Fox Marama: Te Atiawa Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Te Atiawa Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 15 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9750. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Ā tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. Nā reira tautokohia ngā mihi kua mihia i tēnei ata ki a koutou kua tae ā-tinana mai me tō koutou tira ngā paunga rahi kai waenganui i a koutou ōku rangatira kai te mihi kai te mihi!Ā tautoko ana ahau i ngā kōrero kua whārikihia nei i te ata ki a rātou mā kua mene atu ki te pō. Nui ngā wā kua haere kē mai ki tēnei Whare ka āwangawanga ahau i te ngarohanga o te tangata kai hea kē rātou? I ahau e whakaaro pēnei ana ka whakaaro mō te hunga mate e kīkī nei i tēnei Whare. Kai konei rā ā-wairua ka rangona tātau i a rātau mā kua mene atu ki te pō. Kai te hiahia rātau ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero e whārikihia nei i tēnei rangi kia tutuki pai ngā nawe ngā mamae ngā auwētanga kai waenganui i a tātau nā reira kai te mihi!Kua tautokohia ngā mihi ki a rātau kua wehe atu me te hoki mai anō ki a tātou te hunga ora. Tēnā tātau katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. So I endorse the acknowledgments accorded to you who arrived here physically this morning including your entourage and the remnants of your greater number among you. I salute and congratulate you my esteemed elders.I endorse the tributes expressed this morning to those assembled in the void. There have been many times when I have come into this House and been concerned at the absence of individuals and wondered: where are they? When I am in this state of mind I think about the departed and how they fill up this House spiritually. They are here in spirit. We sense the presenceof those assembled in the void. They want to listen to the speeches being presented today to ensure that anything that is imperfect painful hurtful and tearful is completed well so cheers.The tributes to the departed have been endorsed and so I come back to us the living once again. Best wishes to us all.]Much has been said about Te Atiawa and the massive loss of land the cultural genocide and the situation that we find ourselves in today because of the injustices of the past and so I do not want to deliberate on those things any more but I want to concentrate my comments on a couple of areas that give some context and some personal acknowledgment to just what that meant to these people and to us as a nation.I want to start if I might by reading from the text of the Suppression of Rebellion Act 1863 because the words themselves give gravity to exactly what happened here. So I start. It says: “Whereas a combination for the subversion of the authority of Her Majesty and Her Majesty’s Government has for some time existed amongst certain Aboriginal tribes of this Colony and has now manifested itself in acts of open Rebellion And Whereas persons in prosecution of the said Rebellion have committed murders on some of Her Majesty’s subjects engaged in their peaceful occupations have pillaged their homesteads and burnt and destroyed their property And Whereas the ordinary course of law is wholly inadequate for the suppression of the said Rebellion and the prompt and effectual punishment of those who are guilty of such atrocity and outrage: … It shall be lawful for the Governor … from time to time during the continuance of the said Rebellion to issue his Orders to all persons whom he shall think fit to authorise in that behalf to take the most vigorous and effectual measures for suppressing the said Rebellion in any part of this Colony which shall appear to be necessary for the public safety and for the safety and protection of the persons and properties of Her Majesty’s … loyal subjects”.Hence martial law was enacted empowered by the Governor where and however he saw fit. Anyone taking up arms or aiding or in fact at any time the Governor determined any action to be rebellion martial law could be enacted. What did that mean? Anyone determined to be in breach of this Act was then determined to be committing an act of war or treason. They could be put to death held in penal servitude arrested detained in custody or be subjected to any other action determined necessary including land confiscations.The second part of this kōrero I want to attribute to Danny Keenan who I understand is here. I recognise him and also Wikitōria his mother who is not here with us but is certainly here in spirit I am sure. I want to recognise the kōrero that he wrote in the Mana magazine because it was the first time I ever heard of Wīremu Kīngi. So Mr Keenan quotes the historian Ann Parsonson in describing the rangatira Wīremu as “a chief of great influence and authority who … stood on his dignity and kept his distance from those he saw as … careless of Māori rights”. When he died in 1882 though the Taranaki Herald described him as a “turbulent chief to whom may fairly be attributed the difficulties and troubles Taranaki has passed through”. By the time of his death in 1882 in addition to being left virtually landless the people of Te Atiawa had been subjected to wrongful imprisonment alienation from the whenua death through battle and through lengthy incarceration poverty and then furthermore this ongoing mistrust—demonised by the local settlers and authorities of the time.However in 1927 the royal commission—Danny explains in his article—charged with investigating the confiscation said of Wīremu and his people that they were not in rebellion against the Queen’s sovereignty: “The Natives were treated as rebels and war declared against them before they had engaged in rebellion of any kind and in the circumstances they had no alternative but to fight in self-defence. In their eyes the fight was not against the Queen’s sovereignty but a struggle for house and home”. I think that fairly and clearly sums up exactly what has happened here: determined to be in rebellion and then absolutely shown that that was completely wrong.I just want to conclude with an acknowledgment of the Land Wars petition that has come to the House. The Land Wars petition wants to find a day—and we have had “Parihaka Day” proposed up in the members’ bill ballot but you know we will discuss that. The Land Wars have been called Land Wars because to call them the “Māori Wars” or the “Māori Land Wars” does an injustice. People think that Māori fought against the Crown fought against settlement fought against sovereignty. This is an example of where that is exactly not the case. That is exactly not the case; they defended their rights for house and home. Until we acknowledge in our own country that the first war we engaged in was here in our own whenua enacted upon the people indigenous to this country then we cannot move forward and overcome the issues in the New Plymouth District Council where they blindly cannot see that representation will benefit them not inhibit them—where we cannot even get two street names named for those Māori words; people go “Oh my goodness how will I pronounce them?”.I do not want to take up more time. Danny’s words in recognition of Wīrēmu Kīngi and the Suppression of Rebellion Act itself clearly outline the injustices of the Crown and our people’s overwhelming resilience struggle and tenacious attitude and our ability to roll with the punches and move on. Here we are in all humility willing to work and try again with the people who continue to try to suppress us. I want to acknowledge Te Atiawa and Mahara tēnā koe ā tēnā koutou otirā tēnā mai rā tātau katoa [good luck and at the same time to all of us].