Horomia Parekura: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Horomia Parekura: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
[Sitting date: 16 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:538. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
:  
Tena koe. Ka nui aku mihi ki a koe te Kaiwhakahaere o te Whare. E mihi kau ana ki to tatau Minita Maori me ratau nga kanohi Maori i tera taha. Na te pai e kite atu wetahi o nga uri o nga iwi e tae ake ki konei. No reira ki a koutou nga mea pakeke o Makino e mihi kau ana. Nau mai hara mai. Hara mai ki te wahi nei taupatupatu korero mo nga ahua katoa i roto i a koutou me era hoki o konei te kaha rawa te tae mai. E te Papa e Noel i a koe hoki e Temple koutou katoa nga mea pakeke e mihi kau ana. Nau mai ra hara mai hara mai ki te wahi nei. E pai ana ki te kite atu i te kaha rawa i roto i a koutou ahakoa te roaroa o te tae ake ki konei kua tae mai koutou.  
Te nui o nga tangihanga i te kainga ko Uncle Noel tera ka hinga ki raro. Mihi atu ki a ratau o hoa o te Rua Tekau Ma Waru ki a Uncle Turi raua ko te Papa matua Henare. Ko koe teneki nei e tu kaha ana e mau poutokomanawa mo tatau katoa no reira mihi kau ana. Tena tatau. E rongo atu au e tautokotia atu nga korero o to tatau Minita a Pita. Ka mihi atu hoki ki te tangata ra a Christopher Finlayson mo tona kaha tera Minita. He roaroa atu te wa kia tae ake ai ki konei kia oti pai ai tenei na te mea i timata atu i roto i a ratau te mohiotanga a na te mamae ki wenei kereme ka rere atu te nuinga o nga mea pakeke. Kare e ora ratau hei kite te otinga. No reira tera ano te mea i roto i a tatau e tautokotia atu to tatau Ropu Reipa a te oti pai ai tenei na te mea e pirangi atu tatau kia tere te haere. Kare au mo te noho nohinohi e kore e tae atu i te otinga o tenei tau. No reira e mihi atu ki a ratau ki a tatau katoa. 
[ 
Thank you. I appreciate you greatly Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson and acknowledge our Minister of Maori Affairs and Maori members on that side of the House. It is so nice to see relatives of the tribes here. So to you the elderly ones of Ngati Makino I acknowledge you. Welcome welcome and welcome to this place. Welcome to this place where all manner of things among you that took a lot of effort to get here are debated including the ones from here. Welcome to you Uncle Noel Uncle Temple and all of you the elderly ones I salute you. Welcome welcome and welcome to this place. It is pleasing to see the efforts made by you and despite the length of time involved to get here you have made it. 
There have been many funerals at home. Uncle Noel’s was one. I pay a tribute to your friends of the 28th Maori Battalion to Uncle Turi and Uncle Henare. You have stood strongly as the pillar for all of us so I acknowledge you. Congratulations to us. I note that the statements of our Minister the Hon Dr Pita Sharples were endorsed. I endorse the Hon Christopher Finlayson’s efforts as well. It has taken a long time for the legislation to arrive here and be completed. Initially the understanding came from within the tribes but because of the hurt created through these claims many of the elder ones passed away and will not see it completed. So the feeling among us our Labour Party is that we endorse the settlement of this legislation and want it done as swiftly as possible. I do not want to sit around and not have this matter settled this year. So I acknowledge them and all of us. 
]  
I want to reiterate and support what Minister Sharples has said and acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. The Labour Party will certainly be supporting these bills—the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill—moving swiftly I hope through to a positive end.  
In relation to the two bills we are talking about now the Minister of Maori Affairs has covered most of the important points. I do want to mention Te Ariki Morehu Te Hirata Sykes Awhimate Awhimate and many others—and when you name people you leave people out—for the effort that has been put in. They started negotiations with Waitaha at a single table then moved on to progress their own interests as negotiators in their own right.  
I suppose one of the big issues is the balance of the Rotoehu Forest and accumulated rentals that have been returned to them and it needs to be recognised alongside all of the other matters that are in there that were named by the Minister. The scenic reserves redress is of significant importance to Ngati Makino. It is innovative. It is redress that was negotiated to give Ngati Makino certain decision-making rights in consultation with the Department of Conservation over scenic reserves in the area. I am not too sure who the Minister of Conservation is any more but I am certain Minister Sharples and Minister Finlayson shudder in fear now that the Maori advisers that they had there have lost their jobs. So I hope that it is reconsidered in these settlements because they will need a whole lot of assistance with that.  
The bill sets out the cultural redress to Ngati Makino including the Crown’s acknowledgment of the cultural significance of certain statutory areas for them and the issuing of protocols by appropriate responsible Ministers and that is certainly something to be supported. They have been through a very very hard time. The Moutoroi Pa site is vested in fee simple in the trustees and that comes out in Subpart 8 in Part 2. The commercial redress is something that is there and I hope between now and the end that some of that may be stretched with the school at Otamarakau which is to be transferred to the trustees.  
The bill also makes provision in relation to deferred selection properties and licensed and unlicensed Crown forest lands. It is well known that Ngati Makino have had their tensions and they certainly would like to be recognised in the sense of any further deals relevant to forestry. I would plead with the Minister to ensure that that effort is strong in relation to supporting them in finalising their settlement and I want to wish them well.  
Ngai Tamanuhiri is from the great land of Tai Rawhiti and there are people who have emblazoned this start in the Tai Rawhiti region in the sense of moving to settlement which is certainly a first for the region and they need to be commended for that. Along with a whole lot of other people I do want to mention Dawn Pomana Mel Tarsau Hope Tupara young Reuben Wiki who passed on Heather Smith Warren Pohatu and a range of others and the pakeke like Uncle Noel and Uncle Temple and those ones. 
The agreement in principle was signed a long time ago by us and that is why we tend to get a bit agitated at the length of time Minister and hopefully we can speed these up. The transfer of Te Kuri a Paoa historic reserve / Young Nicks Head is very significant to them and I was privileged to be there with them when we flew up in the helicopter. I was going to say I walked but I know that some of them up the top there know that I went up in the helicopter. But it was a great day and it signalled the start of trying to mend those issues that have been there for a long period of time. The transfer of part of Wharerata Forest and accumulated rentals is important and hopefully the interest on those rentals is paid and not forgotten. That is something that would really assist those people.  
The bill provides for the establishment of a central leadership group and I think this is the very innovative thing about Ngai Tamanuhiri. I think it is a lesson for going forward in the sense of how other iwi could consider matters. I know that Ngati Parawera Ruanui has done the same thing. The settlement prepares for the establishment of a central leadership group with representatives from Ngai Tamanuhiri and the other iwi to engage with central government. I hope that those departments and Te Puni Kokiri and those ones are not washed away in this big speech next week and that they are around to aid and abet this great part of the settlement Minister.  
The other interesting fact is that the bill also provides for the establishment of a local leadership group with members appointed by Ngai Tamanuhiri and other Turanga group iwi and the Gisborne District Council to enhance Turanga iwi engagement with the local council. That is very important and I hope Ngai Tamanuhiri puts at the top of the list the exorbitant rates on Maori land and that that is there. It is good and it would be encouraging to feel that— 
Hon Tau Henare 
: What did you do?  
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Tau Henare’s relations are there; he would agree with me on that. But it would be great. What we did do is we made sure that we started it and we are here encouraging the Government to finalise it. But I think those two aspects are very very important. It is how we build them Minister and make them real that is important.  
Of course the paepae that has been organised on the west coast in Taranaki has not been working very well. Those ministries have not played ball and this is high-level stuff. You know there is a lot of need for those Government agencies to ensure that Ngai Tamanuhiri get what is certainly theirs.  
We support this bill and we certainly look forward to working in harmony and making sure that we get there. Ngai Tamanuhiri certainly have been a trailblazer in the Tai Rawhiti in getting off the ranks—the first cab off the rank—to try to get things done and they need to be commended for it. No reira tena koutou kua rewa taku tu e mihi kau ana ki a koutou katoa me tatou ano hoki nei nga kanohi Maori tena koutou. 
[ 
So greetings to you collectively. My time has expired and I do acknowledge you all as well the Maori members greetings 
.]