Finlayson ChristopherHon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I move That the Taranaki Iwi Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time. Can I just begin by thanking the House for its indulgence. It is very important that the three bills are debated together because of the nature of the grievance and the need to progress these bills given the events of previous weeks. Can I welcome Taranaki iwi to Parliament and can I thank them very much for making that journey. Today represents the fulfilment of years of work from you and your tūpuna because it has been almost 30 years since the original claim was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal and it has been 20 years since that very important report of the tribunal was released. Just to remind members it is a report that described the Taranaki claims as some of the most severe in the country so today is a long overdue event.I acknowledge all of those people from Taranaki iwi in the gallery who have worked to make this settlement a reality. I acknowledge those who are no longer with us but those who devoted their lives to seeking justice from the Crown. In particular I recognise the original Taranaki iwi claimants who carried the claims of their tūpuna but were unable to see their aspirations realised. Can I acknowledge the Taranaki iwi negotiation team and in particular I pay respects to Te Miringa Hohaia who passed away in 2011 while negotiating the settlement. I also acknowledge Peter Charlton who contributed significantly to the leadership team and set the strategy and the foundations of the negotiations. The efforts of these two have helped free the Taranaki iwi people from the mamae inflicted by the Crown and have paved the way we all hope for a future of opportunity hope and prosperity. Special acknowledgment must go to the Taranaki iwi negotiators: Jamie Tuuta; a friend of all of us in this place the Hon Mahara Okeroa; Toka Walden; and Wayne Mulligan—the A Team" as I always used to call them. They were great negotiators. I thank them for their vision their leadership and their unrelenting dedication—and I can say this to Mahara now—even when it used to really irritate me. I thought I was there and then the goalposts moved. I went back to my office and screamed but having got it out in the privacy of my own office we then moved on. I thank you for your cooperation with your neighbours Te Atiawa and Ngāruahine to allow this day to occur.Can I thank the Taranaki Regional Council and the South Taranaki District Council for supporting the settlement because they have. Opposition to the particular redress negotiated I have to say is not really complicated by any vestige of merit.Finally I thank the Crown team ably led by Paul Swain who has been such a tremendous negotiator over the years over a number of iwi. I know how hard he worked on the Taranaki claim knowing that Mahara was on the other side. Can I also thank the officials from across Government departments who worked tirelessly to achieve this settlement. The Office of Treaty Settlements has as always been outstanding.It is my sincerest hope that the bill we are considering today is going to enable Taranaki iwi to move towards a positive future. The settlement redress—and I know I have to read this into the record of the House. I know that it sounds a pittance and I do not actually enjoy reading it into the House because I know what happened up there but I am the face of the Crown in 2016 and so it is my obligation to do so. So I read the redress into the permanent record of the House: financial and commercial redress of $70 million—the opportunity to purchase specific Crown properties through deferred selection and the right of first refusal—the vesting of 30 cultural redress sites including the joint vesting of Ngā Motu islands with Te Atiawa; statutory acknowledgments over 25 sites of significance and deeds of recognition over 14 sites; and the option to purchase specific South Taranaki District Council properties if they become surplus. And as I have adverted to on a number of occasions this morning there is a proposed model for iwi representation on two standing committees of the Taranaki Regional Council alongside the other iwi of Taranaki and that well-known iwi Federated Farmers! So I hope that this redress will help mend the Taranaki iwi and Crown relationship into the future.It is very important that I as the Minister leading off the debate turn to the historical claims. This morning is actually quite a grim morning because we have had to consider the various ways in which the Crown has failed to uphold its obligations to Ngāruahine and Te Atiawa under the Treaty. Sadly many of these failures obviously were experienced by Taranaki iwi. In their earliest interactions with the Crown Taranaki iwi sought to take advantage of new economic opportunities but to do so on their own terms. Prior to 1860 Taranaki iwi were participating successfully in a trading economy and retained control over much of their customary land. However over the course of the following 5 years the Crown purchased land at Waitara leading to war with Taranaki Māori including Taranaki iwi. In those conflicts the Crown used warships to shell Taranaki iwi coastal settlements employed scorched earth tactics that destroyed settlements and cultivations desecrated sacred sites by building military redoubts on them and caused Taranaki iwi to suffer severe hardship. Then to top it off the Crown punished the iwi of Taranaki for their resistance by confiscating 1.2 million acres of land including every acre—every acre—of the Taranaki iwi rohe not already purchased.We all know about the flawed compensation process with the consequent long delays and return of land—the return of almost all land under individualised title which extinguished customary tenure. So it is a very unhappy history that I recount today and it simply serves to emphasise why we need to have these settlements. And it is not just the commercial redress as some people write to me and say; it is getting the history right and properly recorded. In that regard I want to now turn and say just a few words about Parihaka because the devastation wreaked by the Crown in Taranaki is most potently seen through this small rural community at the foothills of the maunga. I have touched on Parihaka a number of times today but I need to say something more. In 1866 Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi established a settlement at Parihaka. They sought to prevent further land loss. They sought to promote Māori autonomy through peaceful engagement with Pākehā on Māori terms. Initially the Crown welcomed the peaceful influence of Parihaka in Taranaki; however as the settlement rapidly grew both in size and influence the Crown came to view the settlement as a challenge to its authority. In 1879 and 1880 the settlement's assertion of continuing rights over confiscated land articulated through the powerful symbolic acts of ploughing and fencing were met with a series of responses from the Crown that really are among the lowest points of our nation's history. Taranaki iwi men and boys were among the 405 who were arrested and transported to South Island prisons—denied their basic human rights to a trial. Taranaki iwi were there to watch more than 1500 Crown troops march into Parihaka in November 1881 arrest their leaders pull down their houses destroy crops kill livestock and defile their sacred wharenui. Taranaki iwi women were among those who were left to maintain the settlement in the absence of so many of the husbands fathers and sons and were subject to grievous assault by Crown troops. So these for the people in the gallery are not historical abstractions not an interesting historical outline; these were real people. These are their tūpuna their fathers and their grandfathers their mothers and their grandmothers. So the Crown's actions at Parihaka created pain and grievance for all the iwi of Taranaki and that is why we do have unfinished business and we all know that. That is why we are continuing to work with the Parihaka community to devise a package that will work for them. I reiterate on behalf of the Crown the Crown's commitment that justice has to be done.The Parihaka community have received the Crown package and I hope it is going to go some way towards mending the harm. Over the months that lie ahead the community will need to consider that package and come back to me. I certainly hope that we can achieve a reconciliation process that really does fulfil the legacy of the two prophets I have mentioned.In closing I want to thank Ngāruahine Te Atiawa and Taranaki iwi. Today has been a very significant day for the Taranaki region and for all New Zealanders. As I said the Parihaka issue is yet to be resolved justly and with dignity. Finally I say to the iwi of Taranaki: let us talk about that mountain some time soon. I commend the bill to the House."