Chhour KarenKAREN CHHOUR (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise on behalf of ACT to support the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Claims Settlement Bill.I'm by no means an expert on settlements and being Māori myself I was not privileged enough to hear from my grandmother the stories which I'm sure there were many. But I had a thought about How could I relate to this and understand this: the pain and the anguish that the generations feel hearing the stories from the past and the wrongs that have been done to them?" I understand history is important and stories being passed down from generation to generation—and keeping that alive and making sure that nobody forgets the pain that the last generations went through—is really important so that we don't forget and that we don't repeat history.Every person in New Zealand deserves to be treated with equality before the law and they deserve to feel that their property rights will be protected. Unfortunately this didn't happen and the Crown did not meet their obligations under the Treaty when it came to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa. It's happened multiple times across many different iwi and I think it's really important that we have these conversations here in Parliament to acknowledge the wrongs that have happened.I'm actually really proud to be standing here in a country that is willing to have these conversations—that is willing to go back over 30 years with Governments and politicians from all across the board—to acknowledge this and to try and right the wrongs. No amount of money and no amount of redress will completely take away the pain and take away what has happened—we're not trying to do that.What we're trying to do is help people to move forward and see a better tomorrow. And part of the healing process—when you have been victimised and when you have gone through something as terrible as this—is actually having an acknowledgment that you were wronged. I think it's really important that we acknowledge that wrong was done here and I'm grateful that that process has started.The injustices of the past I cannot comprehend. I sit in a household where I'm married to somebody whose parents had horrific injustices of the past. I listened to the stories and I listened to the history and I listened to the pain and I listened to what has happened and I see in my household how that affects the next generation and how they live their lives—and the generation after that. But I also think it's important that those conversations happen and we keep it going. We must acknowledge it because if we don't acknowledge it there's no way to move forward and there's no way to see a better future.I'm very grateful to the Māori Affairs Committee who went in in good faith—listened to the people who came forward—and came here and gave very good explanations to what was brought forward before the select committee and I'm grateful for that.I feel for those who have lost people before we got to this stage and I hope that the next generation that has carried this on—and has got this to this stage—realises that the past generations will be proud of the fact that you've carried on their fight to be acknowledged and to try and get some kind of redress for the wrongs that happened in the past.We support this process and we're very grateful for the hard work that the Māori Affairs Committee has done. And with that I support the bill."