te Heuheu Georgina: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
te Heuheu Georgina: Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:649;Page:18346] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I am very very pleased the Te Roroa Claims Settlement Bill has now found its way to the top of the Order Paper and that we are here this morning to help progress it. My colleague Chris Finlayson talked about the tenure the gestation of this bill from 1992 till now. That is a long long time for any iwi to be waiting for their settlement to be brought to a conclusion. As I say I am very pleased for the iwi that we are here this morning. My colleagues are correct: I know that Tau spent quite a lot of time on the phone yesterday—as did Chris and I—chasing down claimants and lawyers to see whether there had indeed been an improvement on this bill. Obviously if the bill has made its way to the top of the Order Paper there must have been an improvement but we do not know what it is. So that we on this side of the Chamber are not talking slightly in the dark I wonder whether the Minister in the chair the Hon Mita Ririnui might take a call now and let us know about the improvements. 
Clearly National has indicated it will support the bill and we do that on the basis that claimants have indicated that they are happy with it—at least they are willing to accept the improvements and see this bill progress. But in my view at the end of the day it is up to the Government and the Minister in charge of the Committee stage now to enlighten us and to officially formally tell us what those improvements are. As I say I am waiting for the Minister to take a call. Hopefully it will be when I resume my seat. 
We are debating the preamble to the bill and in the couple of minutes that I have left I want to talk about the background to the claim which of course is set out in the preamble. After all the political to-ing and fro-ing between the Government and ourselves as there has been this sort of interregnum when nothing has happened for the last however many months—is it 7 months? 
Chris Tremain 
: At least. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: —well since we were last in the Chamber debating this matter—we need to remind ourselves why we are here now. 
These people Te Roroa are an ancient people with a history that was clearly a proud history until of course they came up against the settlers the Government not long after the Treaty was signed when things started to turn to custard for them. So yes we can talk about the last 15-odd years but we must remember that the events that give rise to this claim originated way way back not too long after the Treaty was signed—indeed their own people signed that Treaty. We must not forget as I say in the political shots that are fired between ourselves in this Parliament that there is a sad history behind this claim and it has been made even more tragic in my view by the delay that has been a feature of this settlement for the last 15 years and particularly for the last 7 to 10 months when the Maori Affairs Committee clearly indicated that we were not happy with the settlement that had been offered to Te Roroa. The committee members went to hear the submissions and it was so very very clear that little of the hurt that these people have carried for all of these years had been atoned for. 
I agree with my colleague Chris Finlayson that the hearing of the submissions was an eye-opener really. One could feel the hurt the submitters were carrying and the Government offered the settlement that it did—a settlement that indeed one would almost say that rather than becoming the springboard for the development of Te Roroa it will likely become a bit of an albatross around their neck. As I say National will support this bill but we would like to know the detail of the improvements.