Horomia Parekura: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
Horomia Parekura: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10253] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 He tika hoki i runga i te tu nei e mihi kau ana ki te Kingi Tuheitia me tona ahurea. Ki a ratou e rere atu e rere atu. Ki a koutou e Tuku me to hoa pukumahi a Te Rai e mihi kau ana. Tena koutou. E tika atu te tu nei ki te mihi ake ki te wahine toa a Raiha e rere atu. Ko tona kaha rawa ki te tautokotia atu te ahua nei o tona awa. E mohio atu tatou mai i te timata ko tona tane a Kotahi i konei e wero atu ki te Kawana mo te tino take nei o te awa mai i te roaroa atu kia tae ki te wiki nei. No reira tena ano te mihi ki nga tokorua nei a Tuku raua ko Raiha mo to ratou kaha me wetahi o ratou nga kaimahi a muri a nga tari e tautokotia atu. 
He whakaaro i roto i aku mo te take nei mai ra ano. I timata te pakopako o te pu o nga hoia o te Kawana i tae atu i Ngaruawahia e tuku atu ki a ratou o Tainui to ratou mahi kino. Mai i tera wa e tae atu ki tenei wa e kore atu tatou e whakatikatika. Na te pai o te rangi nei kei te tae tata atu tatou ki te otinga. No reira he tino take tenei mo nga kereme. Ahakoa te nui o nga kereme mo nga wehewehe mahi atu a te Kawana ki te iwi tenei ano wetahi o nga tino kereme e mahi atu ratou o Tainui. He tangi mokemoke e kore i konei te wahine ra a Raiha me wetahi o o tatou wahine kaiwhakahaere o te motu. Wetahi o nga wahine rangatira kei te mohiotia e wetahi o tatou penei i a wau e manaaki atu e mau atu te ahua o to hoa. No reira tena tatou. 
[ 
It is appropriate that I stand to greet King Tuheitia and his movement and those who have passed on. I wish to acknowledge Tuku and his hard-working colleague Lady Raiha. It is only right that I acknowledge Lady Raiha who has passed away for her efforts in supporting aspects relating to her river. We know that right from the start her husband Sir Robert Te Kotahi Mahuta would come here to challenge the Government over the Waikato River. That continued over a very long period of time to this week. Therefore I acknowledge Tuku and Lady Raiha for their efforts as well as departmental officials and staff for their support behind the scenes.  
I have a historical perception on this matter. When the land wars broke out soldiers of the Crown at the outset went to Ngaruawahia and committed wrongdoings against Tainui. We have refused settlement from that time to the present. The good thing about today is that we are close to it. This settlement is a critical one in the claims process. Even though a large number of claims are about the divisive actions by the Government towards tribes this claim that Tainui has worked through is one that really stands out. I grieve with sadness that Lady Raiha is not here today as well as some of our other leading women administrators and leaders of the nation that we and I knew personally. Raiha we will continue to embrace and uphold all that your late husband strove for. So greetings to us all 
.] 
I rise today with a lot of pride and humility to support the move towards the passage of the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill. I commend the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations of the day the Hon Christopher Finlayson and the officials especially those who have been there for a long long time. It is certainly right that King Tuheitia and his people have something to celebrate that is real. Just in case I forget I do want to mention the two recent co-negotiators Tuku Morgan and Lady Raiha Mahuta and also the former Ministers for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Michael Cullen Mita Ririnui Shane Jones and especially myself! 
I say seriously that it is something to celebrate. It is something that Raiha was dogmatic about—and she was that. The call from her people resounded as both she and Tuku put it forward that the river was patu. They had two simple points to make. One was to clean it up so the tamariki and rangatahi of Tainui could swim in it like the old people used to. The other was to ensure that the fish survived and they could feast on them like their ancestors used to. The buggery that happened and was enacted on Tainui by the forces of the Government is well-known. That it took place in Ngaruawahia and stripped them and put them into the ground is something that this bill will certainly put right. The issue in relation to te mana o te awa has always been in both the mind and the heart of the Tainui people as well as the awa in the sense of the korowai which they wished to have purveyed. All of those issues relevant to the river need to be recognised and are important. 
Manawhakahaere embodies the authority that Waikato-Tainui and other rural tribes have established in respect of the access to and management of the Waikato River and its resources in accordance with tikanga values and ethics. As my colleagues chortle over here I want to ensure that it is understood that most of the movement in relation to this settlement was done by the Tainui people. 
David Garrett 
: Which settlement? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It is a great settlement. 
David Garrett 
: No; which settlement? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It is a great settlement that is about to happen. It is the one that will ensure that the great city of Auckland has a clean water supply. It is the one that that member David Garrett will not recognise in relation to representation. Only today we heard the famous ACT leader mentioning divisiveness as we watched a Government front bench that was scrambling. The invasion and war and of course the confiscation has been an integral part of history that people have used as an excuse to ensure that finality was not brought to the settlement. 
I along with my colleagues Nanaia Mahuta Shane Jones and the rest of the Labour members am very thankful that we have this bill today. The purpose of the bill is to give effect to the settlement of raupatu claims under the 2009 deed recognise the significance of the Waikato River to Waikato-Tainui and recognise the vision and strategy for the Waikato River which David Garrett is short on. He gullibly does not appreciate tradition or cultural heritage. He bandies words about loosely because he is one of the troops and endowed with red-neckery—if there is such a term. There have always been rednecks from the beginning even if they were soldiers and now their protégés still huff and puff about why this is not right. That member over there should certainly come to a wananga so I can teach him better. Some people’s behaviour puts an honourable settlement asunder. That member’s performance in chortling just then is just that. The teams on both sides both the Crown and Tainui have certainly worked hard and against all odds to get here. I want Mr Hide to remember that Maori are charitable and that they do give after being plundered bombed and shot to pieces. That is what this settlement is quite clearly about.  
Na te mea i roto i aku i tae atu a Te Raiha ki te komiti. 
[ 
Because I know personally that Lady Raiha turned up at the select committee 
.] 
Lady Raiha Mahuta turned up right at the end of the select committee and she was mauiui—very very mauiui. That blockhead does not understand what that means. She stepped up to the counter and she said: “This is like Shakespeare’s play being played out all over again.” 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: That’s true. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I say to Mr Hide that a pound of flesh is being sought but nobody can take any more because we want to settle it. That member can bloody well sit there and snidely say that this should not be good— 
David Garrett 
: How much was $6000 worth in 1944 Parekura? Do you know? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I know more than that member about this. He can sit there snidely with that ungracious behaviour at a very very important time when there is something very very important to celebrate. I know about what has been taken from the Tainui people and I know the great effort the negotiators and a decent Minister—for this settlement anyway—have undertaken. For the environment and the culture of the river this is a very very important settlement. It shows that we care about the tangata whenua. This is real stuff. This is not aspirational. This is not a bill or a signing-up that is being misrepresented by the Government. I want to commend Tuku Morgan and especially Lady Raiha. She is not here but certainly her spirit embodies these few final days of legislation. Kia ora tatou.