Turia Tariana: Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:665;Page:12804] 
Hon TARIANA TURIA (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations 
: I move  
That the Ngati Tuwharetoa Raukawa and Te Arawa River Iwi Waikato River Bill be now read a first time. 
 I intend to move at the appropriate time that this bill be considered by the Maori Affairs Committee and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions and during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and to meet outside the Wellington region during a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 189(a) and 190(1)(b) and (c) and that the committee report finally to the House on or before 31 August 2010. 
Tena tatou e te W’are. Tena tatou i runga i te kaupapa motuhake o te wiki to tatou reo rangatira. Tenei au te awa o W’anganui e tuku i te mi’i ki taku moana o Taupo ki te awa o Waikato ki a Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe ki a Ngati Tuw’aretoa ki a Raukawa ki a Nga Pumanawa e Waru o Te Arawa. Na to koutou taenga mai i tenei ra kua whaimana matou o tenei W’are. Ko Tongariro te maunga ko Taupo te moana ko Ngati Tuw’aretoa te iwi ko te Heuheu te tangata. 
[ 
Greetings to us the House. Greetings to us in respect of the special nature of the week concerning our chiefly language. I the river of Whanganui extend greetings to my lake of Taupo to the river of Waikato to the second great lake of Kahumatamomoe to Ngati Tuwharetoa to Raukawa and to Nga Pumanawa of Te Arawa. Your arrival here today has enhanced the credibility of this House. I say to you Tongariro is the mountain Taupo is the lake Ngati Tuwharetoa is the tribe and te Heuheu is the man. 
]  
I am proud to stand today as a direct descendent of Ngati Hikairo through w’akapapa that connects me through my great-grandmother’s line. I connect as I do with all river tribes to the significance we place upon our tupuna awa as the central bloodline of our tribal heart. Ko au ko te awa; ko te awa ko au. 
[ 
I am the river; the river is me. 
] 
I stand to honour the cultural historical traditional and spiritual significance of the Waikato River to the people of the iwi who are named in this bill. Hapu of Ngati Tuw’aretoa have a direct interest in and special relationship with the Waikato River. This includes the rights and responsibilities associated with kaitiakitanga. The people of Raukawa have their own unique and ancient relationship with the Waikato River. Prominent in their beliefs is the hereditary right and responsibility to protect the Waikato River. Te Arawa iwi exercise manaw’akahaere in accordance with their long-established tikanga to ensure the well-being of the Waikato River. This bill will provide mechanisms for all of them to participate in the co-governance and co-management of the Waikato River. 
It is timely to acknowledge the significant precedent established by the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Act 2010. In doing so we pay tribute to those of Te Whare o Te Kahui Ariki who played such a distinctive role in their efforts to protect and preserve their taonga—their awa—for future generations. To enact that desire Waikato-Tainui established a co-governance entity comprising equal numbers of Crown and iwi-appointed members including other iwi with interests along the river. Today this bill complements the arrangements agreed between the Crown and Waikato-Tainui by giving effect to co-governance and co-management arrangements agreed with Ngati Tuw’aretoa Ngati Raukawa and Te Arawa river iwi. The bill provides for each iwi to participate in a co-governance framework for the Waikato River. 
It was greatly moving to read today the comments of Ngati Raukawa Settlement Trust chair Chris McKenzie who described co-governance as providing iwi “with real influence in how the river is protected and maintained.” Mr McKenzie spoke of this as a process of partnership. We might also call it the negotiation and reconciliation of kawanatanga and rangatiratanga. 
The partnership enacted in this bill is through related co-management arrangements that are specific to Ngati Tuw’aretoa Ngati Raukawa and Te Arawa river iwi and to the Waikato River and its catchment from Karapiro up to a point known to Ngati Tuw’aretoa as Te Toka a Tia. The overarching purpose of these co-governance and co-management arrangements is to restore and protect the health and well-being of the Waikato River for present and future generations. 
All three—Ngati Tuw’aretoa Ngati Raukawa and Te Arawa river iwi—take their responsibilities as mana w’enua seriously in upholding their customary obligations and kaitiakitanga over their rohe. It is their intrinsic duty to ensure that the mauri and therefore the physical and spiritual health of their environment is maintained protected and enhanced. 
Today is a major step forward in achieving that goal. The core elements of the co-governance framework include a vision and strategy for the Waikato River; a single co-governance entity which will be the Waikato River Authority; and a contestable Waikato River Clean-Up Trust. The co-governance framework provides for Ngati Tuw’aretoa Ngati Raukawa and Te Arawa river iwi to develop their own objectives for the Waikato River to be considered in future reviews of the vision and the strategy. The vision and strategy will be incorporated directly into the  
Waikato Regional Policy Statement 
 and will be a statement of general policy under conservation legislation. 
The purpose of the Waikato River Authority is to set the primary direction through the vision and strategy to achieve the restoration and protection of the health and well-being of the Waikato River for present and also future generations. It is a pleasure to see the level of detail set out in the drive to promote an integrated holistic and coordinated approach to the implementation of the vision and strategy for the management of the Waikato River. The authority will also fund rehabilitation initiatives for the river in its role as trustee for the contestable Waikato River Clean-Up Trust. 
I cannot ignore the challenge laid today by Te Arawa River Iwi Trust chair Roger Pikia who told us that “For too long Te Arawa and other river iwi have been relegated to mere spectators as the river a national taonga has been polluted and been allowed to degenerate to the point where it is now not safe to take kai moana drink or to bathe in its waters.” This bill moves the power balance from spectators to participators and decision makers. 
In essence the successful implementation of co-management requires a new approach to the relationships that the Crown and relevant local authorities and agencies have with Ngati Tuw’aretoa Ngati Raukawa and Te Arawa river iwi. The Waikato River Authority will be able to appoint iwi members to Waikato Regional Council hearing committees or nominate persons for appointment to the boards of inquiry. It is notable that the bill requires joint management agreements to be put in place between local authorities and each iwi for specified functions under the Resource Management Act 1991 relating to the Waikato River. 
Under the joint management agreements local authorities and iwi will agree the priorities and methods for carrying out the monitoring activities and activities in its catchment that affect the Waikato River. They will also jointly consider what responses should be made to address the outcomes of monitoring. The joint management agreements will provide for iwi participation when local authorities are preparing reviewing changing or varying the Resource Management Act 1991 planning documents to the extent that those processes relate to the vision and strategy for the Waikato River. They will also provide for iwi participation in the processing steps with regard to specified applications for resource consent relating to the river. 
It is a good day in this House when we see such practical and tangible measures to give effect to a partnership between river iwi and the Government in the best interests of the national taonga that is the Waikato River. So it is our heartfelt desire that this bill proceed without delay. We know that coming to this point has involved the blood sweat and tears of so many of our people some of whom have not lived to witness the significant milestone today. We think of them all today and we remember their commitment their patience and their all-enduring investment in our future. 
This bill—specifically for Ngati Tuwharetoa Ngati Raukawa and Te Arawa river iwi—reflects a respect for the mana of each of these iwi and the fact that each iwi has its own distinct relationship with the river and with the Crown. It also reflects the unity of purpose shared by all to restore and protect the health and well-being of the Waikato River. Na reira tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa.