Whaitiri Meka: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16164. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. E te iwi Ngāti Raukawa ā tēnā koutou. Nau mai nau mai hara mai.[To the people of Ngāti Raukawa greetings to you collectively. Welcome welcome welcome.]It gives me an absolute privilege and honour to stand in support of the Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill at its second reading and to join with colleagues in this House in doing so. It feels like this week is Treaty settlement on speed dial with this being our second one today and with our third one to come following this. As a new member of the Māori Affairs Committee it definitely requires one to have their skates on when dealing with the Treaty bills. But can I say that it is an absolute honour to be part of that select committee and I want to acknowledge all members for the commitment in what they do in bringing these very important settlement bills to the House. In my experience when settling historical Treaty claims a couple of things come to mind. One is the assertion of iwi in terms of their mana in their own rohe and the settlement process also allows us to tell their story. So if I could beg the indulgence of the House I would like to do exactly that.Ngāti Raukawa derive their identity from their eponymous ancestor Raukawa who descends from theTainui waka through his father Tūrongo a descendant of Hoturoa. Through his motherMāhinaarangi Raukawa also descends from theTākitimu waka and Tamatea Ariki-nui. In terms of relationships you always remind yourself of how you relate to others and so I mihi to Māhinaarangi an ancestor of Ngāti Kahungunu. The Raukawa rohe is described in a tauparapara used by Raukawa kaumātua. The district of Raukawa is from Te Wairere Horohoro and Pōhaturoa and at Ongaroto is the house of the ancestor Whaitā. From Nukuhau to Taupō-nui-a-Tia to Hurakia on the Hauhungaroa range from Titiraupenga mountain the horizon is the boundary of the district of Raukawa. To the mountain Wharepūhunga and the marae of Arowhena. To the ranges of Whakamarumaru the view extends to the region of Te Kaokaoroa-o-Pātetere to Maungatautari. The view extends beyond Wharepūhunga to the ancestor Hoturoa to the marae at Pararewa.The Crown recognises the mandate of Raukawa negotiators in September 2008 and I do particularly want to acknowledge the chairperson of the Raukawa Trust Board Vanessa Eparaima for her leadership and her guidance in getting us to this point in the process. I want to acknowledge also that we have Chris McKenzie in the gallery here in the House. I mihi to you Chris for the mahi and to all the Raukawa whānau hapū and iwi for the work that you have done. Like I said in my previous call it is not an easy undertaking. There are a lot of compromises. It is often done with a lot of humility and a lot of grace and so I mihi to you and also clearly the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. I was listening to the previous speaker Mr Tremain a fellow Hawke’s Bay-ite talking about the speed the Hon Chris Finlayson has applied to the role of Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and I do want to acknowledge Mr Finlayson for that.Turning to the historic background to the claims of Raukawa I acknowledge that they suffered much from the wars of that time. Of course like many they lost a lot of land. I too joined the Māori Affairs Committee in its hearings in Tokoroa and was pleased to see the number and range of submitters who appeared before the selectcommittee. We had a number of interested groups in support clearly and with some mentions also of how the bill could be improved. We had submissions from for example the Te Arawa River Iwi trust Ngāti Paretekawa Ruthana Begbie a wonderful kuia from Tokoroa. We also had submissions from a neighbouring iwi of Raukawa Ngāti Korokī Kahukura Trust.One of the submissions I do want to just highlight—because I absolutely believe that that is the way the country is going to be moving in terms of local and regional relationships—was the submission done by the mayor of—Hon Christopher Finlayson: South Waikato.MEKA WHAITIRI: Yes the name escapes me at the moment.Hon Christopher Finlayson: Neil Sinclair.MEKA WHAITIRI: That is right Mr Finlayson—Neil Sinclair. What I enjoyed from his submission to the select committee was the ongoing relationship with Raukawa in terms of what is pending in terms of the settlement. I enjoyed the fact that he spoke not only highly in support of the bill but on the issue around maintaining relationships and the opportunities that a settlement such as the Ngāti Raukawa one will bring to the community in his area. I do not want to go on much more in terms of the detail of the bill but I do want to acknowledge the work that people have done to bring it here and to support it in its second reading. I too look forward to its third and final reading. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.