Sharples Pita: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17125. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa. Waitangi is a place that belongs to all New Zealanders—Pākehā and Māori. Incredibly those words were spoken 80 years ago by a British Lord who had been born in the same year that British troops invaded Waikato-Tainui. Lord Charles Bathurst Bledisloe New Zealand’s fourth Governor-General was a visionary man a man whose thinking was years ahead of his time a man whose generous actions matched his words. When public servants’ salaries were cut during the Great Depression Lord Bledisloe insisted the Government reduce his own salary by the same proportion—something we do here in this House! It meant that he ended up using his own private income to carry out his duties and to leave an enduring mark upon New Zealand history.In 1931 he donated the Bledisloe Cup to mark the annual rugby test between Australia and New Zealand. The Bledisloe remains physically the largest cup in world rugby. In 1933 after working alongside Tā Apirana Ngata Lord Bledisloe donated the Ahuwhenua Trophy for the Māori Farmer of the Year. The Ahuwhenua remains New Zealand’s oldest national farming competition. However Lord Bledisloe’s most significant gift to the nation was made in 1932 when he used his own money and purchased the Waitangi estate from private vendors. He then gifted all 1000 acres to the nation and said that Waitangi is the birthplace of our nation and that Waitangi is a place that belongs to all New Zealanders—Pākehā and Māori. More than 80 years later Lord Bledisloe’s words resound through the generations. They are as relevant today as they were in 1932.This bill is about nation-building and it has been a great honour to have served as a member of the Waitangi National Trust. Those who have served before me include representatives some of whom have been mentioned already. They include some of the forefathers of Aotearoa particularly of the north: Hone Heke Maihi Kāwiti Tāmati Waka Nene Pōmare James Busby Archdeacon Henry Williams and Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Those of us who are privileged to serve on the trust today have very large shoes to fill and to follow.This bill strengthens the existing trust by making the Governor-General its honorary patron. It extends the membership with two additional members of Parliament who are not members of Cabinet. The Crown representatives will provide for an enduring relationship between the Crown and the Waitangi National Trust. It will be made up of the Prime Minister the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. This legislative makeover for the Waitangi National Trust is being matched on the ground with plans for a state-of-the-art Waitangi Museum. The plans are outstanding and in keeping with the trust’s vision for Waitangi to be a place for all New Zealanders a place central to our history as a nation a place central to our growth as a nation a place of honour partnership scholarship and courage and a place for all Kiwis to want to visit at least once in their lifetime.Next year Aotearoa New Zealand turns 175 years old from the signing of the Treaty. This bill is about succession planning; futureproofing our most significant national site. The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi marked the birth of our nation. The lands at Waitangi mark the birthplace of our nation. The Treaty of Waitangi itself is the birth certificate of our nation. Ka hoki ōku mahara ki te wā i tae tuatahi au ki ngā whenua o Waitangi ā he taitama tonu au i tērā wā. I uru au ki roto i te whare i reira ā he whare i whakatūria i te tau 1940. I reira ngā kupu: ko au anō tētahi i reira.[My thoughts go back to the first time when I went to the Treaty grounds. I was still a young man at that stage. I went into the house that was there which was built in 1940 and there were the words: I was one of the ones present.]Those words were put in that house for the reason that that house was erected—that every tree had some Governor-General’s name associated with those trees. So in 1940 when they built the house and opened it this says: “I was also there.” putting the other half of the Treaty the Māori people in there. It is a pleasure for me to stand and support this bill today. Thank you.