Harawira Hone: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:650;Page:19165] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker huri rauna tena tatou katoa e te Whare. Hei timatanga me mihi atu ki a koutou e Waikato-Tainui i haere tawhiti mai ki roto o Poneke ki te whakarongo ki te whakatakotoranga o tenei kaupapa ki mua i te aroaro o nga mema Paremata i tenei ra tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa. A i tenei wa me mihi ano hoki ki a koe e te tuahine e Nanaia i te mea kua kite au i te hari i runga i to kanohi i tenei ra. Kua kite au i te wakatutukitanga o au nei mahi i roto i tenei Paremata. No reira mihi atu ki a koe i tenei ra whakahirahira e pa ana ki a koe i roto i a matou i tenei ra. Huri rauna ki a tatou katoa hakoa ko wai te iti me te rahi tena koutou huri rauna kia ora tatou katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Assistant Speaker and to us all throughout the House. As a means of beginning I acknowledge you Waikato-Tainui who travelled from a distance to Wellington to listen to this matter being placed before the members of Parliament today. Greetings to you greetings to you and greetings to you all. I take this opportunity as well to extend a greeting to you fellow member of Parliament Nanaia because I see the happiness on your face today. I see the completion of your work also in this Parliament. Sso I acknowledge you on this great day relating to you and your work in particular amongst us. To all of us throughout whether of a minor or major party greetings to us all. 
] 
Greetings to you Mr Assistant Speaker for coming back to the House. This is the first reading of the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Bill that reached our desk only a couple of hours ago so please excuse me if I do not say too much about the detail. Suffice to say though that the Maori Party recognises that this bill was born out of the denial of guardianship of the Waikato River to its people; anger at the desecration pollution and depletion of the awa; sadness at the use of the river as but a resource to be exploited; and despair at the pollution and depletion of the fisheries. We know there are those within Tainui who may still have doubts about co-ownership and co-management. We know they will look to the deed to see how their rangatiratanga has been recognised and included. We know this settlement will give impetus to others to also take up the challenge of negotiating their role on the river and we know too of the significant relationships that others have to the river and the concerns they will undoubtedly have about this settlement. 
But today is not just about recognising the tragedy of the past and the problems of the present. Today the Maori Party is proud to join with others in the House in acknowledging all of the peoples of Waikato-Tainui. We join in acknowledging te mana o te awa o Waikato—that special authority and prestige of the Waikato River which defines its people and itself through the saying: “Ko ahau ko te awa ko te awa ko ahau.” We join in acknowledging the timing of the signing of the deed of settlement on the second anniversary of the coronation of King Tuheitia; in acknowledging the many people who devoted all of their lives to enable us to reach this point today and in particular the legacy of Sir Robert Te Kotahi Mahuta who with the unwavering support of Te Atairangikaahu led the negotiations for the first major Treaty settlement with the Crown. We join in acknowledging all those who have passed on; so too do we acknowledge those who have taken up the challenge to protect the mana of the river and to guide future generations of its people under the careful direction of Tukoroirangi Morgan and Lady Raiha Mahuta. Today we also celebrate the multi-tribal 21st birthday party for Waikato-Tainui who along with Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika and Te Roroa all took the initiative in 1987 to lodge claims with the Waitangi Tribunal and which have all appeared on today’s Order Paper thanks in great part to Dr Michael Cullen and all those other members of Parliament who have helped bring these bills to the House today. 
In considering this bill we acknowledge the Crown’s commitment to a 30-year—I hope I have this bit right—$200 million river clean-up programme. Is that correct? We acknowledge the guardians of the river who will be responsible for working with local authorities and iwi to oversee the vision and the strategy for cleaning up the river. We acknowledge the establishment of a board to ensure full participation by Waikato-Tainui in co-management of the river. We acknowledge the co-management arrangements dedicated to restoring and protecting the health and well-being of the awa; and managing the awa through good faith consensus decision-making and a bold partnership between Crown agencies and iwi. We congratulate Tuku and Lady Raiha on the diligent way in which Waikato-Tainui have approached the overall purpose of restoring and protecting the awa. In doing so might I just quote from the Indigenous Declaration on Water which was signed in Kyoto in 2003: “We recognize honor and respect water as sacred and sustains all life. Our traditional knowledge laws and ways of life teach us to be responsible in caring for this sacred gift that connects all life.” 
We congratulate Waikato-Tainui on the vision they have set for themselves as a people for themselves as their awa and for themselves as a community within the wider society. Hoi ano hei whakakapi i taku korero e Tuku e Raiha. I sincerely hope that the vision they have for a river that sustains life and prosperity through the caring and guidance of its whanau will set a benchmark for us all. I know I speak for all of my colleagues in the Maori Party when I say that we urge Waikato-Tainui to keep pushing forward so that other iwi might be guided by their actions and learn from whatever mistakes they have made and undoubtedly will continue to make in the future. We challenge them to bring the best that they have to this task so the whole country might learn from their bold initiatives. We wish them well in all that lies ahead of them. In closing we look forward to continuing this debate when the House returns in 2009. Hoi ano ka nui tera maku e te Kaiwhakawa huri rauna ki te Whare koutou e Waikato Tainui tatou katoa e nohonoho nei tena koutou tena koutou huri atu huri noa kia ora tatou katoa.