Davis Kelvin: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
Davis Kelvin: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:11857] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Te mea tuatahi mihi kau atu ki tera te Minita a Tariana nona nei te iwi e korerotia nei e tatou i te wa nei. 
[ 
The first thing is to acknowledge Minister Tariana Turia whose people we are discussing at the moment 
.] 
I would like to start by touching on what the Hon Tau Henare has just mentioned about the wealth of history that is in these Treaty settlement bills. I agree totally with him and say I think it would be great if we could teach this history in our schools. I encourage Ngati Apa as part of its cultural redress to consider developing this history just a little further and taking it to schools so that schools and the local iwi can work in partnership and cooperation to make sure that local iwi history is not simply forgotten. I encourage that not just for Ngati Apa but for all schools in the areas covered by Treaty settlements using the information in these bills. 
It is important for us to consider that in 1840 Ngati Apa had considerable land interests in the Rangitikei and Manawatu areas. That is the first point. The second point is that it is also important for us to know that three members of Ngati Apa signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The way that the land was broken up which became a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi disenfranchised Ngati Apa from their land and from their culture and that is at the crux of this bill. It is important that the Crown has acknowledged that Ngati Apa have been raising grievances with the Crown for over 100 years and that the Crown failed to deal with the longstanding grievances of Ngati Apa in an appropriate way. The recognition of the grievances of Ngati Apa is long overdue. It is also important for us to realise that from 1848 over 400000 acres of the considerable land interests of Ngati Apa were purchased. It was through these land transactions that Ngati Apa endeavoured to establish a relationship with the Crown. 
The deed for the 1849 Rangitikei-Turakina purchase stated that approximately 35000 acres of that land would be reserved for all of Ngati Apa to collect and settle on. However later native land legislation enabled these reserve lands to pass through the Native Land Court which awarded land interest to individuals rather than to all the tribe and that excluded many Ngati Apa from ownership of the tribal reserve land. That failure of the Crown to ensure that the arrangements recorded in the 1849 deed were given effect to was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi. The native land laws in particular awarding the land to individual Ngati Apa rather than to iwi or hapu made the lands that Ngati Apa were able to retain more susceptible to partition fragmentation and alienation. It is a classic case of divide and conquer. This contributed to the erosion of the tribal structures of Ngati Apa which were based on collective tribal and hapu custodianship of the land. The Crown failed to take steps to adequately protect those tribal structures and that had a prejudicial effect on Ngati Apa. Again that was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi. 
Despite Ngati Apa’s contributing lands for settlement purposes the significant benefits that Ngati Apa expected to flow from its relationship with the Crown were not realised. The cumulative effect of the Crown’s actions and omissions left Ngati Apa virtually landless. The Crown failed to ensure that Ngati Apa retained sufficient lands for their present and future needs. Therefore today we have the situation where most of Ngati Apa live outside their tribal rohe and the loss of their traditional lands has impacted on the access of Ngati Apa to resources such as their rivers lakes forests wetlands and traditional walking paths. Ngati Apa have lost control over many of their significant sites including wahi tapu and this has had an ongoing impact on their physical and spiritual relationship with the land. 
So it is important that we acknowledge the apology that has been offered by the Crown. It is important that we acknowledge the work that was started by Dr Cullen the Hon Parekura Horomia and the Hon Mita Ririnui and that has been continued by the Hon Chris Finlayson. It is also important to note that four Ngati Apa people signed the original document. They were Lillian Te Aweawe Ropata Te Hina Arikihanara Mare Mare and Mariana Shenton all from Ngati Apa of course. 
The apology is really important. An apology does not bring back everything that was lost but it is important that the Crown has apologised and recognised the efforts and struggles of Ngati Apa in pursuit of their claims for justice and redress. It is also important in the apology that the Crown has said it profoundly regrets and unreservedly apologises to Ngati Apa for the breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. It is also important to note that the Crown regrets and apologises for the cumulative effect of its actions and omissions over the generations through to the present day. These matters have all had a detrimental impact on the traditional tribal structures of Ngati Apa. With this apology the Crown seeks to atone for the past wrongs to begin a process of healing and to make a significant step towards rebuilding a lasting relationship with Ngati Apa based on mutual trust and cooperation. 
The cultural redress is that there are protocols to be issued to the trustees by the Minister of Conservation the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. There is an acknowledgment by the Crown of the statements that were made by Ngati Apa of their cultural spiritual historical and traditional association with nine statutory areas and the effect of the acknowledgment deeds of recognition between the Crown and trustees and also the vesting in the trustees of the fee simple estate in 17 cultural redress properties. It is really important for everyone and for the House to understand that the 17 cultural redress properties represent but a fraction of the land that was denied or that was partitioned and removed from Ngati Apa. I can imagine all the rednecks out there saying the blimmin Maoris are getting more land handed back. But the rednecks have to realise that this is just a fraction of what Ngati Apa lost. 
Finally there is a part of the cultural redress that talks about the alteration of place names. We know about the most obvious example of altering place names from the debate over whether “Wanganui” or “Whanganui” is correct. I believe it is really important for us to recognise that to Maori it is important that our language our places and our place names are given the due respect that they deserve. It is not fair or right that a group of people can come and change names often not just by removing a letter from the name but actually by supplanting a name in another language and then to say that is the way it is and Maori just have to get over it. 
This settlement has been great. I endorse what the others have said about being part of the Maori Affairs Committee and the work that has gone on with regard to this legislation. It is well overdue. Ngati Apa have waited far too long for this settlement to occur and Labour of course supports this bill. Kia ora.