Henare Tau: Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Tau: Ngāti Koroki Kahukura Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 07 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17672. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TAU HENARE (National): Of course it is about justice. Of course it is about justice not some sort of fanciful notion that this is about truth and reconciliation. Like I said—Louisa Wall: It’s my words.Hon TAU HENARE: —no I did not interrupt you—this is about the steps towards justice. I never said this is about justice. I said—and I used the analogy of a 100-metre race—that we are in the very first steps of that race to justice. Somebody’s definition of justice is somebody else’s definition of something else—and I accept that that member may have different ideas about what this is—but this is essentially about righting a wrong. This is essentially about the beginnings of justice. This is about justice. Somebody took something from me I have gone to court and I have sought reparations. Those reparations may not be what you might have wished for but at the end of the day it is the beginning of a process. If what I hear from a number of members of Parliament today is that it is not enough and we should not be doing it—Louisa Wall: No one said that.Hon TAU HENARE: Actually if you listen to some of the speeches from my Green colleagues that is what they hinted at—that is what they hinted at. It is about getting to a place where you say: “Yes we agree on the historical events. Yes we agree on reparations.”—whether they are monetary or they are cultural redress. That in itself is the start of a justice process. It is not the be-all and end-all and it never will be but at the end of the day it is part and parcel of a justice process because that is what it was always about.When somebody or an organisation takes something from you there have to be consequences. Whether it is war whether it is financial settlement or whether it is the return of land—whatever—that is always up for negotiation. So I take my hat off to those who have been involved in the negotiation process and I take my hat off to those people who have been able to get to a point where the two sides can sit down and sign it. Nobody forces people to do anything. Nobody forces people to accept what is on offer. At the end of the day it is about a process and we have got to a point in that process where the two sides are reasonably happy. It will take most probably another 100 years to get to another point in the 100-metre race but that is for other people to decide long after we have gone from this place.I want to make a quick mention of Willie Te Aho who is a firebrand who is uncannily like me who jumps in where most probably angels fear to tread and who goes off like I do. In fact he is so much like me it is scary. We should not get too worried about people like that because they add to the mix. They add to the whole part of Treaty negotiations—and people’s passion. Without passion we will not get anywhere. Without belief we will not get anywhere. So I do take my hat off to people like Linda Te Aho and Willie Te Aho who have put all of their lives on the line.Meka Whaitiri: Linda’s not like Willie.Hon TAU HENARE: Oh no. I will tell you what—if we cannot handle a few criticisms in this place and I know that I have had a few over the 15 years that I have been here we need to harden up. We really do need to harden up. This is a brutal place. It can be brutal within our own Parliament but also the criticisms from the public for whatever reason—whether they are right or wrong—are brutal but we should know the day that we come in here that that is going to happen. I hear what the sister is saying and I appreciate what she is saying.Meka Whaitiri: I worry about the cost to the iwi.Hon TAU HENARE: Well actually I think if you are going to individualise it to Willie himself Willie has done a huge amount in getting a number of settlements to the closure stage. This is really the first time that he has actually gone off in terms of a Treaty settlement that he has been involved in. I am not going to besmirch his reputation. Everybody knows that he got settlements throughout the motu and that was what he was paid for and that was what he was passionate about. So cut some people some slack if they now and again tend to go off.Anyway those are all related matters. The fact is that we are here at the second reading. We are here at that part of the settlement process. I look forward before the election and before the House pulls up sticks to our getting to the third reading of this bill the Ngāti Hauā bill and the Tūhoe bill at least. I think that will be a satisfactory point where we get to in this Parliament and it leaves whatever comes next for the next Parliament. Kia ora.