Abel SteveSTEVE ABEL (Green): Kia ora Mr Speaker thank you. Whakatōhea—kia ora tēnā koutou. In the context of the people defending their land a man by the name of Mokomoko was wrongly accused of murdering the missionary Völkner and he was taken to Mt Eden Prison and he was hanged. His infamous words were Take this noose from my neck that I may sing my song." I recall when I was first inducted into this Parliament in 2020 with Rawiri Waititi that Rawiri referenced this ancestor and said that he would make a claim for us to no longer have to wear ties in this House in his reference to that ancestor when he gave his maiden speech. I am very sad that I was not able to be here for that maiden speech but I remember that very well.As I said in my second speech the purpose of these settlements is to take the noose from the neck of Māori the noose of colonisation. I indeed hope that this bill does this to some extent. The evils of Crown actions are not in contention. Sometimes when you see a confused look on a Pākehā or tangata Tiriti face it is because when the wrongs that have been done today to Māori are protested against—rightly—by Māori Pākehā because we are ignorant of our history don't understand. What is so important about these settlements in part is that they lay out the history—the truth—from a tangata whenua Māori perspective from the perspective of Whakatōhea. It is told to us it is laid bare and frankly it is terrible reading. It makes one sick to the heart and sick to the stomach to see the atrocities committed by the British soldiers on behalf of the Crown against Whakatōhea.The ongoing taking of land denying of resources denying of customary entitlement denying of the mana motuhake and the tino rangatiratanga is rightly to some extent acknowledged and laid out in this very bill in this deed of settlement in the bill that will pass its third reading tonight. These words get locked in the history books of this House and that is an important thing. And I call on all my fellow tangata Tiriti and Pākehā to go and read this history. You will see a frequent pattern and you will see the incredible generosity and forgiveness of our tangata whenua partners in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. You will see the endless patience you will know that you go to any marae in this nation and despite all the wrongs done you will get "haere mai haere mai haere mai"—three times welcome. And it breaks my heart because that is the generosity of tangata whenua Māori. And we are the beneficiaries of that generosity as tangata Tiriti.Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a profound basis on which to build a nation and in this apology the Crown says that it "betrayed that trust by waging war and confiscating Whakatōhea land in a raupatu for which the Crown alone is responsible." and it goes on to lay out the apology.There can be no legitimacy in our nationhood if it is not set in a principle of justice for Māori. We must know our history honestly and understand its impact to this very day. If we do not then we will also not recognise the perpetuation of those injustices in the policy actions of today. I wish that this settlement goes some way to removing the noose from the neck of Whakatōhea that you may sing your song. Kia ora."