Kerekere ElizabethDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green): Kia ora. E mihi ana me te ngākau whakaiti ki a koutou katoa e karapinepine ana ki raro o te whakaruruhau o tēnei Whare. E mihi ana ki a koutou i whakapau kaha ki te tae ki tēnei wāhi o te haerenga roa i tīmata mai i te wā i whati te Karauna i ngā tūmanako o Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He pōhēhē nā rātou i te mea ko tō tātou Tiriti he oranga mai i te wā i haina ngā tīpuna tae noa ki tēnei wā nō reira tēnā koutou katoa.He mokopuna tēnei nō Te Tai Rāwhiti he whanaunga kē ko Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki ko Rongowhakaata Ngāi Tāmanuhiri ko Whānau-a-Kai me Ngāti Oneone.[Greetings. I greet you all with a humble heart as you gather here under the shelter of this House. I acknowledge the energy expended to arrive at this point of the long journey a journey that started at the time the Crown breached the expectations of the Treaty of Waitangi. They are mistaken because our Treaty has been a living document from the time it was signed by our ancestors right through to today; therefore greetings to you all.I am a descendant from the East Coast with connections to Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki Rongowhakaata Ngāi Tāmanuhiri Whānau-a-Kai and Ngāti Oneone.]Today I'm channelling my grandfather Kahungunu Kerekere who was born in 1898 unfortunately passed before I was born but I absolutely feel him here with me today. I also rise on behalf of Jan Logie—my colleague is our Tiriti o Waitangi spokesperson for the Green Party—to speak to this bill the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua Claims Settlement Bill. We note it's the compendium bill to the Te Rohe o Rongokako Joint Redress Bill and it gives effect to the final settlement of the historical Treaty of Waitangi Claims between you and the Crown. Firstly we acknowledge that the claims settlement process is deeply deeply flawed because it enforces Crown control at every stage often undermining whakapapa and mātauranga Māori. It is designed to pit iwi and hapū against each other layering new intergenerational trauma over the settler colonialism on which this process is founded. And after decades of work and sacrifice iwi receive approximately 1 percent of what was already theirs while the Crown congratulates itself on yet another settlement. We do not consider any of these settlements to be fair full or final. My colleague just spoke about our iwi being pragmatic and we know we have to be generous and patient—absolutely. But we also acknowledge that after all these years of work and sacrifice Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua needs it to finish. It is an impressive achievement that you are here and we know that your negotiators and all the whānau are exhausted. It was a privilege to be at the pō'hiri today but sad to see the photos of the pā and those you have lost—on the table beside us. Too many have been laid to rest through this process. It is time to finish it. We acknowledge though their wairua here with us today. While the iwi have acted in good faith throughout we have major concerns about the actions of the Crown and the implications of those actions on the constitutional arrangements for other hapū and other iwi. At the best of times our hapū and iwi do not always agree with each other or maybe that's just our hapū and iwi at home. So of course that rolls out in most if not all of these settlement claim processes. It is exacerbated by the rules around large natural groupings which significantly disadvantage small iwi and it invisibilises hapū. Whilst Treaty settlements are rarely if ever tidy and unanimously agreed to the concerns with this settlement are actually significantly greater than usual. And in this case we have the recent Waitangi Tribunal ruling that others of my colleagues have mentioned here today which unequivocally tells the Crown to stop progress on the settlement until the litigation before the Supreme Court is completed. The tribunal also found that the settlement trust does not have a mandate to settle on behalf of two parties to this bill—Ngāi Tūmapūhia-ā-Rangi and Wairarapa Moana ki Pouākani Incorporation—and that continuing with this settlement would create new breaches and not result in a durable settlement. No one wants to go through all of this again and we are not proposing that we stop here to wait for that court settlement. We hope that it will be done through as my colleagues have said—and it will come out in—the select committee process and all of that will be resolved.We acknowledge that Waitangi Tribunal rulings are not binding on the Crown except in the case of the return of State-owned enterprise land but we do not think it is appropriate for the Crown to dismiss completely a direct ruling from them. To our knowledge it is unprecedented for the Crown to introduce legislation that once passed will extinguish the rights of parties with a case in front of the Supreme Court. We may be MPs and this may be Parliament but we do not have the right to undermine and determine the whakapapa of any other hapū or iwi. We should never be looking to undermine the tino rangatiratanga of any of them. The Minister though has assured us that he believes the Waitangi Tribunal was incorrect and that the Supreme Court will rule against the claimants. It is essential we remember that the Crown is not a neutral party in this. They have a clear financial conflict of interest in the outcome. The Greens have met with some of the interested party who have been in the courts over this matter. The issue is not with the settlement trust; it is with the Crown. They expressed a wish for the settlement to go ahead just without the sections of concern or their inclusion. I heard the wero laid down at the pō'hiri today: haere whakamua i roto i te kotahitanga. [Move forward together.] Absolutely. We agree we must move forward together. So we will not delay this bill. We will absolutely not hold it up in any way and we will not vote against it. In our own wero to the Crown though today we will abstain.Having stated thus let's look at some of the whakapapa. Some of my colleagues have given more details but we note that Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. They have contributed greatly to the nation through military service and wealth created from their lands some of which has been gifted as with Wairarapa Moana. As is their wont in some of the bad faith that we will often see from the Crown they forced the cession of tens of thousands of acres of land in 1845 threatened to end Pākehā settlement in Wairarapa and Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua to force land sales and failed to uphold the rangatiratanga of the Wairarapa Moana failed to actively protect te reo Māori which we all know means they actively attacked our language in parts of the attempt to assimilate Māori which of course they did around the country.This resulted in many of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua being alienated from their lands culture and language and the rich fabric of hapū and iwi life being severely damaged. The ravages of colonisation have left them virtually landless and much of what they retain lacks legal or practical access. Their waterways and lands have been degraded to fuel economic development. They have endured social and economic underdevelopment and have struggled to make use of the lands that retained maintain their traditional marae communities and recover their language and culture in the 21st century. These are awful awful things. But the people still stand proud. They still retain their mātauranga still know their whakapapa—all of those things. With this even though it comes with pūtea even though it might come with land some bits and pieces it is nothing to what has been lost. It is though the basis from which to move forward. The Crown must apologise for its misuse of power its theft and its treachery and the profound intergenerational harm that it has caused. A fulsome apology is the absolute minimum that is required to honour the tino rangatiratanga of the people here and that apology can only be genuine if a real proper fair redress is made available. This will enable the uri of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua to continue to rebuild to create a better future for them and their whānaua for their mokopuna. So finally after all the work all the sacrifice all the meetings discussions arguments and let's admit it probably a few full-on fights this bill is in the House. It may not be ideal but soon it will be done. So you can celebrate rest heal and keep moving. The Green Party absolutely wants this for you. And so with much respect to the negotiation team and the whānau who supported them to do that those who have travelled to be in the gallery today those of you watching tēnā rā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora huihui mai tātou katoa. [Greetings to you all greetings be well one and all who have gathered here.]