Mahuta Nanaia: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Mahuta Nanaia: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill — First Readings 
[Sitting date: 16 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:553. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker Tisch. Ka tapiri atu aku mihi i waihotia ki a koutou Ngati Makino Ngai Tamanuhiri i tau mai nei ki roto i to Whare ki te whakarongo ki enei korero i tenei po. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa  
[ 
Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker Tisch. I add my tributes that were bestowed upon you Ngati Makino and Ngai Tamanuhiri when you landed here in your House to listen to these speeches tonight. So greetings to you collectively greetings to you and to us all 
.] 
Treaty settlements are more than an academic exercise. It is about passion and the history of people who are trying to seek redress for past wrongs. I want to acknowledge that this is a first reading opportunity for the bills from Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Makino to come to the House so the substance of the investigations on the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill and the Ngati Makino Claims Settlement Bill will in fact occur in the Maori Affairs Committee which is right. But it is important to note that in the innovation of hearing Treaty settlements over this period of time—and I came into Parliament when the first lot of Treaty settlements started to come to this House—we as members of Parliament have started to improve processes around the processing of Treaty settlements because by and large if the purpose of Brendan Horan’s speech was to highlight that the nation that we seek to create is one built strongly on biculturalism and the national anthem is in Maori and English then Treaty settlements are an important part of creating a sense of nationhood and identity and addressing the historical wrongs is a strong pillar of what Aotearoa New Zealand should stand for. It is a country where those rights of tangata whenua are recognised where the hurts of the past are addressed but where enabled to get over that particular hurdle the next generation can look forward and move forward with confidence. And it is no easy feat to reach this part of a Treaty settlement. So my comments are by and large to both Ngati Makino and Ngai Tamanuhiri.  
Sometimes people wonder why we are coming to the House to hear the first reading speeches when everybody seems to be saying the same thing again and again and again in 10 different ways. But let me give you three good reasons why the select committee process is an important process. Firstly it ensures the intent of your deed aligns to how the legislation actually reads. As you all know some times the devil is in the detail. So it is really important during the scrutiny at the select committee for members to look at what was intended in the deed and how the legislation reads to ensure that it lines up. That is the first thing.  
The second thing is the broader aspect of educating our country. Members of Parliament hold in some sense a microcosm of the view of our communities from where we come from and we can inform our communities about what is happening through the Treaty settlement process and allay fears but also present new opportunities for people to learn about histories that are not easily found in the history books.  
The third part of the select committee process which is often a critical part but the most difficult to challenge and change is for members or Parliament to put greater scrutiny on the way in which the Crown or the Government acts and that is through the Office of Treaty Settlements when it deals with Maori. It is very difficult to challenge the way in which the Office of Treaty Settlements often engages through the negotiation process but it is an opportunity for members of Parliament to put a fine lens on issues that are highlighted to them at the select committee process to ensure that people are treated fairly in the way they seek to negotiate redress through their Treaty settlement. So those are but three reasons why the select committee process in bringing your bills to the House is a necessary if not absolutely important task of achieving Treaty settlements.  
I will reserve my comments on the substance of these two bills if I get the opportunity to speak to the third readings. But I want to acknowledge those people who have passed both from Ngati Makino and Ngai Tamanuhiri those people who have carried the flame of your Treaty settlement claim to this point and those kaumatua who now hold the flame so that the next generation continues to tell the story that must be told to ensure the most important clause of both your bills—and that is clause 4: “This Act binds the Crown.” And for as long as this Act binds the Crown then it is inherent on every member of Parliament who accedes to your Treaty settlement that it be implemented in the manner for which it was intended and that is to uphold the deed in your Treaty settlement. 
No reira i raro i era kupu poto kua whakarapopoto aku nei korero ki a koutou. Tena koutou katoa.  
[ 
So under the realm of those brief words I shorten this address of mine to you collectively. Greetings to you all 
.] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I call—which one is this? I call Denise Roche. My apologies—there are three of you who look very similar.