Tirikatene Rino: Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 31 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:12209. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kāti tiheiwa mauri ora ki te whaiao ki Te Ao Mārama. E ngā hapū o Maungaharuru-Tangitū tēnā koutou. Ngāti Kurumōkihi Ngāi Tātara Marangatūhetaua Ngāi Te Ruruku ki Tangōio me ērā atu hapū nau mai hara mai ki te Whare Pāremata e takatū nei. Hara mai nunui mā teitei mā. Nau mai piki mai ki te Whare Pāremata. Nō koutou tēnei rā. Ko tēnei ko te rā whakahirahira ki te whakatutuki i ngā wawata ō rātou mā. Āpiti hono tātai hono ko te hunga mate ki te hunga mate āpiti hono; tātai hono ko te hunga ora ki te hunga ora. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Greetings Mr Assistant Speaker.Well then to the World of Light and Enlightenment behold the breath of life.Salutations to you collectively the subtribes of Maungaharuru. ToNgāti Kurumōkihi Ngāi Tātara Marangatūhetaua Ngāi Te Ruruku ki Tangōio and others welcome and come hither to Parliament House standing here in readiness. Welcome to thegreat and the illustrious. Welcome and come aboard Parliament House. This is your day. It is indeed a great one to fulfil the aspirations of those who have departed. The lines are drawn together; allow the dead to assemble with themselves and the living to the living. Greetings salutations and acknowledgments to you and to us all collectively .]It gives me great pleasure to speak at this first reading in support of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. The hapū of this area had an area of influence around the Central Hawke’s Bay that is to say from the outskirts of north of Napier towards Tāngoio and then east towards the Maungaharuru Ranges. Many people will know this area when they drive from Napier to Taupō. It is that area thattakes in the beautiful Esk Valley with its nicely appointed old church in amongst neat and tidy rows of grapes.The Crown acknowledges the length of time it took to negotiate with the hapū of Maungaharuru-Tangitū. When the Crown bought the Ahuriri block it failed to consult the hapū of Maungaharuru-Tangitū. The Crown once again—once again—managed to hoodwink the tangata whenua into accepting unfair prices for land knowing full well that Māori had no final option but to alienate their land. And that is the sorry story that is recounted through practically every settlement bill that goes through this House.The whānau at Tāngoio and Mōhaka were led to believe that they would benefit from Pākehā settlements. Unfortunately for those whānau and hapū Pākehā settlements were confined to Napier. So those places and people were unable to benefit. This led them into economic depression and they were forced like so many hapū throughout New Zealand to alienate their land to help pay off debts incurred due to Crown promises of benefits from Pākehā settlements not being kept.Part of the history of these hapū also lies with the story of Te Kooti and his followers. Some members of this collective suffered the atrocity of the summary execution of innocent Māori labelled rebels which occurred at Ngātapa and became known as the Ngātapa incident. It always makes me feel uncomfortable the way history minimises in some ways the early colonial atrocities by calling them mere incidents. It is like the way the British called their war with the Catholics in Northern Ireland the Troubles. It is like nothing more than your car running out of petrol and so it puts you in a spot of trouble—you know like it was not a big deal.But we know that these incidents are more than just that. We are covering the Te Tau Ihu settlement legislation. There was more than an incident at Wairau just like there was more than an incident at Ngātapa and just like the wars over in Northern Ireland were more than just the Troubles. Real people were killed slaughtered and murdered. It is these parts of our history that have caused so much suffering to the collective of Maungaharuru-Tangitū. The Crown will take responsibility and apologise to the iwi and hapū of this settlement and acknowledge it failed in its duty to uphold the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.Much of the area lost to these people is today rich fertile land that grows the fruit and grapes that every year bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the Hawke’s Bay region. That is the sort of economic legacy these hapū have missed out on. Every day the descendants of the original claimants drive past the expensive wineries and orchards north of Napier and see what may have been had they not been alienated from their land.I am sure somewhere amongst the smoking embers of the Anglo-Māori relationships in Hawke’s Bay of the 1860s we will find the torch of Sir Donald McLean this country’s first Minister of Native Affairs and inventor of that taniwha at that time the Native Land Court. McLean’s legacy in Napier was at the expense of these hapū and iwi who lost so much through land alienation and the actions of the Native Land Court.The Crown will apologise for the attacks against the people of Pētane and Ōmaranui in 1866. And as you might recall since I have been doing these calls on settlement bills I like to use a constant saying that “to understand whakapapa is to understand Māori history”. Unfortunately some of the whānau’s genetic code was completely erased from the whakapapa of these tribes. Such depredations were catastrophic to the well-being of whānau hapū and iwi and for this the Crown will also apologise.As my colleague Shane Jones has mentioned in speeches before there are certain elements of commercial redress protocols and cultural redress that have been incorporated into these bills as they are in most settlements and we are here to tautoko all of those measures. I do acknowledge the work and the negotiating team that wereinstrumental in getting us to this point. I too would like to acknowledge Bevan Taylor and Tania Hopmans a name that is familiar to me. I used to look up to her as a corporate lawyer back in the day. She was a few years ahead of me but she led the way. Likewise there are many other familiar names that I see in the negotiating team—Tom Manaena is another name. We did a bit of work together back in the day with Māori businesses. So I would just like to acknowledge them all.I would like to acknowledge all the kaumātua and kuia who have come down—bussed probably. They rose early this morning to make it here on the trip down and I would like to thank them all for coming because this is a special day for this hapū and this whānau group here. I too have special memories of Tāngoio Marae growing up. I acknowledge the Reti whānau—āpotoro Joe Reti and Hinei. I spent a few trips going through there having whakamoemiti playing in the reo brass brand and fellowshipping with the whānau there at Tāngoio. I would like to acknowledge all the mōrehu there—so I am not outdone by my Mihingare the offsider there in Shane. I would like to acknowledge the Reti whānau as well and Fred who is now following in his dad’s footsteps as āpotoro for all his sterling work behind the scenes as well.So yes it is very important I guess that we acknowledge the work that has gone on and also those who have passed on and also how significant these bills are in terms of documenting the history of these hapū and making sure that we are taking a step in the right direction charting a new future for them. I am looking forward to working in the Māori Affairs Committee under my whanaunga there Tau and our sterling crew in the committee as we awhi and hear submissions on this bill. I would just like to acknowledge once again the whānau who have travelled here today. I really tautoko this bill and I commend it to the House. Kia ora tātou.