Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): Thank you Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou to those members of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua who are watching the second reading of this joint bill today and to all those people who came along to Pāpāwai Marae to speak with the Māori Affairs Committee when we were there which my colleagues around the House have recalled. I want to take the House through the procedural history around the negotiations of this bill and while that might not be the most exciting topic in a second reading speech it's really important that the House understands how in a cross-partisan way parties around this House have been able to feed in to the negotiations that have happened and that have come together in this bill. But first let me just recall my memory from that day at Papawai. It was a really moving day; it was hard. There was mamae shared with the select committee. All members of the committee I think really did come together in a pretty united understanding of how deeply felt the hurt in that room was and of our responsibility as committee members to get this legislation right. I remember the opening submissions for the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Settlement Trust. It was a negotiator Robin Potangaroa who said that the iwi had been waiting patiently for 175 years for this. He said We know and understand the Crown breaches in taking our land. Our tipuna were left virtually landless." He said that settling was in the best interests of Ngāti Kahungunu while acknowledging "that not everyone is happy" and that is almost a universal experience in these Treaty settlements. Mr Potangaroa said that the Crown had made an appropriate decision on Mākirikiri Reserve for example using what evidence was available within those negotiations and he said that the painful settlement process was hurtful to both Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu. He said "It's been a long road with a lot of knives in the back and in the front and in the side. But whānau we've all got to get over ourselves we all know what we have done to each other in this process but we are still related. We have to find a way back together. It stops in our generation." That has sat with me since then not just about this settlement but about how we approach all negotiations between the Crown and claimants in this Treaty settlement process. We as a select committee as my colleague has said have been asked to come to this relatively late and that's why I want to take the House through what has happened until this point between not only the Treaty negotiations Minister Andrew Little but also his predecessor the Hon Chris Finlayson who we all in the committee agree has done a very good job in coming to this settlement. Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua has a population of approximately 12000 according to the census figures and it consists of two of the taiwhenua groups of Ngāti Kahungunu more generally. In November 2012 the Crown recognised the mandate of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua to represent that group whom we are talking about here. The Crown signed terms of negotiation with the trust in June 2013 so back in 2013 it was agreed that this group would negotiate on behalf of those iwi members with the Crown. That meant that by May 2016 significant negotiations had gone on and the Crown and the trust were able to agree to an agreement in principle. This is a sort of heads of agreement document. It's short but it sets out what will be negotiated between the Crown and that representative body in the process. What that means is that between 2013 and 2016 a number of hui around that rohe were conducted between the settlement trust and the people it represented and then an agreement was made as to within what scope the Crown was dealing with in those negotiations. It's important to think about the time involved in that—that three years went into what would be agreed in this settlement. In November 2016 the members of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua ratified the post-settlement governance entity—that's the trust that we're talking about here—and agreed to transfer the mandate to the settlement trust to continue the negotiations. Then in the following month Ministers approved the ratification results for the settlement trust and the trust was formally established in March 2017. Though it seems rather procedural and legalistic to think about which entity was in charge of it it's important to remember that at all steps of the way members were engaged in who represented them and what kind of body they were. Then in March 2018 the settlement trust and the Crown initialled a deed of settlement. So within that time of almost 2½ years we went from an agreement in principle—those are those things that we all agree we can negotiate about—to a deed of settlement. That was ratified by the Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua claimant community in November 2018 and it was conditional on the enactment of the bills that are before the House. So I've taken us through that because it is really important for the select committee to be involved in this process but we do come to it at the very tip of the iceberg in that we see a very small part of a process which is a long-fought and long-argued negotiation. I think when we talk about our role as select committee members in making sure that legislation is good and that it works all around the House for whatever piece of legislation it is we have to really consider that Treaty settlements are different to that in that we as committee members have a huge role in making sure that these are suitable pieces of legislation and that we listen to the claimant community but we also need to know that the enduring nature of Treaty settlement is absolutely dependent on the conduct of the select committee members and of all members in this House to uphold the unity that we have in this House around Treaty settlements. We as parliamentary members may not agree with every part of Treaty settlements and we may not agree with every part of this settlement but it's important for all of us to uphold the responsibility that we have in ensuring that the work that has gone on for many many years in the actual settlement negotiation—and indeed the 175 years that we have waited for this settlement—is upheld and that it is something we can all agree on. I want to briefly thank as well the members who presented to us. I have this photo of the kaumātua here speaking to the select committee. It really did make me think very carefully about our role of gathering historical evidence as a select committee. We were given a huge amount of historical evidence about how people within the Wairarapa were treated and how the Crown took a prejudicial view which resulted in forced sales in the 1840s and 1850s and how that impacted on people in their daily lives now—that memory of their tūpuna' suffering but also the way that they were left virtually landless and had no place to call their own. I think that as members of Parliament when we receive that kind of evidence it is upon us to remember it and to remember the people who have given us that information and have entrusted us with their historical stories their whakapapa. It will always sit with me very very heavily on my shoulders that responsibility and so I thank them and I commend this bill."