Cullen Michael: Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Cullen Michael: Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19119] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
: 
 I move  
That the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Bill be now read a third time 
. Greetings to the Central North Island Iwi Collective. It is remarkable that today we have arrived at the third reading of this bill which embodies a historic journey and settlement. One of my favourite pieces of modern classical music is by American composer John Adams and it is called  
Short Ride in a Fast Machine 
. By Treaty standards this bill has been a short ride in a fast machine. On this journey I have acknowledged—as I do again today—the iwi of the collective who have done so much to make today a reality. I particularly acknowledge the leadership and the initiative of Te Ariki Dr Tumu te Heuheu. His leadership in helping the Central North Island Iwi Collective to author an innovative response for settling the historical Treaty claims of the iwi in the collective of the central North Island forests land cannot be overestimated. 
I thank each of the iwi of the collective for their leadership their innovation and above all their noble desire to work together and breathe new life into their relationships with one another—new life that is conceived in goodwill and is a shared hope for the future. Therefore I honour each of the iwi in turn: Ngai Tuhoe Ngati Manawa Ngati Tuwharetoa Ngati Whakaue Ngati Whare Raukawa and the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu. I stand firm in my conviction that their children and the generations that follow them will honour their work in this settlement and the bill that we are passing today. 
I also acknowledge the presence of representatives of Ngati Rangitihi who at the moment are not part of the collective but who I am told had a very fruitful and good meeting at the weekend. I am hopeful that Ngati Rangitihi will meet the Christmas deadline for being back within the collective and for being part of this settlement. 
This settlement has been a journey from disunity to unity. The recent journey of the collective iwi to settle the historic claims over the central North Island forests land has not always been a united one. Central North Island forests land constitutes an asset of significant cultural and commercial value to a variety of iwi—iwi however whose collective cultural historical and spiritual interests are complex fluid and overlapping. So the forests land is potentially a source of division amongst the iwi and indeed between the iwi and the Crown. 
Division amongst both the central North Island iwi themselves and the iwi and the Crown reached a low ebb through 2006 and 2007 over the proposed transfer of some of these lands to the affiliate Te Arawa iwi and hapu. In 2006 the New Zealand Maori Council the Federation of Maori Authorities and others raised concerns about this redress through litigation in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. In 2007 the Waitangi Tribunal held an urgent inquiry into the impacts of the Crown’s forests land settlement policy on the  
Te Arawa 
 waka and other central North Island iwi. But out of this disunity came unity. The Crown and the iwi of the collective heard the call of the Tribunal which recommended that the iwi create a forum that would enable these iwi to determine amongst themselves the principles and other guidelines that would help determine how the central North Island forests land should be allocated. 
The key initiative as I said was taken by Dr Tumu te Heuheu. Mark Burton was still the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations at the time. I remember having a discussion with Mark about what we should do in response to the initiative that Tumu was taking. I remember saying to Mark at the time that I thought we had about a 20 percent chance of success in achieving the goal but it was worth it despite the fact that there had previously been I think three failures to achieve such a collective approach. By March I upped that estimate to some 50 percent chance of success and here we are at the end of September with 100 percent chance of success and indeed 100 percent support in the House. 
All historical Treaty claims must be settled on the bedrocks of durability good faith finality and fairness. Such claims must also be settled with a clear end in view. A time will and must come when the Crown and Maori live as partners under the Treaty: not restoring a broken past but moving forward together into a healed future. It is for these reasons that the Government seeks to settle all historical Treaty claims by 2020. That target is realistic but very hard to meet. The current pace will need to be maintained over the next decade. 
The bill before us sets out a settlement that contains two elements that are vital to achieve this end. Each element is embodied in the unique way the collective and the Crown have found themselves playing their own roles. The collective as the claimant group has authored a proposed settlement which it has put before the Crown. The Crown has worked with the collective to develop its proposal by adopting a flexible approach in applying the Crown’s existing policy frameworks. Put differently the Crown has sought to achieve a settlement that although not wholly consistent with existing settlement processes remains fundamentally consistent with its key policy principles of durability good faith finality and fairness. This approach must continue in order for us to settle all such claims by 2020. 
The settlements have provided another lesson about the Treaty settlement process for the future. The Government has recently sought a regional approach to negotiations rather than a large natural grouping approach. That is proceeding in the far north—with again surprisingly high prospects of success which have increased only within the last couple of weeks or so—and of course at the top of the South Island. The Crown is seeking more and more where possible to negotiate with multiple groups in a common geographical area. This settlement shows that such a regional approach can work. 
This settlement will provide significant opportunities for the iwi and the collective. These opportunities have birthed a further opportunity for the Crown and the iwi of the collective to work together to develop those opportunities as Treaty partners in a healed and restored relationship. The development of those opportunities will in time give new economic and social independence to the people of the collective iwi—an economic and social independence denied to past generations that will not be denied to future ones. At its deepest level this settlement is therefore not about restoring mana whenua important as that is; it is about restoring the mana of the parties themselves to this settlement. To this end this settlement—as do all settlements—embodies and echoes the deep principles of tikanga. He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata. 
[ 
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people it is people it is people 
.] 
I emphasise that this is a comprehensive settlement of the Crown forests land issue. It is not a comprehensive settlement of all the claims of the iwi within the collective. There is much still to be done in that regard but already out of this process have come other processes. As I indicated in the debate on the third reading of the Affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu Claims Settlement Bill I expect to be able to announce soon the successful conclusion of agreements in principle with Ngati Makino and Waitaha. We are in the process of negotiations with Raukawa and Ngai Tuhoe. 
Today is a very important weigh station on our journey. This is a historic settlement and indeed I think it is the first time that we have done two settlements in one day in terms of the final stage of legislation. We shall move on to a third final settlement at the conclusion of this bill—the third reading of the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill—and then on to two first readings of Treaty settlements. So this is an extraordinarily important day indeed. The rest of the journey for the iwi in the collective whose comprehensive claims have not yet been settled begins tomorrow. Thank you very much.