te Heuheu Georgina: Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
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Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I want to acknowledge the presence of representatives of Nga Rauru Kitahi in Parliament today. I cannot see their eyes or faces but I know they are up above in the gallery behind me. I say greetings to them all—tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. There they are in all their dignity upholding their mana—their rangatiratanga. I congratulate them on being here today. The very fact that they are here given the sad and tragic history that underpins this settlement bill is cause for celebration and commendation. 
As we all know the history that underpins this settlement bill is like the history of all the Taranaki and other tribes that suffered raupatu particularly following military action. It is one of total dispossession of humiliation of belittlement of the loss of life of men women and children—sometimes in the most appalling circumstances—and of the suspension of the law so that the Crown could have its way. It is not a history that any of us can be proud of but we—all of us New Zealanders today—can take some pleasure in the fact that we have found a way to try to restore some justice to tribes like Nga Rauru Kitahi. I again congratulate the members of Nga Rauru Kitahi on their settlement and on being courageous and brave enough to conclude a settlement. I congratulate them on their patience their long forbearance and on the fact that they have been through so much in order to get here today. They give Parliament the opportunity to restore the honour of the Crown in relation to circumstances that have not been honourable in the past. 
My colleague Gerry Brownlee has outlined the three or four issues in particular that National is concerned about but thankfully we will have the opportunity to explore those issues in the Maori Affairs Committee so I do not intend to traverse them again. I do want to make some general comments. First of all I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the Hon Mark Burton on taking over the treaty settlements portfolio. I am sure it is not the job he intended to have as we go into the new year but none the less it is as important as any other job in this Parliament. In the long run it may be more important than any other job in any event. I congratulate Mark Burton particularly because he is from home—from where I come from. He is a longstanding Taupo resident. I hope that his interactions with my own tribe Ngati Tuwharetoa over the past years will have given him a particular and unique understanding of tribal dynamics and of the ways that iwi think and work. Those matters are not always visible to people who do not take the time to try to understand them but who think that they know it all anyway. This Parliament is full of that kind of person. 
I just want to say that in a way although I was surprised by the appointment of Mark Burton having thought about it I think it is probably a good choice. I hope it will be. The Minister will know that our people at home—the members of my tribe—will always be there if he wants to run ideas by them or to receive some input in a general way on matters he is dealing with. I think Maori people have not necessarily been well served in the last few years by the previous Minister. Not the least of that was because she seemed to have a lot of work in any event and the success of the treaty work depends very much on the ability of people to listen. The portfolio needs a Minister who will listen who will talk straight and who will not try to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. Maori people are not dumb; they can see through all that. As I say my congratulations go to Mark Burton and we are always there at home if he thinks members of my tribe can help him. 
I want to comment about something that Mita Ririnui said. He mocked the record of the previous National Government by describing our settling of the Ngai Tahu and Tainui claims as two of the easiest settlements. He would not have a clue about that. He would have no idea of the effort commitment dedication brainpower and sheer hard work—the 80-hour weeks—that the Hon Douglas Graham put into settling those claims. And those weeks were not just the odd week here and there; it was week after week after week. Although the settlements that are now coming through under the Labour Government have some differences in them the reality is that the National Government of the 1990s developed the treaty settlement framework which survives almost intact to this day. The Labour Government had the benefit of coming into office in the year 1999 picking up that framework and running with it. Although it may not be perfect it is the best that we were able to put together in the 1990s. Stephen Franks should take note of that. I would have thought that his legal background would suggest to him that it is absolutely imperative to give Maori a sense of having the injustices that were wrought on them put right. For this country to be putting right only now the things that happened 160-odd years ago does not say a lot for us. On the other hand New Zealanders can take some pride that our generation is trying to address those matters. 
I think that Stephen Franks should also think about this: as far as I could see there was certainly no intention on the part of the previous National Government—at least from the time I first entered Parliament in 1996—to be pulling the wool as he tried to imply over the eyes of New Zealanders. This is a complex thing we are doing. It is difficult it is hard and it has been sitting around for years. It is about total injustice. To put a framework together that would hopefully work was not easy—not easy at all. Our country can be proud that we are doing these settlements. Other countries have not dealt as well as New Zealand with the same problem. If I look across the Tasman as I have said before in this House I for one can say that I am glad we are not Australians given the way they are dealing with their indigenous population. But I can certainly speak for the previous National Government when I say that there was never any intention to suggest that we had developed a perfect framework. We have never said that. The framework was the best we could find and it still seems to be the best we can offer. I do not think that Nga Rauru should in any way feel that their settlement is diminished just because someone in this place thinks that that framework is not good enough. 
I congratulate Nga Rauru again. The iwi’s members will require some more patience before we get to the end of this process. But I hope and trust that what they have agreed to will see them in good stead and at least provide some building blocks for them to feel that their mana has been restored and that they at long last will feel that all those things that happened to their tupuna in the late 19th century will have been put right by this legislation.