Webb DuncanDr DUNCAN WEBB (Labour—Christchurch Central): Tēnā koe e te Mana Whakawā. Tēnā koutou rangatahi. Tēnā koutou mana whenua. Tēnā koutou whaea. Tēnā koutou rangatahi and tēnā koutou tamariki. [Greetings Mr Speaker. Greetings young people. Greetings to the people with authority over the land. Greetings ladies. Greetings young people and children.]I also want to just acknowledge the Ngāi Tahu tūpuna and the long struggle that Ngāi Tahu have had to get some restoration to the place that they once occupied. I've heard many of the speeches and I don't intend to repeat everything that's been said today but I do want to just lay out the foundations of why this legislation is entirely appropriate and why it's in fact an enhancement of our democratic and deliberative processes. Ngāi Tahu as we know are signatories to Te Tiriti and the Treaty promised rangatiratanga to iwi. We know now quite clearly that that promise in Te Tiriti has not been adhered to. That promise was to give rangatiratanga over whenua over kāinga and over taonga—in the loose translation of the English version over lands forests fisheries and all things precious to iwi. We know that the transactions such as they were by which Ngāi Tahu lost their lands and the things that were precious to them weren't just that they weren't honest and that the Crown acted unconscionably. All that is acknowledged. I know my friend and colleague Tāmati Coffey has referred to the Crown apology but it's worth emphasising that it absolutely recognises embodied in legislation that there was a breach of article 2 that the Crown failed to preserve and to protect Ngāi Tahu and it failed to protect the ownership of their land and possessions. Moreover it failed to acknowledge Ngāi Tahu's rangatiratanga and mana over the South Island in the land within its boundaries and failed in fulfilment—the Crown failed in fulfilment of its Treaty obligations in recognising Ngāi Tahu as tangata whenua. In doing so in entering into the Treaty settlement legislation the Crown said in its apology that it wanted to enter into a new age of co-operation with Ngāi Tahu. Those words are from the apology itself. There can never be full restoration; we know that. The Treaty settlement process acknowledges that. But that's not to say that we shouldn't continue to strive to engage with a genuine and real partnership with Ngāi Tahu and all Treaty partners. That's what we're doing here today. We're looking not at an ossified system a system that is stuck in old ways but exploring new ways and innovative ways ways which recognise the rangatiratanga of Ngāi Tahu both in respect of the land and the treasures on and in the land and also the treasures that are Ngāi Tahu and their tikanga.We know then that the claims settlement Act recognised in many places the importance of co-governance the important place that Ngāi Tahu has to play in having a special voice in respect of this custodianship of the land. And we know that as Mr Brownlee has mentioned the insights that Ngāi Tahu could provide was recognised in the Environment Canterbury (Transitional Governance Arrangements) Act when two Ngāi Tahu representatives were put on the board of Environment Canterbury (ECan) appointed by Ngāi Tahu. I think it's important to recognise that—that this is not Government or anyone else imposing on Ngāi Tahu who or how those people are selected but to simply say: we want you to have a voice a real voice a voice that's equal with every other councillor's around the table and do it your way; use your rules your tikanga. I think that's important.I think it's really important as well to say that this isn't about—if I can be a little selfish it isn't just about giving something special to Ngāi Tahu; it's giving something special to Canterbury. And that's important because I'm confident that ECan will be a better more thoughtful stronger and more deliberative organisation with those voices around the table. I'm not saying that out of some hope but if we look to the ECan documentation that underlines this bill and the policy paper they had they said in respect of having Ngāi Tahu at the table that the practical benefits of mana whenua representation in Canterbury were rapidly and widely recognised during the nine years it was in place. These benefits include greater efficiency in planning and consenting reduced costs for the council and consent applicants and improved enforcement decisions. I'll have that! That sounds pretty damn good to me. That's a benefit that falls not just to Ngāi Tahu but to all of Canterbury. We will have better outcomes better environmental outcomes and better outcomes around the rohe because of that. I do want to recognise also that objections have been raised around the Bill of Rights Act and that was looked at independently by the Ministry of Justice advising the Attorney-General as Sarah Pallett the MP for Ilam has identified. That wasn't a cursory look. The question was: is this discriminatory on the basis of race? Is this giving special rights to someone a group that isn't justified on the basis of race? The question was squarely asked and it was squarely answered and the answer was this: to do so would be to discriminate on two comparable groups. We don't have two comparable groups. We have the general population and we have Ngāi Tahu who occupy a special place who have been recognised as having special rights because of significant historical wrongs and grievances that need to be addressed. This step today is part of that story a story that continues and I'm very proud to be part of it. So the question then becomes: are we brave enough to have a diverse a modern and an inclusive democracy a democracy that recognises the rights of our indigenous people as mana whenua and Treaty partners? Because this will benefit all of Canterbury. It's a step to protect the things that we all treasure: our environment our waterways our forests our fisheries and so on. This is a genuine partnership with our Treaty partners a partnership which must and will endure. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.