Coffey TāmatiTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to take a call on this the Ngāti Tara Tokanui Claims Settlement Bill and here we are again in this House talking about historical Treaty settlements. It is an uncomfortable truth for us as members of Parliament to come to this House representing the Crown knowing that it was the Crown that actually stripped Ngāti Tara Tokanui and many of our iwi across the land of their land of their language of their culture and it's an uncomfortable truth that we stand here today in this House and try and redress those wrongs.You see this is a shining example of colonisation and I think that sometimes we don't really—I think sometimes people that hear that word they don't dig into it they don't understand it and so they put up a big barrier. If they were to only understand it—what we're talking about right here now with this historical Treaty settlement the uncomfortable truth about the actions of the Crown to alienate a people from their land and from their culture—then maybe there'd be a bit more sympathy out there in Aotearoa for the plight of Māori. But unfortunately there are still some people that will see this settlement it will pass and they will still believe that Māori are getting too much. They will still believe that we should not create spaces and places for Māori to be able to achieve the rangatiratanga and the mana motuhake that was signed up to in Te Tiriti o Waitangi all those years ago back in 1840 and that covers the ones that did sign it but also the ones that didn't sign it as well because there's plenty of iwi that didn't sign it but they were affected by it.So this for me represents an attempt at trying to bring mana back to the people of Ngāti Tara Tokanui to bring some redress for the Crown to be able to accept the part that it played in that whole space and an opportunity for hopefully the wider New Zealand public to understand that actually we're still not out of the woods. We should be doing a better job of publicising these settlements so that we can share some of the hurt and the pain and the suffering the loss of housing the loss of land the loss of language. We can share that with wider New Zealand so that they actually understand the pain that sits in these documents—the absolute pain.For that reason I need to read some of the acknowledgments because I fear as though we don't do a good job in this House of acknowledging that. I hope that some very intelligent people out there cut this up into little videos and play it out there on social media and share it so that people understand this settlement and the role that it plays in the history and the milestones of the people of Ngāti Tara Tokanui but also understand that this is part of a long process that we've been on.While some iwi have done really well—they've settled they've moved on and they've been able to address that historical pain—there are some that are still in the line and there are some that aren't even in the line that wish they could get in the line. This is kōrero that's going to go on well past my time here in Parliament but if there's one hope that I have it's that we do a better job of telling these stories. So for that reason I've got some time; I'm going to read through some of the acknowledgements that are listed as clause 9 in this settlement bill: (1) The Crown acknowledges that until now it has failed to deal with the long-standing grievances of Ngāti Tara Tokanui in an appropriate way and that recognition of and provision of redress for these grievances is long overdue. (2) The Crown acknowledges that the Tauranga confiscation/raupatu and the subsequent Tauranga District Lands Act 1867 and Tauranga District Lands Act 1868 compulsorily extinguished all customary interests within the confiscation district including those of Ngāti Tara Tokanui and this was unjust and breached te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. (3) The Crown acknowledges that it failed to actively protect Ngāti Tara Tokanui interests in lands that they wished to retain when it initiated the purchase of Te Puna and Katikati blocks in 1864 without investigating the rights of Ngāti Tara Tokanui and this failure was in breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. (4) The Crown further acknowledges that—(a) Ngāti Tara Tokanui whānau and hapū had no choice but to participate in the Native Land Court system to protect their land against claims from others and to integrate land into the modern economy; and (b) the native land system caused division between hapū and the Native Land Court title determination process carried significant costs including survey and hearing costs which at times led to further alienations of Ngāti Tara Tokanui land; and (c) the operation and impact of the native land laws in particular the awarding of land to individual members of Ngāti Tara Tokanui rather than to the iwi or hapū made those lands more susceptible to partition fragmentation and alienation; and (d) this contributed to the further erosion of the traditional tribal structures of Ngāti Tara Tokanui which were based on collective tribal and hapū custodianship of land and the Crown failed to take adequate steps to protect those structures and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. (5) The Crown acknowledges that—(a) it sought to purchase Ngāti Tara Tokanui interests in land blocks before title to the land was [even] determined by the Native Land Court making payments that sometimes took the form of goods from storekeepers charged against Ngāti Tara Tokanui land; and (b) it made these payments despite recognising that they created severe divisions among Māori of the area; and (c) it agreed to lease the Ōhinemuri block from some of the owners in 1875 and assumed control of the leased land without the consent of all the owners. All the rents payable to Ngāti Tara Tokanui were used to repay the advances paid before 1875 even though some of the owners had not accepted any of these advances; and (d) it resumed purchasing Ōhinemuri in 1877 despite its commitment in 1875 to refrain from purchasing Ōhinemuri lands; and (e) it used monopoly powers in all negotiations to purchase Ngāti Tara Tokanui lands; and (f) the combined effect of these actions was that the Crown failed to actively protect the interests of Ngāti Tara Tokanui and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles." There's a lot in this bill and I want to thank the people of the tribe that have gotten to this point. And as a previous member suggested there are only about 800 of them left. So to them I acknowledge your pain. I acknowledge their suffering. I acknowledge their kuia their koroua their tūpuna kuia their tūpuna koroua that are no longer here to be able to witness this. I wish them the best on their journey and I hope—I really do hope—that we continue to make strides as a country by acknowledging these past wrongs by acknowledging the stories by taking down that wall that some people put up when they hear about colonisation that uncomfortable truth of colonisation. I hope that our young people when they're taught history in our schools understand their local stories. And I hope that those people that benefited from the raupatu benefited from the confiscation by the Crown of those lands acknowledge the history of that whakapapa of that land and how fortunate they are that they've been able to build their wealth on stolen land.This is a really important part in the Treaty process. I really hope that we can continue to tell these stories—not just Ngāti Tara Tokanui but I think it's time for us as a country to revise some of those stories as well. Because I tell you what: once these settlements happen they get a staple and they go on the shelf. We owe it to the people of Ngāti Tara Tokanui to do more than just put a staple on it and add it on the list of Treaty settlements. We owe it to their tūpuna to the people that were parted from their land to the people that died fighting for their land to do more. To do more: to be able to enable the people of that land to achieve their tino rangatiratanga and their mana motuhake as well.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call. I call on Todd Muller—five minutes."