Mahuta Nanaia: Te Runanga o Ngati Awa Bill — First Reading 
Mahuta Nanaia: Te Runanga o Ngati Awa Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:619;Page:15052] 
NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Tainui) 
: 
Tenatatou katoa. Tuatahiteneiahau e mihi kauana ki ngamorehu o Ngati Awa koutou ko ngatini mate e pikaunei e koutou irungai o koutou neipokohiwa e kaweanei e rataui roto itenei Whare tena koutou. Ki a tatau tenatatau katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to us all. I stand here and extend a greeting to the survivors of Ngati Awa in the first instance and then to the many deaths that are upon your shoulders that you bring with you into this House. Greetings and greetings to us all. 
] 
I rise to speak on the first reading of Te Runanga o Ngati Awa Bill. As members are aware this is a member’s bill sponsored by the member for Ikaroa-Rawhiti who is also the Minister of Maori Affairs and I think it is an appropriate measure given that he is going to cut the apron strings with regard to the Maori Trust Boards Act. This bill is sponsored by the member as a transitional step to ensure that Ngati Awa has a governance entity that can receive and administer settlement assets from the Ngati Awa treaty claims settlement. A lot of work has gone into preparing this bill and it is most certainly worth congratulating the people of Ngati Awa—Professor Hirini Mead—and Andrew Hampton at the Office of Treaty Settlements on constructing this bill. 
The establishment of a governance entity for Ngati Awa has a unique and distinct history. My humble recollection of events is that up until about the 1980s there was no central entity to represent the particular interests of Ngati Awa. In previous representations to Parliament and the Board of Maori Affairs they were asked to consider this matter but historically that was to no avail. I have looked at the Ngati Awa website and seen that it shows that upon the advice of Sir James Fletcher to ErueraManuera and Hirini Mead it was recommended that Ngati Awa go ahead and set itself up as a trust board. It did that as a charitable trust incorporated in 1981 under the Charitable Trusts Act of 1957. So basically Ngati Awa had to do that all by itself. That was agreed to and confirmed at a hui-a-iwi on 16 November 1980 at Puawairua Marae in Whakatane. 
It was at that point that work was commenced to advance Ngati Awa’s raupatu case. I guess that people on the Government side of the House with a long enough tooth will recall that in 1983 Ben Couch made the first offer of a settlement which was turned down by Ngati Awa and the iwi has that story to tell. Perhaps the most difficult part of the journey to advance the raupatu case was for Ngati Awa to gain confirmation of its governance entity as a trust board under the Maori Trust Boards Act. Other trust boards already in existence received some type of annuity in recognition of prior injustices caused by raupatu or the land confiscations that occurred in 1863. So trust boards emerged such as WhakatoheaMaori Trust Board the Tauranga Moana Maori Trust Board and in my own area the Tainui Maori Trust Board for the very reason of advancing claims against the Crown for the injustices of raupatu. That was not the case for Ngati Awa. It was some 8 years later in 1988 that Te Runanga o Ngati Awa was established by statute as a Maori trust board under the Maori Trust Boards Act with a statutory pardon included in recognition of historical grievances committed by the Crown against Ngati Awa dating back to the early 1860s—the New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863 and the subsequent confiscation of Ngati Awa lands. 
It is important at the first reading of this bill to remind members of the House of the statutory pardon that is in this Bill. It reads: “He panuitenei ki te motu katoa ka tutukianatenei Ture koinei te wa e whakahokiaai ki a ratou te ihi te mana te tapu o nga tangata o Ngati Awa imauhereheretia iwhakawakiai te tau 1865 ki o ratouwhanau hoki ki o ratou iwi tae atu ki a Ngati Awa whanui. Ka wetekinakatoatiangawhiu o te ture i pa ki a ratoui roto ingapakanga whenua o Te Tau 1865.” 
[“ 
It is hereby declared that after the passing of this Part of this Act the character mana and reputation of the persons of Ngati Awa descent who were arrested tried and labelled as rebels in or about 1865 is restored to them and their whanau and to the iwi of Ngati Awa as a whole and a full pardon is hereby granted to them in respect of all matters arising out of the land wars in 1865 
.”] 
The English translation of that is actually in the bill and members will get to see it in the Maori Affairs Committee. It is a carry-over provision and it is an important provision that should not be overlooked by members. 
The members who preceded me have outlined what is in the bill. Of interest to members will be the issues around the question of the charter that Mr Franks raised. The fact that the charter is not in the bill provides greater flexibility for Ngati Awa basically to determine issues for itself. People are quick to talk about breaking the shackles of dependency but then they want to try to legislate and regulate everything within the governance entity legislation. That is simply not on. We accept that there is some way to go. We also accept that there are some issues to discuss at the select committee level. I look forward to hearing from Ngati Awa as to its views on this bill. No reira tena koutou katoa.