McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'd like to stand on behalf of the ACT Party to speak to the Whakatōhea Claims Settlement Bill and begin my address by welcoming everybody to this Whare. To the Whakatōhea whānau iwi hapū the negotiators and the supporters—welcome to this place which is your place. The journalists when we first started here told us Welcome to Hogwarts." I wouldn't want to say that to you I'd rather say "Welcome to this place which is the start of your final journey—your final journey—to be able to get some redress." And what a journey you have had to get just to this point.A settlement was on the horizon almost 30 years ago. While the deed was initialled iwi didn't agree with the settlement offer made back in 1996; instead negotiating in a determined way for the last 30 years. I acknowledge those who have passed on from this world to join our tīpuna during those long decades of negotiation.To put into context Whakatōhea is an iwi with currently over 16000 members and they have suffered multiple breaches of the Treaty by the Crown. Egregiously in the 1860s Government confiscated 144000 acres of Whakatōhea land. Much was returned through a commission but in private title which was then alienated. In the 1880s most of the rest of their land was acquired by the Government through aggressive purchasing. Because of the relative lack of lands Whakatōhea were unable to benefit from schemes that were established in the early 20th century such as the scheme that was designed to try and bring Māori into farming. In 1946 a settlement was made between the Government and Whakatōhea for £20000 and this helped preserve at least some of Whakatōhea's land and an entity. Most tāngata of Whakatōhea left the rohe in the great urban migration of the 1950s and 1960s which has led to many losing their strong connections to their iwi.Since the 1990s it's been a long slog. Initial settlement offers from Government in 1996 were considered inadequate so negotiations continued even though Whakatōhea's settlement claims were pushed to the back of the queue. In August 2017 the Crown and Whakatōhea signed an agreement in principle. In December 2021 a deed of settlement was initialled. It was ratified in 2022 and then signed in May 2023. The redress package includes first and foremost an apology from the Crown—an apology for some of the heinous acts that had occurred back then—an agreed acknowledgment of the historical accounts of those grievances and the restoration of 33 important cultural sites and 18 commercial properties. Whakatōhea's role in environmental management is also recognised—land in Ōpōtiki and marine rights to enable a commercial base in their rohe have been allocated and $100 million of financial and commercial redress to enable economic and social development for the future.Today with this bill passing its first reading and heading to the Māori Affairs Committee the new relationship between the Crown and Whakatōhea founded on trust cooperation and partnership as agreed to in the deed of settlement begins its next leg of the redress journey. ACT consistently supports Treaty settlement Acts. They are practical ways to make restitution. ACT supports the property rights and self-determination and ACT looks forward to Whakatōhea having the self-determination to develop socially and economically. We wish Whakatōhea hapū and iwi well. ACT supports this bill."