Finlayson ChristopherHERETAUNGA TAMATEA CLAIMS SETTLEMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I move That the Heretaunga Tamatea Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. On 26 September 2015 I was welcomed on to Te Aute College in the Hawke's Bay for the signing of this deed of settlement. The hospitality shown that day to the Crown party was outstanding and I am honoured to extend a warm welcome to the members of Heretaunga Tamatea who are here in Parliament today for the first reading of their bill. I am so very pleased you are here.I acknowledge members of Heretaunga Tamatea who have passed on while the hapū pursued justice. Many of the original claimants who filed Wai claims have died. There are too many to name but all of them are significant—more recently Eru and Nuia Smith who filed the earliest claims Wai 69 and Wai 71 and Ngāmoa Gillies who died shortly after the ceremony at Te Aute in 2015.Can I acknowledge Ahi Robertson. She was raised by her grandfather who was a towering figure in Heretaunga Tamatea history. He was a sentinel voice against the injustices that arose over Aorangi and Whatumā. Ahi Robertson has achieved what her grandfather started with Lake Hatumā returning to its original name of Lake Whatumā and the reserve being returned to Heretaunga Tamatea as part of the settlement.The injustices that arose over the Aorangi block have been addressed and I commend the work of Roger Maaka and Tīpene Hēperi who so ably negotiated the memorandum of understanding between the Crown and the trust board. I acknowledge the mandated negotiators of Heretaunga Tamatea particularly my old friend Liz Munroe the lead negotiator—she was very well taught by me; she was my law clerk—and her colleagues David Tīpene-Leach Peter Paku and Brian Morris. The negotiators were supported by He Toa Takitini the mandated entity. Their approach to negotiations was reflected in their name—He Toa Takitini—Our strength is in unity". This was so evident during the negotiations and since the deed was signed in their approach to resolving for example the issues concerning the Aorangi Māori Trust Board. The chair of the settlement trust Elizabeth Graham and the board of trustees are going to take Heretaunga Tamatea into the future.I have an idea that some members of Ahuriri hapū and Ngāti Hinemanu me Ngāti Paku Heritage Trust are here today. I know that Heretaunga Tamatea have really appreciated your support so that we could have this first reading before the general election. I also want to acknowledge Pat Snedden and Lil Anderson chief negotiators for the Crown and I want to thank my colleagues their agencies and this House for the support received for this Treaty settlement.Let me say something about the journey to settlement. In 2003 the overwhelming majority of tribunal claimants in the tribunal's southern Hawke's Bay inquiry district agreed to file a comprehensive statement of claim in the tribunal. The mandate for He Toa Takitini to represent Heretaunga Tamatea in negotiations was recognised and terms of negotiations were signed in December 2011. The agreement in principle was signed on 11 June 2014 and as I have said the deed of settlement was signed on 26 September 2015.Before 1840 Heretaunga Tamatea was a community—independent and self-sustaining hapū—with an economy and polity consistent with tikanga Māori of the time. In the late 1840s rangatira offered land to the Crown to secure mutually beneficial relationships with the Crown and European settlers. However by the end of the 1850s the rangatira and hapū of Heretaunga Tamatea were making collective arrangements to halt further purchasing after the Crown had acquired more than two-thirds of their rohe in a manner that created significant tensions between hapū and that culminated in armed conflict and deaths.In the 1850s the Crown used secret transactions and other divisive tactics to purchase huge areas of Heretaunga Tamatea land often without the knowledge or consent of local customary owners. In the 1860s the Heretaunga Tamatea hapū used their remaining lands to produce goods for trade and to generate significant rental income but the Crown's introduction of native land laws facilitated large-scale land purchasing by private parties in the 1870s and 1880s. These dreadful land laws facilitated the further dispossession of the Heretaunga Tamatea hapū rohe. At the beginning of the 20th century it was the same old story: only a fraction of Heretaunga Tamatea lands remained in Māori ownership yet the Crown continued to purchase land often through measures that placed considerable pressure on individual owners. So by 1930 the Heretaunga Tamatea hapū were left with barely a shadow of their whenua. Today the hapū speak of being a tangata without whenua and more than half of all Heretaunga Tamatea Māori now live outside their traditional rohe.The settlement includes a historical account that sets out the relationship between the Crown and Heretaunga Tamatea since 1840 and a formal apology from the Crown for its many actions and omissions that have breached the Treaty and caused harm to individuals whānau and hapū. The settlement also provides for among other matters the vesting in Heretaunga Tamatea and the gifting back to the people of New Zealand of the Cape Kidnappers Gannet Reserve and the Cape Kidnappers nature reserve. This in itself gives this House an insight into the generosity of spirit that Heretaunga Tamatea has shown in the agreement that has been reached.The settlement includes $100 million in financial and commercial redress for Heretaunga Tamatea and the purchase of a 56.66 percent share of the Kāweka and Gwavas Crown forest licence land. A further $5 million will be set aside to support the long-term sustainability of Te Aute College and the particular negotiators can be thanked for raising that at the eleventh hour. I will not tell you what exactly my purple prose was when it was raised but we got there and so we should because it is a great college. Many of its lands are trapped by those ghastly Glasgow leases and it is a college that has made a huge contribution to New Zealand. At the risk of upsetting the St Stephen's College people I have to say it has probably made the greatest contribution: Sir Peter Buck; Sir Apirana Ngata a great Nat; Sir Māui Pōmare a great Nat; and Sir Pita Sharples not a great Nat but a good guy. The school has a long and proud tradition of producing outstanding leaders and I know that this is a great investment for the future.So this is a significant milestone and the Crown looks forward to continuing to work with Heretaunga Tamatea to steer this legislation enacting this settlement through Parliament. Before I commend the bill to the House can I simply address some of my colleagues because although it is late in an election year and bipartisanship is fast going west as it were for obvious reasons I want to thank all my parliamentary colleagues for their work on this very important take over the last 3 years. It has been a real team effort by some great parliamentarians. Can I particularly acknowledge Catherine Delahunty who leaves us in a few days. I have never seen such commitment to Treaty issues. She is a friend of mine—you can have friendships across the Parliament—and I wish her all the very best for the future.Finally can I acknowledge Kennedy Graham who is a true man of principle a real class act. I have quoted this before: John F Kennedy once said it takes courage to stand up to your enemies but it takes real courage to stand up to your friends. The price that he has had to pay has been enormous. He will not have the opportunity to be a Minister but he will be remembered for much more. He is a fine parliamentarian a man of principle a champion for addressing the hard issues of the 21st century—not a bad parliamentary epitaph. I commend the bill to the House."