Simpson ScottHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to stand as the last National Party speaker in this debate as it draws to a close. Folks sitting in the galley this afternoon have travelled not only a long way in terms of distance and geography but also in terms of time and history. Unlike the member that has just resumed his seat Tamati Coffey I have spoken in previous debates of this sort. I agree with him; it's a very powerful and significant part of the democratic process of today's modern Aotearoa New Zealand.That we have to do it is a blight upon our history and it's a blight upon those who have sat in this historic Chamber in the past. It falls to us who have the privilege to serve today to try and put right things that actually we can never put right. But to make some kind of attempt in good faith in sincerity in a way that is meant to convey a beginning to a start of things that were not right and were bad. For me as a parliamentarian who has spent several years in this place now I've come to understand and learn more about the parliamentary process and the power of what is written into legislation—what is written into the material that sits on the Table of the Parliament and what sits in the words of the bill soon to become an Act of the Parliament once it's signed by the Crown's representative in New Zealand the Governor-General very soon.What it means is that in a document such as this what this debate is all about is the historic and formal acknowledgment of all that has been agreed in terms of the past but also what is hoped for the future. For me when I read through the legislation—and I commend it to each and every one of you to actually sit down take the time read the bill. Read it. It is so important because it sets everything out. It's a historic document. It's a future document. It's of its time and it's of its place.But for me as I go through and read the chronology of things that were bad and were not done properly that were disingenuous that were not as we would now have wanted them to be the most important part of this legislation actually is not the cultural redress. It's not the financial redress. For me it is clause 10 of the legislation. A colleague of mine referred to it earlier on. It's actually the apology—it's the apology from the Crown. It sets out the words that say: Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki sought to establish mutually beneficial relationships with European settlers and the Crown by welcoming them into your rohe and offering land but the Crown did not honour this gesture. Instead its acts and omissions undermined relationships that should have been based on good will and mutual benefit. The Crown broke its promise to protect your interests confiscated your whenua and promoted policies which had devastating economic social and cultural consequences for Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki." Then it goes on to say: "For its breaches of … the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles and for the prejudice its acts and omissions have caused Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki the Crown unreservedly apologises."I've had occasion to be with the former Minister the Hon Chris Finlayson when he has spoken on marae around the countryside and issued on behalf of the Crown the formal apology. Now that role falls to the new Minister the Hon Andrew Little and he picks up that baton of the work that has been commenced under a different administration but work that this Parliament endorses and accepts and will vote unanimously in favour of this afternoon.So I want to acknowledge those who are here today acknowledge the work that they have done and acknowledge those who are not here today who have been working and fighting for what is right for so long and did not get here today. The future is all of ours and it's what we make it. So my invitation as a humble member of this House is to accept the offer of a future that represents all of us in Aotearoa New Zealand. In closing and on behalf of the National Party as the last speaker I absolutely thoroughly commend this historic piece of legislation to the Parliament of New Zealand."