Finlayson ChristopherRANGITĀNE TŪ MAI RĀ (WAIRARAPA TĀMAKI NUI-Ā-RUA) CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I move That the Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā (Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua) Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. A month ago—only a month ago—I was welcomed on to Mākirikiri Marae in Dannevirke to sign the deed of settlement with Rangitāne o Wairarapa and Rangitāne o Tamaki nui a Rua.I am so very pleased to extend a warm welcome to the members of Rangitāne who have travelled to be here in Parliament for the first reading of the bill. I am delighted you are here and I am delighted that you were able to listen to the second reading of the Rangitāne o Manawatu Claims Settlement Bill. I am sure there are some representatives there and next week I shall be reporting to Rangitāne in Blenheim in the Wairau that their relations are well on the way and frankly that some of them should have been here today as well. So thank you very much for coming. It is great to see you here especially only 1 month after that wonderful signing at Mākirikiri Marae. At this time my thoughts go to those members of Rangitāne who have suffered the grievances addressed through this bill and those who began this journey and yet are no longer here to experience this point in the history of their great iwi. They are in our thoughts today. I also acknowledge those who are with us—some of whom are sitting in the gallery today—particularly Mānahi Paewai and Jim Rīmene and Mavis Mullins. The earlier two—although Mavis is everywhere—started this process so many years ago and provided support and guidance to the iwi negotiators as the settlement has progressed. Rangitāne have been served over the years by very devoted negotiators and advisers and I acknowledge the huge amount of work over many years by the negotiating team. It is always dangerous and indeed inappropriate probably to name individuals but I do want to acknowledge Tīpene Chrisp in the gallery. Most of the time he is on my side because he works for the Office of Treaty Settlements but the call of the whānau was too great and he has been on the other side for this negotiation as one would expect. Can I acknowledge the chief Crown negotiator Rick Barker for the tremendous work that he has done on this settlement. I am sure he would like to be here today but I have a feeling he is up in Hauraki. I also acknowledge the various Crown agencies and the regional and district councils for their work. And that is not pro forma thanks because for example the Tararua District Council has been very very helpful as we have dealt with a couple of issues on the way through and I acknowledge it and its retiring mayor. The journey to settlement for Rangitāne stretches back many years. Claims on behalf of the iwi were lodged in the 1980s. Tribunal hearings were held in 2004 and 2005 and the great Wairarapa ki Tararua report was released in June 2010. In October 2011 the Crown recognised the mandate of the Rangitāne Settlement Negotiations Trust to negotiate the settlement of the Treaty claims. Negotiations commenced following the signing of terms of negotiation in 2012. On 28 March 2014 I signed an agreement in principle that set out the settlement package and as I said last month I signed the deed of settlement after it had been ratified by members of Rangitāne. The warmth and the energy of the Rangitāne tamariki radiated on what was otherwise a very cold Dannevirke day. The Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā (Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua) Claims Settlement Bill is being considered today and it is going to give legislative effect to the redress that Rangitāne will receive. I want to take a moment to reflect on the history that sits behind the settlement legislation. This came through so strongly at the signing ceremony—and I would love some people who say Oh the iwi are only interested in the money." to have been at Mākirikiri Marae because they would have seen that the history and the cultural redress were at the heart of what iwi members were seeking. It was really a beautiful ceremony. Rangitāne welcomed Pākehā settlers to their rohe from the mid-1840s. Rangitāne enjoyed considerable benefits from leasing land to these settlers and trading with them. The Crown then applied pressure on Wairarapa Māori to end the leases and sell their land to the Crown. By the mid-1850s the Crown had acquired about three-fifths of the traditional rohe of Rangitāne. When purchasing land the Crown led this iwi to expect substantial educational health and economic benefits. In the course of time however Rangitāne did not experience many of these benefits nor the prosperity that they could reasonably have expected to receive from settlement in their region; nor did they receive the reserves the Crown had promised to set aside for iwi. In the 1860s through the native land court legislation the Crown introduced a new land tenure system that was simply inconsistent with Rangitāne traditional customs. In 1871 the Crown acquired considerable areas of Rangitāne land in Te Tapere-nui-o-Whātonga including 60000 acres of the Mangatainoka Block despite the express opposition of Rangitāne leaders. Their communities resisted land sales. They attempted to maintain tribal structures through a number of initiatives including the various Parliaments and the longstanding fight of Nireaha Tāmaki who took his case to the Privy Council. In a landmark decision the Privy Council reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal and acknowledged that a system of customary Māori land tenure did exist and deserved recognition in court decisions. It is one of those interesting items of history that when the Supreme Court Bill was going through in the early 2000s everyone said that we needed a Supreme Court that would be more sensitive to the resolution of Treaty of Waitangi claims—but the Privy Council actually understood this stuff very well indeed. The Crown lost more often than it won when dealing with these issues—in fact so much so that at one stage one Saturday morning in the early 1900s there was a gathering of all the judges and the lawyers in Wellington and they had what was called a "protest of the bench and bar" grumbling about a Privy Council decision that had been favourable to Māori. But I digress so back to the bill. The Government's response to the Privy Council decision was to limit the right of Māori to investigate the Government's land purchases through the courts.In 1896 Rangitāne leaders were involved in gifting ownership of the Wairarapa lakes to the Crown. Instead of providing ample reserves in the vicinity of the lakes as agreed the Crown provided reserves several hundred kilometres away in the King Country—unbelievable today but that is what happened. By the early 20th century it was the same sad story. Rangitāne were virtually landless and their communities struggled to maintain their customary homes their knowledge and their language—and then came urbanisation in the 20th century. So it is a grim background and it is one that I invite everyone in the rohe of Rangitāne to read and understand because they will understand exactly why we are doing what we are doing today. Last month at Mākirikiri Marae I presented the Crown apology to Rangitāne who graciously accepted it and it was said that it would go a long way to helping Rangitāne people understand who they are. So there is a big settlement package here. I am almost out of time and what I want now is to commend the bill to the House. If it passes it will go to the Māori Affairs Committee and I know that it is going to do a very good job and get the bill back to the House very very quickly. I say this all the time but it is heartfelt every time I say it: it is not possible to compensate Rangitāne fully for the loss and prejudice suffered. I acknowledge the generosity in accepting the apology and I believe the settlement outlined in this bill is going to help Rangitāne realise their further endeavours and their aspirations. I consider that the bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee. I commend the bill to the House."