Flavell Te Ururoa: Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill — Second Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:657;Page:6721] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Koutou o te kainga tena koutou katoa i hara mai i te ra nei. I am pleased to take a call in the second reading of the Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill. As we know this bill gives effect to an agreement negotiated by the Crown with Ngati Whakaue and the collective of Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao on the basis of a proposal that was presented by them to the Crown on 1 April 2008. I would like to acknowledge the initiative shown by the representatives of these groups—namely the Pukeroa-Oruawhatu Trust Te Kotahitanga o Ngati Whakaue and Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao representatives on the Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Trust—in developing the proposal and approaching the Crown. 
This bill provides that the people of Ngati Whakaue and Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao will be the owners of the Whakarewarewa Valley lands on the enactment of the bill. The fee simple estate in the Whakarewarewa Thermal Springs Reserve the Southern Arikikapakapa Reserve and the Roto-a-Tamaheke Reserve will vest in the Whakarewarewa Joint Trust which holds the titles on behalf of the beneficial owners. The reserve lands will be held by the joint trust until they are vested in iwi or hapu in accordance with the beneficial entitlement determination procedure which is set out in the trust deed establishing the joint trust. The joint trust will manage the leases of land to the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute—Te Puia—as the administering body of the three recreational reserves as provided for under the Reserves Act 1977. 
The Waitangi Tribunal referred to the Whakarewarewa Thermal Springs Reserve as a taonga of great importance to the Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao and Ngati Whakaue people. It will be a great day to witness the return of this taonga to the rightful owners. 
This bill comes out of agreements reached by the previous Government in the passage of the Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa settlement through this House. When the iwi mentioned earlier brought their proposal to the Crown they asked that the Whakarewarewa Thermal Springs Reserve and the Roto-a-Tamaheke Reserve land on-vest from the Te Pumautanga settlement legislation and together with the adjacent Southern Arikikapakapa Reserve be vested in a joint trust of the iwi partners. This was partly because of the Waitangi Tribunal’s finding that Ngati Whakaue who were not included in the Te Pumautanga settlement should be recognised as owners in common with Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao of the valley. This bill achieves that purpose. 
The matter of coupling of iwi was one that the Maori Affairs Committee heard a lot about in the Pumautanga settlement over a year ago. Some of Ngati Wahiao for example made their concerns heard about being coupled with Tuhourangi not just in terms of the Te Pumautanga settlement at the time but also knowing its relevance to this particular bill which followed closely behind it—on 23 September 2008 to be precise. 
This bill was referred to the Maori Affairs Committee. Sixteen submissions were received and 14 of them were heard. I believe that the people definitely want settlement but the key issues again related to the coupling of Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao and therefore mandate issues and the process to be used to determine mana whenua over the Whakarewarewa Valley. No such issues were raised for Te Kotahitanga o Ngati Whakaue or the Pukeroa-Oruawhata Trust and I hope representatives of these groupings will forgive me if I do not spend too much time on their part of the discussions. Dr Sharples himself having heard the issues during the Te Pumautanga settlement and with those same issues again being raised in the select committee process as Minister of Maori Affairs wanted to be assured the resource itself would end up in the hands of the appropriate koromatua the appropriate hapu. The Minister as other speakers have said despatched Mr John Clarke and myself to facilitate discussions between all parties involved. As the select committee noted this was “to seek assurance that Ngati Wahiao may participate in the structure set up to receive the … lands … and … are appropriately represented in the Beneficial Entitlement Determination Procedure …”. 
Can I firstly acknowledge those of the Pukeroa-Oruawhata Trust Te Kotahitanga o Ngati Whakaue Te Pumautanga and their representatives from the collective of Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao as well as those of Te Maru o Ngati Wahiao for contributing to the process. It was very much appreciated. After initial discussions with all parties the main negotiations were between Te Pumautanga represented by Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao representatives and Te Maru o Ngati Wahiao. The following matters were considered and general agreement reached and I might also advise that the following discussions were presented to the Maori Affairs Committee. The committee’s report back to the House was based on the facilitation process. 
There were two ways of providing the assurance the Minister was after. Firstly there was a commitment to complete the process to fill the vacancy on the Whakarewarewa Joint Trust. Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao are represented on the Whakarewarewa Joint Trust by three trustees and Ngati Whakaue are represented by four trustees. There is one remaining vacancy for Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao which could be filled. I am pleased to report that it was agreed that a hui will be held at the Wahiao meeting house where nominations for the vacant position will be taken from the floor. A vote will also be taken at the hui to elect the fourth representative on the joint trust. Eligibility to vote will be according to those registered with either the Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa Trust or the Tuhourangi Tribal Authority or by signing a statutory declaration at the hui. I believe that there was a determination to complete this as soon as is practicable. 
The other way was to predetermine the process to decide on negotiators who would determine mana whenua issues as required under the beneficial entitlement determination procedure which is set out in the trust deed establishing the joint trust. I am pleased to report that in terms of Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao there was clear agreement from the parties that the mana whenua matters should be negotiated by representatives of each of the separate koromatua hapu in the bill—namely Tuhourangi Ngati Hinganoa Ngati Tukiterangi and Ngati Huarere—when in discussions with Ngati Whakaue and the Pukeroa-Oruawhata Trust. This is an important principle that will ensure that the negotiations will be done by elected representatives of the original owners. 
The expectation as set out in the deed of trust is for “kanohi ki te kanohi discussions with each other with a view to reaching agreement as to the ownership of the Lands” to be guided by agreement on the tikanga to apply to the process with an expectation of korero rangatira—namely “open principled trustworthy dialogue by rangatira with authority to commit their hapu;”—to attain consensus and for mediators to be appointed at any time if required to assist. 
The great thing about this was that there was prior general agreement to the process and this has given the Minister of Maori Affairs confidence that the beneficiary owners will determine their negotiations. Even minor details were set out such as Te Puni Kokiri managing the agreed process and acting as independent returning officers and independent scrutineers being available during the registration nomination and voting stages of the agreed process. 
In brief the process would possibly look something like this. A newspaper notice would invite registrations by Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao people for the purpose of electing mana whenua representatives. This registration was to be for that purpose only. Beneficiaries would nominate their main whakapapa line and also note their own whakapapa connection. The whakapapa would need to be endorsed by any two of four agreed whakapapa experts. Once the registration closed the publicly notified hui-a-iwi would be held at the Wahiao meeting house to decide the process for electing the mana whenua representatives. The question in the end was whether beneficiaries could nominate their main koromatua line and vote only once under that line or vote under every koromatua line to which they affiliate. That vote would determine how the people voted and the whole election process could then kick in. 
The fact that the Tuhourangi group and the Te Maru o Ngati Wahiao group stayed with the discussions for some 3 months might indicate a commitment to find a way forward and I acknowledge them for that. Was it all plain sailing? No but the parties stayed with the task almost to the end. I can say that we as facilitators and indeed the Te Puni Kokiri officials were so convinced that we had reached agreement that the bill was reported back to the House on the assumption of agreement resulting from the process. An agreement as such has not been agreed to date but the Minister is clearly happy to advance the bill on good faith and the integrity of the parties that an agreed process will be followed and to that end the bill should advance. At a recent meeting with the Minister of Maori Affairs I understand the Tuhourangi trustees have agreed to have a hui-a-iwi that will confirm an electoral process. 
In closing I am sure that the Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao and Ngati Whakaue people will administer the reserves in a way that ensures they can be enjoyed by generations of New Zealanders and overseas visitors for years to come. I thank Mr John Clarke for his quiet wisdom his thoughtful consideration and his guidance of the facilitation process. We were ably assisted by Jonathan Easthope of Te Puni Kokiri. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou. We had advice from Dr John Tamahori and Tom White when needed. I thank them all so much. I commend the bill to the House. No reira tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa.