Wall Louisa: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Wall Louisa: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
[Sitting date: 16 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:541. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr. Assistant Speaker Robertson. E nga mana e nga reo rau rangatira ma tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. Tena koutou nga whanau o Ngai Tamanuhiri o Ngati Makino.  
[ 
Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson. To the authorities voices and many leaders greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to you all. Greetings to you the families of Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Makino 
.]  
This is my privilege. This is the first opportunity I have had to address the House as the member of Parliament for Manurewa so I want to take the opportunity to thank the people of Manurewa for electing me as their representative. In saying that I want to acknowledge how honoured I am to sit on the Maori Affairs Committee. I want to congratulate you Mr Assistant Speaker Robertson on your new role as president of Parliamentarians for Global Action as well as on your Assistant Speaker role. I want to acknowledge the Hon Chris Finlayson as the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and the Hon Pita Sharples as the Minister of Maori Affairs. I want to acknowledge the work of Tau Henare as the chair of the Maori Affairs Committee with the Hon Parekura Horomia as his deputy. I want to acknowledge the Hon Nanaia Mahuta as a previous member of the Maori Affairs Committee and I also want to acknowledge my colleague Rino Tirikatene and congratulate him on his election as the MP for Te Tai Tonga. I want to acknowledge Brendan Horan here in the House as a New Zealand First member and a member of the Maori Affairs Committee and also Louise Upston who is a member of the Maori Affairs Committee.  
Previous speakers have outlined the deed of settlement that Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Makino are to receive and actually what I want to say is that the process that we are engaged in now is actually a rubber-stamp of the process that the iwi have been through. It is not for us to add anything to what they have negotiated with the Crown but what I do want to say is that regardless of the differing views on the settlement process which we must acknowledge is fundamentally about the property rights of Maori it is these Treaty settlement bills coming before this House that formalise the process and offer redress for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi which is the founding document of our country and which has been agreed to by iwi and hapu after a process of historical reconciliation and engagement with the Crown.  
The Treaty settlement process in itself and this resulting legislation that we are debating tonight in the first reading is one of the few means by which Maori are given legal recognition as New Zealand’s indigenous people as the first sovereign and the party to a contract Te Tiriti o Waitangi which gave rise to the establishment of the expression of our democracy in this House that we are in tonight. This Treaty settlement context is also the process that confirms the unique status that Maori have in Aotearoa New Zealand as New Zealand’s first or original peoples. And I want to make this point: the Treaty settlement process highlights that although immigrant groups have heritage identities to other countries other cultures and other languages iwi and hapu have their identities embedded in their awa their moana their maunga their tikanga their reo and their kawa which can come only from here in Aotearoa New Zealand. And it is this process that recognises the established right of Maori as New Zealand’s indigenous peoples which was strengthened by the Treaty of Waitangi. But what I want to say is that we have a status regardless of the Treaty. That status needs to be reinforced in the legislation and that is something that I am committed to.  
So for me these bills are part of the path of endorsing the status of Maori as indigenous people and of endorsing our rights that come from that status. So endorsing Maori rights to property is one of the important steps in recognising and celebrating Maori status as New Zealand’s indigenous peoples and these Treaty settlements for Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Makino—and others who will be in the Whare later tonight—are essentially about recognition of them in their own right and about compensating them for the property rights that they either lost or had taken from them.  
I want to draw the distinction between land which actually has some legal parameters to it and other property that has been subsequently commodified. And I particularly want to talk about water. There is no legal status for ownership of water and that is why for me the proposed removal of section 9 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act across any portion of our State asset where Maori interests are yet to be determined in itself will be a new Treaty breach.  
My contribution tonight is really about acknowledging the road that iwi have gone down to get here and for me it has been like climbing Mount Everest. The tenacity and the fights of our whanau to get to a deed of settlement have been long fought and I think in the future our role is to ensure that those generations that come after us do not have to climb high mountains. The path should be pretty straight and it should be easy for the next generation of Ngati Makino and Ngai Tamanuhiri to be able to exercise their right as tangata whenua—as mana whenua of this country.  
I want to thank Parekura for the opportunity to speak. I have not been involved in Treaty settlements yet. I am going to be on the road with Tau in the future— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! The member must use the member’s full name. 
LOUISA WALL 
: The Hon Tau Henare—but I want to acknowledge the journey that the iwi have made to be here tonight. I want to honour this deed of settlement that they have negotiated with the Crown. I am happy to be part of a process in the future that will ensure that they can sign this deed of settlement and get on with exercising their right of rangatiratanga over their lands. Kia ora.