Clendon David: Te Hiku Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClendon David: Te Hiku Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:694;Page:588. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID CLENDON (Green):Ā tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kei te mihi nui ki a koutou ngā manuhiri ki tēnei Whare i te rā nei tēnā koutou katoa. Ki te mana o ngā iwi o Te Hiku o Te Ika ngā kaitiaki o Muriwhenua tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I extend a huge acknowledgment to you collectively the visitors to this House today greetings to you all. To the power of the tribes of Te Hiku and the guardians of Muriwhenua accolades and congratulations to you collectively and thank you to us all.]I am pleased to take a call on behalf of the Greens to lend our support to this important bill to this very substantial bill. Running to some 700 or so pages its sheer bulk and heft reflect the importance of the agreements of the undertakings that are contained within it.On Sunday afternoon I was fortunate to be at quite a large celebration of the birthday of a local identity in the Kaitāia area. He lives on a hilltop just a couple of kilometres out of Ahipara. From his home we were looking north and somewhat to the west along Te Oneroa-a-Tōhe seeing in the distance the landscapes the headland at Houhora and of course further north to Te Rerenga Wairua. Clearly I have connections to the north and long may they continue but I think no one could stand and look at that landscape and not be moved by the power of that landscape by the beauty of that landscape and by the significance of that landscape. It would be an unfortunate human being indeed who could look at that view and not think it was something very special something unique and something very precious. Clearly it is most precious of all to the people in whose care it has been for a very long time and whose care it will continue to be in. This bill does advance the possibility and the opportunity for the mana of that land for the kaitiakitanga of that land and for the ongoing care and sustenance of that land to be returned home to the hands of those who hold it most dear.We have heard a number of times already references to the very well-known ngā whakatauāki referencing the fact that the head of the fish is here in Wellington and the tail is in the far north. One can wonder of course at the collective wisdom that has been contained in the head specifically in this institution over many decades given that it has taken so long for a settlement to be advanced that will be found at least satisfactory to the people of the far north. The first appeals based on the relationship in Te Tiriti date back to the late 19th century within a few decades of the signing of the Treaty—over 100 years of toil of effort to bring the situation to a level of fruition to advance another step in this House today. As others have done we must acknowledge the ongoing commitment the work and the absolute belief of those people past and present who have worked so hard to bring this bill to the House to bring the settlement the agreement to the stage it has reached. Of course we all look forward to having this resolved swiftly in order that the redress can be made real and that the financial and cultural redress will be satisfied.The point is that the tail of the fish must be moving in order for the whole creature to move forward. For a very long time there has not been a great deal of energy in the far north. It has been a depressed region—some would say a repressed region—and these settlements are part of restoring the energy to that place because without it this country will not prosper and there is a long history of that. The energy in this case will be represented in part by the financial redress which in total is to the effect of some $100 million—a small amount in terms of what was taken what was lost but at least it is a basis to allow the innovative the hard-working and the creative people of the far north to build their own future on to create their own future for themselves and for the following generations which is after all what these bills are about.Reading through the bill it is substantial. I appeal to people who may have no particular interest in this specific settlement but who are New Zealanders—be they Māori Pākehā tauiwi or whatever they may be—to even read just the summary of the apologies. It is important that people read and understand why these settlements are necessary and important. Much of that is contained in the apology. I expect very few people will read the whole 700 pages but simply to engage with some of the history and the Crown’s apology does reflect the significance of these moments of these settlements. The Crown’s mana was seriously diminished in its failure to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. People often believe that yes Māori were alienated from their land lost their language and their tikanga was disrespected but at no point was the loss of mana to Māori to the extent that it was to the Crown. The failure to respect and honour the articles of Te Tiriti did diminish the honour of the Crown. Indeed it is to restore that mana as much as anything that these settlements are necessary and important.The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations mentioned the importance of leadership and I must acknowledge as others have Minister Finlayson who has displayed significant leadership in this and other settlements. I think I am right in saying that he has overseen more settlements than any other Minister and that is to his credit. I must also acknowledge the obvious sincerity that he brings to his concern to see these settlements advanced.But leaders of course are nothing without followers. It is the challenge of leadership in the north as elsewhere to maintain the integrity of the community of whānau hapū and iwi as the steps towards a better future are made. We do have that leadership in the north—there is no question of that—both in our mātua and in some of our younger leaders coming through. It is in their hands that the future will lie but it is important that these bills are acknowledged and accepted and that the communities feel part of the settlement or else they will not succeed as much as they might. That is the ongoing work both of the leadership within the iwi and hapū and of us particularly those MPs from the north who have a responsibility to participate in some of that as well. Certainly as a Green MP in the north I am entirely committed to seeing the success of these settlements.It is only through individuals and collectives—the Government local government communities generally iwi hapū—and through a combined acceptance that these are good settlements they are necessary settlements and that they will succeed to the extent that is possible. We need long-term sustainable outcomes. Māoridom does not think in terms of years but in terms of generations and in these settlements we need to be thinking in similar terms. The horizon is not 3 years or 6 years or a decade; it is multiple generations into the future and that should guide our decision making and our actions at this point and from this point forward to ensure that we acknowledge the past heal the hurt that was done and give Māoridom a base to determine its own future. That is the essence of rangatiratanga—self-determination—and it cannot be done in a vacuum. As the lands are returned as the financial redress is made as the cultural redress is determined we can look forward to a future that we can collectively be proud of. Kia ora.