SpeechTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): If ever there was a reason to stop voting National today is the day. I grew up in a horse racing family and my dad taught me about the importance of having A dollar each way son—have a dollar each way." Every time that I heard that previous contributor Joseph Mooney talk about how supportive he was of Ngāi Tahu and your journey and then he put in there "Oh but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to support it today."—I heard a person that was putting a dollar each way. Why? Because he knows that there's an election coming up next year and he knows that he's going to have to defend it in the electorate that he comes from Southland. I hope—I hope—that your rūnanga holds him to account.Ditto all of the National Party MPs who have stood here today and their party who have said that they will repeal your legislation in this House. They've said it blatantly it's all over their social media. They have drawn a line in the sand and they said that they are going to absolutely repeal this bill. They need to be held accountable for that. That's a very bold statement but even bolder when you're sitting here in front of the iwi themselves. I'm glad that they've got their masks on because if they didn't you'd probably be able to see the grimacing and maybe some of the underhanded words that should go with the opposition that you're putting up towards this bill.Tuatahi ake he mihi tēnei ki a koutou o Ngāi Tahu ngā pōua ngā tāua kua huihui mai nei i tēnei rā ki te hāpai i tēnei kaupapa. Mai i tēnei tētahi o ngā kaihoe o Te Arawa waka mai i Maketū ki Tongariro he mihi tēnei ki a koutou katoa.[First and foremost this is my acknowledgment to you Ngāi Tahu to the male and female elders who have gathered here today to carry this issue. From me one of the paddlers of the Arawa canoe this is my greeting to you all.]One of the amazing things that you get to experience when you sit on Māori Affairs Committee is the submissions that come in from Ngāi Tahu. Whenever they put in a submission to the committee to this House they preface it with the apology that was set down in their settlement that they signed back in 1996 that was enacted in 1997. Unfortunately the wash of MPs in this House is such that so many forget it. They forget the apology. They forget what was signed up to. They look to the past and they have this political amnesia that takes place and it needs to be addressed. So I thank you and I implore you and I encourage you to continue to put that apology at the start of all of your submissions so that whichever MP is looking over your submission in whatever context whatever bill whatever legislation you're talking about they are reminded of that apology. For that context I want to read some of that apology today because I think it's incredibly apt. Section 6 of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act—this is the text in English of the apology—it says in subsection (4) "The Crown recognises that it has failed to act towards Ngāi Tahu reasonably and with the utmost good faith in a manner consistent with the honour of the Crown. That failure is referred to in the Ngāi Tahu saying 'Te Hapa o Niu Tireni!'"—which translates to—"('The unfulfilled promise of New Zealand'). The Crown further recognises that its failure always to act in good faith deprived Ngāi Tahu of the opportunity to develop and kept the tribe for several generations in a state of poverty a state referred to in the proverb 'Te mate o te iwi' ('The malaise of the tribe').In subsection (6) it says "The Crown expresses its profound regret and apologises unreservedly to all members of Ngāi Tahu Whānui for the suffering and [the] hardship caused to Ngāi Tahu and for the harmful effects which resulted to the welfare economy and development of Ngāi Tahu as a tribe. The Crown acknowledges that such suffering hardship and harmful effects resulted from its failures to honour its obligations to Ngāi Tahu under the deeds of purchase whereby it acquired Ngāi Tahu lands to set aside adequate lands for the tribe's use to allow reasonable access to traditional sources of food to protect Ngāi Tahu's rights to pounamu and … other valued possessions as the tribe wished to retain or to remedy effectually Ngāi Tahu's grievances."The kicker is subsection (8) where it says "Accordingly the Crown seeks on behalf of all New Zealanders to atone for these acknowledged injustices so far as that is now possible and with the historical grievances finally settled as to matters set out in the Deed of Settlement signed on 21 November 1997 to begin the process of healing and to enter a new age of co-operation with Ngāi Tahu." That was 25 years ago that they signed that. And it's here 25 years on that we're still having to wrestle this bill through Parliament through our parliamentary structures to enable you to have your new age of cooperation. I apologise that it's taken this long and I apologise that you have to go through this process. But we're going to get this bill through today because it's what you want.The Opposition for a long time now have been fearmongering—absolutely fearmongering—New Zealanders into believing that this a Māori takeover that Ngāi Tahu are a very wealthy billion-dollar tribe and that they don't deserve an extra say on top of what they already get—the potential to be already enrolled as a candidate in the Environment Canterbury (ECan) elections and to go through the normal processes—which have entrenched a particular way of life here in New Zealand which is fearful for the Opposition to think that that will change. But today it's going to change and I salute you for that.I put a pānui out to all of those other iwi that are listening: Ngāi Tahu have opened the door. And for that reason all of those iwi out there that are struggling with how representation works for them in their rohe I hope that they're understanding that this is a potential pathway. Not under the National Government because they're going to repeal it all they're going to take it all away they're going to make sure that they entrench the system that we've currently got whereby we don't have this kind of representation. The ironic thing is they started it—they put the Act in place. They were the ones that came up with the ingenious idea to actually have two appointed people appointed by Ngāi Tahu on the Environment Canterbury board. They did this. But what are they doing? They're politicking—they're politicking—and they're trying to take away what you want.I'll take this opportunity to remind them of a recent article that was written by the Hon Chris Finlayson who had done his time in this House wearing his blue ribbon the whole way but having come out the other side he made a few reflections in a recent E-Tangata column and I want to read this to you. He says "Once you've read the factual concessions by the Crown [you've] read the apologies you begin to realise the wrongs that have been committed. You begin to get a good understanding of the facts. The Crown promised to protect 'the unqualified exercise of … [Māori] chieftainship over their lands [over their] villages and … treasures'. But it not only failed to perform that obligation—it went out of its way to breach it. We must acknowledge that failure and that breach and remain committed to putting things right. My perspective on how to put things right is fundamentally a centre-right one. It asks the question: Why does the government think it knows best? The government makes heaps of mistakes. I was in there for years. I saw; I know. So I don't think that government has all the answers and I agree with Ronald Reagan that so often government is the problem."I want to acknowledge all of those councils that stood behind you on this journey. E ai ki te whakataukī mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu. [According to the proverb it is the feathers that enable the bird to fly.]It was the Christchurch City Council that fronted up and said that they wholeheartedly support this. It was the Hurunui District Council that put in their vote of confidence as well. But it was the Selwyn District Council that I was really listening to when they said "Mana whenua representation on the regional council will strengthen the strategic partnerships in Canterbury between the papatipu rūnanga and local government." The regional council has been clear that the benefits of mana whenua representation at the council table include greater efficiency in planning and consenting processes and also reduced costs for the council and consent applicants and improved enforcement decisions. Today is your day. We're here to celebrate it. I commend my whanaunga here and my colleague Rino Tirikatene—I see your mum and your sister up in the House there e hoa and they should be very proud of you. Today is a good day. We stand by you and we support you on this journey. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou mauri ora ki a tātou katoa."