Paraone PitaPITA PARAONE (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I take a call on behalf of New Zealand First in the second of this trinity of legislation which will see a number of Treaty settlements come to conclusion in terms of the legislation that will see those particular settlements completed as far as this House is concerned. I hope that that is the case and that somewhere down the line when there are further breaches in spite of the settlements that have been made today—I just hope I do not live to see that day. The bill itself records the Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi against the iwi of Te Atiawa and as a previous speaker alluded it provides a new relationship between the Crown and Te Atiawa. I do not need to restate those breaches that have led to this day. Suffice it to say that those breaches were part of shall I say the darkest parts of the history of this country particularly as it affected Te Atiawa and the rest of the indigenous people of this country. Reference has been made to the Pekapeka Block. Probably because of those issues it became the genesis of the battles that took place that saw Te Atiawa lose their land by way of confiscation. But this bill certainly provides the platform for Te Atiawa to regain economic cultural and social sovereignty for their people and I want to emphasise that this settlement is for their people because I know particularly from reports in the media that there are other organisations that see these settlements as an avenue for them to have the benefits of—and I am talking about certain Government departments and certain local bodies all mentioning that these settlements will be an advantage with regard to things like infrastructure. I just want to say to the iwi that this settlement is for you and your people and you determine how it should be utilised in order to promote yourselves both economically and socially. I want to make that point and I cannot make that point too strongly because already I have noticed that some iwi who have settled have gone into those arrangements and possibly at their own desire. But I just want to make the point that these settlements are for the particular iwi and in this case it is Te Atiawa. Of course with this settlement there is still the issue of the Waitara lands and Marama Davidson the previous speaker articulated those concerns very well. I do not need to repeat them suffice it to say that that is a matter that is still to be considered by this House. It is now before the Māori Affairs Committee and we have yet to hear all the submissions that have been made but we will do that by visiting Waitara early in the new year. I also want to say again like with the previous bill the Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill that New Zealand First still has that concern. In this particular bill I refer to clause 77 particularly in terms of section 77(2) where it imposes on the council that it must" make those appointments and yet under the Local Electoral Act the word that is used is "may". We would not have had any problem with the word "may" because it gives the local body the choice. In this instance and in the instance of the previous legislation—and no doubt in the bill that is yet to be heard today—the question of "must" places the compulsory emphasis on the local bodies. If the people who elect local bodies are not in favour of that then the respective councils have to face that difficulty. Again apart from that I want to reiterate also our objection to the fact that groups like Federated Farmers are recognised in the same way. We oppose that as well. We believe that Māori are no less able—and are just as good if not better in some cases—to represent their people and their communities on councils by being elected. The recent local body elections have shown that a number of Māori around the country—admittedly not as many as we would like to see to reflect the percentage of our people as part of the overall population of this country. But there is the fact that we have Māori who have been elected on their own merits not because they are Māori but because of their own merits and I just want to refer to my relative who has become the Mayor of Porirua. Marama Fox: What about the partnership? Treaty principles of partnership?PITA PARAONE: That is all part of it. We subscribed to that when we signed the Treaty of Waitangi. And I believe that although this is what was agreed to by the negotiators—that is their right—all we are saying is that we can get Māori on to councils. If that is the wish of this particular clause—to get Māori on to councils—then we can do so in the mainstream by electing our people and we need to tell our people to get out there and vote. Having said that I have no difficulty in terms of the settlement that has been agreed between Te Atiawa and the Crown. Suffice it to say that even amongst the iwi there are people who disagree with the settlement so like them we exercise that same privilege here in the House. But having said that I want to wish Te Atiawa and those who have been charged to carry the terms of this settlement through all the best for the future because as one negotiator said he had to wait until his great-grandchildren arrived before this settlement got to this stage. Nā reira e tātou mā tēnā koutou kia ora mai anō tātou![And so to us and others I acknowledge you collectively my appreciation once again to us!]"