearned for for a long time and it is part of the way that they identify themselves. Like all iwi of course I identify myself with Ngauruhoe and Tongariro the mountains in the middle of the North Island and I can totally accept why this vesting would be important to them. It is just a pity that they feel this reservation that they supposedly get ownership but they do not. But I think that on the other side of that equation the upside is that if they were to get complete ownership they would also get all the liabilities and obligations that go with it— 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: Hear hear! Ka pai Georgina. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: —ae I thank the Minister very much—and of course that then becomes a return of an asset that could end up being a little bit of a chain around one’s neck. But that is up to them to decide and they have decided it.  
We will look at this bill in the select committee. We probably will not spend too long on it because it is reasonably simple but obviously if there are deeper concerns about the form of vesting—the sort of Clayton’s ownership that is being returned—then we will hear from them on that. But as I say it is quite good to leave all the responsibility with someone else and still be able to say “We own that mountain.” National supports this bill going to a select committee and my colleague the local member Bob Clarkson will have other things to say about it. I am pleased to be here today to acknowledge the iwi of Tauranga Moana and to acknowledge this step in their development and their future progress forward. Tena koutou katoa.