Finlayson Christopher: Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10557. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I move That the Ngāti Pūkenga Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. I am sure that its members will do a very good job although very soon I think they will have about seven or eight bills before the committee so there will be no time to waste. I expect them to get on with it and knowing the calibre of the people on that committee—which includes you Mr Deputy Speaker—I am sure that will happen.I am so very pleased to speak in support of this bill which like the other Tauranga bills has been many years in the making. It is almost 3 years to the day since the deed was signed and despite the time that has been taken I never had any doubt at all that we would get to this stage. It has been worth the wait. On 4 December 2009 the Crown confirmed the mandate of the iwi to negotiate a settlement of all historical Treaty claims of Ngāti Pūkenga. On 25 January 2010 Ngāti Pūkenga and the Crown signed terms of negotiation that set out the scope the objectives and the general procedures for negotiations. On 31 July 2012 Ngāti Pūkenga and the Crown signed a statement of position and intent as a basis for the final deed of settlement. On 23 November 2012 the deed was initialled and then on a beautiful day 7 April 2013 the deed was signed. The bill is going to give legislative effect to the final agreements on the redress as set out in the deed.As with all these settlement bills it is very important to place on the permanent record of the House the history of why we are here. These historical claims relate to the Crown-initiated military conflict in Tauranga in 1864—actions that were in breach of the Treaty and its principles. Despite assuring Ngāti Pūkenga that it would scrupulously respect their interests the Crown extinguished all of the Ngāti Pūkenga customary interests in Tauranga land by confiscating a very large part of the district. Ngāti Pūkenga became dependent on lands gifted to them by other iwi but the Crown failed to protect Ngāti Pūkenga tribal interests in these lands from the impact of the individualisation of Māori land tenure which the Crown imposed in the 19th century. The financial and commercial redress provided to Ngāti Pūkenga seeks to recognise the losses suffered by them. They are going to receive $7 million plus interest as well as commercial redress properties and rights of first refusal in relation to right of first refusal land. Cultural redress provided to Ngāti Pūkenga includes the vesting of cultural redress properties protocols and statutory acknowledgments and the vesting of minerals in vested land.I too join with my friend and colleague Mr Bridges in his—as he said “a crusade”; perhaps a politically incorrect term—desire to see a museum in Tauranga. It is something that I was very interested in achieving when I was the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. A great city like Tauranga with such a special history in terms of Māori culture needs to have a museum. The other day The Telegraph in London said—no surprise to any of us—that we are the best country on Earth and one of the 26 reasons it gave for that self-evident proposition was the unique and very strong Māori culture. It is so important that we recognise around the country in various regional museums that unique culture and so too in the Tauranga district. So I hope that Mr Bridges and his parliamentary colleague and our mutual friend Mr Muller will be able to persuade the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage that that regional museums fund could be used to very good purpose.Ngāti Pūkenga were renowned as warriors and priests. Due to these skills and the ability to move at short notice they were called on to assist tribal groups with their disputes and were rewarded with gifts of land. There are so many who have worked tirelessly on these claims and more widely for the iwi of Ngāti Pūkenga but I particularly want to mention the late WīremuŌhia who displayed the qualities of a warrior and a priest. Bill was a leader in the farming forestry and kiwifruit industries of Tauranga Moana and he was a Māori leader on the national stage. He worked very hard to bring together the different kāinga of Ngāti Pūkenga. As I said the Crown let them down in the 19th century. As a consequence of that they were dispersed to various parts of the North Island—Manaia in the Coromandel; Pakikaikutu in Whangarei Maketū as well as Tauranga. It is therefore not surprising that each kāinga operated autonomously and independently of one another. Bill’s vision however was that they would work together and that came to realisation through the negotiations process. Now once the bill is passed we will move to the post-settlement environment.Ngāti Pūkenga priestly skills continue to this day with their relationship-building leading them to becoming part of two collectives: the Tauranga Moana iwi and the Hauraki collectives. They have also built an enduring and warm relationship with the Crown through their interactions with officials and in particular my chief Crown negotiator Dame Patsy Reddy whom I want to acknowledge once again for all her work. I also want to thank my ministerial colleagues and various agencies for their extensive input into making this settlement possible. Now as I say the bill once passed moves to the select committee and I very much look forward to the Ngāi Te Rangi legislation coming in shortly thereafter. I am sure the Māori Affairs Committee is going to deal with this legislation expeditiously so that it can come back to the House and hopefully be enacted before the end of the year. I think the bill needs to go to the committee without delay and thus I commend the bill to the House.