Street Maryan: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Street Maryan: Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5331] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 Tena koe Te Kaihautu. E nga mema o tenei Whare Paremata tena koutou. E Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika nga matua nga kuia nga rangatira ma tenei te mihi ki a koutou tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Deputy Speaker and to members of Parliament. To Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika to the elderly men and womenfolk to the leaders I extend this greeting to you greetings greetings and greetings to you all. 
] 
This is a day of relief and it is a day of celebration. I want to take just a few minutes—not many probably not the whole time that I could—to talk a little about both the facts and the feelings around the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Bill. I want to recognise and pay tribute to people who have gone before from both parties. I want to pay tribute to the leaders who have persisted with this claim on the part of Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and who are no longer with us. I want to pay tribute also to colleagues of mine who although still living are no longer in this House. I pay tribute especially to Michael Cullen and I wish to pay tribute to my friend the Hon Mahara Okeroa who is with us in the Chamber today. I acknowledge the work of the current Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations in bringing this settlement to its conclusion. But I acknowledge all the work that has gone on before between the parties to bring this to fulfilment. 
I want to draw for a moment on the deed of settlement of historical claims relating to the bill that is before us in its third reading today. The historical account refers to the tension that existed between settlers and the Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika. It is said that settlers believed that the land had been purchased and that that entitled them to possession. The sections allocated to the settlers by the London lottery in 1839 included Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika pa cultivation and urupa sites. When settlers began to arrive in Wellington the allocation of the land was the source of considerable tension. Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika did not believe that they had alienated their pa cultivation or urupa sites. 
There was then a long history that was traversed. The process of getting to the administration of any arrangement took an inordinately long time. As a result of some of the exchanges however it is very clear that the process of colonisation impacted very severely on Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika. As the new town of Wellington developed there were altercations as Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika tried to maintain their culture traditions and resources as best they could according to tikanga in the new developing settlement. But as a result of some of the exchanges that occurred it was very clear that much of the new land that Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika were pressured to move to away from their traditional lands proved inadequate to sustain their way of life. The Port Nicholson deed had provided that one-tenth of the total area of the Port Nicholson Block would be held in trust for the future benefit of the chiefs their families and heirs for ever. This became known as the Wellington tenths arrangement. The grievances to which this settlement relate stem largely but not solely from the Crown’s role in the sale of land within the Port Nicholson Block and that is traversed in the Waitangi Tribunal report and in fact in my earlier speech on this bill I referred to that and to the historical accounts in it. I recommend that people read the report at some point in order to grasp the enormity of the alienation and hence the root of the grievance. 
Those are some of the facts pertaining to this day and our arrival at this moment but I will also talk about some of the feelings around it. They will be strong they will be deeply felt and they will be very mixed. There will be sadness that those who had initiated some of this are no longer with us and unable to see this moment of fruition. There will be sadness also that it has taken this long to get to this point. However there will be some joy that we have arrived here. Human interactions are complicated. When I became a trustee of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust in 2000 I thought I was pretty aware of the vicissitudes and complexities of politics; then I encountered Maori politics and I learnt another layer again of complexity and difficulty. But I also learnt a great deal of respect for people who engage and who have engaged over time without losing faith with their tupuna to seek justice and to seek an enduring settlement. I pay tribute to all of those who are gathered in the gallery today for their contribution to that effort. 
It is a moving moment. There should be joy and there should also be anticipation and great excitement because I know of some of the plans that Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika have for their people. They are exciting plans: investment in education; investment in training; investment in jobs; and partnerships with industries that will provide exciting quality skilled and long-term possibilities for their people. I look forward to that. I have my own attachment to this settlement as well. Given that if I may use the language my whakapapa is Ngati Pakeha o Taranaki I have a deal of satisfaction in seeing some of the things I was never taught about at New Plymouth Girls’ High School be resolved be addressed and be visited in this settlement. The complexity of the emotions cannot be overestimated but I hope that in amongst it all there is hope for the future because what this settlement represents is yet another hugely significant milestone in the development of Aotearoa New Zealand. I commend all parties who are part of it and I commend this bill for its third reading.