Watts SimonSIMON WATTS (National—North Shore): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I arise on behalf of National and as the MP for North Shore on the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill in its third reading. It is my pleasure to stand here on the third reading of this bill to talk about what is a very important settlement and one which the National Party is very pleased to support. The key settlement outcomes which have been canvassed by a number of speakers this evening already are $11.3 million of financial redress comprising of $7.3 million through the Central North Island Forests Iwi Collective settlement and an additional final redress of $4 million plus interest of $390000 from their date of agreement as well. There's also a right of first offer over the Rotomahana farm currently owned by Landcorp and the right to buy the land under the Matua School and the school health site with a lease to the Ministry of Education. Lastly and importantly the settlement outcomes include cultural redress which include acknowledging the statutory area of Ngāti Rangitihi and reflects this in relation to the Crown Minerals Act the Resource Management Act and the Fisheries Act. So this settlement will in effect provide the vesting of 19 key sites transferred to this iwi as part of that cultural redress process. National has always and continues and has a long and proud history of supporting our Treaty settlement processes under the Hon Chris Finlayson previously and we are continuing to support—in a bipartisan manner—this settlement process. The history and the impacts on Ngāti Rangitihi have been canvassed widely by the speakers this afternoon and while this settlement can never be a full compensation in terms of the impacts that were felt by members of the iwi and hapū in this regard it does go some way in order to reflect the impact that it's had and in effect to provide a pathway forward for that and those people to move forward into the future. The settlements process—as we know in this House—recognises and rights the wrongs of the past and strengthens the key partnership between both Crown and iwi and this is something that the National Party fully support. I guess the opportunity as a result of this settlement process is for the iwi to unlock some of the economic potential and boost regional and provincial growth in areas which will benefit from that aspect and that is important in terms of their ability particularly in the central North Island where this will impact. The Crown has provided unreservedly an apology in regards to hapū and whenua as a result of failing to uphold the principles of the Treaty and again that is recognised. I want to obviously acknowledge members of the Māori Affairs Committee who contributed to this bill and I know that members on this side of the House who are with me this evening played a key role in that alongside other members around this House as well. That is pretty much all that I'm wanting to talk about this evening. I send my best thoughts and wishes to all the members of the iwi who will be watching this online this evening. It is a shame that you can't be here in this House to share this very special occasion with us but we feel you here in spirit and we know that you are watching and I send my best wishes to you and your whānau. I commend this bill to the House.