Wall Louisa: Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWall Louisa: Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17147. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa):Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. E ngā mana e ngā reo rau rangatira mā ngā whānau o Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. To the authorities languages leaders of a hundredfold and families of the subtribe of Maungaharuru-Tangitū greetings salutations and acknowledgments to you all.]I am a proud member of this Parliament. I am also proud to be Ngāti Tūwharetoa to be Waikato and I know that all of us here in the House—our Māori caucus Māori members across the House and as we have seen displayed not only Māori members but all members of this House of Parliament—congratulate you on what has been a battle since 1851. I congratulate you on this the third reading of your settlement legislation the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Settlement Bill. I congratulate you on the heart and soul and tenacity to get to this point of recognition.I say welcome to your House. Parliament is your House. You are tangata whenua. You are not manuhiri here. I acknowledge that status that you have and I thank you very much for the journey that you have made. I know that for all of you there will be many emotions that are flowing not only through your bodies but through your minds as you think about your tūpuna our tūpuna and the fight that they have had for over 100 years now to get to a point in time where we as a country can acknowledge you for your status as tangata whenua and as mana whenua which cannot be underestimated in the context of the bill.I am always really interested in the statutory acknowledgments in the deeds of recognition because what they do is to be very clear about the co-governance—co-management—of a number of historical sites over waterways and over reserves. There is the fact that within your piece of legislation 22 place names will hold the names of tūpuna who will for ever be acknowledged as having mana whenua over your rohe.I want to acknowledge all the members of your Maungaharuru-Tangitū Trust because what today is all about is the future. You have a board that has been established and committee members. Your chair is Bevan Taylor. I would like to acknowledge Bevan Charmaine Butler Tānia Hopmans Tamehana (Tom) Manaena Kerri Nuku Sabre (Thursday) Puna Cathy Spooner and Elaine Taylor. The people within your Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū who have now been empowered with the leadership role in terms of taking your hapū forward I acknowledge you.What this piece of legislation does is create a base for you and it is a base that adds to the base that you have and have always had in terms of your identity your language your culture and your marae. This adds to that base and from that base it has been great to see—I have visited the website; I am a bit of a googler just like Nanaia and I have looked at your priorities—that engaging with central government and local government will be a key priority for you. In terms of these statutory acknowledgments you will have an ongoing role in resource management issues related to these specific areas and also you have established protocols with the Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage so obviously you see a partnership going forward between yourselves as mana whenua and the Crown. Actually if we are all really serious about what these settlements are about they are about finally realising what the Treaty of Waitangi was all about. It was about a partnership between mana whenua and the Crown. That is the biggest acknowledgment that I can say today. It is actually about the going forward and our rightful place now in terms of the decision making that will be required within our rohe.The other issue that I want to focus on is for me a clear commitment to you to serve your people within the context of education and within the context of health. I see that one of the opportunities you have is to establish other entities that can then contract from the Crown to make sure that the services your people will receive in the future are culturally appropriate and will reinforce your language and your particular kawa and protocols. I see that as the other aspect of this piece of legislation going forward. It is that part that I want to focus on and wish you all the best for because within that context we provide opportunities for our tamariki and mokopuna to be educated and to get the skills that you require as a group of hapū leading into the future.I am not going to talk too much more other than to again congratulate you. I am sure you will travel home and have a big party back at your marae and within your whānau.I hope that this process has empowered you and that you have seen through the speeches here in the House that this is an area where we have consensus. Every member of this House of Parliament going forward will work with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and with our Māori Affairs Committee and as a member of the House of Representatives in this 50th Parliament I am incredibly proud to be part of a process that acknowledges our true status as the original sovereign owners of this land. The opportunity going forward is now in your hands. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.