Rurawhe Adrian: Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRurawhe Adrian: Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5660. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru):Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Otirā e kī ana te kōrero Apa-hāpai-taketake nāna a tāpiki te takiritanga o TeAta ā tihei mauri ora! Nō reira anei a’au tētehi uri o Apa-hāpai-taketake kei te mihi atu ki a koutou o Hineuru. E mi’i ana ‘oki au ki Te Maunga Titiokura Te Awa Mōhaka ki ngā Whare Rongopai me Piriwiritua ki Hāroto Marae me kī ki a koutou katoa ngā uri o Hineuru tēnei te mihi ake ki a koutou nau mai haere mai ki te Whare nei.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker of the House but at the same time the saying goes that Apa-hāpai-taketake rises before the break of dawn and so behold the breath of life! So here I am a descendant of Apa-hāpai-taketake welcoming you Hineuru paying a tribute as well to Titiokura mountain the Mōhaka River and the meeting house Te Rongopai and dining hall Piriwiritua at the marae of Te Hāroto. Let us say to all of you the descendants of Hineuru welcome come hither to this House.]It is a great pleasure for me to speak at the first reading of the Hineuru Claims Settlement Bill. Hineuru is a descendant of Apa-Hāpai-Take-Take as I am also. I mihi to the people of Hineuru. I have read very carefully like I do all historical accounts. This historical account is a story that needed to be told. In this historical account I would summarise the actions of the people of Hineuru as being full of perseverance. We have a saying in Ngāti Apa—it is taken from the bible—īnoia rapuhia [request it seek it out]. I think that I could easily apply this saying to the people of Hineuru for their perseverance in getting to this stage the first reading in the House today. I acknowledge all of the people involved in getting to this stage. It is not an easy thing to negotiate any settlement and I acknowledge those Hineuru people—the negotiators—for bringing from my point of view a settlement that will deliver a vastly better future for the coming generations of Hineuru. So I acknowledge them.The cultural redress aspects of this bill and the settlement deserve some discussion in this House. The very first item within the bill is te kawenata a partnership agreement between the Crown and Hineuru. I have read through that carefully and I do not think that I have read or seen in any other settlement a partnership agreement quite like this one. The Crown will have responsibility for and will be held to account in this agreement and I think that that has taken settlements to another level through this particular bill.Within this bill there are also a number of statutory acknowledgments and deeds of recognition. I wanted to speak briefly on the deeds of recognition. They are an instrument that is used when a statutory acknowledgment has been given to a certain piece of land and then a deed of recognition overlays the statutory acknowledgment in order to give the iwi some responsibility and rights in terms of the management of that land. So it lifts to another level their connection to those particular pieces of land. I like to think of it as: in the absence of being owners of that land they have rights that are tantamount to being owners but without the responsibility of paying for it which I think is a good thing. That responsibility should be on the Crown.I also want to mention the commercial redress. As has been pointed out by other speakers this settlement is per capita the largest settlement that has come to this House so far. That needs to be acknowledged purely and simply because it provides a pathway forward for the iwi of Hineuru to address those wrongs of the past and to give opportunities for the future generations who will be the true beneficiaries of this settlement.I acknowledge the iwi once more for their tenacity and for their perseverance and I congratulate each and every one of them. I look forward to this bill progressing through the House to its third reading. It is not an end the third reading; it is a beginning. Nō reira ki a koutou ngā uri o Hineuru tēnei te mihi ake anō ki a koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Therefore to all the descendants of Hineuru I once again salute you and all of us.]