te Heuheu Georgina: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko  o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko  o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19149] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 A Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa. I am very pleased to take a call on the first reading of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill. Like other bills that come before us this bill has also had a long gestation and it is very fortunate that it now presents itself in the environment of the renewed energy and vigour of the Government under Dr Cullen. Dr Cullen seems to have been able to motivate several iwi to get some steam into settlements or claims that might have been lax or lying by the wayside or at a stage where iwi might have been thinking: “Well if nothing happens here we’re going to move to the next step.” So it is a very very fine thing that this bill now comes into the House. 
I feel I have a little bit of a connection with the settlement in as much as I suppose if one was a member of the Waitangi Tribunal which I was for 10 years then it is not surprising there may have been a connection to a settlement of an iwi I am not a part of. But I started sitting on the tribunal when it was hearing this claim. Obviously when I became a parliamentary candidate I had to step down from the tribunal but that for me gives an idea of the time of the claim. This is my twelfth year in Parliament and we started hearing the claim in the early 1990s. I remember going on a site visit with lawyers and other tribunal members—including Gordon Orr and Bill Wilson who has now been appointed to a higher bench—and having a look at the sites that once belonged to Taranaki whanui but of course up until a settlement started to be negotiated with the Crown that had not been theirs for some generations. So I congratulate the Taranaki families that have worked for so long and so assiduously to bring their claim to this point and to conclude a settlement. 
These settlements are difficult they are complex and they take time. Of course these families will know as well as anybody that at the time when their claim got off the ground and the hearings started the environment within which we were all operating was not necessarily conducive to Treaty settlements. As an example of how time has moved on and of how our nation has matured in relation to the responsibilities of a Government and its citizens to address longstanding injustice—which is what these claims are about—I tell the House that I recall seeing when the deed of settlement was signed some months ago an editorial in the  
Dominion Post  
that basically praised the iwi and the Government for reaching a settlement. I do not think we saw that sort of editorial 15 years ago which of course makes the activities of that time all the more significant. But these days and particularly in relation to this claim and this area the leading newspaper of this city has shown an obvious maturing and a clear appreciation of the importance of these settlements—that they are not just about Maori wanting things for themselves; they are about Maori wanting to feel a sense of justice and a sense that the laws of this country can protect their rights as well and can bring redress for the things done to them in the past that constituted a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi. So yes when I opened the newspaper a few months ago and saw the editorial exhorting Wellingtonians and the people of this area to see this settlement as nothing but positive for this area and this economy I smiled and I thought “Wonderful—things have definitely moved on.” 
We come to the bill. My colleague Chris Finlayson gave a very good review I thought of the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal. They show in essence that the Port Nicholson deed was a sham because within a very short time of its being signed the Crown—the Government of the day—started to breach those very things that it had promised to the iwi of this region. That was a bit of a shameful time but nothing that we need to feel guilty for because those breaches were made by our forbears in the wisdom of their ways. But here today we have the privilege and the pleasure of moving to put right some of the hurt and the tragedy that befell Taranaki whanui when quite quickly they found themselves being dispossessed of their lands contrary to what they had expected when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Congratulations to Taranaki whanui! In the scope of this settlement Taranaki whanui define their rohe as conforming to the boundaries of the Port Nicholson Block. There are 17183 registered members comprising people from Taranaki iwi: Te Atiawa Taranaki Ngati Tama and Ngati Ruanui; and other people from Taranaki including Ngati Mutunga. And for those people who do not have the advantage of being here in this Chamber this afternoon but who may be listening or watching I say that representatives from all those tribes are here today. We greet them; I greet them. 
According to the explanatory note of the bill “The settlement settles all of the historical claims of Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika. Those claims include all claims that are or are founded on a right arising—from the Treaty of Waitangi … or under legislation; or at common law … or from fiduciary duty; or otherwise.” But it must always be made clear and there is no harm in reminding ourselves that Taranaki whanui like other tribes claim only what they see as their rights in the law—their rights in the law—and that is the beauty of these settlements. They are founded on rights that flow either from legislation or from the common law of England. They are not some fanciful notions of what people think they should have; they are seriously founded in the law of this land. Therefore it is only right and proper that this Parliament some 160 years on is moving to address the longstanding injustice done to these people. 
Just briefly in closing I tell members that with my colleague Chris Finlayson I was privy to some plans that have been put forward for the Shelley Bay property. The plans look very very exciting and they underpin the importance of these Treaty settlements to the regions in which they are founded. These settlements are not just for Maori; they are for the areas and the regions from which they come and for all the people of those communities. They will be a benefit to all and ultimately they will be a benefit to all of us as New Zealanders in this great little country of ours. 
We will have more to say as this bill proceeds through its various stages but for today I want to say again “Congratulations! Nga mihi ki nga whanau nga iwi o Taranaki” and we will see members of the iwi as we proceed with this bill. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa.