Horomia Parekura: Ngati Manuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horomia Parekura: Ngati Manuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 14 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6658. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 E koutou e Laly Mook nga mea pakeke e mihi kau ana ki a koutou. E mihi kau ana ki to kaunihera Wayne koutou katoa e whai kaha atu e tae tahi i te rangi nei. E taukototia atu te mihimihi o to tatou Minita Maori te Honore Takuta Pita Sharples ki a koutou. E mohio atu tatou te roaroa hoki me te mamae e mau ana a muri i a koutou i te tae atu i te rangi nei. 
He tino rangi hoki tenei mo koutou o Ngati Manuhiri. I tae kaha ake koutou ahakoa nga piki nga heke mo te ahua o te moutere Hauturu te ngahere me te whakahoki o wetahi o nga wahi whenua ki a koutou. I te mea i roto i a tatou katoa nga kaimahi o te Whare Miere nei e mohio atu tatou te mamae o ratou kua rere atu kua peka atu ki tera taha. E mohio atu tatou ahakoa na wai no whea e tae atu katoa i tera rere haere. E mihi kau ana ki a ratou. 
Engari mo tatou kei te ora ana ka nui te mihi. E mihi kau ana ki a koutou. Tena koutou mo to kaha rawa i te tae ahakoa te ki i roto i a ratou o tauiwi mo te ahua o te piki me te heke. Ko tera ano wetahi o nga take e pa ana ki te ora o tatou a Ngai Maori. Na te kaha me te pai o te rangi nei i tae kaha ake koutou i roto i te humarie; penei tonu i te Whare nei e whakaae atu kia oti pai mo koutou. Tena koutou. 
[ 
To you the older ones Laly and Mook I salute you. I commend your counsel Wayne and all of you who worked hard to arrive here together today. I endorse the tributes to you by our Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Dr Pita Sharples. We all know as well how long it has taken and the pain experienced by you afterwards right to this day. 
This indeed is a momentous day for you Ngati Manuhiri. You have worked hard to get here despite the ups and downs relating to the situation over Little Barrier Island the bush and the return of some lands to you collectively. Because all of us have Beehive staff working amongst us we know the hurt experienced by them when someone passes away or crosses over. We understand the situation regardless of who it is or where they are from when they die. I really acknowledge them.  
But as far as we the living are concerned the respect is huge. I regard you highly. Congratulations to you on working so hard to get here despite the view within non-Maori about the ups and downs as there are some extenuating circumstances that relate to our well-being within Maoridom. This day has been such a powerful and wonderful one and you arrived here strongly in an affable frame of mind; I agree like this House that it ends well for you. Thank you. 
] 
 I would like to recognise the chief negotiator and kaumatua Laly Haddon and new negotiator Mook—Terence Hohneck. I have never known what Mook’s real name was but it is Terence. Tena koe Terence. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe Terence. He tino mihi atu ki a koe Terence tena koe nga kaumatua katoa a Peri Watts a koutou e tae tahi ake ki konei. 
[ 
Hi there Terence. I admire you greatly I really do. Thank you as well to the aged all of you Peri Watts and everyone who arrived here together today. 
] 
To a lot of those people who have gone on the relevance of this claim in my mind is how short it has been. It is an example of an organised journey that other claimants could take sight of really getting down to it in 2009. I want to commend the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Christopher Finlayson for his effort in this. He was a bit churlish yesterday saying we had nothing in our time when he was reading his poetry off his list and badging us people. By crikey I nearly stood up and took a point of order but I want to recognise the Minister’s effort and recognise that period of time—short period of time really—for Treaty settlements from 2009 to now. I am not saying that there was not a heavy burden laid on the Manuhiri people by the actions of the Crown the Native Land Court and all other organisations that stripped them of physical assets and their physical being but what I have never believed is that the Crown has taken any of our people’s mana away. That is always intact. That it gets recognised now in a framework of them making it understood that they are the mana whenua they are the tangata whenua is something that certainly Ngati Manuhiri has done well has espoused well and has made certain that people understand who is there and who should not be and where they should be going. 
I want to recognise Sir Douglas Graham who is not here today for the effort in the initial stages and some of his efforts on behalf of the Crown in trying to get this together. I think it should be mentioned: his effort for all of those groups—the Kaipara Tamaki-makau-rau Hauraki and Coromandel including Ngati Manuhiri—to enter into direct negotiations with the Crown to settle all their historical Treaty claims. Between July 2009 and March 2011 the Manuhiri Omaha Kaitiakitanga Ora Trust engaged in negotiations with the Crown for the settlement of all Ngati Manuhiri historical Treaty claims. The initial deed of settlement was ratified by members of Ngati Manuhiri and signed in May 2011. I want to again reiterate that this has been a quite organised orderly and short journey even though it was about long-term angst and the anxiety that Ngati Manuhiri carry. 
The Ngati Manuhiri claims relate to the failure of the Crown to create adequate reserves for Ngati Manuhiri during the purchase of Mahurangi and Omaha in 1841. I am always amazed at the size of the buildings and the wealth that pervades that land in Omaha now. Native land laws an operation of the Native Land Court—I think history will tell us that the Native Land Court and the orders that were made at that time were some of the most spurious and scurrilous decisions made with those people. There was not recognition of who they were and what they were and it just chose like a consolidated bureaucracy what should happen and what the edict should be for going forward. 
The Crown’s acquisition of Te Hauturu-o-Toi Little Barrier Island—and this certainly has tested the waters dare I mention it in relation to this settlement. But I think it is a defined space and the agreement that the Crown has reached with Ngati Manuhiri is something that can carry the future. There is allowance now after the approach to the Maori Affairs Committee about making sure that future generations can have some avenue or opportunity to continue to discuss the decision-making activities there. The Crown’s actions did leave Ngati Manuhiri virtually landless. It had devastating and enduring effects on the spiritual cultural and economic well-being of Ngati Manuhiri. The settlement package includes the Warkworth District Court and Pakiri School sites which will be leased back to the Crown which will generate consistent income to help Ngati Manuhiri forge their pathway forward for those who are there. There is $2.49 million in cash plus interest payable on the $9 million since 2009 the South Mangawhai Crown forest licence lands and the accumulated rentals of around $1.2 million and first right of refusal for 169 years over 82 Crown-owned properties specified in the deed of settlement. 
This I wanted to labour a bit on through the Minister excuse the pun. I think that a lot of these properties that are sitting there are getting graffitied vandalised or kicked around and nobody seems to care. I cannot quite comprehend why we do not become more generous or more forthright and it would take a visionary Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations to push this along. It would certainly be supported from this side of the House. That is what is happening. Empty schools are pillaged. Empty halls are left to rot. Then we all get so high and mighty. I think some of the officials are saying “It is land bank it is land bank.” It is like Fort Knox. What the hang does “land bank” mean? It means that property is stuck over there to rot to get vandalised. I would strongly suggest through you Mr Speaker that this great brave Minister should take something to Cabinet and we would support that. That really does help the local whanau and the local iwi. They have generally been the centre of those schools of those properties. 
I want to mention the council and those people who have supported this claim. There are a whole lot of other cultural redresses investing. But when I read this about 82 Crown-owned properties and giving 169 years well I will tell you what will happen if those properties sit there for 169 years. They will get pirau they will fall over. Why is it not such a great thing to give to the mana whenua because we took a lot of that land away? So Minister in closing I would ask you to seriously consider that. 
I want to commend the chair of the Maori Affairs Committee the Hon Tau Henare for receiving and listening to the hundred submissions that we had on this bill. People have taken it seriously. Many submissions raised concerns for a whole lot of issues but let us remember that this is about those people who live there; it is not about politicians who have a role to make the decision on behalf of the Crown. But at the end of the day it is Ngati Manuhiri who live there. It is Ngati Manuhiri who will be there for ever. They have not gone away. They will never go away. Our job as the Crown is to put something right that has been wrong for a long long time. Kia ora.