Parata Hekia: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParata Hekia: Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 19 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:16156. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakahaere. Ki ngā mema Pāremata huri noa i tō tātau Whare tēnā koutou katoa. Kei Raukawa ngā kanohi o Raukawa i konei i tēnei rā me ērā o te wā kāinga o Raukawa tēnā koutou katoa. Kei te mōhio tātau mō tēnei āhuatanga o te whakaaetanga i waenganui i ngā iwi me te Karauna he uaua he taumaha he wero kei roto ēngari ko te tikanga ka oti pai i runga i te mōhio me whakatau ngā hara me huri te kanohi o te iwiki ngā tau kei mua i a koutou. Nō reira he mihi tēnei māku ki a koutou katoa mōku mō tō mātau taha o tēnei Whare otirā i runga anō i te wairua o ngā whakaaetanga nei i runga i te whakaae tahi a te Whare Pāremata kia tau tēnei kaupapa i waenganui i a tātau. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Greetings to you Mr Speaker. To all members of Parliament throughout our House greetings to you all. To you of Raukawa representatives of Raukawa present here today as well as those at home acknowledgments to you all. We are very much aware of the nature of a settlement process between tribes and the Crown. It is difficult and heavy going and there are challenges in there. But normally wrongdoings are settled knowing full well that the tribe must face the future before you collectively. So this acknowledgment is to you all from me personally and from our side of this House and indeed in the spirit of these consensual agreements of Parliament for this matter to be settled amongst us. And so acknowledgments salutations and greetings to you all.]I am very privileged to have the opportunity to rise and make a small contribution to the Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill. It is not usual that I have this opportunity because as the Minister of Education I believe that I am out there investing in the post-settlement opportunities which is to ensure that as many of our young people as possible are participating in quality early childhood education and are achieving through their primary school years so that they can go on to be successful in securing a senior secondary qualification to be the investors in the carriers of and the faces of the future of iwi such as Raukawa of iwi such as Ngāti Porou of iwi such as Ngāi Tahu and of course for the benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand. However I do have that opportunity this morning and firstly I acknowledge—as I have done—Raukawa.Treaty settlements are both challenging and rewarding and we know that as the previous speaker my parliamentary colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta has indicated they are as much about relationships past present and future as they are about a legal agreement between the Crown and the iwi themselves. In that regard can I acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations my friend and colleague the Hon Christopher Finlayson. He has tackled this portfolio with an absolutely unshakeable conviction of the importance of achieving these settlements and achieving them quickly but without compromising the sustainability of these settlements. His track record of work cannot be surpassed by anyone and that is a reflection not only of him but of his commitment to ensuring that we have a better stronger Aotearoa New Zealand. So the work that has been done on the Raukawa settlement those that have preceded it those that are in progress and those that are yet to come is a great tribute to that conviction that he carries every day in the work that he does.Similarly I would like to pay tribute to Tau Henare as chair of the Māori Affairs Committee for the gusto zest and vigour with which he tackles these challenges within the select committee. He is relentless in his passion in getting this work done.Can I extend that to all members of the Māori Affairs Committee all of whom on all sides of the House understand that they are carrying a responsibility on behalf of the Crown of New Zealand which sees no divisibility in terms of our particular political partisanship. This is how Treaty settlement work should be carried out because we are honouring the partnership that the Treaty of Waitangi or Te Tiriti o Waitangi reflects.That means that we do need to put aside our partisanship and focus on how we get the best and most durable and sustainable settlements possible in the interests of not only enhancing and strengthening those relationships and healing those that were broken in the past because of injustices in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi but also in terms of looking forward to a future that creates a stronger Aotearoa New Zealand. So I thank the members of the Māori Affairs Committee for that work. Some of them areunable to be here today because of Hine-Pūkohurangi who has made it impossible for our manurere to fly today.As I have indicated—indeed as both the Minister of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and the Hon Nanaia Mahuta have indicated—there are particularities that relate to the Raukawa settlement that must be dealt with within this settlement bill. We know that there are relationships given the geographic location of Raukawa that inevitably impinge on both expectations and relationships. These are sensitivities that must be worked with and worked through in order to ensure not only that we get a durable settlement for Raukawa in terms of this settlement bill but that we get durable and enduring relationships whakapapa relationships that are on the boundaries of Raukawa and therefore reach into the wider Waikato-Tainui Ngāti Korokī Kahukura Ngāti Maniapoto and others that Raukawa bounds and is bounded by.This is not an unusual feature obviously of the Treaty settlement map because all of us are not only physically co-located with each other but are whakapapa connected with each other. I was thinking of that in fact when the Hon Nanaia Mahuta was speaking because of course Nanaia is a tipuna who has particular whakapapa connections between Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou. Also of course we have very mobile iwi and over the future years we will see even greater connections between ourselves.Our Government is particularly invested in how we get these settlements so that we can get on into economic prosperity for all. Māori and iwi have demonstrated their capacity and capability for entrepreneurial activity for enterprise for business creation and for innovation. The lack of an economic base has hindered that development in a number of iwi. Raukawa has already demonstrated its extreme capability to look towards the future.I can remember many years ago sitting in the Ngāta Memorial College assembly hall as Professor Whatarangi Winiata came to talk about his vision for Whakatupurango Ruamano and of course we are well into Ruamano now. But even then—and I think this was in the late 1980s or early 1990s—he was talking about the importance of Te Reo as the platform or vehicle for language culture and identity that provides the context for economic drive for social prosperity for political participation and for growth in all of those dimensions.That kind of vision is something that he carried as a revered leader of Raukawa for the iwi map of Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Wānanga o Raukawa is another example of Raukawa’s vision for education and for their young people and not just for their young people but for the health and vitality and vibrancy and dynamism and strength of Raukawa in a fully rounded way. They have demonstrated that by ensuring that Raukawa has secondary tertiary qualifications that create the human capital base for realising the potential that this Treaty settlement will now give exponential heft and momentum and lift to.So I am delighted to be able to have the opportunity to be in the House this morning to speak to the speedy resolution of the Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill such that we can have a meeting of that investment in human capital and of course we would say: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata. In more clinical terms we would talk about human capital. Regardless of the way we describe it Raukawa has already invested in their future continues to do so and now has the opportunity of strapping economic commercial and cultural redress to that to give lift to their aspirations for their own people and in so doing contribute to the strength of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is on all of those bases that I stand to support this bill in the House today. Nō reira kia ora tātou katoa.