Okeroa Mahara: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Okeroa Mahara: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:4514] 
Hon MAHARA OKEROA (Minister of State) 
: 
 Tena koe te Koroheke o te Pouwhare nei koe e noho mai i runga i to Turu e rongo atu i nga korero whakaputa i tenei wa. Ka tu mai ahau i konei na ka kimikimi hoki he korero mai i te pataka korero mai i te pataka maumahara ki a ratou. Na ka puta tetehi wahanga o te waiata “Te Piukara”. Ka penei mai: “E piki mai Pungarehu ka tangi mai te piukara.” 
Mai i te tangi mai o te piukara i tenei wa ara nga hoariri me o ratou nei hoio. Ka tangi mai ano te piukara. Titoki ki te Rau o te Huia nga huki o te iwi o Mutunga. Koutou e noho ngatahi i te taha o Te Ati Awa Ngati Tama ara te Rau o te Huia ki Onukutaipare. Tatou katoa nga uki o te waka Tokomaru. Tetehi o nga maunga o nga waka e noho mai ra i runga i te tihi o te maunga tapu Taranaki tena koutou. 
Tena koutou e kai kawe mai ta koutou nei kaupapa i mua i te aroaro o te Pouwhare nei engari kua whakaae au i te korero o te tangata mai i Te Arawa. Ahakoa nga piki me nga heke te uauatanga ka mau koutou i tetehi o nga korero mai i te poropiti a Te Whiti i tona wa me tana ki ki te iwi: “E te iwi whakaraupo i a koutou i te riri mai o te hau ka piko. Ki te mutu o te riri mai te hau ka tu ano.” Tena koutou nga uki haere mai nei na ka tu ano. 
[ 
Greetings to you the Deputy Speaker of this House sitting there in your Chair and listening to the debate. I stand here pondering over what I can extract from the storehouse of talk and from the database in my mind. And what comes to me is part of a lament called “The Bugle” that goes like this: “Rise up Pungarehu the bugle sounds.” From the time the bugle sounds there is the enemy and their horses. The bugle sounds again. Ah! It is Titoki of the Huia Feather the descendants of the Mutunga people. You people living side by side with Te Ati Awa Ngati Tama and indeed the Feather of the Huia collective at Onukutaipare. All of us of the Tokomaru canoe the canoe of all canoes sitting on the tip of the sacred Mount Taranaki. Greetings to you. 
Greetings to you for bringing your matter before this House. I concur with the member from Te Arawa who stated that despite the highs lows and difficulties you have held fast to one of prophet Te Whiti’s sayings when he uttered; “People make yourselves like the bulrush. In times when the wind vents its wrath the bulrush does not fight it but rather bends with it. When the wind is at peace with itself the bulrush stands majestically once more.” So greetings to you the relatives. You have come and are now standing tall once again. 
] 
In the song I sang as an introduction ko te ingoa ko “Te Piukara” the bugle was blown from Pungarehu going up to Parihaka and it was blown by nga hoariri which means of course the enemy. But let me be very very clear about the Land Wars in Taranaki. In a previous speech those people were referred to as thieves rapists and other such low lives. Let me tell the House that they did not come alone. We know ko wai e hikoi ngatahi ai i te taha o nga tangata me ki [ 
who walked side by side with 
] 
thieves rapists and others. I will leave it there. 
To think otherwise is to have some fantasy about the reality. It is to have some fantasy that those who came to Parihaka i te pahua o Parihaka [ 
to rob Parihaka 
] were all white. I just thought in the context of a previous discussion that I would make that point very clear. I am not talking about the tribal wars I am talking about the other war—te pakanga a whenua [ 
the Land Wars 
]. So to Mutunga me o koutou nei wai wairua ara a Puke Whakamaru a Pokura a Urenui a Maruehi Te Kaweka a Taumutu hoki me era atu koutou e whakatutuki ai i nga moemoea o o taueke a-pakeke mai i te ao tawhito hekeheke iho nei ki a Pomare ki a Te Rangihiroa ki a Koro Raumati a hamiora a Wiremu nga kuia taueke katoa. Tena koutou e kaikawe mai i taua kaupapa mamae haehae mai i te kaingakau o tatou. 
[ 
and your spiritual waters: namely Puke Whakamaru Pokura a Urenui Maruehi Te Kaweka Taumutu as well and all the others including you who ensured that the wishes of those old ones from way back were fulfilled and down the years to the era of Pomare Buck Koro Raumati Hamiora Wiremu and all the dear old wise ladies. Greetings to you submitters in respect of that hurtful and extremely painful matter from within ourselves. 
] 
 I have heard that there has been some meaning given to that raukura. There are three parts to the raukura. Kororia ki Te Atua i Runga Rawa maungarongo ki runga i te whenua wakaaro pai ki nga tangata katoa. 
[ 
Glory to the Almighty above peace upon the land and goodwill to all mankind. 
] 
But there is also another piece to it which goes: ka uru te kino ki te pai. [ 
evil enters good. 
] 
Two people present in this House grew up in Parihaka. They are two people who had a life experience that was significantly raw and extraordinarily difficult because at that time 90 percent of Aotearoa New Zealand people did not know that Parihaka actually existed let alone knew its stories. In my view it was a purposeful cleansing of a history that needed to be told. 
I would also like to pay tribute to te kuia morehu o koutou e noho mai ra ki Pukeariki. [ 
your surviving residing matriarch Pukeariki. 
] 
I talk here about Matarena Rau Kupa and those other kuia who kept the messages alive for me. Those kuia worked at Parihaka and they represented every iwi of Taranaki. Ko te nuinga kua mate. Kua mate noa atu engari anei te tohutohu mai ratou ki a au: [ 
The majority have died long ago but here is advice from them to me: 
] “Whangai mai te hoariri. 
”  
If I may translate that that means feed thy enemies. What an extraordinary philosophy to have given whence they came. It is extraordinary yet for some reason these kuia held to it. I suppose that would be the biggest most significant issue because it is putting into practice something called passive resistance. It is not that I adhere to that particular philosophy by the way—I do feed people—but I admire it not only for its articulation but also because it was held to in spite of challenges to it. 
So today is significant not only because there is a claim before us in this House but also because this claim engenders a whole range of memories that some of us share. One of the outcomes of my Parihaka experience was that it took me about 16 years to relay it to anyone who was not Maori. That is part of the process of going through that experience that Ururoa put so well about the effects that these things have not only culturally in terms of language loss and whenua kua riro [ 
land taken 
] but also that stuff in the head. It took me 40 years to get past it—40 long years full of adventure in trying to do so. I am past it but that does not mean to say one forgets it. 
So to those old people those people who did not live to see this happen those people kua tiraha ra ki te taumata mai o koutou iwi me nga iwi katoa o Taranaki; a ratou ra e whakakopekope mai i runga i te marae o Parihaka waiata korero ai tena koutou tena koutou. 
[ 
who lie outstretched at the pinnacle that your people and the whole of Taranaki strive for; those ones swaying to and fro upon the marae of Parihaka singing and talking greetings to you greetings. 
]  
If Marge is listening today I send her our collective blessings because as I said she is the kuia morehu he mau pirikaha ai ki nga korero a Te Whiti raua ko Tohu te mutunga ki a koutou koutou kua uhia mai o koutou nei pokohiwi i te kakahu o ratou nau mai. Kore tenei tu e tu wakaporearea mai i o koutou nei moemoea. Kua tautoko katoa Te Ropu Reipa i o koutou nei kaupapa nei me ratou ra me te katoa pea ahakoa e toru nga mema o te Ropu Maori e kore e tukuna. 
[ 
surviving kuia who clings steadfastly to the preachings of Te Whiti and Tohu and what remains is draped over your shoulders for you to follow up. I am not going to impede this dream of yours. All of Labour is supporting this matter of yours as well as those ones over there and the majority perhaps even though three members of the Maori Party are not. 
] 
As a conclusion I acknowledge New Zealand First. It does not happen very often. New Zealand First in its coalition agreement with National in 1996 had as a key priority to address the issues surrounding reserve lands. That party had the political courage and commitment to address an issue that had been sitting around politically for many many years. I have to acknowledge that because those lands that were confiscated kua raupatungia went into reserve as well. Ka mihi mai ahau ki a koutou because what it has done for Paraninini ki Waitotara and Mawhra and Whakatu has been to free them up from the economic constraints they suffered from after receiving peppercorn rents for so long. What an iniquitous totally unacceptable and scandalous regime! 
So on that very high note I say that one of the other significant things about the mutunga settlement is that the old people tukuna atu te mana ki nga uki nei a ratou ra e mau nga pukenga i runga ringaringa kia awhi atu kia mahi ai te huarahi tika. Ehara i te rangatahi he puru taitama hoki na koutou. No reira tena koutou tena koutou me ki penei: “Na wai te poipoi e poia mai te niko na” ara “Na hau nei e Te Ati Awa. Titi ai to raukura aue ka titi aue ka titi titi ka titi ka titi a aue ka pai ra.” Ka rauna i te Whare tena koutou tena koutou kia ora mai tatou katoa. 
[ 
give the authority to these descendants who have the skills but support them in their efforts. They are not youngsters but rather your young warriors. So greetings to you and greetings to you. Let me put it like this: “Who does that poi belong to that is beating towards me? Alas it is yours Te Ati Awa with your adornments of feathers oh how wonderful.” So to you around the House greetings to you and good health to all of us. 
]  
Bill read a first time.