Kuriger BarbaraBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): It is a pleasure to take a call on this bill. I have not been part of the Māori Affairs Committee but I have had a knowledge all of my life in growing up in Taranaki about the hurts and grievances that have been around Waitara. I will say that for a big part of my life I knew there was hurt and grievance but I did not really know the full history. As some of the speakers before talked about as we work through this process we should be looking at telling the story and making sure that people in generations to come fully understand. My grandparents actually retired in Waitara before they passed away. That was many many years ago—my dad's parents; they actually passed away when I was 8 years old—but I do have memories of going to Waitara.I was doing a little bit of research before not just about the history of the Land Wars which are an atrocious piece of history but for both sides there has been disappointment. The town was apparently also supposed to have been the capital of the Taranaki province and would have been they say if chief surveyor Carrington had been a better sailor and had enjoyed the trip over the Waitara River bar. Instead he was terrified and decreed that all the locals' cunning plans were to come to nothing and went ahead with a breakwater and a port at New Plymouth instead. It is amazing how that disappointment at Carrington's perceived treachery has carried down over the years and how coming as it always did from the town's business elite it may have hampered growth and formed the poor relation" attitude that the town has had about itself.I do not think it has just been an attitude thing; Waitara is town that really has not had a fair go. It is a low socio-economic town. Waitara east is decile 9 and Waitara west is decile 10. The iwi have not been given a fair go due to those horrific events. When I think about it 1860 was 100 years before I was born so there has been a lot of grievance and a real lot of hurt for a very long time.I want to acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee which has spent so much time working on this. I know this is a second reading but I really hope that we can make this work going forward because I think this community has suffered for far too long. I would like to acknowledge Nuk the chair of the committee and Jonathan Young as the local MP and the sponsor.I have got a couple of tiny little wee pieces in this area in my electorate the golf club being one of them. I must admit I have never played a game of golf at that golf club. I have played only one game of golf in my life very badly. But it is a part of my electorate that I fully respect in terms of this bill. Look you know I now realise the relevance of it—the horrific history and how this was a place where we started a piece of our New Zealand life that really is not very memorable. So I would really like to thank the iwi and the hapū both Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua and the New Plymouth District Council—those people who are currently in the council and particularly the past mayor and the CEO who were very instrumental in getting this going—the Taranaki Regional Council and I would also like to acknowledge our Minister Christopher Finlayson who has done a lot of work around Treaty settlements. He is a very well-respected Minister and member of Parliament who does a fantastic job.Tonight a few people in the course of this have talked about Parihaka. I grew up again about 20 minutes from Parihaka and we all knew that there was something terrible that had happened there and did not quite know the full story. I feel very blessed and very special that I was able to be at that celebration that we had recently.So what I would ask for tonight is to have some tolerance and it really is disappointing for me that we do have some parties that are abstaining and some parties that are voting against this because my view is that if the people in the community and the iwi and the hapū are happy with what we are doing then it really is not up to us to then turn round and change what they agreed. And so not having been part of the process—I understand there is more listening to go on and I understand there is a wee way to go with this but I really feel like it is important that we show some tolerance and we take that on board.So this is a community that I want to see reach its full potential. We often talk in this House about housing and people buying homes and people buying first homes and I know that for a long time those people of Waitara have wanted to freehold those homes. So for them it is a win. For the iwi and hapū it is a win in terms of being able to get some funding over time. And look always acknowledge that there is a generosity in all of these things. With any settlement it takes a big heart for people to accept what is being offered because it can never make up for the wrongs of the past.Te Atiawa is seeking the return of their land. The leaseholders as I said are seeking to freehold their houses and the community has not been able up until this point to make the best use out of the proceeds of the land. So all of the work that the Māori Affairs Committee has done with the local community and iwi is going to be very very beneficial to people going forward.I do not really want to extend this speech or contribution for much longer—just to say that I fully support this as a relatively local MP and someone who has been seeing this go on for a long time. I think we really owe it to ourselves going forward to ensure that we get this to fruition because these people—all of them—have suffered for long enough and I would like to see Waitara go forward. Thank you."