Tirikatene Rino: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16159. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tēnā koutou Ngāti Raukawa kua tae mai nei ki roto i te Whare Pāremata nei tēnā koutou. Huri noa rau rangatira mā tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Greetings to you collectively the tribe of Raukawa who have arrived here into this House of Parliament. Salutations to you collectively esteemed leaders of a hundredfold throughout and to us all.]I am delighted to speak in the second reading of the Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill. I wholeheartedly endorse and tautoko the sentiments of previous speakers—both the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and the Hon Hekia Parata. My colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta covered a lot of the aspects that were dealt with at the Māori Affairs Committee. We had a very enjoyable trip to Tokoroa where we heard the submissions. I was particularly impressed with the chief executive of Ngāti Raukawa Vanessa Eparaima and all of the people who were involved in that team to bring the bill to its current place here in the House. My colleague has dealt with a lot of the aspects in terms of the Waikeria lands the overlapping claims and the other such specific matters that were the subject of the submissions before the committee.What I would like to do is focus on the history of Ngāti Raukawa. I would like to make this the topic of my speech and I would like it to be recorded inHansard because every iwi that goes through a settlement has their own history and I think it is right that it be recorded. The history does form part of the historical account that is contained in the bill also. The iwi of Ngāti Raukawa are central to the story of the New Zealand Wars. We know that the Waikato-Tainui settlement took care of the raupatu aspects but these settlements particularly for Ngāti Raukawa encompass other aspects regarding their individual grievances and settlements. So Ngāti Raukawa were central to the New Zealand Wars and through genealogical links and the current social status of the day they were in the 1860s members of a land alliance opposed to the further sale of Māori land to the Crown and to land speculation.With other hapū of the Waikato-Tainui confederation Raukawa became followers of the Kīngitanga movement which led the land league movement. They fought bravely and with honour against the forces of General Cameron in Waikato in the Bay of Plenty and in their own tribal rohe at Ōrākau. They fought at Tauranga twice in 1864 and in 1867. Some survivors of the campaigns became so-called fugitives and went on the run with some joining small guerrilla-type bands of fighters. Having been forced into conflict with the invasion of Rangiaowhia Raukawa really had no choice but to try to defend their tribal lands. They became part of the raupatu. The land was confiscated because they were deemed to be rebels. Ngāti Raukawa came under further pressure when land that had once been locked up in the Kīngitanga land bank slowly started to be alienated. Once shady land dealers had got their mitts on land deeds it became a free-for-all. It became apparent that not all members and beneficiaries of hapū land received any recompense.Raupatu issues aside the tribe has two serious issues. In 1866 Ngāti Raukawa missed out on giving evidence in the Taupō-nui-a-Tia block because they were deemed as I mentioned to be in rebellion against the Crown. The ancestors Raukawa and Tuwharetoa were related and had many shared interests around the western and northern Lake Taupō region. It still rankles with the people of Raukawa today that they have no interest in this block when whakapapa clearly shows that they have.But by far the most egregious action against Ngāti Raukawa was the taking of land in the Pouakani block and the gifting of that to a hapū that had no association with the area. It was over in the Wairarapa within Kahungunu. That land became the incorporated township of Mangakino on the shores of Lake Maraetai on the Waikato River. Most of the township’s shareholders probably live in the Wairarapa—Featherston Carterton; far away places with no association to the Mangakino township itself. That is one of the country’s most poorly thought-out acts and we as members of Parliament and members of the Māori Affairs Committee through supporting the passage of this bill and other settlement bills have an opportunity to right the wrongs—some of the wrongs—that have been inflicted on these iwi.I do not want to prolong my contribution but I do acknowledge Ngāti Raukawa and the long and arduous journey they have been on to get to this point. I am looking forward to passing the bill through the final stages of the House. We are a very busy committee as the Hon Hekia Parata noted. We have as a committee a significant amount of legislation under consideration. Yesterday we were up in Tūhoe; the day before we were up in Tauranga. We have as a committee a lot of work on our plate but I can assure everyone—members and all the good people out there in Aotearoa—that it is very rewarding work and we really enjoy doing it. We know that when we see the looks on the faces of the kaumātua and the kuia particularly at the final third readings it is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a member of this House.So in closing I would like to acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and his team and all the good work that they have been doing in loading us up with plenty of mahi to do. We are ready for more. I am sure there is more in the pipeline.Hon Christopher Finlayson: There’s a Hiku bill coming.RINO TIRIKATENE: Te Hiku up in the far north—we are looking forward to that. But today is aboutNgāti Raukawa. Itautoko this bill and I look forward to its third reading and its eventual passing. Kia oraanō tātou.