Parata Hekia: Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill — Second Reading 
Parata Hekia: Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6727] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Tena koe e te Mana Whakawa huri noa i to tatou Whare tena koutou katoa. Huri hoki aku mihi ki a koutou e tautoko ana i nga mihi kua mihia ki a koutou Te Arawa waka i hara mai nei mai i Te Puku o Te Whenua ki Te Upoko ki te whakarongo i nga korero e pa ana ki te whanuitanga o te pire i tenei wa. A e tautoko ana i runga i toku whare tamariki aku tamahine me o raua honotanga ki nga kawai whakapapa o Te Arawa. Tena koutou tena koutou tena rawa atu koutou. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Assistant Speaker and to you all throughout our House greetings. My acknowledgments turn to you as well who supported the greetings bestowed upon you those of the canoe of Te Arawa who travelled from the Abdomen of the Land to the Head to listen to speeches relating to the bill broadly at this stage. And I endorse that because of my children my daughters and their genealogical ties to Te Arawa. Greetings greetings and fond greetings to you collectively 
.]  
I stand to speak in support of the second reading of the Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill. I acknowledge both the previous Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Parekura Horomia and our current Minister of Maori Affairs the Hon Dr Pita Sharples as well as the Maori Affairs Committee members who have worked together on this bill to bring it to this stage of its consideration. Many speakers before me have already rehearsed the details that are contained within the bill so I shall not do that again. But I will talk about the core purpose of this bill which is to restore mana whenua. Its purpose is to provide a base back to the people to whom this whenua belongs and to whom it has always belonged. That is so whether or not there was legal title or recognition because it is through the actual lineage that there is relationship with that land. The purpose is so that we might start to see again the practice of rangatiratanga. 
We can talk all we like about rangatiratanga whether of the tino variety or the ordinary variety but unless we have whenua and we have whanau hapu and iwi connected with that whenua we really are talking only. So I am delighted that this bill the Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill takes another step towards that because it is important that iwi—and the ones we are talking about today are Ngati Whakaue Tuhourangi and Ngati Wahiao—are able to govern and manage their own affairs to work in the development of their own whenua and own businesses and to create wealth for themselves and for their future. That is what is important in part about the restoration of this mana whenua. 
We have seen not only in the bill itself but in the processes around it that the objective of the Crown and the iwi in this legislation is to engage in a healthy relationship and that is a very important thing for this House and for Te Arawa. It is equally important that the iwi themselves are able to engage in relationships with each other with their hapu and with their whanau and I think the bill provides certain procedures to ensure that that occurs. But the real work will be done by Te Arawa people themselves because members of Te Arawa must go on and live with continue to invest whakapapa relationships in—intermarry and have children—and go on to create the stories of the future around that whenua. Even though it is important that there is a Crown-iwi relationship it is almost more important that there are iwi to iwi and hapu to hapu relationships. I hope the procedures set out in the bill are simply that and that the real work is done amongst and between the people. 
I will respectfully disagree with our colleague from the other side of the House who talked about the concerns around the involvement of the member for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell in this process. It is entirely appropriate that the Minister of Maori Affairs should place so much importance on getting these matters right that he asks a member of this Parliament and therefore a representative of the Crown to be involved in Crown-iwi relationships. I acknowledge the facilitation work carried out by my colleague Te Ururoa Flavell and I acknowledge the Minister of Maori Affairs for considering that it was of such importance that he should ask a member of this House to be involved. 
As I have already said—and I will not talk for very much longer on this bill—I think it is important that we have the opportunity to practise rangatiratanga with mana over our whenua for all of our people so that we might build our own businesses create our own wealth and practise the self-determination that I understand to be at the core of rangatiratanga. I am delighted to stand in support of the Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill. No reira tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa. 
Bill read a second time.