Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a real privilege to get to stand on behalf of the Green Party as our Te Tiriti spokesperson to acknowledge Whakatōhea whānau in the House today and to support this first reading and the step towards at least some kind of a chance to move forward. We managed to attend the pōhiri at Pipitea Marae and noted the kōrero from the paepae reflecting on how close Whakatōhea were to getting to this point with Chris Finlayson and yet here we are six years later.I really do want to acknowledge the patience of the iwi and to acknowledge their sheer survival and resilience despite the deeply vicious practices of the Crown and colonisation. The culmination of Crown actions including confiscations land acquisition—that's what they called it in those days—and discriminatory policies left Whakatōhea with profound challenges. These included landlessness economic hardship disrupted social structures the erosion of cultural identity. The Crown's disregard for the Treaty promises has resulted in extensive harm and suffering for Whakatōhea and were clearly serious breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and it is important that this bill addresses those generational harms.The Greens don't believe that we can ever compensate for those harms and we also acknowledge—and I think it was in Minister Henare's kōrero as well in acknowledging that there is more to the history than what is on these pages—that actually with the importance of acknowledging what happened we also have to acknowledge that this is not the full truth. The language is not the language you would use to describe what happened. It is a language that is able to be agreed with by the Crown and the breaches of Te Tiriti continue even in this process. We acknowledge you for standing and persevering for your children and the future.For the Green Party Te Tiriti is not about property rights; it's about an enduring relationship between iwi hapū and the Crown. For us it's essential to recognise that we do not believe Te Tiriti can be settled as if it were a mere transaction. It is more than that. For us Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the founding document of this country and recognises Māori as tangata whenua in Aotearoa New Zealand.These settlements are the culmination of considerable sacrifices made by numerous kaumātua who dedicated themselves to the cause and painstakingly collected ancestral narratives. This endeavour is especially poignant for those who championed the settlements but passed away prior to the witnessing of their fulfilment and I want to acknowledge them in this House today. Within the fabric of settlements we uncover those poignant narratives that weave together our shared history. These narratives stand as powerful chronicles of our past forming a historical repository that resonates deeply with those involved be they kuia kaumātua or rangatahi. The journey of unearthing these stories I know can become a path to personal liberation and I hope that has been so for many of your young ones and more to come.Moreover the settlement process also gives us the opportunity to provide an avenue for the Government to foster open dialogues within communities engaging in a collective exploration of our national history. This dialogue holds immense significance acting as a bedrock for achieving harmony and justice within Aotearoa if we would only take up that opportunity. It's noteworthy that these settlements offer insights into local history that often remain absent from our education system.The inherently divisive nature of settlements I do need to acknowledge. I've yet to stand here in this process and experience unanimous agreement. There is always tension and that is not as it should be. That is a result of the processes continuing to be forced by the Crown. But the process that goes through this House I hope at least offers an opportunity for that to be heard and I hope that that mamae rests with the people here to enable there to be resolution in the homelands.I do just want to briefly—and we've heard the history repeated some of the key points from the settlement in this House already; I will do it again. I feel a little bit bad for doing that because repeatedly hearing this trauma I can't even imagine how that is when it is personal to you I want to acknowledge that but I want to speak to particularly Pākehā in this country to understand the depth of the wrong and the harm that has been done to Whakatōhea. So acknowledging that in 1840 seven Whakatōhea rangatira signed Te Tiriti and there was a brief period of glory building on you know the community that was already there where Whakatōhea embraced technology and built infrastructure developed political organisations to deal with economic and social change and were thriving is how I understand it.Then the Crown—dun dun!—landed at Tauranga in 1864 and Whakatōhea joined other iwi in an expedition to support the Kīngitanga. At that point several key leaders were killed in that confrontation defending the land and that created a leadership vacuum.Then if I skip through—inappropriately I will acknowledge but through to 1865 where Crown forces invaded the Whakatōhea rohe following a declaration of martial law the military killed many Whakatōhea including non-combatants: 10 percent of the population. If I think about that for in the context of modern-day New Zealand that's as if the entire population of Christchurch and Wellington were all killed and the impact that that would have on us as a country would be profound and huge. And that is what happened. That is what the Crown did to Whakatōhea and they are still living with today.Then we saw Crown troops adopting a scorched earth approach of looting plundering destroying crops animals houses equipment and taonga destroying the possibility of rebuilding; absolute devastation and cruelty and then—and then—confiscating most of the land most of the productive land after that. And then only three years later Crown forces pursuing Te Kooti and followers through the Whakatōhea rohe looting crops burning houses and executing Whakatōhea prisoners. Again and again and again with the murder and the theft and the brutality.I just want Pākehā to hear that to get it and that when anybody is talking about Treaty settlements as if it's some gift to Māori I want them to get that there can never be a compensation for that degree of harm done in the name and decisions of this place and that the $100 million which has been mentioned today—you know that's equivalent to money that was given post-COVID to the redeployment of forestry workers. It's equivalent to one mental health facility. It's equivalent to international support given to the Cook Islands and Fiji to help with their COVID response. It's equivalent to one amount to the green investment fund. When I'm saying this I am not undermining the efforts to get that money; I'm putting it in the context and the shame on the Crown that it is not enough—it will never be enough.