Little Andrew; O'Connor GregHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I present a legislative statement on the Whakatōhea Claims Settlement Bill.SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I move That the Whakatōhea Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill.Tākiri mai ana te ata ki runga o ngākau mārohirohi kōrihi ana te manu kaupapa ka ao ka ao ka awatea. Tihei mauri ora.E mihi ana ki a koutou kua tau mai nei i runga i te karanga o te kaupapa o te rā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. E mihi ana ki te hunga mate haere haere haere atu rā. Tātou te hunga ora tēnā tātou.Kia whakamānawatia te mana o ēnei whenua Te Ātiawa ko Toa Rangatira tēnā koutou katoa.Tēnei au otirā mātou te Kāwanatanga e mihi ana ki te kaupapa o te wā. Te Whakatōhea tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Dawn breaks upon a resolute heart the bird chorus of this issue now sings a new dawn leads to the full light of day. Vitality and health to all.Thanks and greetings to you all who have responded to the call of this issue to be here today. I acknowledge those who have passed may you rest in peace. Us the living welcome one and all.Let the authority of these lands be acknowledged; Te Ātiawa Toa Rangatira greetings to you all.I indeed we the Government acknowledge the present issue. Te Whakatōhea greetings and thanks to you indeed to us all.]It's my honour and privilege to be here today to support the Whakatōhea Claims Settlement Bill for its first reading. Again in te reo Pākehā I welcome Whakatōhea. I enjoyed some kai with them at Pipitea Marae at lunchtime today enjoyed some kōrero and as you often do even after engaging with an iwi over some years I still learn new things.One of those things is that with this long journey this lengthy journey that goes back 30 or more years—the agreement in principle that underpins the redress contained in this bill was signed exactly six years ago today. Of course the Crown representative signing it was my predecessor the Hon Chris Finlayson. It just tells you how difficult and challenging and lengthy sometimes these journeys can be.But I know that for Whakatōhea this journey has been a long one and as we mark this milestone because that's what it is at this point we pay tribute to Whakatōhea leaders and the many whānau members who have passed on before they could witness this milestone. All who have passed are in our thoughts and their spirits are felt with us today. I particularly want to acknowledge Ruka Hudson a Vietnam veteran and beloved member of Whakatōhea who passed away in June: moe mai rā.To those members who've travelled down to Wellington to join us here in Parliament and be in the gallery and to those who haven't been able to be here in person but are listening remotely I welcome you to this House to your House. As I said to you at lunchtime right now for this bill this is Whakatōhea's House this is Whakatōhea's day. To Whakatōhea: you have shown strength and determination in reaching this point.Whakatōhea have been served over the years by courageous and committed negotiators and advisers. To Robert Edwards Graeme Riesterer and the Whakatōhea Pre Settlement Claims Trust I thank you all for your hard work as you represented Whakatōhea throughout these negotiations. Robert—again learning new things even this far into the process—I want to acknowledge the marking of your 90th birthday just a short while ago indeed not long after we signed the deed of settlement. So congratulations and happy birthday. I want to acknowledge also Vaughan Payne chair of Te Tāwharau o Whakatōhea the Whakatōhea Post Settlement Governance Entity. I wish you and the initial trustees well as you guide Whakatōhea to the trustee elections later this year. I acknowledge the negotiators Maui Hudson and Jason Pou and their support team led by Arihia Tuoro and Gina Smith for their significant contributions to this settlement.On the Crown side I acknowledge the work of my predecessor the Hon Chris Finlayson who as I said reached the agreement in principle. I thank also the Chief Crown Negotiator Glen Webber my ministerial colleagues Crown agencies and local authorities for their support to achieve the settlement.Whakatōhea have been seeking justice from the Crown for generations. They first petitioned this House in 1914 for the Crown to inquire into and provide compensation for the confiscation of Whakatōhea lands. That petition was unsuccessful. However Whakatōhea continued to petition the Crown with many members contributing to those efforts. In 1946 Whakatōhea received a small amount of compensation for those confiscations. However much harm had already been done and the real effects of the Crown's actions were never addressed.In the 1990s Whakatōhea were among the first iwi to enter settlement negotiations with the Crown and in 1996 they initialled a deed of settlement. That deed of settlement was never put to ratification because of concerns about the scope and sufficiency of the settlement and I'm pleased that many of those who took part in the 1990s process no matter their view at the time are here in support today. The current settlement negotiations began in 2016 more than 100 years on from that initial petition and 30 years on from initial negotiations. It's right that the Crown acknowledges and apologises for its wrongs and honours its commitments.This settlement is grounded in the Crown's acknowledgment and apology for its many breaches of Te Tiriti. I formally delivered the Crown apology to Whakatōhea at the deed signing in May this year during a ceremony where the enduring hurt of Whakatōhea was felt by all present. That day emphasised the real importance of the Crown recognising and acknowledging its wrongdoing. During that ceremony I also recounted the Crown breach acknowledgments recorded in the deed of settlement. These breaches were some of the worst committed by the Crown.In 1865 the Crown invaded Ōpōtiki and waged war on Whakatōhea. Crown troops killed many members of Whakatōhea including non-combatants and adopted a scorched earth policy destroying homes crops livestock and taonga. The Crown failed to return the body of Tio Te Kāhikahika after he had been killed and desecrated by Crown troops. The Crown did not act in good faith in its treatment and execution of Mokomoko causing the stigmatisation of Te Whānau a Mokomoko. I acknowledge the kōrero and mamae that Te Whānau a Mokomoko expressed during the deed signing ceremony and I confirm again that I remain committed to a tangible tribute in honour of Mokomoko.The Crown confiscated most of Whakatōhea's productive lands and forced hapū into insufficient reserves. The Crown's actions caused Whakatōhea to live with economic cultural and spiritual loss and created divisions between whānau and hapū. The Crown alone was responsible for these Treaty breaches and it is only right for the Crown to apologise to Te Whakatōhea.In recognising the harm caused by the Crown we have worked with Whakatōhea to build a redress package that addresses these grievances and recognises the strong spiritual and ancestral connection that Te Whakatōhea has to their whenua and moana.The settlement redress package includes the transfer of 33 sites of cultural significance and 18 commercial properties; the reservation of 5000 hectares of sea space to be reserved in the coastal marine area in which only Whakatōhea may apply for permits for aquaculture activities. This redress is a first in Treaty settlements and it will complement the Whakatōhea aquaculture strategy which is already bringing benefits to Whakatōhea and Ōpōtiki.The package also includes financial commercial and cultural redress funds of $100 million; bespoke arrangements for conservation and natural resource management; and relationship agreements with core Crown agencies.Today is about looking forward to the future while acknowledging the past and the long and difficult journey it has taken to get here. No settlement can fully compensate for the wrongdoing of the Crown or compensate Whakatōhea for the hurt they have endured. But it is my hope that the redress contained in this bill will mark the beginning of a strengthened relationship between Whakatōhea and the Crown and support Whakatōhea's aspirations for a prosperous future for their people.I propose that the bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee. I commend this bill to the House. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.