Ririnui Mita: Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:659;Page:7853] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 Kati ra kai te Kaihautu kai te tu tonu i nga mihi i mihingia nei e tatou inatahira tonu i te taenga mai o Ngati Apa ki te panui tuatahi o to ratou pire whakaritenga whakaotinga. No reira na runga i tena me mihi ano ra ki a ratou i te mea ra na ratou tenei kaupapa i hapai i kokirihia i roto i te Whare nei kia tutuki pai ai. 
[ 
Suffice to say Mr Deputy Speaker the acknowledgments by us to Ngati Apa when they arrived 2 days ago at the first reading of their settlement bill continue to apply. As a result of that I acknowledge them again because they took up this matter being debated in this House for a good outcome 
.] 
I like my colleagues on this side of the House stand in support of the Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill. It is a very elongated title. 
Earlier in the week we were privileged to have a number of representatives from the iwi of Ngati Apa from the Whanganui district in the House to hear the third reading of their Treaty settlement bill. The Hon Tariana Turia—who is of the local communities around Whanganui and up the Whanganui River as she said earlier in her first reading speech—had the privilege of filling in for the Minister of Maori Affairs who could not be in the House at that particular time. It must have been a huge privilege for her then as it is today at the first reading of this bill. It is an unusual practice in this House but in this case I think it is highly appropriate. Of course it is not in breach of Standing Orders. 
I endorse the comments made by previous speakers in terms of their support for this settlement. My colleague the Hon Maryan Street gave us a pretty comprehensive rundown of the history of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust: where it began why it began and how it brought Treaty settlements to the position we are in today. It is interesting to note the acknowledgments of the people who were involved right back then because without those people it would be very difficult for the Maori claimant community to fund the Treaty settlements process given that they have been stripped of resources over a number of decades. I acknowledge her contribution to this discussion. 
I also thank the chairman of the Maori Affairs Committee the Hon Tau Henare who made some complimentary remarks—a rare occurrence—about the progress of this legislation through the House and the commitment he has to the uninhibited passage of the bill through the select committee process. He also made comments about one particular aspect of the settlement and that was in relation to Kaitoke Prison. Although my colleague the Hon Maryan Street touched on that part of the on-account settlement which is the term that the Inland Revenue Department uses I want to add to the discussion the fact that this is something different. I know that the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations was looking at similar arrangements at Rimutaka and Arohata prisons—transferring the land beneath those prisons as part of Treaty settlements—but in the case of Whanganui iwi it is interesting to note that they have signed up to an agreement whereby they will own the land under Kaitoke Prison while the Department of Corrections will retain ownership of buildings and assets. 
I think my colleague the Hon Tau Henare was referring in his comments to a pathway to privatisation. I do not see that as being the case at all. I see this as greater cooperation between the Crown and iwi particularly when it comes to Crown properties. In this case we are talking about the ownership of land beneath the prisons. I have an issue with the privatisation of prisons. I think it is the responsibility of the State to keep our communities and our homes safe from dangerous criminals and we have prisons and courts in place for that purpose. We have a justice system in place for that purpose. The feedback I am getting from Maori communities is questioning what signal Maori ownership of prisons sends to young Maori. Is it an extension of our marae? In other words we can attend our marae functions at any time so is there a clear signal to our younger generations that it is not OK to go to prisons even if we own them in a particular way? This settlement bill is very clear that the Whanganui iwi will have ownership of the whenua beneath the prison; that whenua will be leased back to the Crown. It is an opportunity for the Whanganui iwi to have a commercial arrangement with the Crown over the prison and I think that is a good and positive pathway forward. 
In the House earlier this week some very generous compliments were paid by just about all the speakers to the Ngati Apa negotiators in terms of their youth in terms of their determination and in terms of their foresight. In other words they had a plan and the plan began in settling their outstanding grievances. The plan included a pathway forward a way of growing the settlement assets and a way of transferring the benefits from that to their constituent hapu. That legislation pertained to Ngati Apa in particular. This legislation refers to the Whanganui iwi. But having said that I believe that the attitude of the negotiators for Whanganui was exactly the same as that of the Ngati Apa negotiators. There were internal issues. I would not say there were overlapping interests; I would say there were shared interests. That being the case and that being the understanding of the negotiators a plan was put in place to mitigate those issues in the best way possible. For Ngati Apa the bill before the House today is an addendum to that settlement earlier this week. 
It is incredible we have to admit that with each settlement bill that comes through this House we learn something. In the case of Ngati Apa they have taken us to another level. When I say another level I mean a pathway to resolving issues that have the potential not only to divide people but also to derail negotiations. We have seen that in the past. Some members in this House have been guilty of making those sorts of situations arise when they do not need to. I recall that earlier in the year the Whakarewarewa transfer legislation was delayed—in my view unnecessarily. The unnecessary delay was due to the local member deciding that there were some political opportunities to be gained by supporting the divisive group and so that was done. I know that the member for Rotorua has an issue but had he been around with his issue as long as some of us in this House have I think he would have a better understanding of what I am talking about. Nevertheless there was a successful outcome. But I am hoping that we do not see that delay happen too much when it comes to similar settlement legislation. The fact is that the longer settlements take to resolve the more difficult it becomes for the claimant communities. And the more difficult it becomes for those communities the more fragmented they become. That does not need to happen. I once described this process as very very arduous yet it need not be that way. 
If I have an issue with this bill it is only the one issue. I hope that the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations is listening wherever he is. This is the Whanganui Iwi (Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest) On-account Settlement Bill. The words “Whanganui Iwi” have an “h”; the words “Wanganui (Kaitoke) Prison and Northern Part of Wanganui Forest” do not.