Horomia Parekura: Ngati Whatua o Kaipara Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horomia Parekura: Ngati Whatua o Kaipara Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 19 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5465. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 Mr Speaker tena koe. I a koutou o Ngati Whatua o Kaipara e mihi kau ana nau mai hara mai ki te wahi nei. Mauria mai te kaha rawa o te wai marino o nga wai e patapata atu i reira e mau kaha atu i te tuku o nga tupuna ki a koutou hei whai kaha i konei hei oti pai atu tenei tino taumahatanga. No reira i a koutou katoa e te whaea e mihi kau ana e Tame koutou katoa. Ka nui te mihi i te kite atu i te pakaritanga i roto i a koutou i tae ake ki konei ahakoa te roaroa atu ki te tae ki te Whare Miere nei. Kei te tae atu koutou no reira tena tatou. E tautokotia atu nga whakaaro e puta a-waha a te Minita Maori a Pita tena koe. E tino rekareka atu hei rongo ki te korero mo nga tau akuni e hipa atu e whakahoki atu ratou hei korero he wahi wai o Kaipara mo ratou mai i te nohotahi i te Karauna. No reira tena koe mo tera. He tino take atu tera kare i konei te ahua o te tikanga te cultural redress 
engari akuni ka puta ana mo nga tau e tae atu. No reira tena koe mo wera whakaaro. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker. To you of Ngati Whatua of Kaipara welcome indeed to this place welcome welcome. Bring forth the great strength of the calming droplets of the water from over there that retained the powers that the ancestors firmly handed down to you. It will give you the strength in this place to overcome this great burden well. So to all of you and the mother figure and Tame I truly acknowledge you all. When I see how you have grown in stature to make it here even though it has taken a very long time to get to this Beehive I am full of admiration. Nevertheless you have done it—wonderful. I endorse the sentiments expressed verbally by you the Minister of Maori Affairs. Thank you Pita. It was really pleasing to hear what would happen in the future and where they would input their own views. Also by developing a relationship with the Crown it would enable water areas to be set up for them in the Kaipara Harbour. So thank you for your part in that. Another issue of great concern is the lack of provision here for cultural redress but we might get to that in the years to come. So thank you as a consequence for those considerations. 
] 
Ngati Whatua o Kaipara is the collective name for the hapu and whanau of the five marae of south Kaipara. I want to mention those marae and other reserves and marae that are there: Reweti Haranui Kakanui Araparera and Puatahi. Interestingly Puatahi is a marae that is in several of our regions close to the sea so I want to mihi to the marae of Puatahi. I am not too sure I have been there. It has been chosen to distinguish between this group and Ngati Whatua o Orakei and Ngati Whatua in south Kaipara. 
Kite atu koutou e Sharon koutou i reira e mihi kau ana ki a koutou. Tena koe. 
[ 
You as a collective will see and Sharon you are the ones there and I truly commend you. Thank you. 
] 
Key figures in the negotiation—Takutai Moana is not here—Margaret and Naida who is away somewhere mihi atu ki a ratou and everybody. This is an issue about naming people as you leave people out. But there has been a lot of effort put in by Ngati Whatua people. I see Jason is up there and those who have slogged along the road to get to this place to try to finish this sooner than later. 
Ngati Whatua o Kaipara and the Crown signed an agreement in principle in December 2009. An initial deed of settlement was ratified by members of Ngati Whatua o Kaipara and signed in September 2011. The Ngati Whatua o Kaipara claims relate to native land laws and the operation of the Native Land Court and there are some really interesting deals that were done or were not done in relation to the Kaipara. Crown purchasing methods failed to ensure that Ngati Whatua o Kaipara retained sufficient land for their future needs. This is one of the principal underpinning factors in relation to the quantum that is sized up by Minister Finlayson and they need to be congratulated on that. They may increase it by the time the end date comes but kia ora Minister. 
I refer now to the administration and the alienation of Ngati Whatua o Kaipara lands in the 20th century and the failure to protect Ngati Whatua’s interests in purchase investigations. There were some incredible purchases in Kaipara offset quite interestingly by not being taken just from Maori to Pakeha but shuffled amongst themselves—with other people. The Crown’s action left Ngati Whatua o Kaipara virtually landless and had devastating and enduring effects on the spiritual cultural and economic well-being of Ngati Whatua o Kaipara. I do want to commend the Minister of Maori Affairs Ta Pita Sharples for making the note that future redress can be negotiated with the Crown in relation to the cultural significance and aspects. I saw your head shoot up very quickly then Minister Finlayson so I mihi to you for that effort and I thank Mr Sharples for making us aware of that. So kia ora Minister—and that is important to say here. Like the bureaucracy—and I will not wax lyrical over it again—it is all very well for those Government agencies to put it down on paper but unless we do it—maumau time. So it is great to hear the commitment from the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations this morning in making sure he is going to keep an eye on those agencies and it is also great to hear the Minister’s point about future redress. That is indeed heartening without too much shuffling around. 
In the settlement package in addition to the Crown apology and acknowledgments Ngati Whatua o Kaipara will receive financial redress to the value of $22.1 million plus interest which includes the Crown’s Woodhill Forest licensed lands including accumulated rentals of around $23 million and six school sites which will be leased back to the Crown. That is always an interesting thing and I hope the lease rates are reasonable and on par with other leases. It includes three properties on Old Woodcocks Road Kaipara Flats. There is the opportunity to purchase up to $6.4 million worth of the Crown’s Riverhead Forest licensed lands and Paremoremo housing block following notification from the Crown. There is the right of first refusal for 169 years over a number of Crown properties specified in the deed of settlement which will be offered to Ngati Whatua o Kaipara for purchase should they become surplus to the Crown’s requirements in the next 169 years. This is one of those “Yeah right!” clauses I think. It was really interesting and in some of the submissions that people have talked to me about they said that it would be great if shorter time lines could be set or some action enabling the redress issue Minister could be discussed. It would be wonderful if there was more seriousness given to a shorter and sooner delivery on some of that. But to be fair at least it is there for 169 years. I do not think I will be around to see it but just in case we need to make sure it is there. 
 There is a non-exclusive right of refusal for 170 years over Paremoremo prison. I hope they do not ever get it. I hope it is pulled down and the Maoris go back and live in Kaipara and they are paid to do that. Cultural redress includes the vesting of the Ten Acre Block Recreation Reserve the vesting of eight other sites a number of statutory acknowledgments six place name changes and the naming of nine unnamed sites.  
I think names are one of the real critical issues in a lot of these settlements which have not been adhered to or had effort put into and it is something that the negotiators need to really be commended on. I get hoha when going to places where I know it is really Te Wahi o Karaka and somebody calls it Perfume Point or they go down to Clydesdale Street and we know that it is really Te Ure Street and all of those things. So it is important that these names that are relevant to them are put up on all those signposts. We should get some Maoris to work in the AA Minister Finlayson because it is a big issue. It is a real big issue that the naming of these places was outright photocopying of where they came from in England. They have no relevance—none whatsoever. It is about some important councillor on the local body. So I want to give real support about these place name changes and the naming of nine unnamed sites. Minister for crikey’s sake do not let any excited bureaucrat name it “Parliament Road” or “Parliament House” or something like that. This is an important thing for Maori because in the sense of Maori’s mana whether it is over water or over wahi tapu or wherever it is important to have the correct naming of those places. I want to really take notice of that and suggest that we should do more and give them more leeway to do that. I find it amazing that they have got to get permission to rename places that they already might hold in their korero and whakapapa anyway. So it is a very very important part. It might not necessarily be understood by the bureaucracy or the negotiators from the Crown but I think it is very important. 
I would like to congratulate the Ngati Whatua o Kaipara negotiators for getting to this point. The journey from the Waitangi Tribunal hearings which began in 1999 and were completed and accepted in 2001 to now has not been easy. It has been a long time since 1999. They went back they came forward and they went back again. Today they are here in numbers to really reconfirm the effort that they put into this. It is a wonderful place Kaipara. I think the deal is relevant. It is exciting and encouraging that there are further opportunities in relation to the redress conditions. But those issues like the naming of the properties and that and the accumulated rentals in making sure the right interest rate is there all harbour to bring about a great settlement and to allow them the freedom that they should have to do the things that they should have been able to do a long time ago. No reira ki a koutou katoa o te Kaipara. Tena koutou. Kia ora.