Jones Shane: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Jones Shane: Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:648;Page:16841] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
A e te Whare tena tatou katoa. Hei timata e oku matua e oku whaea mai i tera waka rangatira o tatou a Te Arawa tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa. Me penei e hara ma nga korero. Te tuatahi ko Houmaitawhiti katahi ka puta ko Tamatekapua raua ko Whakaturia haere atu ki te kimi i te mokai Potakatawhiti. Kitea rawa atu kua pau i te tupuna o Ngapuhi a Uenuku. Arumia katahi ka kahakina nga poroporo tapu mai i te rakau. Ka mau ka haria ka whakaturia ki roto i te Whare ka whakapaoaangia ai. Otira to tupuna a Tamatekapua ihumanea ka puta katahi ka huri e kore te riri e mariri. Ka hangaia he waka he waka rangatira he waka kei nga hau e wha o te ao Maori e korerotia tonutia ana.  
Te ingoa ko Te Arawa. Katahi ka tope te rakau ki Tawhitinui ka haria ki te wai ki Hauhou. Katahi ka whakaterengia ka oti i a Rata i a Wahieroa i a Ngahue i a Te Parata. Tenei waka ka oti i a koutou i tenei rangi tona pai tona rite tona hohonu penei me te waka i mauria mai ai o koutou tupuna ki Aotearoa. Koia tena te tauira hei korerotanga ma tatou i tenei rangi. Ko ta tatou i tenei ra he whakatu i nga nawe mai o te ao kohatu. Atu i te whakatutanga he whakaterenga he whakarewanga o te waka hei hari i nga moemoea i nga wawata o te iti me te rahi ki te whitinga o te ra. Na reira tena koutou tena tatou kia ora tatou katoa.  
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to us all the House. To begin greetings to my elders men and womenfolk of that chiefly canoe of ours Te Arawa greetings greetings and greetings to us all. The story goes like this you know. First there was Houmaitawhiti who begat Tamatekapua and Whakaturia who went in search of the pet dog Potakatawhiti. Eventually they discovered that Uenuku the ancestor of Ngapuhi had eaten it all up. They followed that up by stealing the sacred poroporo fruit from the tree but were captured trussed up in the meeting house over a smoking fire. Yes your crafty ancestor Tamatekapua escaped and to defuse the situation set about to build a canoe a chiefly one at that and the envy of the day. It continues to be talked about throughout Maoridom even to the present day.  
The name of the canoe was of course Te Arawa. The tree was felled at Tawhitinui and taken to the sea at Hauhou. It was set afloat and Rata Wahieroa Ngahue and Te Parata finished it off. The quality and depth of this craft that you will end up with will be similar to the one that brought your ancestors to Aotearoa. That then is the model for us to talk about today. Ours is also to settle past grievances create the craft set it afloat and launch it to take the dreams and aspirations of the minority and majority in the direction where the sun rises 
.]  
I have greeted the leaders of the Arawa people. I have recounted—admittedly with a slight Ngapuhi flavour to it—the history recounted to me by my own grandmother and corrected occasionally by my former bishop Manuhuia Bennett. The Arawa canoe which was made from a fantastic tree came from Hawaiki after a dispute involving him whom we Maori call te ihumanea—the crafty skilful one—Tamatekapua to save his brother. The children of Houmaitawhiti realised that salvation for them lay in committing to a voyage across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa away from Te Korokoro o Te Parata to arrive in Aotearoa. Really the vision and the promise that we celebrate today are not unlike the journey that Te Arawa’s own ancestors took to arrive at te whenua hou Aotearoa. 
This is a day for celebrating the passage of history so that we feel that we have dealt with honour with the debts of history. We can look with confidence pride and belief into the future that will be acted out and eventually embodied by not only young Maori but all future New Zealanders. That is why we come here today saluting the Arawa leadership and saluting Dr Cullen who shows that there is no alternative to a career that spans from 1981 up to this day. The fact is he has been able to cobble together competing agendas and bruised personalities; agendas that quite frankly ought to be sorted out on the marae I say to Mr Flavell and not in this House. This day is not about acre rood and perch; this day is about New Zealanders backing an attempt to put our history on a level playing field so that we can all go forward and capture equity opportunity and fairness. That is why I stand to support the Arawa today. 
The leadership has already been named but I single out Mr Rawiri Te Whare. I sat in Dr Cullen’s office for some of the meetings and as my old tupuna from Ninety Mile Beach would have said Rawiri Te Whare ko to tuara ehara i te ngorengore kahore. Otira he maroro. Kua pau katoa i a wai ranei te karawarawa e tu tonu ana koe: the backbone of that man Rawiri Te Whare is not made of sap; it is made of something very durable because it has been scratched poked and prodded and much to the amazement of his own people he is still standing! I say to Rawiri Te Whare that this is a day for him his iwi his whanau and his supporters including Eru George including my fellow Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commissioner Anaru Rangiheuea Te Poroa Malcolm Pihopa Kingi—koutou katoa. It is a day to go home and celebrate that the prestige of the Arawa people still looms strong and they will be the dominant force in their own turangawaewae the Bay of Plenty. Kia ora tatou katoa. 
Bill read a first time.  
Bill referred to the Maori Affairs Committee. 
Waiata; haka 
.