Sharples Pita: Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 16 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17407. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs) on behalf of theMinister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: I moveThat the Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time. Nā reira tēnā koutou koutou kua hara mai nei ki tō tātou Whare i tēnei rāngi kiawhakanuitia te kaupapa e haere nei. Nā koutou tēnei. Nā mātou e tautoko ana kei roto i ngā kōrero nei. Nā reira tēnā koutou. Kua mihia ngā mate nā reira rātou i waenganui i a koutou e tīraha tonu rātou kua tukuna atu haere okioki pai ki te Kaihanga. Nā reira kia hoki ki te tino kaupapa e hui tahi nei tātou ā tēnā koutou nau mai. Whakapiri mai.[Therefore greetings to you collectively who have come here to this House of ours today to enhance the matter being progressed here. This is yours. We will endorse it through these speeches here. So congratulations. The dead have been acknowledged so to those who lay in state among you those whom you have interred depart rest well with the Creator. Let us return then to the real matter that brought us together here and to acknowledge you and to bid you welcome. Draw closer.]Today we turn south across Raukawa Moana past the resting place of Muturangi to Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Māui and we welcome the sons and daughters of the greatKurahaupō waka: Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau. Nā reira tēnā koutou. Kurahaupō whānau have resided in Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Māui mai rānō. Their tīpuna stories and whakapapa can be found in the maunga and in the awa in the waters of Te Tau Ihu. Tēnei au e mihi atu ki ngā uri o Ruatea arā a Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō. Tēnā koutou.[I pay a tribute to the relatives of Ruatea in other words to Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō. Greetings to you collectively.]Few New Zealanders know that the famous Heaphy Track should really be called Kehu’s Track. Kehu was a tohunga kaitiaki and knowledge keeper of the inland trails and lands of this rohe. It was Kehu who guided Heaphy along that trail—not the other way round as history sometimes recounts. Ko Kehu te maunga ko Kawatiri te awa ko Rotoroa me Rotoiti ngā roto ko Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō te iwi ko Kehu te tangata.[Kehu is the mountain Kawatiri is the river Rotoroa and Rotoiti are the lakes Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō is the tribe and Kehu is the man.]It is ironic that by 1900 a people known for the knowledge of their lands were left landless. Reserves were not set aside. Specific rights were not negotiated. Generations of Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō have stood before royal commissions land commissioners Māori Land Court hearings High Court hearings Appeal Courts and even London’s Privy Council. Generations of people have fought for this day of recognition. Their children and mokopuna are here with us today in the Whare. I am proud to be part of a Government that has worked alongside them as we settle these things. I am proud that from this day on the mana whenua and mana moana of Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō will be recognised in the laws of this nation.Ko Matua Hautere te tangata ko Kaikai-ā-Waro te taniwha ko Hōere te waka ko Ngāti Kuia te iwi.[Matua Hautere is the man Kaikai-ā-Waro is the monster Hōere is the canoe and Ngāti Kuia is the tribe.]There is an unforgettable image on the Ngāti Kuia website taken when iwi leaders signed their deed of settlement with the Crown at Te Hora Marae in October 2010. The photograph is of the chairman of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia Charitable Trust close to tears. His face creased with pain he stares at the ground. Behind him is a negotiator for Ngāti Kuia with tears in his eyes. The chairman’s son stands with his hand pressed into his father’s shoulder. In this single iconic image we get just a small bit of understanding of what Ngāti Kuia families have gone through and have overcome just to get to this day. People forget that it is a traumatic difficult process settling these historical events to your satisfaction in order that the Crown can at least acknowledge and apologise for what has gone before.The sons and daughters of Māui Kupe and Matua Hōtere Ngāti Kuia families have been standing on their lands at Te Tau Ihu mai rā anō. After generations of settlement Ngāti Kuia survived musket raids as well as the arrival of tauiwi or foreigners to theirland. By the mid-1800s the Crown was moving swiftly across the top of the south and a deal guaranteeing Ngāti Kuia schools hospitals and lands was dishonoured. Colonisation and amalgamation—these policies saw the iwi left on small uneconomic land parcels. The draining of wetlands for dairy farms also drained the economic lifeblood from the families of Ngāti Kuia. Their journey is etched in the faces of that koroua and his mokopuna in that photo.Behind that koroua stand future generation upon future generation of Ngāti Kuia mokopuna whose mana whenua and mana moana are from this day guaranteed by the laws of our nation. In front of that elder stand generation upon generation of his tīpuna whose battle for their mana and for mana whenua and mana moana has been one of sacrifice determination and finally triumph today. Maranga e te iwi Pākohe maranga mai e te iwi Ngāti Kuia auē taukiri e.[Rise up the tribes of Pākohe and Ngāti Kuia oh dear oh dear.]I pay tribute now to the families of Rangitāne o Wairau the people of the 100 waters of Ruatere—ngā wai-rau o Ruatere. Withstanding warfare colonisation and the alienation of nearly every acre of their whenua Rangitāne families have retained their identity and their heritage and have secured their future in a rohe they settled generations before others who arrived at the lands of Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Māui. Rangitāne families link us directly to Kupe. When ancient tīpuna remains were finally put to rest at Wairau recently the media asked a Rangitāne leader for comment and she replied with these words: “No matter what race or creed or colour you are you don’t know where you are going until you know where you have come from. Today is a celebration for us all to live together.” Her kōrero captures the leadership the humility and the generosity of the families of Rangitāne o Wairau whose mana whenua and mana moana from today will finally be recognised in the laws of New Zealand.Te Rūnanga o Rangitāne o Wairau was set up in 1861 by rangatira concerned by the growing landlessness facing tangata whenua across the rohe. For 153 years then this rūnanga has continued to represent Rangitāne on social and political issues. Ko Tapuae o Uenuku te maunga ko Wairau te awa ko Raukawa te moana ko Huatahi te tangata.[Tapuae o Uenuku is the mountain Wairau is the river Raukawa is the sea and Huatahi is the man.]The footprints of Rangitāne families have fallen on the sands of Wairau. Their ahi kā occupation is ancient unbroken and hard fought for. Ko tini whetū ki te rangi ko Rangitāne nui ki te whenua. As numerous as the stars in the sky are the people of great Rangitāne upon the land.Today the Crown stands alongside Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau and acknowledges the social economic and cultural devastation caused by the Crown and endured by generations. In the face of incredible injustice today we witness incredible generosity as these iwi honour every New Zealander by coming here today by accepting our Crown apology and by settling their historical Treaty of Waitangi grievances. All those things lost due to the actions of the Crown can never be totally replaced and yet the people of Te Tau Ihu wish to settle their grievances with mana. Tēnā koutou. We remember those who have passed on but whose determination has led to the legislation this House will now consider.Today we witness a milestone in a journey that is not just about the wonderful idea of Māori working together. Today we introduce legislation to resolve the historical grievances of eight tribes of Te Tau Ihu legislation that strengthens the ability of future generations to carry on a proud legacy of economic and cultural rangatiratanga.In closing I would just like to refer to what we talked about with the haka Ka Mate and how it should be taught in all our schools and all the history relating to it. I am really proud to say that we are producing a sort of framework whereby the history ofevery school area can be introduced into the school using the local mana whenua. We are bringing in the framework so that the children of those districts can feel proud and so that the people of the district can learn ko wai te rangatira ko wai te iwi ko wai te tangata whenua me ngā hītori ō taua iwi? Nā reira hari koa kua tīmata mai tēnā mahi i roto i te Tari Mātauranga i konei i te Kāwanatanga. Tēnā koutou. Nā reira ngā iwi o Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka-a-Māui—[—who is the leader the tribe and the home people with the historical accounts of that tribe? So it is delightful and joyful that work has commenced in the Ministry of Education in the Government here. Congratulations to you. Therefore to you the tribes of Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka-a-Māui—]—at the prow of the great voyaging canoe of Māui at the helm of their own destinies and futures. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. I commend this bill to the House.