Parata Hekia: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
Parata Hekia: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:655;Page:5056] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Chairperson. Tena koe. Firstly I want to elaborate on a point that was raised by my colleague Rahui Katene when we talked about the opt-out clause of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill. I reiterate that I think the behaviour of rangatiratanga requires mutual respect within the collective behaving collectively and keeping its people included. Those were the points I was making. It works both ways. 
I am pleased to take a call on Part 2 concerning cultural redress because—as the previous speaker Mita Ririnui indicated—this is the substantive part of the bill. This is the part of the bill where we talk about properties places place names—all the icons and indicators of a people who have lived walked breathed and buried their people in this whenua. The opportunity for cultural redress to be a significant component of a Treaty settlement performs more than the function of returning an asset; it returns the basis of the stories that people tell about themselves. 
We have said a number of times in the Chamber tonight that Treaty settlements are about the future. They are about our children. I am delighted that my daughter Rakaitemania is in the gallery tonight because her generation and the generations after hers want to see evidence of their ancestors as part of the norm of their lives. If they can see names on street signs or on buildings and if they can see wahi tapu that tell the story of who they are and where they come from and establish the link and the connection between themselves and that whenua and ongoing development then they stand tall in their own time. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
HEKIA PARATA 
: I want to round off my remarks about Part 2 by agreeing with my colleague the Hon Mita Ririnui that this part is in fact the substantive part of the bill because it is about all the lands icons and evidence of being of the Taranaki Whanui people. Not only does this part vest the named properties and place names—which are themselves as I said earlier the evidence chain in the narrative of the story of who Taranaki Whanui are—but it also just as importantly articulates the protocols and statutory acknowledgments in deeds of recognition. Together these form the tikanga of how those places and place names are to be managed. 
Even more optimistically this bill demonstrates the potential for an evolving relationship. There is nothing static about the practices being put in place by these protocols and statutory acknowledgments. They provide an opportunity for Taranaki Whanui to demonstrate how their direct hands-on kaitiakitanga and management can contribute to the growing narrative of who they are as a people and they start to model the kind of real interaction we need with our turangawaewae Aotearoa New Zealand not only in the Port Nicholson area but all around Aotearoa New Zealand. 
I am delighted that cultural redress forms such a significant part of the Treaty settlement process. As I have said earlier there tends to be a focus on the quantum. The quantum is not incidental but it is merely a dollar figure—well it is not merely a dollar figure and I do not want to diminish the importance of it but in my view the acknowledgment by the Crown of the breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi that provide the platform for this arrangement followed by an apology and its acceptance is part of how we begin to heal the relationship. The cultural and commercial redress allows for that relationship to grow in some real and substantial way. 
I am delighted that Taranaki Whanui will be able to restart their relationship with the Crown and—through these territories places place names and wahi tapu all around the Port Nicholson area—continue to tell their stories to themselves their children their grandchildren and all other Wellingtonians and New Zealanders. This bill is a very important contribution to our development as a maturing nation. Na reira e te Whare tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa.