Harawira Hone: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:637;Page:7848] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Kia ora ra. Hei korero tuatahi e oku whanaunga Tau Parekura kaua e kohetehete mai. Anei te reo o te Pati Maori. Tena tatou katoa. Hei timatangia ai taku korero anei te reo o Maori Marsden. 
[ 
Thank you indeed. To start off I say to my relatives Tau and Parekura do not squabble. This is the Maori Party speaking. Greetings to us all. To preface my address here is the voice of Maori Marsden. 
]  
Tu mai Tane Mahuta tu mai ra. No nehe ra ano koe te uri whakahirahira no tua whakarere iho koe. Korerotia mai nga taonga nga whakatapuranga i piki ai koutou ki te teiteitanga o te rangi hei whakaruruhau mo te ngaherehere. 
Stand tall Tane Mahuta stand tall as you have done for aeons of time. For you are the impressive descendant from the beginning of Aotearoa. Tell us of the treasures and the blessing upon you all why you climbed up so high to the sky to shelter the forest. 
In the heart of the Waipoua stands Tane Mahuta lord of the forest and the largest remaining kauri in all of Aotearoa. At 52 metres tall and 1200 years old this giant of the forest holds huge spiritual significance for the people of Te Roroa Ngati Kawa Ngati Whiu and Te Kuihi nga uri whakaheke o Manumanu o Rangitauwawaro a me mihi au ki a ratou kua tatu mai i tenei ra. E tewhanau tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa. 
[ 
Te Roroa Ngati Kawa Ngati Whiu Te Kuihi descendants of Manumanu and Rangitauwawaro today whose presence I acknowledge. Greetings to you the family greetings greetings and greetings to us all 
]. 
E oku whanaunga I greet in this time of change—this time of possibility—but it is also a time when this House needs to be reminded of the historical destruction of Te Roroa’s economic base the denial of Te Roroa’s access to their traditional mahinga kai and the threat to Te Roroa’s spiritual connection to the Waipoua itself. 
E oku whanaunga I greet also with the words of Judge Acheson—of all people—who stated in 1942: “The circumstances of this case … cry aloud for redress … The … reserves are theirs and should be returned to them no matter what cost to the Crown this may involve.” I ask how it can be that it took 65 years for this matter to come before the House—or indeed as Georgina te Heuheu has pointed out 165 years since claims against breaches of the Treaty were first raised by the people of Te Roroa. As with all other settlements that the Crown insists be concluded for less than 3 percent of the value of the claim this House is again bearing witness to a people of deep history and connection to the land being asked to accept an imposed settlement. 
I will remind the House that the Waitangi Tribunal found clearly that the Crown used unfair methods to purchase Te Roroa lands that the Crown failed to make proper provision for native reserves and that the Crown persisted—as it has in every other Treaty settlement—in ignoring the true depth and breadth of Te Roroa’s grievances. The tribunal in 1992 recommended that all Crown purchases of the Maunganui Waipoua Waimamaku and Wairau lands be returned to Te Roroa but we see that today’s bill delivers considerably less effectively leaving Te Roroa virtually landless as the Minister of Maori Affairs himself has said. 
The tribunal report also recognised the massive impact of the alienation of Te Roroa from their lands and how much this has hindered their economic social and cultural development. I draw the House’s attention to the lengthy and decidedly criminal separation of Te Roroa from those lands from those places and from those practices that have sustained them over the centuries. I refer here to places like Manuwhetai Whangaiariki Maunganui Bluff Kawerua Waipoua Kaharau Taraire Taharoa and Kaiiwi—some of the primary and tribal markers of Te Roroa; those places wherein lie the history the honour the well-being and indeed the future of Te Roroa. Along with my whanaunga I too mourn the alienation and outright loss of many of those vital heritage areas through land theft improper land sales legislative acquisition settlement local body development expensive beachfront housing subdivision exotic forestry and private farmland. 
But worse than this loss of land has been the fate of human remains and sacred objects acquired by private collectors and museums for the voyeuristic and commercial exploitation of a people’s culture. The handling and mishandling the studying and probing the dissection and division by scientists archaeologists doctors lawyers anthropologists and all those other “Raiders of the Lost Ark” are acts that we associate with the name Te Roroa-nga aureretanga o Te Roroa—the continuous crying of the people of Te Roroa. 
The Maori Party recognises the history of violation of Te Roroa’s taonga through the actions and lack of action of the Crown and the denial to the people Te Roroa of the benefits of development enjoyed by other New Zealanders. We also recognise the fact that if an unfair settlement is imposed in 2007 it will surely be revisited by future generations. We commend the strength the commitment and the courage of the people of Te Roroa in pursuing justice but we recognise also a negotiations process drafted by the Crown and the Crown alone based on false faith and double-talk. It is a negotiations process that masquerades as being fair and reasonable in the circumstances but which in fact is anything but and an empty insistence by the Crown that all settlements be full and final—an insistence that will haunt this Chamber long after it is cleared. 
In this seeming endgame I raise one outstanding issue—the Crown’s continued refusal to properly deal with the area known as Kaharau. It is a burning issue that succeeding generations will surely continue to pursue until proper resolution has been reached. When the Government’s draftsmen originally drew up sale plans in 1875 without even going to Waimamaku and without any discussion whatsoever with local rangatira two blocks—Kaharau and Taraire—were not set aside as reserves and were included in sale arrangements without the approval of Te Roroa and contrary to their wishes. Indeed plans submitted to the Native Land Court by the Government surveyor clearly show that both Taraire and Kaharau were outside the area of land for sale. Yet with all that information and evidence from experts both Maori and Pakeha here we are 132 years later with the Government still refusing to provide redress for the theft of Kaharau. 
In the light of all this I regret to remind the House that an apology and a return of less than 3 percent of the claim value pepper-potted throughout the tribal homeland of Te Roroa will simply not suffice. I do not expect Te Roroa to put off current arrangements in pursuit of a more just settlement. Te Roroa have waited long enough. At the first hearing of this claim the late Maori Marsden said: “We the living are the whatu-ora the living seeing eyes of our sleeping ancestors. We are nga tukutukunga-iho literally those that follow on.” The Maori Party recognises the courage the commitment the advocacy the dedication and the sheer bloody-minded determination of the whanau who have been in negotiation for the last 15 years since the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1992. We stand alongside Te Roroa in watching over the process of the legislation being tabled today as we will also stand alongside those who follow on—those who will follow this process until justice has finally been done. Kia ora tatou katoa.