Jones Shane: Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeJones Shane: Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14131. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon SHANE JONES (Labour): Ā i te tuatahi ka huri ki Te Reo Māori. Kāti e ngā uri a Tūhoe-Pōtiki e ngā mokopuna a Tūtakangahau Te Umuariki a Kererū a rātou mā nā rātou tēnei kaupapa i poipoi i roto i te ao kōhatu heke iho ki a koutou tēnei mātou o te Whare e tuku mihi atu ki a koutou i roto i tēnei rangi ka whakaterengia tēnei waka ahakoa ko āna tā moko kei te kapu o te pepa ko tana wairua kei te ngākau me te wairua o te hunga e tautoko ana i tēnei kaupapa i tēneki rā. Nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou mai i ngā raorao mai i ngā marae Huiarau te tihi o Maungapōhatu huri noa ki te tutukitanga ki Te Moana-a-Toi tēnei mātou te mihi atu ki a koutou kua tatū mai ki Te Ūpoko-o-Te-Ika.Ahau nei e mahara ana ki te rārangi o ngā kōrero i titoa e te hau tupua o te ao Māori mō te kaitito wahine a Mihitekapua. Nāna te kī: “Te roa o te whenua te tāpae atu rā. Noho ana hoki ahau i Pōneke. Awhi ana ahau i a koe e te Karauna. He whakairitanga tēnei mō te mate o taku tinana.” Tāku ki a tātou ngā kupu i oti i tēnā kuia o roto o Tūhoe he whakatūpato i tēnei reanga e tū nei me ngā mokopuna e haere ake nei. Waiho hei kōrerotanga mā ā tātou tamariki ki te marae otirā me huri tātou ki te whitinga o te rā. Nā reira tēnā koutou katoa.[Firstly I turn to speak in Māori. So to the descendants of Tūhoe-Pōtiki the grandchildren of Tūtakangahau Te Umuariki Kererū and others who nurtured this matter in days long past and handed down now to you we of the House offer this acknowledgment to you in this day that this vessel is launched: even though its designs are contained in the hollow of the paper its spirit is with the heart and soul of those supporting this matter on this day. Greetings and salutations to you from the lowlands the courtyards mountain of Huiarau summit of Maungapōhatu and eventually the extent of the Bay of Plenty. We salute you who have arrived here in Wellington.For me particularly I recall the line of words that Mihitekapua the greatest female Māori composer of Māoridom composed. She stated: “The land that lay out before me is long. I also live in Wellington. I embrace you the Crown. A suspension of this would be the death of my body.” My interpretation to us is that the words that elderly woman from within Tūhoe came up with serve as a caution for this present generation and for the grandchildren still to come. Leave it as something for our children to talk about on the courtyard but at the same time we must turn to the rising of the sun. Greetings therefore to you all.]In our Māori language I have recited a verse from one of the great composers of Te Ao Māori from Te Urewera-Tūhoe region Mihikitekapua where in English what she said was: “I travelled such a long way to reach distant Wellington. When I embrace you Crown I know it will destroy me.” This is a day when the descendants of that kuia—and indeed on my side of the House the descendant of Richard Seddon in the form of David Cunliffe whose tupuna 100 years ago went to Galatea Waikaremoana Ruātoki and Ruatāhuna to meet and discuss with the chiefs of that time. The fact that he was brave enough to do it 100 years ago when today the average Kiwi hardly knows where these places are let alone has visited them is testimony to not only how small our country is but also how history actually has a way of reminding us that it is both political and personal.We stand to support this bill the Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill. We stand to support this bill knowing that over the last 10 years members on my side of the House have had to endure an episode that has not been a proud moment in the affairs between the Crown and Tūhoe and I refer here very briefly to what has become known in the media as the police raids. It was a bleak day and I salute the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations in his willingness not to shy away from that issue in the various commentaries that have been developed and reported upon as the Minister has brought this kaupapa to the House in this form. It was a very regrettable incident and my senior colleague Annette King sitting to my left was unfortunately at that point in time the Minister of Police. Though not responsible for the affairs of the police she has apologised on a number of occasions for the hurt and the anguish that that episode represented. I want to say that in the context of this bill because we will not leave any stone unturned to ensure that not only is this bill supported but the select committee process gets every level of support it deserves from our side of the House.It was in 1871 that the Tūhoe elders conceived of and composed a set of policies that have become known as the “whitu tekau” which is translated from Māori as “the seventy”. In Māori it simply was kaua te rori kaua te rūri kaua te rīhi kaua te hoko. In the 1890s it fell to Seddon and his Māori colleague Carroll to try to give practical expression to that via the passage of legislation. As the Minister has pointed out although the bill was debated at the time and law was passed it was observed in the breach not in honouring it.So today this piece of legislation is very significant because this is an iwi that had it not been for their matua Tūtakangahau there would be no Elsdon Best books for anthropology ethnography and Māori students and the other host of souls who go to university and want to read Elsdon Best. I must confess that I was not one of them. This is also the people who amongst Māoridom have been regarded as the final bastion for the quality of our Māori language and I want to salute those families who have endeavoured to maintain that kaupapa. I will not isolate particular individuals. It is better that that task fall to the third reading speeches because it is going to be quite a demanding process for my colleague Tau Henare to shepherd the bill through the Māori Affairs Committee.This is significant in what it does to one of our national parks. Make no mistake that I along with my colleagues was extremely surprised that the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations was able to carry the support of his senior colleagues and bring this forward as a model of governance kaitiakitanga and embedding Māori in the—they are already in the soil but embedding them in the spirit of the new law and in the application of the new law. It is something—I have not a doubt in my mind—that never would have been attempted or indeed delivered upon in the time of our predecessors Helen Clark and Geoffrey Palmer. So the fact that you have done that and that we support you shows that there is a maturing amongst the Pākehā people of that particular region. But broadly speaking the media are not prepared to pick these issues up to divide us.The real test lies in the actual execution and the application. We support the notion that these settlements should be checked up on from time to time. This is an area where the challenges are large because it is a region that has been overlooked and neglected. Although this kaupapa does represent a transfer of financial capital and land to turn that capital and land into a durable flow of economic good and benefit will be an exacting task. But that is not for us. We are the parliamentarians today who want to work together to ensure that this piece of legislation actually passes with minimal drama.I want to quote from 1869 after Tūhoe consented for Te Kooti Arikirangi to enter their territory. This is what is attributed to Te Kooti—the words received by Moses: “Tango ana ahau i a koutou hei iwi mōku. Ko ahau hei Atua mō koutou. Mōhio koutou ko Ihowa ahau ko koutou nōki te iwi o te Kawenata.” I take you as my people. I will be your God and you will know I am Jehovah. You are the people of the covenant. The covenant takes a new shape and form today in the representation of this legislation. It is imbued with spiritual significance the heritage of the people and the honour of the Crown. For those reasons it is important that all parties join together and demonstrate to the Treaty partners that our generation is serious about upholding the duties of history and also about working together so the future and its potential and its promise are delivered not only for Tūhoe but for our entire country. Tēnā koutou. Kia ora koutou katoa.