Bennett Glen; Salesa JennyGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Madam Speaker. Te Kāhui Maru te iwi o Ngāti Maruwaranui tēnā koutou tēnā koutou huri noa i te Whare tēnā koutou katoa.[Te Kāhui Maru the tribe of Ngāti Maruwaranui greetings greetings right around the House greetings to you all.]I rise to speak on the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill this afternoon and I feel uncomfortable. I feel the weight of responsibility and I actually asked myself the question: why am I standing here speaking on this? Maybe I should be up there and maybe you should be down here speaking to us. How do I as Pākehā how do I as someone who carries my ancestors on my shoulders the failings what we've done speak to you this afternoon on this piece of legislation? So I hope I do it justice in some small way.During this time of te Mātahi o te tau the heralding of the Māori new year I want to acknowledge the people of Ngāti Maru Wharenui and all those who have gone before you and all those who have gone before us and those who have been part of this process to get us to where we are today who are no longer with us. In this time of Puanga in this time of Matariki we remember them. And today we are here to acknowledge those people who forged a path for us to be here this afternoon to reflect on the hurts and the harm the confiscation the injustice the loss of culture of language of land. I stand here with the weight of this place on my shoulders. It was only 50 parliaments ago that laws were made in this place that meant that we almost erased you your ancestors your stories your history but we're here today and I'm grateful for that.There was a writer called L R Knost and I felt it was appropriate to read part of this this afternoon. She talked about the dismay of brokenness in the world and she talks about how many things and all things break—and it's not your fault I know—but she talks about how things can be mended Not with time as they say but with intention." Not with time but with intention. There's been a lot of time and a lot of waiting and a lot of speaking but it's now that there's intention that we can move forward together.Your journey's been a long one I understand as I read the history—not just a long journey from 6 o'clock this morning when you left Taranaki but your attempts at redress over the years. In 1891 some of your tūpuna lodged claims in this House petitioning Parliament around the impacts of confiscation of your people. We've heard already in the House about 1881 and Pari'aka and again about your people being imprisoned being taken away from your lands. As I said earlier 1865 when the Crown confiscated your lands I guess we go back further to my ancestors who arrived and were part of that. We can't fix it time won't heal it but intention—we hope—can bring about redress can bring peace can bring an exciting future for your people and for our nation.Now at the signing of the settlement deed in February Anaru Marshall you said some significant words that stuck with me. I'd like to claim them for myself but I thought I'd better acknowledge you because you're sitting up there and I can't. But you talked about the land losses of Ngāti Maru you talked about the 118000 hectares of land that was taken by this place. The Land Wars the sacking of Pari'aka the confiscation of your homes the confiscation of your resources. You talked about your forests that were felled that were milled and that they were the timber that built the houses that built the schools for my people around Aotearoa. You talked about the mining of the coal from your lands that heated my people's homes that ran my people's factories. You talked about the 93 oil and gas rigs that were used to drill on your land and take your resources. You talked about us as a new nation as we were moving forward as we were making progress progress progress Ngāti Maru your people you were falling behind. Ngāti Maru's loss was this nation's gain. You were an unwilling partner in all of this and today we are here to bring and be part of that healing journey to acknowledge those things taken to acknowledge the success of this nation on the shoulders of your people and your whenua. We never asked we never acknowledged and today we're here—and this bill is here—to acknowledge the wrongs to ask your forgiveness and to demonstrate that you were part of building Aotearoa to what it is today. I'm excited as the MP for New Plymouth that you are the eighth of eight of our Taranaki iwi to settle and it excites me because we're moving into a post-settlement region. For me we've been in the past and we've had to reflect and we've had to ask the hard questions. We've had to acknowledge the wrongs that have been done. We have to continue to remember. But what excites me is around the possibility the hope that this means not only for your people but for all people in Taranaki for all people here in New Zealand. As a post-settlement region what does that mean for your tamariki and mine? What does that mean when the stories are about what is possible in the future including acknowledging what has gone on in the past? So just in closing the sacred lands of Ngāti Maru Wharenui the memories the history the stories of your descendants and the hope of many of your generations to come we honour your commitment to the kaupapa of this bill a kaupapa that is about restoration it's about relationships and it's about the wellbeing of Ngāti Maru—the people at the centre of it all. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call. I call Christopher Luxon."