Bennett David: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Bennett David: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10848] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 Tena koe. E Tainui waka tena koutou katoa. It gives me great pleasure to stand as a National member of Parliament and support the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill through the House. I acknowledge the many people who have made this settlement possible such as Lady Raiha Mahuta. I say to Nanaia that we pay our respects for Lady Raiha’s service to her people and her achievement in this settlement. Tukoroirangi Morgan is a great leader who is forging a great path for his people and who has tremendous respect and support in Waikato. It is great to see him here today. I acknowledge the previous Minister of Finance Michael Cullen. He has taken a tremendous interest in this settlement. I acknowledge his work and the work of past Ministers of Maori Affairs such as Koro Wetere who is here—it is great to see him here. I thank and congratulate the members of the Labour ministry who started the first settlement process on the banks of the Waikato River on what they did in presenting the settlement. 
The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Chris Finlayson has done an excellent job in making the settlement that is coming to fruition today possible so I say well done to him. I see members of his negotiating team in the crowd today. I say to Brian Roche especially and his team that they have done a great job in portraying this settlement. I thank the Maori Affairs Committee—Tau and his team; I thank him for his excellent leadership. I thank all the iwi representatives here from the many iwi of the Waikato and other tribes and also those local industry leaders who are watching and are present today for coming to this place and for being part of this settlement. I encourage them to celebrate this settlement because it is a special and unique part of this Parliament when settlements like this progress through. I say well done to them and I thank them for their presence here today. We tremendously acknowledge and support their endeavours in coming here and being with us to share in this settlement. 
Not long ago we stood on the bank of the Waikato River and looked at the first settlement. We witnessed an initial desire by the parties to come to a settlement in regard to the river. Today we see the significance of the intent of the parties to come together to an enduring settlement—a settlement that will work and achieve its purposes. I congratulate those who have made that transition to not merely a settlement but to the effective settlement that we see here today. 
This settlement is a day of celebration for Tainui. It has been a very long time coming and we have heard the story of our history. It is a history that many of us do not share a great deal of pride in but we understand the dilemma and also the passion of the Tainui people to rectify and build on that history. I thank them and say that they should celebrate today. The goodwill that has been demonstrated by the Tainui people is something that we do not see much of in a lifetime; I think the people of Tainui should take great credit for not only talking about and acknowledging past issues but also working constructively for something going forward. They should take great pride in that willingness to come and talk and to move forward and as a country we take great pride in the people of Tainui and their role. 
The key aspect of this settlement is co-governance. The establishment of the Waikato River Authority with its combined membership of iwi and Crown sets a new mandate for making decisions in our region. It will possibly set a new mandate for this country. The co-governance arrangement entrenches the strategy and vision for the river which will become a reality through the co-governance body. But there are some challenges and those challenges are on the people of the Waikato to make the co-governance arrangement work. We have come together today in agreement on a structure going forward. We need to come together in the future to make that agreement a reality so that we can achieve the common goal of helping that river sustain our people and our region in the future. We all share this common goal which is important not only for environmental and economic reasons but also for spiritual and aesthetic concerns that are part of our region and our people. 
I have great faith that the people of the Waikato will achieve that purpose. The ability to come here negotiate and settle is part of showing that we have the desire and the ability to work together as a region. This is the democratic choice of the people of the Waikato—let us make no bones about that. The people have come together. We see a common vision and we see how it can work. Our region is mature enough our people are mature enough and Tainui and all those others who will be involved in the Waikato River Authority will be mature enough to make this vision and strategy work. We look forward to that happening in the future of our region. 
It is a time for Waikato not just Tainui to celebrate. We need to move forward as a region and work together and this is one of the ways we can do so. To the people of Tainui and other iwi I bring from the other people of the Waikato our desire to work together and celebrate in this achievement because our strength is a lot more than just a piece of paper; it is the bond that we share in our region. Tainui has a huge role in that region and we see it getting bigger and better in the future as well. 
As a Waikato dairy farmer I pay particular tribute to the people of Tainui for the way they have come together and made this constructive settlement a reality. We look forward to working together to achieve the purposes and vision of this settlement. It is a special day for our region. It is a special day for Tainui. It is a time to celebrate but also it is a time to know that we have work to do together to achieve our purposes. We can and will achieve them because the people of Tainui and the people of the Waikato region will desire to do so. Thank you.