Ririnui Mita: Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:634;Page:5523] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
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 Otira Te Arawa tangata Te Arawa waka nau mai hara mai tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou. Tena koutou i haere tawhiti mai i te hau kainga i runga i te rangimarie ki te whakatutuki i tenei to koutou to tatou kereme. Tenei te tu ake i roto i tenei Whare ki te whakamihi ake ki a koutou no reira tena koutou. Ahakoa ra nga piki me nga heke i whakaporearea nei i a koutou i a koutou e hikoi haere ana i tenei huarahi kua tae noa koutou ki tenei haora hei whakatutukihia i nga mahi otira i nga ahuatanga katoa e pa ana ki nga roto. No reira tena koutou. 
Tena hoki koutou nga ropu torangapu i roto i te Whare nei. Tutu mai koutou ki te whakapaoho atu i wa koutou whakaaro me tenei kereme a Te Arawa. Wetahi o nga korero kai te tautoko. Wetahi atu kei te ahua pouri taku ngakau. Kei te ahua pouri taku ngakau i te mea kai konei a Te Arawa. Te ahuatanga o nga korero kare a Te Arawa i konei. No reira korerohia a koutou korero i runga i te whakaaro a kai te ngahere tonu a Te Arawa e noho ana. Kai te he! Kai te he! Kai te he! No reira taku e tu ake nei ki te whakamihi ake ki a ratou kua haere tawhiti mai. 
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To you indeed the people of Te Arawa and the canoe welcome welcome and greetings greetings and greetings to you. Salutations to you who have come from a distance from the home winds in a peaceful frame of mind to complete this claim of yours and ours. I rise in this House to acknowledge you—salutations. Regardless of the trials and tribulations that inconvenienced you as you went down this process you have reached this hour when the work in respect of everything about the lakes will be completed. And so greetings to you. 
My acknowledgments as well to the political parties in this House. You have stood and expressed your views about this claim of Te Arawa. Some contributions were in support and some were a disappointment to me. I was somewhat disappointed because Te Arawa is present. You went on as though they were still in the bush. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! And that is why I stood up to acknowledge those who came from afar. 
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I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the presence of Te Arawa negotiators in the House today. They have come a long way on a long journey to bring to a close this outstanding claim concerning the lakes. They have succeeded many negotiators before them and whilst many individuals and parties have stood in this House and made comments about the settlement bill some have spoken about Te Arawa as if they were not here. But they are here and if it were not for them we would not be having this debate or discussion today. I want to acknowledge their commitment and everything they have had to endure—the insults the abuse the lack of support on occasions and also the disappointments particularly when they have had to listen to statements from people who should have been supporting them. So I acknowledge their presence. 
I listened to what previous speakers have had to say—and everybody in this House is entitled to express an opinion of one form or another. This is the last opportunity that many of us will have to make comment on this very very important legislation. I am particularly encouraged by some of the comments in the House even by comments made by some National members. I am encouraged by comments made by the United Future speaker by the Greens and by my Labour colleagues. When I say: “Kei te ahua pouri taku ngakau.” I say I am disappointed with the comments by the elected member for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell. I am disappointed because the voice of Te Arawa has been strong and loud and anyone who has not heard it has not been listening. 
 Te Arawa have come on a very very long journey and it is nearing its end. It entered these negotiations in good faith and it has taken total responsibility for their contribution to those negotiations. The outcome of those negotiations is the result of their input and their agreement. I have met with the negotiators and of course we could all say as many speakers have said today we could have done better but Te Arawa said to me that they did well. 
Te Arawa now are not looking towards the past—they are looking towards the future. They have moved and they are moving from grievance mode to development mode. If anybody in this House does not realise it Te Arawa are a very powerful economic force in the Bay of Plenty and have been for many many generations and they are getting stronger. The settlement of the fisheries assets and the distribution to Te Arawa was significant. The lakes settlement the cash-up of the annuity and the compensation to Te Arawa is very significant. The detail of the settlement package in terms of new structures on the lake and the obligations to Te Arawa for those structures is significant economically. 
Over the next few weeks we will be talking about Te Arawa’s historical claim. We have already signed the draft deed of settlement. There is a lot of fine-tuning to do but Te Arawa will get there. But people in this House need to listen to what Te Arawa are saying. They should not treat Te Arawa as if they are ignorant. They have been in this game for a very very long time. They are taken seriously by their people. They are our future—us of Te Arawa. They will construct for us an economic development programme second to none and I am looking forward to that. 
I am committed to ensuring that the next round of negotiations for Te Arawa is enduring and that the post-settlement governance structures that are established to control Te Arawa’s investments are strong and transparent. 
I do not want to talk about the past. The past in terms of the history of Te Arawa the history of the confiscation has been well-traversed throughout this whole process. I say that enough is enough. Te Arawa and the negotiators here today are looking towards the future. I can give members many many examples of where our young people today are benefiting from the decisions made by our kaumatua in days gone by. 
During the negotiations for the cash settlement of Te Arawa’s historical claim I was asked: “What did you do?” in terms of increasing the quantum of Te Arawa. I said: “Well I was very much a part of it. We took the quantum offer from one point to another.” The person said: “Well that’s only $2 million. What’s that?”. I said: “Well let’s put it this way: $2 million for Te Arawa is 400 PhD degrees. You can’t put a value on that.” In terms of Te Arawa going forward that is significant. 
So I say to Te Arawa because I do not have a lot more to say that I am looking to the future as the negotiators here today are doing. We have a powerful history and we live it every day. Everybody who comes into our rohe sees it feels it experiences it. In saying that I want to acknowledge everyone who has played a part in bringing the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Bill to this point. I acknowledge Sir Douglas Graham who originally opened the negotiations. In particular I acknowledge the contribution of the Speaker of the House the Hon Margaret Wilson who made a decision that we will deal with the lakes settlement as a historical claim. That decision was significant because without it we would not be here today. 
I acknowledge my parliamentary colleague the Hon Mark Burton. He has kept the momentum up. He has kept the negotiations going. He has kept the door open and that is another reason why we are here today. I also thank my parliamentary colleague Dave Hereora the chairman of the Maori Affairs Committee for ensuring that we got on with the business and were not distracted by insignificant flip-flop because there was a lot of it. In fact I thank and acknowledge all the members of the select committee including the New Zealand First representative who did ask some curly questions but he got some straight answers and I am sure he is reasonably satisfied with that. 
I acknowledge the support we have had so far from all the parties who have supported us on this bill. I have nothing more to say except that we of Te Arawa are moving forward. There is a new day coming and at a date determined by Te Arawa we will celebrate and we do know how to celebrate. 
Na runga i tena korero e te Kaihautu mihi atu ana ki tenei Whare otira ki a Te Arawa tangata haere tawhiti mai. No reira tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou. 
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Upon that statement Madam Speaker I extend greetings to this House and indeed to the people of Te Arawa who came from a distance. So greetings to you greetings to you and to all of us. 
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