Turei Metiria: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Turei Metiria: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:621;Page:16454] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 E te manuhiri tuarangi ngakaumatua nga rangatira o NgatiTuwharetoa ki Kawerau kua tae tautoko mai iteneiahiahi nau mai haere mai whakatau mai. 
[ 
To the visitors from afar to the elders and chiefs of NgatiTuwharetoa ki Kawerau who have arrived here in support this afternoon welcome welcome welcome 
.] 
The Greens will support this legislation to the select committee as we have with previous settlement bills. We recognise the hard work and cost that Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau has put into its Waitangi Tribunal claim and in particular the direct negotiation process in order to gain recognition of and restitution for the dishonourable acts of the Crown. We want to ensure that the iwi has an opportunity to bring any issues to the select committee and for any of those who disagree with the settlement to bring their concerns forward. The treaty settlement process is complex costly and undermining and not everyone agrees with it. Whanau and hapu need to be able to come and tell politicians what the experience of direct negotiating is really like. 
The range of the dishonourable acts recognised in the bill for which restitution will be made are very broad. About 450000 acres of land in the Eastern Bay of Plenty were confiscated by the Crown under the New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863. About 87000 acres were traditional Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau land. That land was taken as punishment imposed on a whole iwi for alleged rebellion. The use of the settlements Act as a punitive measure against whanau and hapu is a clear example of the abuse of the absolute power of the Crown enabled by legislation and enforced by the use of violence. The apology in the bill for those acts recognises the wrongfulness of that abusive power. 
Later the Compensation Court—also established in 1863—worked through what appears to be a very dodgy process in considering whether and how to allocate that confiscated land. 
That court unilaterally decided the process by which allocation would be made. It made value judgments as to whom it would deal with and whom it considered to be acceptable recipients of the land. It made decisions as to the ownership structure by which those people would receive the land. In this process the Compensation Court stripped Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau of its customary rights traditional lands and resources. The court enabled easier alienation and partition of this valued collective resource pauperising the iwi as a result. 
The same attitude of paternalism and dominance flavoured the Crown’s continued relationship with Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau during the last century. Destruction of sensitive wetlands which are wahi tapu and of significant food-gathering areas occurred because the Government chose its interests over the rights of the hapu and iwi. The Government’s acquisition of the sole rights to the geothermal energy resource for its use again resulted in a loss of control over access to those areas by the customary owners. 
Finally and critically the establishment of the pulp and paper mill at Kawerau in the 1950s led to one of New Zealand’s worst environmental disasters. The bill acknowledges that the pollution and poisoning of the Tarawera River along with the poisoning of the people who lived and worked in the area were enabled by legislation. Despite this bill and the apology in it there is still no real effort by this Government or by any previous Government to address the continued poisoning of that community. Legislation in the form of consents under the Resource Management Act continues to allow poisoning and polluting by mills. That practice has not stopped. 
Toxic dump sites remain open to the public with no notification of the potential toxicity of the area. Soil caps which are used to try to remedy the situation are of no use. These areas are flood prone and after a big flood the toxic sites are left open and exposed. The Government continues to fail to clean up the toxic sites and make sure they are fit for habitation. The environment continues to suffer. People continue to suffer the effects of poisoning from the mill. The children and the grandchildren of these people continue to suffer. 
The Crown acknowledges the wrongfulness of the confiscation of Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau lands; the inadequacy of the Compensation Court process; the loss of control of and access to the Kawerau geothermal system; the suffering and hardship resulting from the cumulative effect of the Crown actions; and the contribution made by Ngati Tuwharetoa Bay of Plenty to New Zealand’s efforts in overseas wars. All these issues are recognised in the bill yet we must not miss the irony that history is simply repeating itself. The process by which this restitution is made is again paternalistic and domineering. The treaty settlement process was determined by the Crown not by Maori. The Crown decides the validity of those to whom it will talk and again establishes the criteria for the appropriate structures for how the collective assets of this iwi and others will be held. 
At the end of this week another piece of confiscatory legislation will return to this House for debate. That bill will take back from Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau lands to which the iwi may have legal entitlement because the Government thinks that it is in the Government’s interests to have it regardless of the rights of that iwi. 
The Greens want to see an honourable process for restitution for wrongs of the past. We want a process that is durable and acceptable; where the wronged have a direct say as to how the process is determined so that they are not further injured or impoverished by the process itself. Justice is the purpose not expediency. The Greens urge the Government at least to stop repeating the wrongs and mistakes of the past as its first real gesture of recognition and apology. 
Finally the Greens congratulate Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau on their determination and resilience in achieving a settlement for the crimes committed against them. Kia ora koutou.