Delahunty Catherine: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDelahunty Catherine: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 20 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3499. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green): Tēnā koutou e te Whare. I would just like to start with a mihi to the Ngāti Hine and te whānau pani o Ērima Hēnare. Moe mai e rangatira—an acknowledgment to Peeni Henare as the son of that very very honourable whakapapa and that we mourn today the loss of his papa.I would also like to acknowledge that we have the chair of the Waitangi National Trust with us as well Pita Paraone and also everyone here from Te Tai Tokerau. There are layers and layers of history associated with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and therefore with the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. Although it belongs to all of us it is guarded the most fiercely in my experience by those of the north. Having spent every Waitangi Day at Waitangi for the last 15 years except for 1 I have had a real education in the passion of Te Tai Tokerau not only for the national trust and for the marae but also for the other sites of significance that have been referred to tonight: the lower marae Te Rau Rangatira; the places where He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni was signed in 1835; and all of the different aspects of the history. There are many complex layers and in speaking about them we need to acknowledge that there are people here in this Parliament who descend directly on both the Pākehā side and the Māori side as does my colleague David Clendon and others who have much greater whakapapa relationship with the site that we are talking about tonight.I had a brief experience on the select committee working on the bill and I would like to acknowledge the select committee. As always I found the Māori Affairs Committee a really welcoming and positive place to come into. At the time—and when I left after my short sojourn—there was quite a lot of debate going on on the issues of equitable representation. So it is very pleasing to see that once again the Māori Affairs Committee has found a pathway before there is a major review which we also support and that the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage the Hon Maggie Barry came and discussed very graciously with that committee. There has been a pathway for some immediate resolution as well.Our concern—for some of us at that time—was really the statement that is in the bill which I am going to quote from which is where the Māori Affairs Committee say: “We considered the view put to us in the submission from Arapeta Hamilton that the current makeup of the Board is unfair as there is a disparity between the representation of Pākehā families which is one for each of three families and of Māori families where there is just one member representing four …”. Given that this is about Te Tiriti o Waitangi there is a clear call to action in that statement if Te Tiriti o Waitangi is to be honoured. It is not a Māori treaty; it is a treaty that gives my culture status in this country if my culture honours it—otherwise we are here as settlers and colonists rather than as citizens. It is really really important that the national trust board and this law reflects that equitable issue of representation. If Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the documents that preceded the building of our nationhood are about anything they are about recognising two sides of the story and that there is not going to be a dominant culture. There is going to be tino rangatiratanga—this is the dream; we are not there yet—but also there is going to be honourable kāwanatanga.This bill is a really positive step forward in that regard in that the select committee members listened to the submitters and they were able to find a way before the broader review to recognise those issues of equity and participation which are essential. Although there were arguments and debates at the time—again I would acknowledge those from the Parliamentary Counsel Office because they also did play a positive role. They did come and say that this was within the scope of this bill and that it was possible to do this at this time because we were trying to do what was logical as well as what was right. I think that thanks to all parties what has been logical as well as what is right has been achieved in this process.There is much more I could say about te Tiriti. I can never resist speaking on te Tiriti because I am so passionate that Pākehā recognise Waitangi passionate that Pākehā recognise that this place—and not just Waitangi itself but the whole of the area where our history has taken place around that document and around He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni—is recognised by all of us as a basis for our nation. And that it is not a matter of taking out the story; it is a matter of learning the true history the painful history and the right history rather than the sanitised history that is sometimes told not only about what happens at Waitangi on the day—which is often actually completely misinterpreted by the media—but also about what this place is really all about to us. The Greens support any step forward that is based on equity and on the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi so we are proud to support the bill. Kia ora.