Mooney Joseph; Rurawhe AdrianJOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): It's an honour to rise to speak in support of this bill on behalf of the National Party which supports this bill. I wish to take this opportunity to recognise and thank everyone who is in the House today.I know it's been a very long journey from 1835 when many Moriori were slaughtered and many more went into enslavement. It's been the wrongs continued from the 1860s when their rights to land and resources in the Chatham Islands weren't recognised by the Government of the day or the Government body of the day and it's been a long time coming even to today. The proceedings were filed in 1988 I believe and it was not until 2003 that the Government at that time with the Treaty Minister the Rt Hon Margaret Wilson first announced that the trust had been recognised to negotiate the Moriori settlement. Then matters took quite some time from there. I want to recognise also that the Hon Chris Finlayson signed an agreement in 2017 and it's a real pleasure to be here today for this bill. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing it proceed through to the Māori Affairs Committee which I have the privilege of being on.The Chatham Islands is 739 kilometres east of Napier 838 kilometres east of the Banks Peninsula. It's a place that I haven't yet had the privilege to go to but I've spoken to Paul Eagle—who is not here at the moment but he's the member for Rongotai—and he's told me that the hunting and fishing is incredible. So I hope to get there one day. The islands are known by three names and taking them in the order in which the islands were occupied the names are Rēkohu to Moriori the Chatham Islands to Europeans and Wharekauri to Ngāti Mutunga. The history of its people is both fascinating and tragic and also one of hope and revival which we are seeing here today. I note that Moriori first appealed to Governor George Grey in 1862 when they sought release from enslavement and the return of their lands. So it's been a very long time coming to today in 2021 but it's good that we're here.The Moriori claims which this bill addresses is as much about the recognition of the Moriori today as it is about the conversation of the historical losses and the denial of land rights. Moriori have faced numerous challenges to their status and identity which was exacerbated by the School Journals in the early part of the last century which set up a false narrative that Moriori were a separate race which arguably led to some of the wrongs that were made against them. They also represent a unique and distinct culture that greatly enhances New Zealand's cultural heritage and our current cultural mosaic. They developed the rule of peace known as Nunuku's Law which was developed to an unprecedented level in early New Zealand.The history deserves a little bit of background which I take from the discussion from the Waitangi Tribunal. Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga invaded Rēkohu the Chatham Islands in 1835 five years before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840. They voyaged more than 1000 kilometres from Port Nicholson where they had been under threat from Ngāti Toa. Their true ancestral home was in North Taranaki from whence they had been driven by Waikato tribes moving south in search of arms. This is all part of the 1820 wars after the musket came to this country. Such rapid tribal shifts were not known to have occurred before. The Moriori welcomed Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama to the Chatham Islands and it seems they were willing to have them among them. But later they were attacked. Moriori offered no resistance and this was due to the rule of peace known as Nunuku's Law.There was an interesting issue addressed at some length in the Waitangi Tribunal regarding Ngāti Mutunga's contention that Moriori had lost their rights to the land and resources under the law of conquest which was they argued active at the time in 1835 prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The counterargument for Moriori was that there had been no conquest as there had never been a war. War was against their law and still is and they were prepared to share the land. The contention was that there'd only ever been a kōhuru or murder. I've mentioned that Moriori wrote to Governor George Grey in 1862 seeking redress release from enslavement and the return of their rights. Unfortunately the vast majority of the lands was not returned to Moriori at that time and it rendered them effectively landless.There was another interesting discussion in the Waitangi Tribunal about the loss of mana versus subjugation. Ngāti Mutunga had initially filed legal opinion with the Waitangi Tribunal that said As a matter both of customary law and practical reality Moriori lost the status of tangata whenua of the Chatham Islands in 1835 by conquest and total subjugation." It was heartening to note that the tribunal wrote in its report "as matters progressed there was a growing acceptance of the duality of tangata whenua status. Eventually this was acknowledged in submissions by Moriori Ngati Mutunga and the Crown." And the Waitangi Tribunal also noted regarding mana that although the contention had been that Moriori had lost mana through conquest and enslavement the tribunal said that may be so but mana is personal to persons or to peoples and it comes and goes; it is not an institutional power given by history and then entrenched for all time. Were it the case that mana is irretrievably lost by conquest and enslavement then many tribes including Ngāti Mutunga would have no mana today. If it were true that mana went for all time when people were displaced from the land then most Māori would be without mana today in light of the land losses and the outcome of the wars that followed European colonisation. I know that this was the point of the late Sir Mōnita who said when describing the Māori way that the mana is in ourselves; we are a people. Mana depends on how we act today and what we make of ourselves.I'm very pleased and proud to stand here on behalf of the National Party to see the mana of Moriori recognised and will know they'll grow and develop over the coming years. I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I understand this is a split call. I call Tāmati Coffey—five minutes."