Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Kororia hareruia ki a Ihoa o ngā mano. Matua Tama Wairua Tapu me whakahōnore ki ngā Anahera pono me Te Māngai hei tautoko mai āianei ake nei āe.Tēnā koutou ōku rangatira. Tēnā koutou ngā iwi ngā hapū o te rohe o Te Wairoa. Tēnā koutou Tākitimu waka Rongomaiwahine tēnā koutou Ngāti Kahungunu aku whanaunga o Ngāti Pāhauwera; tēnei e tū atu nei e mihi atu ki a koutou. Nau mai whakatau mai ki Te Whare Pāremata i whakatū nei. Nau mai whakatau mai ki tēnei rā whakahirahira i tēnei rā te pānuitanga tuatoru o tēnei pire. Āe ka huri me mihi atu ki a rātou kua whetūrangitia. He mihi maumahara ki a rātou. Āe. Ngā mate huhua o te wā haere e ngā mate āpiti hono tātai hono ko te hunga wairua ki te hunga wairua; āpiti hono tātai hono ko tātou te kanohi ora e tau nei ki a tātou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Glory and praise to Jehovah of the multitudes; Father Son and Holy Spirit and honour to the faithful angels and the Prophet to help us now and for ever amen.Greetings to you my chiefs. Greetings to the tribes and the subtribes of the Wairoa district. Greetings to you Tākitimu canoe to Rongomaiwahine to Ngāti Kahungunu to my relations from Ngāti Pāhauwera; I stand here to pay my respects to you all. Welcome welcome me to Parliament House which stands here. Welcome welcome me to this important day the day of the third reading of this bill. Yes I must now pay my respects to those who have passed on. Let us remember them. Yes. To the various ones who have recently passed I say farewell. The genealogical lines which connect us have been recognised; let the spirits remain with the spirits. The genealogical lines which connect us have been acknowledged; let the living remain with the living. Greetings greetings to one and all.]It is a great honour for me to stand in tautoko in support of this bill for our manuhiri our illustrious manuhiri who have travelled from far and wide to be here on this auspicious occasion—the iwi and hapū of Te Rohe o Te Wairoa.In the language of settlements these days they use the term large natural groupings and this is a very large natural grouping that we have here assembled in our Whare today. I don't have the time to actually acknowledge all of the whakapapa the hapū that comprise this wonderful group of our manuhiri and our honoured guests today. Suffice to say that the kāhui that make up ngā iwi and ngā hapū o Te Rohe o Te Wairoa are all here today and I want to just acknowledge them all. So I will acknowledge and I mihi to Ngāti Rākaipaaka I mihi to and I acknowledge Ngā Tokorima a Hinemanuhiri. I want to acknowledge and mihi to Rongomaiwahine Iwi/Ngāi Te Rākatō. I also want to do a double mihi to Te Wairoa.Taku mihi ki Te Wairoa Kapo Kōrau.[I pay my respects to Wairoa known for picking kōrau.]I want to mihi to the Wairoa Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board and I want to mihi to Whakakī Nui-a-Rua.Now those kāhui clusters comprise ngā iwi me ngā hapū o Te Rohe o Te Wairoa and I do know that behind and making up all of those clusters are the very many hapū and whānau that are all represented here by the descendants of all those illustrious ancestors. Can I acknowledge our matua that gave a beautiful whaikōrero in the mihi whakatau this morning. It is all about those connections the connections that we have. That's what makes us Māori is our whakapapa and I do want to acknowledge not only the whakapapa of our manuhiri today but also the connections that were made from all of us right throughout this House right across the motu as acknowledged by my whanaunga Tutehounuku. We're Tākitimu waka down in the South—we believe there's a waka down there in the deep Tākitimus. So there are a lot of connections that we do have and so I do want to just acknowledge that all today.This is such a special day. We are at the end of this very long journey. Can I acknowledge the negotiators and all of those rangatira that have worked so hard over the years to get us to this point from tūtira through to now tātou tātou.So I want to acknowledge all the work that they did and also from all sides that were involved in this work. It is not easy. It's a long arduous task but I think they can be very proud of their efforts because especially with such a large natural group to have such a large group together in the way that they have been able to forge together through this process is quite remarkable. So I want to acknowledge the former Minister the Hon Chris Finlayson and the Hon Andrew Little for their work as well in holding up the Crown side on these very special matters.We've heard both the Minister and Mr Korako talk about the history and we must never forget. That's why we do have the historical record and the acknowledgments from the Crown and their apologies for the breaches—the breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi—that were inflicted upon our manuhiri ngā iwi me ngā hapū o Te Rohe o Te Wairoa. As has been spoken of it's all about—and it is—the core of every Treaty settlement in this House: it is the loss of land and the resulting loss of mana and all of the resulting impacts that it has on the whānau and the hapū. That was no more evident than as has been mentioned through the 1860s when we hear terms of just the dubious purchases acquisitions transactions surveys surveyors—all of those actions that took place during those times ultimately led to a tremendous loss of land tremendous loss of ancestral lands and huge impacts on our manuhiri today. So we must acknowledge that and I'm pleased that every Treaty settlement maintains the historical record up front.I want to just lastly—again I want to acknowledge the manuhiri because today I saw a gentlemen Mr Ēnoka Munro from Whakakī. He's an inspiration to me and I pay acknowledgment to him and his late wife Auntie Dorie nō Ngāi Tahu. I remember a discussion that I had when I was running for this House down in Blenheim where Uncle and Auntie were living. He was talking to me about these great eels that they have in Whakakī and I know I said in my second reading that when Matua Shane" reopens that railway line from Wairoa to Gisborne we're going to bring out the Rātana band and we're going to have a feed of eels. I was delighted to be able to see Matua Enoka here today to witness this occasion So mihi tonu atu ki a koe e te rangatira.[So I continue to acknowledge you as the leader.]So that's what these settlements are all about. It's about reaffirming—not only reaffirming—the indigeneity that we have to our ancestral landscapes which will be through all the different settlement measures and redress mechanisms that are in place in these bills. That's what it's all about: it's about our mahinga kai it's about te taiao—the environment our landmarks the associations that historical names—all of those things. That's what these settlements are all about and I know that there's going to be a big feed of eels for me one day when I get up to Whakakī and I certainly hope I can enjoy some with Matua Enoka there.So with those remarks can I just once again acknowledge our manuhiri on this very auspicious occasion. Congratulations and I wish them all the very best. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora tātou katoa."