te Heuheu Georgina: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:4501] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 Tena koe Taranaki. Tena koutou Ngati Mutunga. I am very pleased to stand and make a contribution to the first reading of the Ngati Mutunga Claims Settlement Bill. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have been in this House over the last 9½ years and to have been given an opportunity to contribute to these settlements for a short while as a former Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations but generally as a member of Parliament. Every time I do this I feel very respectful of Parliament—that it sees fit to work through these settlements. In the beginning we devised a process by which we could address historical claims and grievances and come forward with a settlement. The process is not perfect by any means but it is the best that is possible at this time to address longstanding grievances. 
It is very humbling as well when one looks through this bill which in this case addresses the claims of Ngati Mutunga to be reminded of the very sad history in this case—and in the case of most claims—that sits behind the settlement legislation. I am very pleased to stand and acknowledge Ngati Mutunga. I acknowledge their patience and longstanding sufferance in these matters. 
I acknowledge also the leadership that is shown when iwi finally make the decision that although they might wish to hang out for more for a bigger or better settlement in the end someone has to lead and make the decision to settle. Ngati Mutunga representatives are in this Chamber today. I acknowledge them for their leadership in finally coming to the judgment that it is time to settle time to take steps to lift the burden of their grievance and time to move forward. 
This settlement bill follows the format that generally has been in place now since the National Government introduced it. I acknowledge Sir Douglas Graham because this is another settlement for which negotiations started under Sir Doug Graham. The deed of mandate was recognised back in 1996. National was still well and truly in Government at the time. Although it has taken 10 years for the matter to come to the House in this bill it is still good that it has come. Of course Madam Speaker herself was previously the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for a wee time as well so she would have played a very important part in progressing this settlement. 
One or two matters arise from my point of view. The apology of course is extremely important particularly when one considers that this settlement revolves around the very sad time in our history when Parihaka was ransacked with Te Whiti and Tohu exercising passive resistance for the first time ever that I know of in the world. When Parihaka was ransacked people were taken. Men were sent to the South Island to be imprisoned. There were no charges. They were given no respect at all in terms of the application of the law to them simply because they stood in the way of what was seen to be a very important Pakeha settlement at the time. No matter how many times we read the narrative about Parihaka every single time we realise it is sad and absolutely tragic. 
I want to commend New Zealanders because by and large New Zealanders are fair people and by and large they support the Parliament reaching these settlements. It is only right that we do so. This issue is about reparation for wrongs that were done in our history. None of us here are guilty of those but as the elected representatives of New Zealanders in our time we have been given the opportunity to make redress for those sad times. 
Last evening of course we debated New Zealand First’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill whereby it seeks to have deleted from a number of enactments including settlement enactments the phrase “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”. Of course National members last night in the debate in the House made their views known very strongly about that. My comment in relation to the settlement bills was that those bills rest on the Crown’s breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles and that if we seek to remove that phrase from settlement Acts then we are ripping the heart out of Treaty settlements. I do not see why we would do that to tribes. It would not get us anywhere; it would not gain us anything. It is purely political posturing and the National members in the select committee will make sure that we apply a good measure of intelligence and proper discussion to this bill. We will ensure that the heart of the claims settlements is not ripped out by a party in this House that seeks to make only a political point. New Zealand First could not be making any other point by seeking to do that. 
This bill does refer to the claims of Ngati Mutunga in relation to the breaching of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. If it was the case that New Zealand First was seeking only to eliminate the words “the principles” that might be one thing but there is no doubt that the Waitangi Tribunal which heard the claim in the first place found the Crown to be in serious breach of its obligations under the Treaty and then in a way the mandate of this Parliament to address these matters rests on the Treaty of Waitangi. 
This is a sad moment but it is a glad moment as well. I am very pleased and privileged indeed to be here in this Parliament when the House of Representatives is seen to be addressing longstanding grievances like this one. In the end the underlying objective of all of this is that we as New Zealanders are able to reconcile with each other. Clearly that is impossible to do while a significant part of the population still carries such burdens on their backs. Happily this is the first part of the parliamentary process and this bill will be referred to the Maori Affairs Committee of which I am a member. The National members on that committee will do their bit to make sure that the bill moves forward in a timely manner.