Sharples Pita: Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 07 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17667. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa. I am pleased to support the second reading of the Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill.In 1863 war broke out resulting in the deaths of some of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and the capture of others including their esteemed rangatira Tīoriori. Despite their preference for peace Ngāti Koroki Kahukura were named rebels and for that had much of their land confiscated. But this iwi still maintained their interests in their homeland including these areas: from Karapiro along the Pukekura Range and through Rotorangi and Puahue in the west from Maungatautari 4 and 5 blocks to the top of Lake Arapuni in the south and then following the Waikato River back to Piarere in the east and from Piarere to the south of the Maungakawa Reserve and back to Karapiro in the north. Ko Maungatautari te maunga ko Waikato te awa tipuna ko Ngāti Koroki Kahukura te iwi.[Maungatautari is the mountain Waikato is the ancestral river and Ngāti Koroki Kahukura is the tribe.]Maungatautari was and remains their tipuna their ancestral mountain central to their identity. Yet in the 19th century the land in and around the maunga fell victim to Crown-imposed tenure reform. As a result Ngāti Koroki Kahukura were involved in more than 50 Native Land Court hearings before 1901. Swamps and wetlands were drained and the Waikato River polluted and hydroelectric power schemes depleted their traditional fisheries and flooded culturally significant sites. By the end of the 20th century Ngāti Koroki Kahukura had become virtually landless. However the history of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura is yet another volume in the stories of this country that some of us know yet many New Zealanders do not.Today this bill seeks to rectify these and other wrongs imposed by the Crown on Ngāti Koroki Kahukura. This bill records a history of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and the Crown apology to Ngāti Koroki Kahukura for the operation of the native land and public works legislation the failure of the Crown to protect the traditional tribal structures of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura the Crown’s failure to recognise and provide for their relationship to Maungatautari and Waikato River and the Crown policies and laws that led to the economic social environmental and cultural degradation of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and their physical and spiritual presence.Like the other speakers I say that we have the third reading coming up and I will reserve most of my comments for that time. I would just like to acknowledge that it has been referenced by many people that these histories are not known outside their area. I repeat what I said in an earlier speech which is we have now begun work with the Government’s Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga to set up a framework so that our histories from each hapū each area and each rohe can be provided and then put on to this framework and put into schools. All children will learn about their local marae and the history of it the hapū the movement in the past and so on. Battles that have taken place which are missing from the plaques here in the Chamber—the big battles that determined how Māori lived for a whole 100 years after that—are very important. I stand in support of this bill today. Thank you.