Mahuta NanaiaHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato): Te Ātiawa iwi tēnā koutou ka tika me rongo ki te pātukituki o te whatumanawa hei arahi i ēnei kōrero i mua i a koutou i tēnei rangi. [Acknowledgments to you Te Ātiawa tribe. It is apt indeed that you feel the palpitations of the heart as a lead into these contributions before you on this day.]I sometimes wish we had the benefit of foresight so that we could make contributions to these types of debates having seen what the impact of settlements would be 20 years forward. Sadly that is not the case but it got me thinking especially on this bill. When I came into this House the settlement process was very new. Our own settlement had transpired. In fact when I read some of the historical record much of the history is similar. The first Treaty settlement bill that I was able to participate in at the select committee level was the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Bill. I remember some strong representations. It was a new process and people were very unsure about the step they were about to embark on in settling their claim. I remember Te Maiharoa mokopuna of Hipa Te Maiharoa the prophet coming and advocating for his people of Waitaha. Although he got a good hearing again with the benefit of hindsight I think we might have just listened to him a little bit more to hear what he was saying. This is not to detract from that particular settlement—in fact in our own settlement Ngāti Te Ata would be the exemplar again—but to actually offer some insight as to how difficult a step it was to take to go down the settlement path. This is the first time in any Treaty settlement debate that I have made any contribution on Minister Finlayson where I have a real sense of concern and where I need to call on the moral fibre of the character of each of us as decision makers and as leaders to ask the question: have we got it right? I want to support this settlement and I will because Te Atiawa has negotiated it in good faith with the Crown. Yet I feel that there is one matter outstanding which has not been addressed and must be and it is the Pekapeka Block. If we go back to our history we could say in New Zealand that the first land confiscated—that is why Maniapoto went to Taranaki to support the cause—was actually this block. It is not good enough for us to think that we can have two different processes trying to come up with the remedy for a very difficult situation. Indeed we are at a point in time in the Māori Affairs Committee where we have got a parallel process. Yes we have got the third reading of Te Atiawa Claims Settlement Bill today and we will support it. However we do it knowing that there remain reservations around an outstanding matter that cannot simply be washed over. If we want to truly rectify the wrongs of the past we have to truly be able to be brave enough to challenge some very systemic wrongs that were created. Unlike Taranaki which had to cope with reserves and leases as well as raupatu Waikato lands were just taken—sold off. We have a situation here today where if we ask the question Are we doing enough to restore mana?" to Te Atiawa about what wrongfully happened to them we cannot neglect the issue of the Pekapeka Block. It is here in the historical account of this settlement. I am concerned for that reason Minister. I know that this House will debate at length through the select committee process and the third reading of the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill as to where to from here. I am looking at the honourable member for New Plymouth Jonathan Young. You know as we do that this is a difficult task but it will draw on our moral fibre and character to ask the question: can we do more and should we create space for a different way forward? If we were brave enough to do that we can support Te Atiawa bill with a level of concern and knowing that the issue of Pekapeka remains an issue yet to be resolved because we have an imperfect process dealing with it at the moment. I say that not to detract from your day and from the things that you want to see happen with this settlement bill but in good faith as we make all our impassioned speeches about restoring the wrongs of the past and making sure that the Crown upholds its obligations. When we debated Treaty settlements 20 years ago in this House the big debate was around full and final settlement and durability. We cannot quite have that conversation today with this bill because there is a matter outstanding. It requires a brave solution. It requires a different approach. It requires political intervention because if we just do it by the law and by statute it will not happen. There are people in this House who can make those decisions. We are just a cog in the wheel and through our humble contributions and our good conscience we are wanting to try to move this debate along. I told myself today for this particular settlement for Te Atiawa—knowing the history and knowing where my tūpuna stood in support of you and knowing beyond that the reason why—that I think more can be done.The reason why more needs to be done is that we need to get over the hurt of what raupatu really did to our tūpuna but to successive generations—successive generations. If we leave a significant outstanding matter in relation to Te Atiawa's raupatu claim unresolved or imperfectly resolved we are going to basically reconcile half of the iwi to a world full of hurt that may not be resolved within the iwi. How can that be? We have got a chance to do something as decision makers. I hope we do. That process is continuing. Minister Flavell I know that you have a significant connection to this area and that you are working with—well more than significant; super-significant. I know that you would work constructively across the House with us if there was some political bravery around this approach. The select committee will do as much as it can with regard to the local bill before us. But again if it is left to a transactional approach of looking at legislation without dealing to the moral obligation—the moral obligation of our country to get things like this right; things like this. There are only certain times with certain bits of legislation when you can stop and say that this is one of those times to get it right. It is one of those times. Twenty years into the future if I only had one chip to saying this is the time it would be on this issue right now—right now; to get it right.So Minister Finlayson I know your officials worked hard and have worked hard through this process. You have expressed a keen desire to see the cohort of settlements from Taranaki progressed in unison because the maunga is the next step. But I say in all good faith to you and with goodwill that if we could do something more and better to resolve this significant outstanding issue of Pekapeka which I believe is the first bit of raupatu land that occurred in our country then we would be doing the nation a favour. We would be doing the mokopuna of Te Atiawa a favour. We would be doing your mokopuna Minister a favour. We would be doing all of our country a favour because we would have stood up braved the storm found a different way and we would have had the moral fortitude and courage to do it because we knew it was right. If there was one time this is it and I say we should do it. Tēnā tātou katoa."