Sharples Pita: Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14152. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs)on behalf of theMinister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: Tēnā koe. I moveThat the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider these bills. Nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou koutou kua hara mai nei ki te Whare Pāremata i tēnei rā te wā i pānuihia tuatahingia ngā kōrero mō te pire i mua i te Whare i tēnei wā. Nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. Kei ngā rangatira i kite koutou i a Tariana i konei ēngari kua karangahia kēngia te Minita ki tētahi atu hui i tēnei hāora tonu. Nā reira kua pā nei ki ahau te hōnore kia pānuihia āna kōrero ki a koutou i te ata nei. Nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[So greetings and salutations to you who have come to this Parliament House today at the first reading of what this bill that is before the House at this moment is about. So well done and congratulations to you all. You saw Tariana here leaders but she was called away instead to another meeting that is in progress right now. It is my privilege indeed to present her comments to you this morning. So greetings salutations and congratulations to you all.]Unfortunately Minister Turia has had to leave for the moment so I have the honour of reading her paper to you today on this claim. In doing so I acknowledge the most distinguished manuhiri who have come to this House today in keeping with their sacred relationship that both Ngāti Hauā and Ngāti Koroki Kahukura uphold for the Waikato River. The Waikato River gives rise to responsibilities to exercise their manawhakahaere in accordance with tikanga to protect the mana and mauri of te awa. This is a deeply felt obligation; a responsibility outlined clearly in the text of this legislation. We learn for example in clause 8(5) “For many generations the Waikato River has been perceived as a tupuna a living taonga and a critical resource for Ngāti Koroki Kahukura.” As a result of this profound respect the deterioration of the health of the Waikato River while under the authority of the Crown has therefore been a source of significant distress to both Ngāti Hauā and Ngāti Koroki Kahukura. Waikato taniwha rau he piko he taniwha he piko he taniwha.[Waikato of a hundred chiefs at every bend a chief at every bend a chief.]Today then is about recognising the grievances acknowledging the longstanding failure of the Crown and articulating the sense of harm and injury caused to generations who have been wronged. But first we must traverse the history that led us to this point.The deed of settlement signed on 18 July 2013 with Ngāti Hauā has its genesis in the traumatic armed conflict suffered in the 1860s. For two decades prior Ngāti Hauā hadestablished a strong economy located at Pēria. They were governed by the first Māori King a relationship negotiated and navigated by their rangatira Wīremu Tamihana. However in the early 1860s the relationship between the Crown and Kīngitanga deteriorated. During the invasion of 1863 and 1864 many Ngāti Hauā were killed or wounded. In 1865 the Crown confiscated a large area of Waikato land. The raupatu caused destitution within the Ngāti Hauā rohe leaving them virtually landless. In May of that year Tamihana laid his taiaha at the feet of a British officer and signed te maungarongo the covenant of peace. Until his death the next year he sought the return of the lands a cause that was subsequently pursued by his son Tupu Taingakawa in his role as tumuaki of Te Kauhanganui. By the 1880s private parties had acquired a large quantity of Ngāti Hauā land. The alienation was exacerbated in the19th and 20th centuries through public works for roading railways schools and hydroelectric purposes. Slowly surely and comprehensively the landscapes and waterways within the Ngāti Hauā rohe were forced out of their hands. The loss of land undermined their social and traditional structures. It removed the ability to exercise customary rights and responsibilities.Despite a long history of seeking a meaningful relationship with the Crown Ngāti Hauā have endured great prejudice. Today with this legislation we mark a new chapter—a new relationship with the Crown based on respect for the mana and rangatiratanga of Ngāti Hauā and its leaders. Although the raupatu claims were settled under the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995 and the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Act 2010 this bill provides for the full and final settlement of Ngāti Hauā’s historical Treaty claims. Kia ora koutou. There is a substantial cultural redress package including the vesting of eight sites of cultural and historical significance the administration and provision for the vesting of the Waharoa aerodrome the vesting and gifting-back of Te Tāpui Scenic Reserve provision for the conservation relationship provision for a taonga tūturu protocol and amongst all the other elements the extension of the co-management instruments for the Waikato River. There is also a commercial redress package including the purchase of two school sites and rights of refusal over other properties from the New Zealand Police the Ministry of Justice Land Information New Zealand the Department of Conservation and the Waikato District Health Board.But perhaps of all the acknowledgments made by far the most profound may come in the way of words. And so today we pay tribute to all those who descend from the eponymous ancestor Hauā: Ngāti Te Oro Ngāti Werewere Ngāti Waenganui Ngāti Te Rangitaupi and Ngāti Rangi Tāwhaki. We commend to you the apology from the Crown which recognises that the burden of pursuing justice has been the work of generations of Ngāti Hauā. Tēnā koutou e kaha nei ki te noho tahi i te Minita nei a Finlayson ki te whiriwhiri i te kaupapa te huarahi e pai ana mō koutou kia tae ki tēnei wā. Nō reira ngā mihi nui ki a koutou.[I commend your efforts to work alongside this Minister Finlayson to choose the best theme and way for you to arrive at this point in time. Therefore a huge acknowledgment to you collectively.]This morning we also take time to recognise the journey that Ngāti Koroki Kahukura have travelled—in particular the failure of the Crown to protect their traditional tribal structures and to respect and to provide for their unique relationship with Maungatautari and Waikato rivers. The circumstances around this settlement for Ngāti Koroki Kahukura date back to early 1840 when the people were enjoying the profits of economic prosperity associated with successful trading ventures with Europeans. By the end of those two decades however with tensions rising Ngāti Koroki Kahukura decided to place their lands under the protection of the Māori King to safeguard theirlands from alienation. Peace however was short-lived. In 1863 war broke out resulting in the deaths of some of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura and the capture of others including their esteemed rangatira Tīoriori. Despite their preferences for peace Ngāti Koroki Kahukura were named as rebels and for that status had much of their land confiscated. Maungatautari was their tipuna their ancestral mountain central to their identity yet the land in and around the maunga became victim to Crown-imposed tenure reform.The bitter consequences of confiscation and land alienation forced Ngāti Koroki Kahukura into more than 50 Native Land Court hearings before 1901. The adverse impacts of invasion by others in their rohe were many. Swamps and wetlands were drained the river polluted and the construction of the hydroelectric power schemes has depleted traditional fisheries and flooded their culturally significant sites including urupā. By 1950 many were migrating from their traditional rohe becoming disconnected from the very essence of all they are.This cognate bill addresses the grave injustices of the Crown the unfair labelling of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura as rebels and the longstanding grievances that are long overdue. It acknowledges that their spiritual relationship with their ancestral maunga and awa have been adversely affected by the operation of native land law. The cumulative impacts have led to the economic social and environmental degradation of the people of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura. The bill therefore includes a cultural redress package including the vesting of 15 sites of cultural and historical significance statutory acknowledgments over 6 sites of significance and it states amongst other measures that Maungatautari Mountain Scenic Reserve is to be owned by the Maungatautari community.The bills we consider today within the context of the cognate format give expression to acknowledgment that reveals the Crown is deeply sorry and profoundly apologises to the ancestors and descendants for the hardship endured. Is it sufficient? Is reconciliation able to be experienced in our lifetime? You know as we read these things to you—your history your pain and your endurance—it just hammers home the fact that New Zealand does not know our history and its people need to know it. They need to know it in schools. They need to know the pain over generations that has been handed down the stories. Then maybe they will understand what is mana whenua what is tangata whenua and then there will be no difficulty naming one island Te Wai Pounamu and the other one Te Ika-a-Māui. So I acknowledge you for coming today and I again apologise that Tariana Turia got called away and you got me instead. Nō reira kia ora koutou. Tēnā koutou. Thank you.