Mahuta NanaiaHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister for Māori Development): Koutou kei ngā mana o Ōtaraua koutou kei ngā mana o Manukōrihi koutou kei ngā mana o Te Atiawa mauri whakaheke pupuru ngā taonga i waihotia e ā tātou nei mātua tūpuna. Tēnei ka tū ake ki te mihi atu ki a koutou. Ka tū atu rā ki ngā kaihautū o ngā kaunihera ā-rohe e ārahi tēnei o ngā kaupapa. Tēnā tātou katoa.[To you the authorities of Ōtaraua to you the authorities of Manukōrihi to you the authorities of Te Atiawa the transmitted essence hold onto the treasures that were left by our ancestors. I am standing to greet you. Also to the leaders of the regional councils who have led this initiative. Greetings to you all.]I rise to take a call in a significant bill that is a local bill but you would think by listening to all the contributions that we're doing something a little bit more and a little bit more special today. Jonathan the accolades around stewarding through a very difficult issue across the House I think is something that one would want to have as a positive reflection in the service to Parliament but also to an electorate and I acknowledge you for that.In the preamble to the bill there is a statement that really in my mind sets the context for what is being achieved here. I will read it from the preamble as it's stated: In the words of the whakataukī written by Whiti Te Rangitaake to the chief land purchase commissioner in 1859—'Ko enei whenua ekore e hoatu e matou ki a korua ringaringa ko te Kawana kei rite matou ki ngā manu o te moana e noho ana i runga i te kōwhatu ka pari te tai ka ngaromia taua kōwhatu e te moana ka rere ngā manu no te mea kaore he nohoanga mo ratou'." Translated it reads: "These lands will not be given by us into the Governor's and your hands lest we resemble the seabirds which perch upon a rock when the tide flows the rock is covered by the sea and the birds take flight for they have no resting place …".That was an insertion of a part of a context of history that has been well spoken about across the House today but it sets I think a nice sense of purpose as to what we're trying to achieve through a very difficult circumstance of history but rectifying a challenged space that has been very hard to deal with which is freeholding leasehold lands. In doing so it was evident through the first reading and the select committee process that unless we tried to do something a little bit more to address the significant historical issues that have already been referred to which are the first confiscated lands at Pekapeka we may create more harm than good.So while much of our contribution sounds like a Treaty settlement it isn't. For that reason I want to acknowledge albeit a very difficult journey for the conversations across the district of New Plymouth District Council as well as Taranaki Regional Council. The path to reconciliation requires continual effort and commitment to do the right thing and for New Zealand it's a long road. For New Zealand albeit through a Treaty settlement process we have a way to try and move in the right direction. It's still a long road.This is a local bill and I can remember when I came into this House as a very fresh-eyed MP if you like. My electorate extended down into actually as far as Te Tai Hauāuru and to Whanganui. But one of the people who stewarded me through my parliamentary career around understanding the other side of the picture and what happened in Taranaki—because I grew up very much understanding the Māori historical context—was a former colleague who is here in the House Harry Duynhoven. In fact we had a number of clinics and visits into the Waitara area and even at that early time I knew that we needed to show much more commitment as a country but also as local MPs into the way in which the Waitara community could thrive and sustain itself. Harry I'm glad that you're here to witness something significant as well and I know you've had a hand in some of that.There are aspects of the bill that have been well commented on but really if I was to tie everything up into a nutshell it's around the ability to ensure that across the catchment there will be a significant opportunity to contribute to the well-being of the health of the Waitara River catchment and that's significant from an environmental point of view. From a community point of view the ability to ensure that funds go to the Waitara community of which both Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi are a part will see in time a contribution directly into the community around the regeneration of Waitara and that's been commented on. But significantly what it delivers—and it is an opportunity and it isn't everything but it's something for the hapū of Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi. It secures and anchors a footprint of hapū who belong there to actually have more of a say about how their community evolves and goes forward. It's an opportunity.This has been a really difficult path for those who have really worked alongside Nashwa Boys to negotiate in many respects some innovations into a local bill that we wouldn't see otherwise—some innovations into a bill that we wouldn't see otherwise. To the Manukōrihi people Patsy Bodger Māwhaturia White and Moana Denness I acknowledge you. I acknowledge the work that you've done. To Ōtaraua Rāwiri Doorbar Donna Eriwata and Alice Doorbar I acknowledge you.To the communities that have come together to try and ensure that you've been kept abreast of what's being achieved here I acknowledge all of you and I acknowledge that while it doesn't go to the full extent of your aspiration it does create an opportunity to work forward. But here's the thing: what this will secure and anchor to the hapū of Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi—and in time we would hope alongside their other whānau of Te Ātiawa—is to secure the history to the community of Waitara in a way that tells the story and balances up the way in which New Zealand recognises what actually happened in Waitara and on the Pekapeka Block.I'll leave one last comment really and it is to the acknowledgments of Nashwa. The innovations in this local bill would not have been as they are were it not for the Treaty settlement experience that you brought to the table but more importantly the listening heart to the people of the hapū of Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi because we have seen—again captured within the context of this bill—the types of innovations that happen in Treaty settlements but not in local government legislation. I had many a meeting with the councillors the mayor and the Taranaki Regional Council about aspects of this bill that I was trying to nudge along.One last comment: there is an aspect of the bill should we continue down a path of reconciliation with a mind to do something more. The nature of the Hapū Land Fund being a perpetual land fund is something that should be revisited because if we want to ensure that the hapū continue to be a presence that can sustain itself in its contribution to the heart and soul of the way in which Waitara develops that may be an area that we look to for the future.I've taken up more time than I need to but I want to acknowledge this hasn't been an easy path. Every group represented in the House today have got many many stories to tell. Briar from a drafting point of view I know that you worked tirelessly to make sure we shape the words and the intent of the bill in the way that it was going to ensure and give assurance to all the parties that are represented here. So we've done something right.Nō reira he iti tāku kia tuitui ki ngā kōrero mō tēnei kaupapa Jonathan koutou tātou katoa tēnā tātou.[Therefore my contribution is but small to weave in with the speeches about this initiative Jonathan all of you all of us greetings.]"