Tirikatene Rino: Te Tau Ihu Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Te Tau Ihu Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16142. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tuatahi me mihi atu ki a koutou e ngā iwi o Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka naumai. Haere mai ki te Whare Paremata e takatū nei. He rā whakahirahira tēnei. Huri noa e aku rangatira e te Whare tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. In the first instance I acknowledge you the tribes of the Prow of the Canoe welcome. Welcome to Parliament House waiting here in readiness. This is an important day. So salutations to you collectively my esteemed leaders throughout and to the House greetings and acknowledgements to you all.]I am delighted to be here in this House this morning to speak at the second reading of the Te Tau Ihu Claims Settlement Bill. Not fog nor thunder nor rain nor any othertype of weather that Tawhirimatea could throw at me would hold me back from being here in the House this morning. [Interruption] It may have held Tau back but not me.I am delighted to speak in support of this bill. As you can see this bill is some 480-plus pages long. It is a voluminous bill. It is a very significant bill. It settles the claims of all of the tribes of Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Māui. Rangitāne Ngāti Kuia Ngāti Apa Te Ātiawa Ngāti Tama Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Kōata are all resident in Te Tau Ihu and Ngati Toa Rangatira of Porirua also has shared interests and propriety rights in the south as well as in Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara. So it is a significant bill.I am very proud to have been a member of the Māori Affairs Committee. We met on several occasions to hear public submissions on this bill. As is always the case with every submissions hearing that I have sat through there are those who are in support of the bill and there are those who are against. Those who are for are generally those who have done the hard mahi the hard graft to actually bring this bill into fruition and they are generally satisfied and want to hurry its passage through because the work has been done. Unfortunately some of the submissions are against and obviously they voice their opposition quite strongly. We heard some strong opposition from certain submitters.Just to canvass a range of the issues that we covered at the select committee—and I am selecting only a few because it is such a huge piece of legislation and it spans such a wide geographic area and numerous iwi and waka groups—we heard submissions from the Port Nicholson Block and Te Ātiawa against Ngāti Toa regarding redress in central Wellington and also Ngāti Toa’s interest in Taputeranga Island in Island Bay.The issue of that police station is a complex argument between the tribes the negotiators and the lawyers. There was eleventh-hour legal action as we know by Te Ātiawa and that led to some frustrating delays. But at the end of the day Ngāti Toa’s presence on the south-west coast is acknowledged by Te Ātiawa. It is not so accommodating when it comes to Taputeranga but it seems that unfortunately these actions really go back to the Crown because previous negotiators with the Port Nicholson Block claim have some explaining to do. They have some explaining to do just in the way that it created a quite messy issue that was not available during previous negotiations but then there was a way forward when Ngāti Toa came to negotiate. That has been acknowledged and that was an impasse that was created by the Crown in terms of the negotiations on those respective claims.At the hearings in the South Island we heard from all the iwi all very much supportive of the negotiation process. But it is very true that more recompense should have been available under these settlements and that was very much a strong thrust of the submissions from the iwi. But he aha—they are willing to get the deal done and make sure they can move forward and I do mihi to them and acknowledge them for that.In the south we heard from Pākehā families—for instance around the Tuamarina area—who are associated with that site regarding public land and reserves being transferred over to Ngāti Toa. These Pākehā families are some of the descendants of the settlers who took part in what has become known as the Wairau incident. These people felt that no change was necessary and they were unhappy with the statutory role Ngāti Toa will play in the administration of that reserve. But the Wairau Valley and that incident involving Ngāti Toa and the settlers is a very important footnote in the history of both the settlers and Ngāti Toa. I think it has been dealt with appropriately through recognition. Ultimately these matters will require an ongoing relationship being formed between the iwi and the actual resident groups the people at Tuamarina. We can only encourage that taking place and it will take place into the future.Still in Wairau there was a Pākehā family by the name of Fairhall who asked for the return of some land that was acquired under the Public Works Act to build the Woodbourne air force base. This land has been earmarked by the Crown to use in the Treaty claim settlement negotiations. The family say it is at their expense and they have recently gone to the High Court I understand for a judicial review on that particular matter. But just as the Public Works Act has been a taniwha for many a Māori whānau or hapū right throughout the country it was interesting that it applies not only to Māori but also to Pākehā families.There were many other submissions from various other hapū and I am thinking internally within the Rangitāne. Of significance I think were the submissions in relation to the Wakatū Incorporation and other historical land entities within the top of the South Island area—Nelson Wairau—and their assertion that their rights have been overridden through these settlements. My only comment to that is that ultimately these settlements are about the iwi working together as the Crown has done on a regional grouping basis and ultimately—ultimately—the outcome that has been achieved through this legislation benefits all of the iwi members in Te Tau Ihu o te Waka a Māui whether or not they are shareholders in Wakatū Incorporation Ngāti Rārua-Ātiawa Iwi Trust Wellington Tenths Trust or other historical land entities and incorporations. This is an iwi-wide settlement and the iwis have gone through a tremendously long process to establish themselves and to get to this point and ultimately all of the whānau benefit because they are all members of the iwi.That is the only way I can really address the mamae of certain whānau. There is mamae right across all the whānau of Te Tau Ihu. You can never really adequately address it but this is an iwi-wide settlement and the eight iwi who have participated have done so in good faith. Even though there has been opposition from corporate organisations like the Wakatū Incorporation the iwi have stood strong and that has prevailed and we tautoko it here through at the second reading as this bill continues its passage.One of the sadder parts of the submissions around this bill was the number of those who were totally opposed to the Treaty settlement process. You know some made some very racist accusations towards the iwi towards Māori. In particular they were accusing certain rangatira of being murderers of both Māori and Pākehā. Look it is not for me to go over all of the history. What we are trying to do here is not only acknowledge that history but also ensure that the Crown properly recognises the injustice and the grievances of these iwi and settles them so they can all move forward.We heard a few of these submitters. They do not believe that the Crown ever breached the Treaty—they probably do not even believe in the Treaty. Clearly their thinking is wrong but it is a sad indictment that there are still intractable parts of society who believe that Māori deserve nothing from the Crown. Some of the letters that were received are quite openly hostile along those lines.Be that as it may we heard a range of submissions but I think under the guidance of our chair the committee considered everything—all the submitters—and we are very pleased with the outcome that we have come to. I look forward to awhi the further passage of this bill through the House and I commend it to the House. Kia ora tātou.