Turia Tariana: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turia Tariana: Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 17 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:7692. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TARIANA TURIA (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations 
: I move  
That the Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be considered by the Maori Affairs Committee that the committee finally report to the House on or before 17 March 2010 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during the evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 and 190(1)(b) and (c). 
Tatou o NgaWairiki o Mangaw’ero o W’angaehu o Turakina. Tatou o Ngati Apa tena koutou i roto i tenei rangi w’akahirahira mo nga hapu. Kua roa nei te wa kia tae tatou ki tenei rangi. e tokomaha o nga tupuna i matemate ai i te pakanga mo nga whenua me nga taonga katoa. Kaore e kore kei te matakitaki ratou i nga w’akaritenga i tu nei ki mua i te aroaro o te hunga. No reira ratou ki a ratou tatou ki a tatou tena koutou katoa. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to us of NgaWairiki Mangaw’ero W’angaehu Turakina and indeed us of NgatiApa on this great day for the subtribes. It has taken us such a long time to arrive at this day. Many ancestors have passed on in the battle for the lands and all the resources. Without a doubt they are looking down at the settlements before the assembled. And so let them rest there as we celebrate here. Greetings to you all 
.] 
One hundred and ten years ago in November 1899 over 200 members of Nga Wairiki / Ngati Apa met with the Premier Richard Seddon at Tini Waitara Marae. At that time at that meeting the people shared their concerns fearing that our fishing rights would cease if our fisheries were drained by the settlers. 
They asked for the remaining lakes and swamps to be reserved noting the impacts of the Europeans who were felling their forests. They described their lands as fertile as valuable and as yielding considerable taxes and profits to the Government. They spoke directly to the Premier impressing on him the urgency of passing law to restrict any more lands from being sold mortgaged partitioned fragmented or seized for debt. But the korero drifted into the wind ignored left to linger. 
This bill takes us back in time to the Crown’s purchase in 1849 of the 260000 acres of the Rangitikei-Turakina Block. It refers also to the subsequent failure to adequately protect approximately 35000 acres of reserve set aside from this transaction. This bill is a direct response to the operation and impact of the native land laws. These laws contributed to the erosion of traditional tribal structures and resulted in the gradual alienation of nearly all our remaining lands. Nga Wairiki / Ngati Apa became virtually landless owning less than 1 percent of our traditional rohe—our lands alienated our people disenfranchised. 
Today is a chance to right the wrong to find our way forward. Despite the fragility of relationships between tangata whenua and the Crown and tangata whenua and others what settlements do is to refocus the tribe on its future. Knowing our history is crucial to our future. We must face our past front-on not putting it aside nor denying it but seeing it as a pathway into the future. 
We should never be afraid to speak of our past for our foundations as whanau hapu and iwi are the very essence of who we are. Our stories provide a context for the lives our people live today. It helps us to understand the full value of the battles our tupuna fought to help shape our journey onwards. The long road to justice was walked by my uncles Tokouru and Matiu Ratana before me and by my aunt Iriaka Ratana all of whom have served as members of Parliament. Like me they came here because they sought a greater future for the generations to come. 
As a child I heard the stories of my dad about the occupation of our lands. I knew the pain associated with the loss of names of our hapu the sadness as our marae fell into disrepair and we lacked resources to restore them. Such was our loss that almost all of our generation today no longer can speak te reo. 
In the 1970s the people rose up making a personal commitment to restore our marae to be a place to gather again as Nga Wairiki / Ngati Apa. But the impacts of the loss our people suffered were really deeply felt. The journey in making progress towards settling our claims has been arduous but from the sorrow has emerged the strength of will and the firm resolve that we can fulfil the aspirations of all those who have passed before us. 
I think then of all those who have gone before us. I know that my Dad my tupuna my aunties are watching over us with a strong sense of pride that it has been our young people who have advanced the settlement with dignity with integrity and with purpose. To all those who have worked tirelessly to get us here today I thank you. 
I want to mihi to the leadership of our more recent generations including the members of the negotiation team. Their dedication and determination on behalf of Nga Wairiki / Ngati Apa has been vital in the path towards achieving settlement. This has been a unique aspect of settlement: the leadership of our young people. I acknowledge them today for investing in a better future for their generation and for those to come. 
The settlement represents their commitment to a constructive relationship with the Crown to restore some of the balance of what was lost. It comprises an agreed historical account Crown acknowledgments and an apology. It includes commercial and financial redress totalling $16 million and a right to purchase approximately 6500 hectares of Crown forest licensed land and other Crown-owned properties and assets. 
One of the most exciting aspects is the cultural redress package designed around the aspirations of Nga Wairiki / Ngati Apa. This settlement focuses on cultural revitalisation and cultural reconnection including the gifting of five papakainga properties and provision of resources to implement a strategy for the revitalisation of our tikanga. There is funding also to compile a comprehensive historical record and cultural reconnection in respect of the transfer of 12 sites of significance. This bill represents the hope the opportunity to build social and cultural capital placing it in equal importance with economic growth and development. It crystallises the ambition of Te Runanga o Ngati Apa to reach out to other Ministers and departments to extend right across the sectors for our long-term restoration. 
A novel feature of the agreement is the opportunity to develop protocols with the Minister of Conservation the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister for the Environment. I acknowledge the leadership of the Ministers who have been involved in this settlement: the Hon Chris Finlayson and before him the Hon Parekura Horomia the Hon Mita Ririnui and the Hon Mark Burton. 
This bill is an important marker in the restoration of our lands stretching from Motu Karaka south to Omarupako and inland to the upper Rangitikei. It provides us with the means to re-establish papakainga throughout our rohe; to prepare a cultural redevelopment plan; and to restore to ourselves our knowledge of our rivers lakes forests and wetlands our wahi tapu and our cultural and intellectual property. Most of all it provides us with a vehicle to grow our capital assets while at the same time re-establishing our iwi for the new millennium. I therefore consider that the bill should proceed without delay to the Maori Affairs Committee. I commend this bill to the House.