Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā tātau katoa kia ora tātau. He mihi nui ki a koutou o Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki kua tae mai nei ki tēnei Whare Pāramata kia ora koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and to all of us thank you. A huge tribute to you of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki who have arrived here at this House an appreciation to all of you.]Tēnā koutou everybody. I stand here this mokopuna of Ngāpuhi Te Rarawa and Ngati Porou who has had the benefits of living and visiting and enjoying the ancestral whenua moana and awa of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki for many years. I want to thank the tribal trust in particular for reminding us that Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki have a longstanding whakapapa and ahi kā relationship over their whenua over their people their awa and their moana mai rā nō—mai rā nō.The very name Ngāi Tai" I think has to be acknowledged in this House today and for ever—that "Ngāi Tai" in itself encapsulates a maritime people; ancient navigators and voyagers of the tai of the coast of the foreshore and of the sea. With that I am very privileged to be able to stand here and speak to this the first reading of the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Claims Settlement Bill—always always particularly with the acknowledgment of Ngāi Tai as ancient navigators and voyagers acknowledging those who have passed on mai rā nō and also through this Treaty settlement process.I have been delighted to have a look at the different whenua the different moana that are part of the Ngāi Tai settlement claim. I think about the paddling that I did over my years as a student. I have been very humbled and privileged to paddle to and sleep on many of the motu the islands that are part of this settlement claim. I mention that I have had the privilege many times of paddling from Ōkahu to Motuihe of paddling from Ōkahu to Motutapu and indeed of sleeping on those very islands—sleeping on your motu and your whenua in among the middle of your harbour and your moana.It reminds me today in this first reading to speak about the benefits of the generosity that Te Iwi Māori have always afforded to Aotearoa not just to tauiwi but to we who are not living on our ancestral lands but living on your ancestral lands—the benefits that have been long going that ensure all people in our communities are able to enjoy your generosity. It is generosity I might add that has come through incredible sacrifice wrongdoing and injustice. Te Iwi Māori are amazing. Our people are amazing. We have gone through incredible injustice sacrifice land theft genocide; the removal or our Reo of our whenua of our moana; the removal of our tūrangawaewae base. And yet here we are today and here you are today in this House having worked so long for so many years to try to do what best you can with the little that the Crown is willing to give back after it has stolen so much of it. Te Iwi Māori are amazing. Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki are amazing. Our country owes so much to our people.It is with absolute pleasure that I stand here in this first reading and acknowledge the work that has happened to date and the work that is going to have to happen. I want to remind all of us while I am talking as a Ngāpuhi Te Rarawa and Ngāti Porou descendent living in Tāmaki-makau-rau and living in South Auckland about the years that I have benefited from visiting—I want to remind us all that Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki are an iwi with interests centred around Tāmaki-makau-rau extending out to Hauraki Coromandel and in particular the coastline harbours of Waitematā Harbour and Hauraki Gulf's Tīkapa Moana. The primary marae of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki is Umupuia Marae at Maraetai in Clendon—I am just making sure that we locate ourselves; where we are talking about right here in the House.I as always looked at the historical account and tried to get a sense of some of what has happened to Ngāi Tai particularly how before the Treaty was signed in Ngāi Tai rangatira alongside rangatira of other iwi they were involved in land transactions in Tāmaki and the inner Gulf islands—those beautiful islands those amazing islands. Ngāi Tai consider that their tupuna did not intend to permanently alienate—see this is funny this: we talk about our tupuna alienating ancestral lands as opposed to the Crown stealing them. Of course our tupuna did not intend for our whakapapa connection to be broken with our whenua and absolutely indeed with Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki.It is said that it is Ngāi Tai's view that those transactions were attempts by tupuna to foster ongoing connections and relationships with tauiwi. However between 1836 and 1839 in the 1800s Ngāi Tai and other iwi negotiated transactions with a missionary for a massive block in Tāmaki. This is where I wanted to learn about what happened with that particular deal—another shady deal. There were 83000 acres involved in that land transaction and the missionary wrote that iwi and hapū who had sold the land would retain at least one-third of the block for their personal ongoing use for ever. The exact science of that transaction has never been established but the royal commission concluded that it was about 83000 acres. Now if we are talking about one-third then that in itself is supposed to be around 28000 acres retained for Ngāi Tai for personal use for ever. From what I can establish it came down in the end to about 5500 acres. That is just a small example of the shady deals that happened in which the Crown retained most of the land as surplus amounting to 78000 acres. Most of it was retained.I am probably always going to call out the language that a bill uses and will just make sure that I put on record here for the Green Party in Hansard what actually happened—because I have got another example here. The language that we use in these bills—I am happy to take the opportunity to give the words from the Green Party to call it what it is. If I go to clause 9 the Crown's acknowledgments—and this is going back to the raupatu when Crown forces were sent into Mangatawhiri in 1863—it says: "(a) after the war [the Crown] confiscated 51000 acres of land". It stole it. Then clause 9 says: "(b) [the Crown] broke its promise". It lied. I just want to acknowledge that for what it is today but I look forward to the submissions. I look forward to hearing those stories in more depth and I look forward to understanding the full impact of what has actually happened to Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki.Again the generosity of Ngāi Tai of Te Iwi Māori through these settlement processes can never be overstated. Today who has benefited from the land loss from the land theft in Ngāi Tai? Who has benefited? My colleague Peeni Henare mentioned the value of houses. Well all of our whenua is valuable but my goodness under tauiwi terms today? You have got water moana reserves—my goodness. The fact that some of our people some of Ngāi Tai people no doubt are without a home when Ngāi Tai have given so much—that is the justice that we should always be trying to create and look for.So tēnā koutou Ngāi Tai for being here in this House for your first reading. It is going to be an honour to hear from you all about what has happened and about how we can try—how we can try—to seek enduring justice for your settlements. Kia ora tātou katoa."