Eagle Paul; Dean JacquiPAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai): I didn't hear what you said so there we are—we're even-stevens. But kia ora Madam Speaker. It's my pleasure to speak on the second reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. E ngā mana e ngā re rau ieriki-ieriki mā. Tēnā kotou tēnā kotou tēnā kotou katoa. E te imi e Rēkohu tēnā kotou.[Exalted figures and voices of authority and multitudes of leaders. Acknowledgments to each and every one of you. To the people of Rēkohu you are acknowledged.]It is a pleasure to be here as the member for the Chatham Islands / Rēkohu / Wharekauri with my colleague Rino Tirikatene as the Māori electorate MP. Together with all of you in this House we represent the Chatham Islanders and do our best and this has been quite a process. I say this because we are progressing it through the House and I know that the Moriori people would like it done faster but I offer the apology in terms of the timing because of COVID-19.I want to just say that I had the honour of being on the Chatham Islands in February last year. We were at Kōpinga Marae and signing the deed of settlement and I remember it well. It's a very fine whare for those who have been there and in front of the two pou that had the names of many of those who had perished in the 19th century from those islands. It was a privilege to be with the Hon Andrew Little the Treaty negotiations Ministers; other Ministers; other members of Parliament; and to be representing the Government and embraced by their manawarekatanga. It is with pleasure that we are now at the second reading.I'm part of the Māori Affairs Committee and we've heard today that the select committee travelled to the Chathams to undertake the submissions and that in itself each time—and we've heard how members described their journeys of understanding and their knowledge of the imi and how it fits in terms of the context of Māori tauiwi Pākehā and others who come now to form what is the Chatham Island people. But I want to just refer directly to some of the submissions and one of those is from Maui Solomon the chief negotiator for the settlement. He has put in a tireless amount of work and that's reflected in his submission. He reminds us that The original claim petition for justice for Moriori was filed by Hirawanu Tapu and 30 rangata matua with the Governor Sir George Grey in June 1862. No response to that petition has survived but eight years later in 1870 the Native Land Court was established on Rēkohu and Moriori were robbed"—using his words—"of 98 percent of all their land including highly valued outlying Islands. And some 126 years later the modern day claim was filed. Hearings took place in 1994-95 and the Waitangi Tribunal report 'Rēkohu' was released in 2001. This report largely vindicated and upheld all the claims that Moriori had made. The main finding was that [to quote] 'the main relief by far is due to the Moriori people'. Negotiations commenced [way back] in 2004"—and I can understand some of Maui Solomon's stress at waiting—"and were halted again in 2008 [as] … the Crown reprioritised its claims settlement agenda. Negotiations recommenced in 2016 and a Deed of Settlement"—as I said at the start—"was signed in February 2020." And can I acknowledge again Maui Solomon for really his life's work to seek justice for Moriori and to honour his karapuna by telling their story and returning to Moriori their place in the world.I want to just acknowledge the negotiating team: Tom Lanauze Paul Solomon Grace LeGros and claims manager Susan Thorpe for their efforts—and on the Crown side the Hon Dame Fran Wilde who had some task in bringing this together but if she was here today and the people of Moriori they would certainly celebrate this long long journey. And so can I also acknowledge other Ministers in addition to Minister Little: the Hon Christopher Finlayson and the Hon Eugenie Sage as the conservation Minister who over some time helped pull together the redress. And this is just one part of three settlements that will happen on island. We've heard references to Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri. There is a third and that is the shared redress where Moriori and Mutunga will work together with the Crown and the detail of how things are put together will come forward into what's known as a shared redress. There were a number of ministries involved Crown agencies represented and they remain active today working on making sure that the deed is delivered.I want to just pick up on a couple of other submissions that were made. We've heard strong references to the place of the Moriori reo the language ta rē Moriori and the desire to have that recognised as an official language. One submission came from Erin King who is of Moriori descent an employee of the Ministry of Education and she spoke vividly about her children's desire to reclaim their heritage and understand at least some Moriori language so they being Canterbury- Christchurch-based could learn and not wait. I don't think she gave her age but I was assessing—like myself it took many many years for the education system to truly integrate te reo Māori into the system. Her hope was that there would be the same acknowledgment to Moriori and that account was accurate. So there are some similarities there. I felt for her and it was good to hear those concerns being put at the feet of her children as part of her journey of discovery. And that's the great thing about the claims settlement process. I know other iwi have said when these Treaty settlements proceed they go through they act as a process that allows those who may not have connected to their iwi for a million reasons but these are the vehicle or the mechanism that allow a stronger connection.Less so as part of this is we did get a submission from the New Zealand Rock Lobster Industry Council and the Paua Industry Council. Fisheries is a big economic and tourism driver for the island. They put through a submission and said "Look we have looked at the provisions of the bill." and in terms of the primary industries protocol and the rāhui areas and the new customary fishing regulations in respect of clauses they had something to say on that. They were endorsed much to their surprise I must say but my workings with them on island—and I know that my colleague Rino Tirikatene also agrees—means that they reflect the reality and ensure that Moriori and all Chatham Islanders will benefit.There is a whole lot more that could be said around this process. We are at the second reading. I'm really looking forward to the third reading and the imi Moriori sitting in this House—Hon Simon Bridges: And those rock lobsters.PAUL EAGLE: And just maybe we'll have some crayfish and the member for Tauranga and I can celebrate. Kia ora. Me rongo.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The member's time has expired. I call Nicola Willis—five minutes."