Tirikatene Rino: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5678. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā koutou rau rangatira mā Ngāruahine Taranaki Maunga Taranaki tangata tēnā koutou nau mai haere mai. Haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata e takatū nei nō koutou tēnei rā whakahirahira. Ka huri ngā whakaaro ki a rātou kua whetūrangitia haere koutou haere koutou ka hoki mai ki a tātou te hunga ora e rau rangatira mā. Huri rauna i tēnei Whare tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and greetings esteemed ones of a hundredfold Ngāruahine Taranaki Mountain Taranaki people; salutations welcome welcome. Come hither to Parliament House in readiness here; this momentous day is yours. My thoughts turn to those who have passed away farewell and go forth to you collectively and so I come back to us the living esteemed ones of a hundredfold. Therefore I commend acknowledge and salute you collectively and us all.]It is a great honour to be making a small contribution to the first reading of this settlement bill. I acknowledge Ngāruahine my whanaunga who have travelled this long distance to finally be here in Parliament—not only physically but also over the many many years of mamae and anguish and pain that have transpired—for the first reading of this settlement bill. I do acknowledge the whanaunga just like the chair of our Māori Affairs Committee my whanaunga Nuk Korako through our connections with Poutini Ngāi Tahu but also through Ngāti Toa up to Taranaki. I am your pōtiki here and I do mihi to you today.I just acknowledge that we have heard a lot of the history. It is a dark bloodstained history and I was thinking that there is no need for me to traverse that. This year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Great War the First World War as we rightly should do and the sacrifice that was made collectively as a nation—Māori Pākehā everybody—in that Great War. But I think that too often we overlook our own history and our own conflicts and wars that took place in our country. There is no better example of that than the wars that took place in Taranaki in the 1860s and all the way through the 1880s. Our manuhiri here today were front and centre in the thick of all of that and I think that as a nation we need to reflect on and make sure that that history is taught and carried on. I know this definitely happens at our hapū and our whanau levels but I think that collectively as a nation we need to do that.These are special days. It is about remembering those who have put through the petitions and the commissions—everything that has taken place in the past. It is about reflecting on that and it is also about acknowledging the work that has gone on with Te Korowai o Ngāruahine as well. I do acknowledge all of the hapū who have come under Te Korowai who have completed this settlement. We know that not all hapū are perhaps supportive of this settlement. We get that in every settlement piece of legislation that comes through this House. There will always be some disappointed or disaffected hapū—a hapū with whakapapa in both camps of different pā—so we will have the opportunity to hear that kōrero and I think that is important too.But let me not detract from the fact that this is a momentous day for Ngāruahine. I was just reflecting on the Crown labelling you as a Māori as being either “a loyal” or “a rebel”. I find that really staggering. Regardless of where Ngāruahine were—as a loyal or a rebel—actually they were just helping their whanaunga of Te Ātiawa a lot of the time getting behind them because of the Crown’s insatiable appetite for land. As anyone will know when you go over the Waimate plains these are beautiful plains green lush plains which stretch right out to the great maunga; obviously green is gold. It is just a great sadness that this great iwi has been denied their lands and at least there is some measure of compensation that is taking place here. Reserve lands—yes they were set aside but most of them are locked up in perpetual leases so that they still cannot get access to their actual whenua.It is a long history and today I think is just to celebrate this first reading. I am looking forward to being in the Māori Affairs Committee where we will continue the kōrero so all I can do is commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.