Korako Nuk: Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKorako Nuk: Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10566. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NUK KORAKO (National):Ā tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare huri noa i Te Whare nei e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa ā tēnei te mihi ki ngā iwi o Mātaatua e mihi atu ana ki a koutou anō.[And so thank you Mr Deputy Speaker I acknowledge you all throughout this House and the tribes of Mātaatua I commend you once again.]As the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee it is indeed a pleasure to be able to stand and speak in the first reading of the Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill. I will not go into the whole content of the bill because the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Christopher Finlayson has already done that quite eloquently.I think though that it is worth noting the really interesting sort of history of this claim particularly when we look at the Ngāti Pūkenga iwi; the fact that the stories of them are very much that—when looking at that incredible time when their lands were confiscated and when there were very many breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi—they continued along that road of passive peacefulness and dependence on the rule of law. There is the rich history particularly from the kaihautū of the Mātaatuawaka Tōroa and then moving down to the beginnings of their iwi up there and their tipuna their ancestor Pūkenga—particularly when looking through that rich history and moving down to the signatory of Ngāti Pūkenga for the Treaty of Waitangi who was Te Kou o Rehua. It was really interesting when he signed that treaty. There was an interesting sort of part to that. He said basically that it was actually based around that rule of law particularly with the Governor and also with Queen Victoria. But obviously in a lot of ways the rest of it was one of the exact opposite.In understanding all of that we as a committee do. I mean when we look at all of these settlement bills a lot of it is based around wrongs that do need to be righted. As we all know grievance mode is in some ways a terrible thing. Grievance mode is a time of entering the world of darkness but when you can see light on the other side well that is the beginning of another new part of the journey. I want to acknowledge Ngāti Pūkenga here today because this is your time and also acknowledge that coming from an iwi who was one of the first to settle Kāi Tahu the fact is that this is only part of the journey to get to settlement. But after that is another really important part and it is all about kotahitaka or kotahitanga. It is about iwi hapū and whānau working together. But also on the other side of it it is about local government businesses and all of those who are responsible and who build a community and actually work together. That is kotahitaka and that is the most important essence of the whole thing.Finally you will see here today that some get to speak more than others but that is actually a situation in which we have to balance this. You will not see many people in the House but everyone here is watching because this is a special time when we set aside Treaty settlements to actually be debated in the House. So we have somethinghere—particularly on our side of the House we get little time to speak. But I like this one: after all that was said and done there was more said than done. That is us; this is what we are about. So kia ora. I look forward to receiving this bill in the Māori Affairs Committee and I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.