Hayes JoJOANNE HAYES (National): I stand to take a call on the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill in the second reading. I want to acknowledge Te Ātiawa ngā hapū o Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua and the many years that they have waited for this day to come. I want to add my acknowledgments to Nashwa Boys sitting up in the gallery there for the mahi that you do in the Treaty settlement bills and especially on this particular bill. I realise it was not the easiest one to do but we got there and it was all because of your hard work and your diligence to get us there so thank you very much. I also want to take time out to acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee. I do not think I was on the committee when this bill came but I think like other members in the House that it was a bill that needed to come to the Māori Affairs Committee. I think that the work that the committee has done led by Nuk Korako the chair has been amazing.The lands of Taranaki have been such a big real dent in our history. When I look at the Taranaki Wars that began back in 1859 because the Crown wanted the land and especially the land at Waitara—the iwi said no and that kicked off the first Taranaki land war. It was an atrocity. Even though all the other iwi around the motu came to help out lives were unnecessarily lost and so was land—485000 hectares of Te Ātiawa land was confiscated leaving Te Ātiawa basically with a loss of their social their cultural and their political structures for the iwi. However history is a great thing; it teaches us a lot I believe. It teaches us things that we should not do and places that we should attempt to remedy.Over the history of this Waitara lands bill there have been several attempts from the New Zealand Government to redress the past. We have a number of important dates as they have gone through in history. In 1999 Te Ātiawa signed the heads of agreement. In 2004 the New Plymouth District Council resolved to sell 146 hectares on the condition that proceeds would go to be used in Waitara and there was the settlement of Te Ātiawa claims. There was big opposition to that which was mounted in 2008—and enter the Hon Chris Finlayson. Through his work he has been able to resolve the issues that had been facing the iwi the council and the leaseholders.As I move through my kōrero I look at the actual bill itself and the three main policy components of the bill. Just through listening to the kōrero in the House the discussions that actually went on between the Māori Affairs Committee and the submitters at Waitara at Ōwae Marae and the discussions that actually helped to shape the bill it might not be to everybody's liking but it is something that has actually got us to a point now that we can move forward with the support of Te Ātiawa.As I was saying there are three main policy components in this bill. The first is that the council will bestow 40 hectares of land in Te Ātiawa; that includes 13 hectares of vacant land zoned residential in the district plan and other coastlines. Te Ātiawa can use and develop a new base in their Waitara homelands—yay. Te Ātiawa will also be acknowledged as the owner of three pieces of reserve lands with the council providing the day-to-day administration. As we have heard in the House tonight there is joint decision-making on strategic issues for these reserves and Te Ātiawa will also have the opportunity to purchase over 30 hectares of land in Waitara in the future through the right of first refusal (RFR) if the council wants to sell. That is a very key component of this bill as well because it gives Te Ātiawa the rights to be able to do with their lands what they want under the RFR.The second part of the bill—as I said before there are three components to this—is that the leaseholders will have a right to freehold. In other words they will have a right to buy some of the land underneath their family homes and I am sure the leaseholders will start to feel some sort of comfort around that rather than being bound by those 21-year Glasgow rent cycles the lease agreements. I am sure that the leaseholders will be very happy with where we have come to on that.Lastly the proceeds from the leasehold land will also be invested back into Waitara. That is really key because Waitara will be able to actually develop and grow the area for the benefit not just of the people who are living there but also mainly for the iwi. I applaud that—I absolutely applaud that. So the economic development for Te Ātiawa will actually grow in leaps and bounds I believe because that is an important area but it is also an area that has got considerable potential economic wealth for the iwi.Finally for the Waitara River there is the plan to clean the river and keep the river and look after the river—the ability for the Te Ātiawa whānau to be able to have some say in how that river will be managed into the future. That is a great big plus for the people of Te Ātiawa. Just like the Waikato River there is that agreement between the regional council the council and Te Ātiawa to have their say and to be able to co-manage that awa.As I stand here tonight and I wind up my kōrero to support this bill I am a little bit disappointed that New Zealand First is just going to abstain. I think that this is too much of an important bill to be abstaining on the vote for the second reading. And also to the Greens I think that everybody needs to step up have their say and say that yes we support this because this is very important for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Yes it is Te Ātiawa; yes it is Waitara but they are people they are tangata whenua of their area and I believe that we all should be supporting this bill no matter what.So without any further ado I am very pleased and very proud to stand and support and commend this bill to the House. Again I congratulate Jonathan Young for the work that he has been doing with the people of Te Ātiawa and Waitara the leaseholders and the council. I understand that it would not have been an easy task but you have persevered and you have got to this stage so I commend the bill to the House. Thank you very much.