Tolley Anne: Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14133. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Police): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. A large part of Te Urewera and other parts of the Tūhoe rohe including the centres of Tāneatua and Maungapōhatu fall within the East Coast electorate which I have the great privilege to represent here in Parliament. It is a huge honour for me to stand here today to speak at this first reading of the Te Urewera - Tūhoe Bill. The National-led Government is making great progress on completing final and durable settlements of Treaty of Waitangi claims. This today is one of the most significant settlements during my time in the House. I want to acknowledge those from Tūhoe who have travelled down to Wellington today to speed this settlement on its final journey.Settlements recognise and right the wrongs of the past and strengthen the partnership between the Crown and Māori. Settlements also help iwi unlock economic potential and boost regional and provincial areas. It is the right thing to do and it benefits all New Zealanders. This settlement will bring great benefits to the region. It will be a boon for the people of Tūhoe and for regional economic development on the East Coast. So how does it do that? Well firstly this settlement reconnects Tūhoe with its homeland of Te Urewera. It gives them a financial base with which to help their people prosper where they are born and it provides them with the means to make choices for themselves.Most obviously the settlement provides for commercial redress of $170 million. So secondly this allows the iwi to develop an economic base. I well remember—I think it was 2009 actually—Tāmati Kruger and Matt Te Pou sitting in my electorate office inWhakatāne explaining this to me and saying that this was dependent upon the return to Tūhoe of Te Urewera. I said to them: “I just can’t see that ever happening. It’s a national park. I can’t see that ever happening. I understand what you are saying but it is so hard to do.” But we have done it. Together we have done it. Tūhoe has already begun the process of revitalising Tāneatua with the construction of its outstanding new high-tech tribal community centre and headquarters—New Zealand’s first living building sourced largely from local materials. So they are already showing economic and environmental leadership. The tribe has the experience and aspirations for ecotourism in this pristine part of the country.However just as important is the sense of a new relationship between the iwi its neighbours and the communities of the region. In a formal sense the settlement provides for relationship agreements with some Government agencies and exploration of such agreements with key local authorities. In a practical sense the process of agreeing on a historical account and the apology of the Crown in recognition of the wrongs of the past smoothes the way for opportunities for forward-looking collaboration and common purpose. Tūhoe can now feel free to participate properly as leaders in the region that is their home without feelings of estrangement.Tāmati Kruger who has provided superb leadership to his people said on3rd Degree that he saw mana motuhake as “inter-independence”. He said: “We quite like being part of the region part of the district. We are part of New Zealand. We like to think we have dual citizenship.” An example of that was in theGisborne Herald recently. It reported that the Wairoa Whakatāne and Rotorua councils along with Tūhoe are working together on proposals for improvement to State Highway 38 which is still the only unsealed part of the State highway system to make it more user-friendly. Those of us who have travelled along that magnificent road know that you get pastMurupara and all of a sudden it goes down to what could be described as a goat track through some magnificent country—17 kilometres I think it is of shuddering gravel. That would be a great project to see completed although some of the locals are a bit worried because they do not like too many people going there.Mana motuhake redress relates to improved relationships between Tūhoe and the Crown and the delivery of Government and iwi services to Tūhoe communities. It includes the Crown-Tūhoe relationship agreement signed in 2011 which provides a foundation for how Tūhoe and the Crown will work together and the social service management plan which covers relationships with and the management and delivery of services by key Crown agencies and Tūhoe over the long term. The initial planning is for 5 years of the eventual 40-year period. It sets out how the Ministry of Education the Ministry of Social Development the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and the three district health boards in the area will work with Tūhoe to address the disadvantaged and improve social outcomes in Te Urewera. Tūhoe is engaged throughout in the same spirit of inclusiveness. During negotiations over the often difficult subject of Te Urewera they engaged extensively with other users of the park in order to define different groups’ expectations and values for the area. Not surprisingly there was a great deal of shared values in terms of the importance of biodiversity conservation and access.The innovative redress in this bill reflects a Tūhoe view that Te Urewera is its own identity has its own intrinsic rights and interests and provides for Tūhoe and the Crown’s representatives to govern Te Urewera in its own best interests while maintaining access for all. To those of us who know love and respect Te Urewera that is absolutely correct. It stands alone. It is often surrounded in mist—often secretive hiding its beauty which is revealed only to those who appreciate it especially if you aretrying to fish on Lake Waikaremoana. But it does have its own personality. It does have its own breathtaking beauty and it is and always has been an identity in its own right.But we need laws to encapsulate that so the current national park land will be vested in a Te Urewera legal entity and protected under new stand-alone legislation. This legislation will recognise and provide for cultural values associated with Te Urewera and will include key principles relating to the protection of biodiversity natural and historic heritage public input into management and public access into the future. This is a significant bill for Tūhoe for the East Coast region and for New Zealand and I speed it on its way through this House. Kia ora tātou.