Horomia Parekura: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Horomia Parekura: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:669;Page:15872] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Chair. I rise to support the Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill. I follow on from the previous speaker Maryan Street in saying that the bill has been a long time getting here. There are dates in here relating to 1842 and 1862. 
The North Island Ngati Apa claim is very very interesting. There is explicitness about what was taken from them what was given to them and how they were charged for the advice or whatever that was given to them a long time ago. I recognise and remember my colleague Dr Cullen who is not here for the effort he put into this bill; Mita Ririnui who is doing great work on the road; and of course myself. I thought I would thank myself for this. It is great to see the Crown moving this bill along. I look forward to the day when it will start a claim and finish one. I need to recognise the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations who has put in a whole lot of effort and I acknowledge that he is trying to get there. 
There were some peculiarities about this claim. There were some tensions amongst the iwi themselves about a dozen or 15 years ago about even taking a position. I mention from the outset the incredible adoption and adaption of the old people and the young people. This was one of the first claims that I saw for many a year where the old people stood up and decided to tell the young people they should get out and finish off the job but that they had to report back to them. It was wonderful to watch. It took a lot for the older leadership to ensure that they were understood. It took a hang of a lot of effort by Adrian and his crew to do the deal and they did it well. 
I hazard a guess that claimants could take a great lesson from the effort put into this claim by these people. Ngati Apa as a group has been raising grievances with the Crown for over 100 years—a long long time—and how they got to the final post needs to be celebrated. It was a mix of the old people and the young ones who took it forward. 
The longstanding grievances have taken their toll and the iwi have lost a lot of their leadership. They have been traded out and surrounded by a whole lot of other groups—people who have settled their lands who took them by force. From 1848 the Crown purchased over 400000 acres of land in which North Island Ngati Apa held interests. Through these land transactions North Island Ngati Apa endeavoured to establish a relationship with the Crown. That North Island Ngati Apa sought subsequently to strengthen this relationship by expressing loyalty to the Crown has not I feel been recognised well enough by successive Governments. I am certain that in order to get to this stage all of that misdemeanour can be put asunder. 
They undertook to strengthen the relationship. They chose to set a framework to work within and then invited Governments into it. I believe that the North Island Ngati Apa claimants were some of the most hard-done-by in the sense of people removing land from them shonky deals and all that sort of stuff. The 1849 Rangitikei-Turakina purchase stated that lands between the Whangaehu River and the Turakina River—approximately 35000 acres—would be received for all of North Island Ngati Apa to collect and settle on. That was in 1849. Later native land legislation enabled these reserved lands to pass through the Native Land Court which awarded land interest to individuals rather than to all of the tribe excluding many North Island Ngati Apa from ownership of the tribal reserve lands. The Crown’s failure to ensure that the arrangements recorded in the 1849 deeds were given effect was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. 
Over 100000 acres of land in which North Island Ngati Apa held interest was subject to native land laws introduced in the 1860s in addition to reserves from the Rangitikei-Turakina purchase. The operation and impact of the native land laws in particular the awarding of land to individual North Island Ngati Apa rather than to iwi or hapu made the lands that North Island Ngati Apa were able to retain more susceptible to partition fragmentation and alienation. A lot of that alienation was orchestrated in quite an interesting way with people being bought out and pandered to and this contributed to the erosion of the traditional tribal structures of North Island Ngati Apa which are based on collective tribal and hapu custodianship of land. The Crown failed to take steps to adequately protect those structures. This had a prejudicial effect on North Island Ngati Apa and was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. 
We came forward as a nation and the purpose of this bill—which is stated to bind the Crown which is really important—is to record the acknowledgments and the apology offered by the Crown to North Island Ngati Apa in the deed of settlement dated 8 October 2008. It was signed by the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Dr Michael Cullen; by me as the Minister of Maori Affairs; and by the Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. 
I need to mention Lillian Ruihi Manawaroa Te Aweawe Ropata Te Hina—Bob Te Hina—Arikihanara Mare Mare and Mariana Shenton who are all four of North Island Ngati Apa. The bill gives effect to certain provisions of the deed of settlement which is a deed that settles the North Island Ngati Apa historical claims. That is why we support this bill because we certainly have our fingerprints and effort all over it. 
The apology is explicit: “The Crown recognises the efforts and struggles of the ancestors of Ngati Apa (North Island) in pursuit of their claims for justice and redress from the Crown and makes this apology to Ngati Apa (North Island) and their descendants.” It is an easy reminder in relation to 100 years; it is a long time coming. It states: “The Crown profoundly regrets and unreservedly apologises to Ngati Apa (North Island) … Accordingly with this apology the Crown seeks to atone for its past wrongs begin the process of healing and make a significant step towards rebuilding a lasting relationship based on mutual trust and cooperation with Ngati Apa (North Island).” 
I can recall when we went to the marae to sign the first lot of documents. The old people—and there was still a bit of tension—welcomed us with open arms and they were certainly more than respectful. It was a real enjoyment to see the celebration and the humbleness of those people. One could certainly understand the effort that had gone in from the young group. 
The cultural redress is quite clear: “protocols to be issued to the trustees by the Minister of Conservation the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage; and an acknowledgement by the Crown of the statements made by Ngati Apa (North Island) of their cultural spiritual historical and traditional association with 9 statutory areas … the vesting in the trustees of the fee simple estate in 17 cultural redress properties and subsequent management arrangements in relation to various sites; and the alteration of place names.” 
The alteration of place names was very very important for them because in some of the areas and sites of significance one of the key issues was how people had taken away the mana of the people by renaming places with some far-flung value from overseas and ignoring what was really Ngati Apa’s. 
Mita Ririnui said in his speech the last time we discussed this bill that it was incredible that the young people of Ngati Apa could bring this settlement to the House without too many problems. I can say that the problems they had were handled very well. They were more than capable which shows us how young people can bring this to the fold.