Kuriger BarbaraMANIAPOTO CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLFirst ReadingDebate resumed.BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country): Thank you Madam Speaker. I stand here today to wish Maniapoto well through the time that is happening in the rohe at the moment with COVID and particularly since Delta came on stream. It's been a lovely day for me today to go and share some special moments at Parliament but there have been a large number—a substantial number—of Maniapoto who have been unable to travel to Parliament today to take part in this reading in person due to what's been happening around with COVID. I know that is disappointing but it is also a decision that Maniapoto have made in terms of keeping safe to stay where they are. It's been quite a difficult time for me over the last few weeks when at Mōkau the boundary has been at level 3. The top three quarters of my electorate has actually been in level 3 for a long period of time while the lower end of the electorate has been at level 2 so I haven't been in that area as much as I would normally be. But it brings back memories of visiting Maniapoto in the early stages of this settlement process with the Hon Chris Finlayson when we started having conversations. I also remember taking John Key there at one point when he was the Prime Minister and we went and we listened to some of the hopes and dreams of Maniapoto and what they would like to see when this settlement process had happened. I'd like to also acknowledge Minister Little in this process. But even more importantly I would like to acknowledge Minister Nanaia Mahuta who I know has had a substantial role in putting this settlement together and I look forward as it goes through the select committee.I've been the member of Parliament there for seven years and it actually came up at lunchtime today when we were having our special event that most electorates have two MPs. There are the Māori MPs—and acknowledging Nanaia Mahuta and also Adrian Rurawhe who cover quite a substantial proportion of the King Country area. So this is really important in having the King Country being able to move forward and I share the sentiments of Minister Andrew Little when he said I hope this long overdue settlement provides a foundation for the cultural social and economic future of Maniapoto and their descendants". I would like to wish Maniapoto well as we go through the next part of the process because the history is sad. Like with all of these things there was the terrible losses of life which are the most important losses—the lives that were lost during the early part of New Zealand's history—but also the land that has been lost. So in this redress not only will there be an apology going forward—and I look forward to being a part of that process as we get on the other side of Delta and COVID which I'm sure we will at some point. We're looking forward to not only the money changing hands but there are 36 sites of cultural significance which will be returned and those are the things that are really meaningful. The money makes a big difference. It will never be enough and it's always hard standing here doing these settlements when we know that the money is never enough to make up for what has happened in the past and there's a lot of give and take on both sides. There's generally more give on the side of the accepting party because a lot of grievances need to be settled. So just in supporting this today I would like to say that as this goes through the select committee we do have a clarification that we would like in National around clause 124 in Subpart 9 just around the marine interests. It's a little unclear to us what that means going forward. But beyond this we are very happy to be standing here today and supporting the first reading of this settlement to go to select committee. I look forward to the process and I look forward to engaging as we work through. Thank you Madam Speaker."