Hipango Harete; Williams PotoHARETE HIPANGO (National—Whanganui): Te Māngai o te Whare e tū ana au ki ngā karanga o ngā tūpuna o ngā tāngata o ngā mokopuna o ngā uri o te iwi o Ngāti Rangi. E tū ana te Pire o Ngāti Rangi claims settlement. Kei a koutou i tēnei wā e ngā whanaunga o Ngāti Rangi mihi atu nau mai Ngāti Rangi i roto i te Whare.[Madam Deputy Speaker I stand to speak at the bidding of the ancestors the people the little children and the people of Ngāti Rangi. The Ngāti Rangi claims settlement is under way. It is now your turn the relations of Ngāti Rangi. I acknowledge you Ngāti Rangi. I welcome you to the House.]Today is a day of reflection. It is a day to reflect on the journey of Ngāti Rangi to reflect on the ebbs the flows the turbulence the currents the losses the woes the grief the wrongs the injustice the mamae of Ngāti Rangi and our—your—history. It has been a 28-year journey of Treaty negotiations for Ngāti Rangi for us to be in the House today. For me to stand as uri of Ngāti Rangi is an immense privilege and it is also one that I am immensely conflicted by because the enormity of that responsibility struck me early this afternoon when you all entered into the Legislative Council Chamber. As we were there I was reflecting on all of those who have gone before in this Whare and all of ours who have also passed on. However we know that they are here with us in spirit.It is a day of mixed and strong emotion evoked by these reflections and memories of those gone before but for those of us here today—and looking at our young ones who have accompanied us—it is about the pathway into the future. It is an enduring presence of the past that Ngāti Rangi has brought to this House today those moments from the past to be taken into our future—a lens adjusting now from that past with a hope and vision focused forward and fulfilling aspiration potential and purpose.I acknowledge my colleague the Hon Christopher Finlayson who at the time of being the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations participated in this journey. I acknowledge the Hon Andrew Little now Treaty negotiations Minister who attended his first deed of settlement and signed that at Raketapauma Marae.I also acknowledge my colleagues of the Māori Affairs Committee. We will be earnestly deliberating at some length in terms of the contents of the bill the details of the legislation and the importance of the responsibility that we have in listening to further submissions at the hearings and we will be addressed by Ngāti Rangi at a time when we come to visit you further and listen to kōrero on what we have before us written in this bill. This bill is the bill of the Ngāti Rangi people with your claims settlement.I also acknowledge the negotiators: cousin Che cousin Toni—all whanaunga actually—Carl Wilson Kemp Dryden Cassandra Reid and furthermore the trustees on behalf of Ngāti Rangi. You will continue the responsibility that is beholden to you by your people but also that will be legislated in this bill. I look up at you Keria Soraya Raana Shar Darnielle and Brendon. With those responsibilities you know that you carry along the way the support of your people both present and those who have gone before.The first reading of a settlement bill traditionally is about the opportunity to recount and reflect upon the Crown's relationship with the claimant group—tangata whenua mana whenua. With this first reading of the bill I reflect upon the Crown's apology and its cause and necessity. I reference that I stand here in this moment in a conflicted position today because I am addressing this House and the people of Ngāti Rangi as an agent of the Crown. Little had I expected all those years ago—back in the 1990s attending the wānanga for the mau rākau with my babies at the time and my tāne hoa and looking at you Che the young man that you were in those days; all of us were much younger—that we would be in this House today and also in a matter of time here for the third reading and conclusion for the passage of all of those efforts over the generations to be legislated. I stand here conflicted because I am speaking as an agent of the Crown but I am uri of Ngāti Rangi and Wanganui.So I turn to the importance and significance of the apology that is entrenched or will be entrenched in this bill. In time I will speak at greater length in detail on the different aspects and elements of the acknowledgments but importantly today I will speak on the apology. As the uri of Ngāti Rangi here today will well know clause 10 of the bill states very clearly that The Crown is sincerely remorseful that it has not treated Ngāti Rangi as the friend and ally you have always been … The Crown is deeply sorry that its acts and omissions have caused you"—I read from the bill—"to lose tribal control over the sale and settlement of your land. The Crown sincerely apologises for its failure …". It is profoundly remorseful that "it has not honoured Ngāti Rangi's partnership … with the respect and integrity that [Ngāti Rangi has deserved]. The Crown humbly apologises. [It is] With this apology and through this settlement the Crown seeks to atone for those acts and omissions that have caused Ngāti Rangi harm". However I have talked about moving forward into the future; so that apology is about finally lifting your burden of grievance and to rebuild that relationship.Before concluding I've mentioned that there are significant parts within the acknowledgment and I would like to take that opportunity at either the second or the third reading because in reading through those acknowledgments detail for all of us the personal relevance and association that we have through each of the stories of our whānau through the confiscations through the wrongdoings. One in particular that has struck a chord with me personally is the acknowledgment—and this is at clause 9(3): "The Crown acknowledges that martial law was in effect in 1847 when a group of Māori youths were court-martialled and executed …" and that strikes to the heart for many of us in terms of our whakapapa.So in concluding I stand here humbly to acknowledge to us all that mamae that we carry and that it is time for us to move forward into the future with hope and positivity. With a humble and hopeful heart I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I understand this is a split call. I call Jo Luxton."