Finlayson Christopher: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5664. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I move That the Ngāruahine Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. First and foremost like you Mr Deputy Speaker—of course you did not do it—I want to extend a warm welcome to the people of Ngāruahine who are here today to witness the first reading of their settlement bill. Nau mai haere mai.Today is a day for acknowledging Ngāruahine tūpuna as well as their descendants. It is particularly important to acknowledge those who have been part of the Ngāruahine journey working tirelessly over the many years to have those grievances properly addressed. Sadly many of these people are no longer with us and cannot be part of this important occasion today but it is important to read their names into Hansard for ever more. I speak of Tohe Pakanga Ngatai Rawa Tarawanuku Margaret Kahupūroko Olley Eric Whakataka Taha Pue Barry Whakaruru and John Kata Luke. They unfortunately passed away even before the settlement was realised. I want to read into Hansard the names of Stephen Hēnare Toki Jean Teira Nuku and Cyril Rangiwaiwaitomo who have passed on since.I want to acknowledge those who are still with us and who were and are absolutely committed to making sure that the Ngāruahine voice their concerns and their interests were heard. I refer here to Matekitawhiti Carr Hine Toki Hinewaitou Josie Bingham and Ronald Boyd Hudson some of whom are sitting amongst us today. Of course special acknowledgment goes to that great New Zealander Tihi Anne Daisy Noble who has driven the Ngāruahine negotiations from the outset with mana with class and with determination along with the other negotiators. Attending the many Waitangi Tribunal hearings and court sittings in Wellington in addition to the countless negotiation hui shows the extraordinary commitment of all these people to the Ngāruahine kaupapa. This unrelenting dedication is the reason we are here today.I want to acknowledge particularly the Office of Treaty Settlements. I want to acknowledge all departments of State for the work that they have done particularly the Department of Conservation the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and there are so many others. I want to say something about the chief Crown negotiator. Yesterday I said that after the 2011 election I approached my parliamentary colleague and friend Rick Barker and asked whether he would be prepared to be chief Crown negotiator. He worked very hard on this settlement and like all settlements it had a lot of complexity.Yesterday there was some unfortunate criticism of my negotiators by one member of this House without really understanding the complexities and without really understanding how difficult these negotiations can be. I do not want to belabour the point but all I want to say for the benefit of the House is that it is so easy to criticise from the sidelines; it is much harder to study a settlement to understand the complexity and to understand the historical gravity and the need to put things right. Rick Barker did that very well here indeed.But every country has the type of politician who snipes from the sidelines. Take the United States for example. Just yesterday Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said of Donald Trump: “We’ve got an empty suit here full of bravado but not full of anything really meaningful for the country.” Enough said. I do not want to dwell on that particular MP—until the next debate at least—but I do want to acknowledge Mr Barker and thank him for his wonderful work not only in this settlement but in plenty of others as well and I am going to continue using him regardless of the criticism.I now want to highlight some key moments in the history of the relationship between Ngāruahine and the Crown which provide the bleak backdrop—and I emphasise the bleak backdrop—to this settlement. In the 1840s and the 1850s Ngāruahine people engaged in trade with Europeans. They were prosperous. They were successful. During this time Ngāruahine consistently opposed the sale of their lands to Europeans and they retained control over their land and resources. What unfolds after that is a truly sorry history of Crown land purchasing that led to war in Taranaki the devastation of Ngāruahine settlements and cultivations by Crown forces the indiscriminate and the unjust confiscation of every acre of the Ngāruahine rohe in 1865 and the loss of control over the few lands that were returned.By the late 1870s large numbers of Ngāruahine people were among the many people from Taranaki and elsewhere who relocated to Parihaka and supported that settlement’s leaders in their movement for independence and peace. Ngāruahine people were among those who were arrested transported to the South Island and imprisoned in harsh conditions for long periods without trial and were also among those who were displaced from Parihaka when that settlement was invaded and dismantled by the Crown troops in 1881. These events remain among the lowest points in New Zealand’s history which is why we have been doing so much work in recent times with Parihaka and that is work that I can talk about on another day.Earlier this year we were welcomed—I say this to my friend Mr Korako—so kindly by Ngāi Tahu at the beautiful Arahura Marae near Hokitika and then up the road I was honoured to deliver the Crown’s apology to the people of Ngāruahine at the very site of a memorial for those of the iwi who were transported to the West Coast. This was at the conclusion of their recent hīkoi to the South Island to visit places where their tūpuna were taken from Parihaka and held captive in caves forced to build stone embankments around Otago Harbour and many of the roads in Dunedin. This was a fitting conclusion to a very emotional and spiritual hīkoi.I now turn to the settlement itself. Following the signing of the terms of negotiation in October 2010 Ngāruahine signed an agreement in principle at the end of 2012. The deed of settlement was initialled in June 2014 signed a couple of months later and now we have the bill before the House. Of course the members of the Māori Affairs Committee are going to take a good look at it. They will see that key elements of the package include $67.5 million a right of deferred selection over 10 sites the vesting of four culturally significant sites overlay classification over six sites of particular importance statutory acknowledgments over 51 sites of significance and deeds of recognition over 23 sites.There is so much about this settlement that I could talk about but it is important to get this bill away to the select committee today. So in closing can I simply say that it truly is a privilege to be the steward of this portfolio the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and to have negotiated this settlement with this great iwi. It certainly is a privilege to be opening the debate on this very important occasion. It is a day for reflection on what Ngāruahine have lost but it is a day of optimism as well—optimism for the future that lies ahead for Ngāruahine. The bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee and so I commend it to the House.