Fox Marama: Te Hiku Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Te Hiku Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 04 November 2014. Volume:694;Page:582. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Ā tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. Ō tātou mate tuatini e takoto mai ai i runga i ō tātou marae maha papa kāinga i roto i ō tātou whare kua ūhia rātou ki ngā taumata kōrero e tika ana hei poroporoaki i a rātou ā otirā ki a koe e te parata Kelvin me tō whanau e tika me mihi atu ki a koe. Ā anō nā kai te kāinga ētahi e takoto mai rā i runga i ō rātou marae. Nā reira e tika me poroporoaki ki a rātau katoa. Nā reira me kī pēnei tukua rātau kia okioki i runga i tō rātou moenga roa. Tēnā rā koutou mā kua wehe ki tua o te ārai. Haere ki ngā ringa mahana o Te Atua. Haere atu rā ki te kāinga ō tātou katoa. Anō nā ko tātou te hunga ora te hunga tūtuki i ō rātou nā wawata. Tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank youMr Speaker.To our manydeceased lying there upon ournumerous courtyards settlements andin ourhomes eloquent and appropriate farewell tributes have been accorded to them and indeed to you fellow colleague Kelvin Davis and your family. It is apt that you are acknowledged. And of coursethere are some at home lying in state on their courtyards. Therefore it is proper that all of them are paid a farewell tribute. Allow them all to sleep their long sleep. Farewell to you who have gone beyond the divide. Go forth to the warmth of the Lord’s arms and to the home for us all. And here we are once again the living the ones to fulfil their aspirations. Acknowledgments to us all.]I have to admit that as I have sat here today I have felt a little emotional about the things I have been listening to. I have to admit that it feels a little strange and a little foreign. I stand here as a young—young I will say that one more time—new member of the House. I am facing you but our people are behind me. I want to acknowledge you—kia ora rā. Kia ora rā koutou e noho kai muri nei kai te tiro atu ki mua kia kite koutou i ngā pouaka whakaata rā. [Thank you as well those of you sitting behind me looking at those television sets ahead there.]I have felt a little emotional as these things have been read because I acknowledge that although this process has taken some 30 years to arrive at this point how many of our ancestors have lost their lives throughout the tribulation that has been impacted upon them?I want to pay tribute to those who began the journey here and those who have gone before us those who started with the vision to begin this long process and who now live in the memory and the presence of their children who represent them here today. Tēnā koutou.This day is my first in the House to fully feel the impact of the Treaty injustices from this side of the ledger as a representative of Parliament. I am no longer looking on. All of us in this Chamber are now implicated in the harsh realities of the Treaty impacts that endure in the hearts and minds of our people. I need look no further than the first pages of the bill to see that tragic reality articulated in the text of the apology. I am going to read this—i roto i Te Reo Māori koa:“Te whakapāha a Te Karauna ki ngā uri o Ngāti Kuri ki ngā mātua tūpuna ki a koutou kei konei i tēnei rā ki ērā kāore anō kia whānau mai. Koia tēnei ko te whakapāha a Te Karauna. E whakatakoto here kore ana Te Karauna i tōna whakapāha mō ōna hapa mō tōna hē ki te kore ōna i āta whakamana whakarangatira hoki i a Ngāti Kuri. He āhuatanga mātāpono kore tēnei waihoki ka noho a Ngāti Kuri anō he kanohi kitea kore i roto i ngā kōrero i ngā whakapapa o te ahurea i Te Hiku o Te Ika.”[The apology by the Crown to the descendants of Ngāti Kuri the ancestors those of you present here today and those not yet born. This indeed is the Crown’s apology. It sets out unreservedly the Crowns apology for its wrongdoings failures and lack of recognition and respect towards Ngāti Kuri. This aspect was not principled and furthermore Ngāti Kuri was without representation in the discussions about the cultural heritage of the far north.]What does it do to the hearts of a people and the hopes of a people to be rendered invisible? How does a people cope with the cruelty of being unable to act as tangata kaitiaki over your own taonga to be prevented from taking up your responsibility and your rights of kaitiakitanga over your wāhi tapu? How do an iwi reconcile the conundrum of being tangata whenua without whenua of coming from the very land that has been stripped away by the confounding effects of successive flawed land legislation?These were acts of legislation stealth that robbed Ngāti Kuri of their rights to their traditional tikanga and rangatiratanga having the effect of leaving them marginalised on their ancestral land. It is soul-destroying. It hits at the very heart of our nationhood to know that one partner to the Treaty the Crown acted in a way to the other the iwi that caused them to suffer the loss of tribal authority of social cohesion of traditional knowledge and left them unable to develop economically.Today this bill starts off a new journey but a journey that nevertheless must be grounded in the knowledge that Ngāti Kuri suffered significant population losses and that the people were found floundering in poverty poor housing and deep distress over successive generations as a direct result of Crown action. Te Aupouri Ngāti Kahu Ngāti Kuri Te Rarawa and NgāiTakoto will never forget. We in this House must never forget. We will be able to move forward together only if together we confront the atrocities of our past. In Māori legend this land forms the tail of the fish that Māui hauled up from the great depths of the ocean. Elders from Muriwhenua sometimes say that although the head of the fish is here in Wellington it can go only where the tail will allow.I have been thinking about the wisdom of the philosopher Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further than others it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” In this cause there are many giants: Dame Whina Cooper—whose korowai worn in the Land March is on loan to us here in Parliament and lies just down the hall in a glass case—Matiu Rata Dame Mira Szaszy Merimeri Penfold and too many others to mention whose efforts have for ever etched their names in our collective memory. This moment is dedicated to all those who watch over us in spirit who inspire and encourage us to seek further to be bold and courageous for their mokopuna.This bill gives effect to the covenants that have been reached between the Crown Ngāti Kuri Te Aupōuri Ngāti Takoto and Te Rarawa. There are specifics pertinent to each iwi. These recognise the soul-crushing misfortune set upon them at the hands of the Crown. Other speakers have taken us through that trail of torture. We have heard about the corrupt intent of the Crown and private purchasing that alienated Ngāti Kuri from over 70 percent of their ancestral land by 1880. We acknowledge the injury caused to Te Aupouri as a direct result of the 1840 Taylor transaction taking 60000 acres of land through forced seizure.We think of the harsh impact for generations of NgāiTakoto finding themselves a virtually landless people having lost all interest in approximately 155000 acres of ancestral land. For Te Rarawa the crime of the Crown forced upon Marāea Te Awaroa Heke—arrested jailed and never compensated for merely protecting the boundaries around her own hapū lands. The kuia died before the court took the action it should have. To add insult to injury the block was further subdivided taken by the Crown as an esplanade for public use. I want to return to the actual text in this bill: “Mā roto atu i tēnei whakaaturanga e whai ana Te Karauna i te huarahi hei whakatika i ōna hē kua whakaae nei a ia ki aua hē otirā e taea ai i nāianei te whai i te huarahi o te whakatau hoahoa o te whakakotahi anō.”[Through this notification the Crown will have a process to follow to rectify its failings which it has accepted and will indeed make it possible now to settle totally and amicably.]In this House today with the enduring impact of the settlement to come the Crown seeks to begin the process of reconciliation. The Crown hopes that by recognising the impact and the injury of injustice we can begin a renewed and enduring relationship an invigorated relationship based on mutual dignity and respect.As a nation we must look eyes wide upon the knowledge that the spiritual relationships of the people of Te Hiku with their ancestral maunga takiwā and awa have been adversely affected. Te Hiku our utmost respect is accorded to you and your leadership; to your whānau so willingly so generously so bravely in the process of settlement. Respect is accorded to your whānau your negotiators and your people for incredible tenacity endurance and courage to get to this stage.Nō reira ōku pou ōku rahi koutou e hui mai nei i roto i tēnei Whare koutou ōku hoa o te takiwā rā tēnei te mihi atu ki a koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātau katoa.[Therefore to you my pillars and greatness who have gathered here in this House and to my colleagues on that side I acknowledge commend and salute you and us all.]