Volume 697 Week 69 - Wednesday 9 April 2014(continued on 10 April 2014)Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeVolume 697 Week 69 - Wednesday 9 April 2014(continued on 10 April 2014)[Sitting date: 09 April 2014. Volume:697;Page:17121. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Wednesday 9 April 2014(continued on 10 April 2014)Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment BillFirst ReadingHon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage):I move That the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill. This bill amends the Waitangi National Trust Board Act 1932. Its principal purpose is to make changes to the membership of the trust board.The board is charged with looking after what is probably the most significant historical site in New Zealand—the most important to the nation. It is at this site that James Busby the British Government’s first official representative erected the residency that we now call the Treaty House. On the lawn the Confederation of the United Tribes of Aotearoa first raised its flag in 1834 and signed a declaration of independence the following year. Lieutenant Governor Hobson and Māori representatives met there to sign the Treaty in 1840. In 1940 the centenary commemorations of that signing saw the realisation of Sir Apirana Ngata’s vision of a new whare rūnanga close to the Treaty House. A magnificent ceremonial waka also completed for the centenary is housed in the grounds and is still used on Waitangi Day as we all know. The grounds have been the focus of the nation’s Treaty commemorations for several decades. They have become a destination of interest to large numbers of New Zealanders and international visitors alike and these numbers of course can only continue to grow in the future.Before I outline the provisions of the bill it is instructive to recall how the current legislation came into being and how the Treaty House its grounds and surrounding land were secured for the nation. The Busby property changed hands several times in the 19th and early 20th centuries and in 1932 it was about to be sold again. Over the years there had been some Government interest in purchasing part of the property but no sale had eventuated. In 1932 it is fair to say the considerable economic challenges resulting from the Great Depression were foremost in the minds of the people.We can thank Vernon Reed for the role he played in saving the Treaty House. He was a former member of Parliament and he escorted the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe and Lady Bledisloe on a visit to see the Treaty House. Mr Reed was very keen to see public ownership of the site and had already petitioned the Government to purchase it. The Bledisloes for their part knew about the major constitutional events that had taken place at Waitangi and appreciated its historical importance. When they visited the site they were very affected by the sad state of the house. The Bledisloes there and then resolved to purchase the property themselves much to the delight of Mr Reed who had merely hoped to gain their support in his latest bid for Government ownership of the site. We are very fortunate indeed that the Bledisloes had the foresight to gift not only the Treaty House and its immediate surroundings but a full 506 hectares the Waitangi estate in perpetuity to the people of this land.Lord Bledisloe wanted not just to reclaim a part of New Zealand’s history but also to seek reconciliation to heal past controversies. He said he wanted to foster the sense of nationhood and to link for ever Māori and Pākehā on a common basis for a common good. In a time of high unemployment he also saw the restoration process as an opportunity to create work. To this end he provided £1000 for the Waitangi renovation fund to restore the Treaty House and other parts of the grounds. The Government contributed a further £500.The 1932 Act gave statutory effect to the Waitangi National Trust deed and established the trust board. It vested the estate and the board to be held in trust for the people of New Zealand as a place of historic interest recreation and enjoyment. The composition of the board reflected Lord Bledisloe’s wish to maintain an enduring relationship between tangata whenua and Pākehā in the governance of the site and to ensure ongoing Government involvement in the work. Board members were to include descendents of particular individuals both Māori and Pākehā who had been prominent at the time of the signing of the Treaty; a representative of Māori living north of Auckland and a representative of Māori living south of Auckland as well as representatives of the Bay of Islands and the South Island; and a prominent person with a background in politics history archaeology or natural history. The Government was represented on the board through ex officio rules for the Prime Minister and two Government Ministers. Governors-General were also to be given the option of becoming ex officio members.Under the deed the board was given powers to manage the estate including protecting and enhancing its heritage values engaging in income-generating activity and making by-laws to regulate conduct within the estate. It is not surprising that participation by the Governor-General the Prime Minister and the two Ministers in the board’s decision making has been somewhat limited. Quite apart from the potential conflict between their two roles—constitutional and board member—there is a risk of damage to the Crown’s reputation and to the office of Governor-General if for example the trust were to embark on a commercial venture that subsequently failed or took decisions that proved to be controversial.The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has reviewed the Act. It has identified these issues which must be attended to. The board needs workable governance arrangements that maintain the original intent of the Act and also reflect contemporary expectations of board members. So what the bill does is create a clearer formal separation between the Government and the board while ensuring a practical ongoing workable relationship.New section 4A establishes a new statutory Crown representatives group comprising the Prime Minister the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage and the Minister of Māori Affairs replacing the ex officio roles previously provided for in the Act. This group is intended to be a vehicle for ongoing dialogue between the Government and the board. It may well be convenient and indeed symbolically appropriate for their meetings to occur on or around Waitangi Day when the board and the Crown representatives would be up there at Waitangi.New section 4B broadens the current membership of the board by providing for parliamentary representation. Two members of Parliament are to be appointed as full members of the board. One will be nominated by the Prime Minister and the other by the Leader of the Opposition and this will ensure that a Government and a parliamentary perspective will be represented at the board table. The terms of office of the parliamentary representatives will expire at the end of the parliamentary term in which they are appointed if they become Government Ministers or if they cease to be members of this House. Part 2 contains miscellaneous provisions to amend the deed of trust and to provide for transitional arrangements for people serving as representative members of the board when the Act comes into force. These are all very sensible amendments that modernise the trust’s governance. They in no way diminish or negate Lord Bledisloe’s vision for the trust board and its work.As I noted earlier the trust board has broad responsibilities that go beyond the maintenance of the buildings on the site. These changes come at an important time as we look forward to the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty in 2015. The board has ambitious plans to improve the visitor experience at Waitangi. This work includes upgrading the existing visitor centre improving interpretation at the site and undertaking a major reinterpretation of the Treaty House. The board also plans to encourage visits by schoolchildren and to build a new museum which is intended to give New Zealanders and overseas visitors the opportunity to learn more about the early history of New Zealand. The board is also intending to promote Waitangi as a visitor attraction to tourists using an enhanced online presence as a marketing tool.The Government looks forward to seeing this work progress and to a continuing positive relationship with the board. The board on its part has expressed support for the changes contained in the bill and welcomes the prospect of a new working relationship with the Government. I am confident these changes will also be widely supported by other parties in this House. I commend the bill to the House.Hon SHANE JONES (Labour):Ā tēnā tātou katoa i roto i tēnei ata i a tātou e noho nei i roto i te Whare Pāremata ka whiriwhiri ka whakaputa kōrero mō tēnei pire e pā ana ki a tātou katoa ahakoa kiri parauri ahakoa kiritea ahakoa nō tēhea pito o te motu tā te mea ko te papa tēnei i waihangatia ai i whakaaetia ai i whakairongia ai ko te kawenata i tū ai tō tātou motu me tōna kāwanatanga arā ko te Tiriti o Waitangi. Nā reira tēnei ahau te tū i te taha ō ōku hoa ki te tautoko i ngā kōrero kua whakatakotongia ki te kapu o te pepa ā tōna wā ka whai pakiaka ka weu ki te mata o te ture. Nā reira tēnā anō tātou katoa.[So greetings to us all this morning as we sit in Parliament House to consider and to talk about this bill that relates to us all regardless of whether we are brown fair-skinned or whichever end of the country we are from because this is the ground upon which an agreement the Treaty of Waitangi was created agreed and penned—an agreement that our country and its Government was founded on. And so I stand alongside my colleagues to endorse the statements written into this bill that will shortly become validated and embedded in law. Therefore greetings to us all once again.]I stand to support the amendments outlined by the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. I speak with obvious affection for this part of the country not only because of wanting to embrace our heritage but by dint of coming from that part of Aotearoa. I want to remind the House that in 2006 the then Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage with the support of the then Prime Minister Helen Clark explored whether the capital base of the Waitangi National Trust Board could be strengthened by infusion of a Crown grant. I recall being on the Finance and Expenditure Committee chairing the select committee and it was John Key who posed the question to the acting Minister on the day—I think it was Minister Judith Tizard. That then led to some unfortunate rhetoric in and around personalities on this trust board and indeed from my erstwhile northern parliamentary colleague John Carter.At that point in time the fear was that any changes that took the Crown closer to either providing assistance or making other such changes to the Waitangi National Trust Board would weaken or corrupt the original kaupapa laid down by the Governor-General of that time Lord Bledisloe. I think that the wrong decision was made at that time and that this trust board statute has been well and truly overdue for amendments of this nature. The fact is that this group is responsible for—well I would say—the pre-eminent site in terms of our nation’s history and constitutional pedigree. The fact is that the Crown to date has not been able to work very closely with this organisation to ensure that it has the direction and indeed the resources to fulfil what this generation and future generations will expect of it as our multi-ethnicity grows and we ensure we do not move away from the original kaupapa that led to ordered settled development in our nation State.This is a particularly interesting bill because it seeks to blend together some of the leading colonial families and I am glad that now there will be parliamentarians in a slightly different way and a connection with the office of the Prime Minister and the office of the Opposition to ensure that the two streams of thinking—the thinking of whichever the Government of the day is or indeed in Parliament and the thinking of the custodians of that site—do not diverge. But it is interesting because the great-grandfather of the current list member Tau Henare was an original member of this trust as indeed was Korokī and as indeed was the mokopuna of Te Ruki Kāwiti.That particular appointee Te Riri Kāwiti was established as a custodian here to represent the interests of four families or four lineages of the Ngāpuhi people—Pōmare whose mokopuna is Kelvin Davis; Pōmare whose indigenous name was Whētoi; Pōmare who took his name from the Tahitian king of that time. In the rather wanderlust ways of the Ngāpuhi he had settled upon a kaupapa that he was going to go with several ships to Tahiti. The colonial forces of the time did not think that was a great idea. But Pōmare was also the tupuna who took back to Ngāti Porou their princess their tapairu by the name of Rangipaia. It was Pōmare who went with Hongi Hika as being the first iwi to get the muskets to settle historic scores. But he came to grief in the Waipā River in Tainui country and he had been warned by the High Chief Pōroa of Hokianga who had made peace with Tainui the ancestor Te Kanawa: “Do not make mockery of my peace.” There is a great story to be told by Hēnare Tūwhāngai and Rua Cooper that once they split the belly open of Pōmare the Tainui managed to get the kernel of corn to grow their gardens. This is not the stuff of stuffy history. This speaks to the red blood the liveliness of Māori history as well.The other ancestor is Tāmati Waka Nene. Tāmati Waka Nene is the son of Tapua. Tapua was the young man who greeted Cook not far from the Cavalli Islands. The third tupuna mentioned here is Hone Heke. Hone Heke needs no explanation. He decided that the flagpole was a source of irritation and a bit like his great great great mokopuna Hone Harawira was rebellious to his core. I do not recall Hone Heke having a German connection though but that is another matter. [Interruption] A little bit of humour. That is the Ngāpuhi style—Kāwiti Pōmare Waka Nene Hone Heke. That part of New Zealand’s heritage is still embedded in this bill.The creation of the Waitangi waka is also a story that needs to be properly told and hopefully will be through the restructuring of this bill. I would say to the Minister that over time perhaps the passage of some material assistance would be valuable because this trust went through a bad patch prior to the arrival of Sir Don McKinnon. I have to acknowledge Sir Don McKinnon as having done a great job in turning the fortunes of this trust round. It made an unwise decision about a decade ago. One bad executive can create all types of tantrums so I am so glad to learn that he has remained involved and indeed it has a fund-raising initiative with Westpac Bank which has continued to offer its support.The story of the Ngāpuhi waka Ngātokimatawhaorua a replica of which lies at Waitangi was the effort of Te Pūea and the effort of Ngata supported by Tau Henare’s tupuna who brought the big logs out of Ngāti Hine. Hone Harawira and I have an uncle who has recently passed away. He was the last surviving man who paddled that canoe when he went home from St Stephen’s School on holiday—Mr Glass Murray. He told us the story of how they were assembled near Kerikeri and the Tainui had come forward and were helping them with the drills. But in the great Ngāpuhi tradition the Hokianga people took offence at this. So they went into the backblocks of Hokianga and built their own waka. That waka too was called Ngātokimatawhaorua-iti and it took place under the leadership of the tohunga of Ngāpuhi of that time Mr Rei Kauere aided by Toki Pāngari. That waka has been restored. It has also graced the waters recently at Waitangi.I only hope that that part of the history is embraced as this trust grows and acts as a custodian for future generations because know this: as the demography and the composition of our population changes we must fight incessantly to ensure that we do not become untethered from this original narrative outlined in the Treaty hopefully safeguarded and evolved through good stewardship of this organisation. I feel a lot more confident as a consequence of these statutory changes that the organisation will grow to meet the challenges of the time. Kia ora tātou.Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa. Waitangi is a place that belongs to all New Zealanders—Pākehā and Māori. Incredibly those words were spoken 80 years ago by a British Lord who had been born in the same year that British troops invaded Waikato-Tainui. Lord Charles Bathurst Bledisloe New Zealand’s fourth Governor-General was a visionary man a man whose thinking was years ahead of his time a man whose generous actions matched his words. When public servants’ salaries were cut during the Great Depression Lord Bledisloe insisted the Government reduce his own salary by the same proportion—something we do here in this House! It meant that he ended up using his own private income to carry out his duties and to leave an enduring mark upon New Zealand history.In 1931 he donated the Bledisloe Cup to mark the annual rugby test between Australia and New Zealand. The Bledisloe remains physically the largest cup in world rugby. In 1933 after working alongside Tā Apirana Ngata Lord Bledisloe donated the Ahuwhenua Trophy for the Māori Farmer of the Year. The Ahuwhenua remains New Zealand’s oldest national farming competition. However Lord Bledisloe’s most significant gift to the nation was made in 1932 when he used his own money and purchased the Waitangi estate from private vendors. He then gifted all 1000 acres to the nation and said that Waitangi is the birthplace of our nation and that Waitangi is a place that belongs to all New Zealanders—Pākehā and Māori. More than 80 years later Lord Bledisloe’s words resound through the generations. They are as relevant today as they were in 1932.This bill is about nation-building and it has been a great honour to have served as a member of the Waitangi National Trust. Those who have served before me include representatives some of whom have been mentioned already. They include some of the forefathers of Aotearoa particularly of the north: Hone Heke Maihi Kāwiti Tāmati Waka Nene Pōmare James Busby Archdeacon Henry Williams and Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Those of us who are privileged to serve on the trust today have very large shoes to fill and to follow.This bill strengthens the existing trust by making the Governor-General its honorary patron. It extends the membership with two additional members of Parliament who are not members of Cabinet. The Crown representatives will provide for an enduring relationship between the Crown and the Waitangi National Trust. It will be made up of the Prime Minister the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. This legislative makeover for the Waitangi National Trust is being matched on the ground with plans for a state-of-the-art Waitangi Museum. The plans are outstanding and in keeping with the trust’s vision for Waitangi to be a place for all New Zealanders a place central to our history as a nation a place central to our growth as a nation a place of honour partnership scholarship and courage and a place for all Kiwis to want to visit at least once in their lifetime.Next year Aotearoa New Zealand turns 175 years old from the signing of the Treaty. This bill is about succession planning; futureproofing our most significant national site. The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi marked the birth of our nation. The lands at Waitangi mark the birthplace of our nation. The Treaty of Waitangi itself is the birth certificate of our nation. Ka hoki ōku mahara ki te wā i tae tuatahi au ki ngā whenua o Waitangi ā he taitama tonu au i tērā wā. I uru au ki roto i te whare i reira ā he whare i whakatūria i te tau 1940. I reira ngā kupu: ko au anō tētahi i reira.[My thoughts go back to the first time when I went to the Treaty grounds. I was still a young man at that stage. I went into the house that was there which was built in 1940 and there were the words: I was one of the ones present.]Those words were put in that house for the reason that that house was erected—that every tree had some Governor-General’s name associated with those trees. So in 1940 when they built the house and opened it this says: “I was also there.” putting the other half of the Treaty the Māori people in there. It is a pleasure for me to stand and support this bill today. Thank you.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to be able to join previous speakers and support the passage of this bill the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill.I was listening to my colleague Shane Jones reciting history and I can say that in terms of the relationship the Bledisloes had throughout the country with Māoridom at the time it was certainly significant. They visited Tūrangawaewae Marae a number of times. Te Rata was a member of the original trust board. It was during this time that Te Pūea consolidated the nature of that relationship by sending our master carvers up to the north to be able to carve Ngātokimatawhaorua. I am recalling those carvers like Piri Poutapu Hoani Hērangi and the like who contributed their time and effort to the aspiration set down by the Bledisloes to remember our history; to purchase this piece of estate and gift it back to the nation in a way that we can celebrate. It is a place that is a historical site of significance not just to the north and not just to Māori but to New Zealanders. Eighty years later now that we are looking again at this legislation we can remember with only pride the amount of foresight that was held by those leaders at the time to make sure that where the founding document of our country was signed there was a place to remember that occasion. I want to acknowledge Pita Paraone who is a current board member of the trust and is listening to the debate representing those original whānau who were on the board as well.I am really excited by the fact that the time has now come to modernise the trust deed which informs the way in which the trust board operates but also to think about how Waitangi as a site of significance can grow and be a place where more tourists come to learn about our history and more schoolchildren come to experience a little bit of what is unique about New Zealand. I want to maybe dwell a little bit on some of that opportunity. I do not think that there is a school in the country that I have visited where Waitangi is not an annual school trip fixture—maybe not for all the classes of the school but they always try to make a pilgrimage to Waitangi or to Parliament here in Wellington.It is with that kind of sense of optimism that I want to say that the trust board does the nation a great service not just by looking after the place in itself but by continually challenging itself to see how it can be a part of telling New Zealand’s stories. I remember some years ago there was a debate about the fee for going in to visit the place. At the time I think people were saying that New Zealanders should be charged nothing and only tourists should pay. That was by the by and I think the real point of the debates of the day is that the trust board has a good opportunity to link New Zealand’s national heritage and story in a way that continues to promote us with some integrity. That is a two-sided story.I want to come to the membership of the board. We support this bill going to the select committee because we think it is far overdue that the trust deed be modernised so that the membership and the way in which it works for the benefit of the board can be a more proactive I guess engagement of ideas skills and enthusiasm.Having had a discussion with people around this particular bill maybe there are two issues that might be put on the table now that we might expect at the select committee. I am expecting that it will come to the Māori Affairs Committee.Hon Christopher Finlayson: It will.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: Fantastic. I must have been distracted slightly. When it gets to the select committee maybe the issue of the lands in the estate supporting the work of the board could be a possible point of discussion. Shane Jones raised the issue about potential further investment from the Government for the ongoing operations of the trust board but more important is guaranteeing to the board that the whole estate that was gifted to the Waitangi National Trust Board remains intact. At the moment we have got Treaty settlements in the area. Far be it from me to predict what might be part of the settlement package but if the farm estate in this area which was originally gifted for the purposes of preserving this particular site becomes part of a settlement package we might see ourselves revisiting a number of components of our contributions today which will not be very helpful I think.The other point is one that I observed when I looked at the original membership of the board in the bill. We have one member who represents four of the Māori whānau who have a direct connection there. One might presume that each of those whānau in their own right deserves to have a member sit on the board and make a contribution. I understand they have come to their own arrangement where there is a rotation of who represents those four whānau but that is still one representative for four whānau. That could again be a matter that the select committee might have to consider at that point. I do not want to dwell too much more on this bill. We need to get it to the select committee. Hopefully we will get at least to the submissions before the House rises.Shane recited some history that also links to my Ngāpuhi connections and my Te Takapau Ngāti Manu connections to Pōmare. The place that he was referring to back home in the Waikato was Te Rore where that incident happened. It is a place that has for my own family particular significance because of that event but more important I think it is an opportunity for us to live what the successive I guess marriage relationships have been in consolidating the relationships between Waikato and Ngāpuhi.Nō reira with that said I support the bill. I support the renewing of the trust deed and the revisiting of the membership of the trust board. I would like to get an assurance at some point about the nature of the estate that looks after the trust. If Shane Jones’ recollection of history is right there may well need to be in the future some consideration of further investment to support the activities of the board. Tēnā koutou katoa. Kia ora.DAVID CLENDON (Green):I am pleased to stand for the Greens and speak in support of the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. On the face of it typically the restructuring by some amendments of a Government body might not excite much emotion or passion except of course that this bill does relate to what is undoubtedly the single most important historic site in New Zealand. For that reason of course it is important that the work be done and that we get it right. I believe the Green position is that largely this does seem to be a well-intentioned and well-drafted piece of legislation that does effect some necessary and positive changes. For those reasons we of course will support it.It has taken some time to get to this point. If I understand correctly there was a review undertaken by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage—the Ministry of Arts and Culture as it may have been then—in 2006 to 2008 and there were some concerns about the potential for constitutional conflict in the various roles of the Prime Minister particularly and indeed the Governor-General. It is interesting to note that in 2007 the then Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand broke with convention by choosing not to take up a seat that was available to him on the board which one can only assume reflected a level of unease perhaps from a gentleman of the highest integrity. I think there is a signal in that that all has not been well with the existing structure. So as I say I think it is a good thing to move on and to look at what and how we can do better.I think it is critically important that we retain a couple of the key characteristics of the original board as it was formatted and those characteristics are representation and inclusion. Clearly it was insightful to the extent that membership of the board represented Māori with significant mana and connections to the site and to New Zealand more generally and of course Pākehā and Government representatives. When you see names on that original board like Kāwiti Hēnare Māhuta and Williams these are names that resonate with anybody with the least understanding of or exposure to our New Zealand history. It is important that we retain that quality of representation the breadth of representation and the inclusiveness of the representation on the board. We have no qualms with this bill in the sense that we think it will achieve that. With people with goodwill there is no reason we cannot continue to retain the best of it but make some necessary amendments to it.I believe that there was initially some concern that the bill on the face of it appeared to be politicians handing away a level of power and control. That is not something that politicians are wont to do typically. It perhaps created a little bit of unease or some questions raised but I think that it is clear that it is well-intentioned. It does address a potentially concerning constitutional conflict and we see nothing in it that is not benign and helpful.I think it is important to acknowledge that in Waitangi as a site as a historic site and as a dynamic live living place there have been some positive developments in recent years. The whole ambience and the whole dynamic of the place seem to have picked up. It is a more engaging place. It is in beautiful condition. It is well cared for. It reflects care and concern being put in to it. There have been some developments and I think one would hope that the new board in its new format will continue. It is a historic site obviously but it is also part of our present and part of our future. It is very encouraging to hear that there are some positive plans afoot to expand the site to add value to it. I must confess that I continue to be surprised by the number of New Zealanders who actually have never set foot in Waitangi. No doubt there are other places around New Zealand where people have not been and to my mind it is peculiar. But I do think to the extent that we can add value to the site and make it a more open more interesting more engaging place for those who do not have the close relationship to it that some of us already do as I say the plans afoot it would seem will achieve that outcome as well. I think that is as much as I need to say.As I say the Greens are very keen and able to support this. We look forward to engaging in the select committee process. One of the things the bill does of course is to have a Government representative and a person representing the Opposition parties. It is important that those people particularly the person representing the Opposition parties are selected in a cross-party consensual sort of way. Clearly an MMP situation does require that there be a level of engagement before that appointment is made to ensure that whoever stands in that role will have the support of all of the Opposition parties. Indeed the same applies for the Government representative given the likelihood that the Government of any day will constitute a number of different parties under our MMP system. We look forward to this. We think it is well-intentioned. We think it will deliver good outcomes. We will be pleased to vote for its process through the House. Kia ora.Hon TAU HENARE (National):Tēnā tātou katoa. It is with a sense of pride that I stand and speak on this bill the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. It is about 10 days away from the 100th anniversary of the election of my great-grandfather to this House. From 1914 to 1938 he represented the Northern Maori electorate. When you read through his Hansard—it is not like the Hansard of these days—his was centred really on one thing and that was the Treaty of Waitangi. His time here 24 years was centred on making sure that Waitangi was the jewel in the crown. I stand here with a sense of pride that my great-grandfather was able to do so much for the nation in terms of actually getting the place running and being an inaugural member of the Waitangi National Trust Board as I have also served on it when I was the Minister of Māori Affairs.I just want to take a brief call to mention a few names and also to say that I am looking forward—actually it is a bit serendipitous that this may be my—Hone Harawira: Serendipitous? Woo hoo!Hon TAU HENARE: I see Mr Harawira has been out figuring out what “serendipitous” means. But anyway I think it will be one of the last things that I do as chairman of the Māori Affairs Committee. I am looking forward to going to Waitangi and listening to some of the kōrero there—the submissions about what we are doing. I am interested to see the proposal that there be a Government representative and a member of the Opposition. It is not new. I maybe think that those people should represent Parliament rather than the Government or the Opposition as we do in the Inter-Parliamentary Union. We are parliamentary representatives rather than representing the Opposition or representing the Government.Waitangi is the single most important geographical point in New Zealand absolutely. If you travel the world and see other countries and the respect and honour that they give their birthplaces I think that we tend to miss out on that emotional tie to the birth of the nation. There was a whole lot of stuff that happened prior to the Treaty of Waitangi and to Waitangi becoming the home of New Zealand but we should revel in the fact that as we go forward we do have a place that was established in 1840.Two names that I want to write into the records are George Waititi and Eramiha Te Kapua and also Mōtatau’s gift I suppose to the nation of the tōtara that was pulled out of the Ngāti Hine forest to build the whare rūnanga which were actually carved at Mōtatau. My great-grandfather’s son Sir James Hēnare spent years with the trust making sure that he carried on that mantel and his son Ērima Hēnare has done the same. I also want to congratulate the present board with Pita Paraone a former member of Parliament and also Sir Donald McKinnon a former Deputy Prime Minister as well.I think the trust has a rosy future and I think that we need to make sure that we do not change it just because we think it might need changing. I think we should definitely listen to those who come before the select committee with their views. On that note thank you very much.MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa ngā mema o te Whare nei.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. Greetings to us all members of this House.]I rise in support of the first reading of the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. It gives me honour to support previous speakers in acknowledging the national significance of the Waitangi grounds and its history. I too look forward to the progress of the bill with its commitment to modernising the governance arrangements of the trust board. Can I first acknowledge Pita Paraone a former member of this House and the current chair of the Waitangi National Trust Board. Tēnei te mihi ki a koe matua. I too am happy to hear that this bill will get forwarded to the Māori Affairs Committee.My contribution is really in acknowledging the iwi of the far north. I note the Hon Chris Finlayson’s acknowledgment of Lord Bledisloe but I want to acknowledge those original iwi owners. The history in my research is that after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 the grounds belonged to the Busby family. In 1882 Agnes Busby the wife of James Busby sold the land 10 years after his passing. It was local iwi who felt that the farmlands were in decline and sought to persuade Parliament to support the resurrection of what was a significant site—the beginning of our history and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. I want to pay tribute to the iwi of the time who did forge and try to pursue that resurrection and their commitment of support to make the Waitangi Treaty Grounds into what they have become now. So I wanted to first pay tribute to them.It was interesting in my own little bit of research about that time that in 1878 when members of local tribes petitioned the Government to set up a commemorative meeting house the Government of the day actually refused. I am glad we are not in that period but it is important that if we are going to be honest about our history we acknowledge that part—that there were other people just as determined as clearly Lord Bledisloe and the local MP Vernon Reed were at the time to bring the state of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds estate to the attention of Parliament.I want to acknowledge the original trustees who took part in this trust board. I want to share a little story about having attended one of those trust board meetings at Government House under the governance role of the former Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright. I attended a meeting with the trust alongside my predecessor the late Hon Parekura Horomia. There are times in your life when you are amongst people who have touched history that is significant to you. I can share with you that the hairs on the back of my neck rose when I sat at a table with direct descendants of Hone Heke Tāmati Waka Nene and the Pōmare whānau on one side and on the other side there were direct descendants of the Williams family the Bledisloe family and of course the Busby family as well as the Wakefield family. It was one of those occasions before which you had not thought you would ever be able to touch your history in such a personal way. I do know from that short time that I sat at the table with those trust members the absolute commitment those members have to honouring the founders in terms of reserving this site on behalf of all the nation so I do want to acknowledge like I said the original trust members.Also I want to acknowledge the work done on this particular amendment bill by Mr Finlayson in terms of strengthening the relationship between the Crown and the board. I too want to add my support to the Government—whoever is in Government—seriously considering the ongoing resourcing and investment into ensuring that with this trust on behalf of all the nation we acknowledge the significance of the Waitangi grounds in terms of forging our history as a country. It is quite fitting that we investigate ways in which we not only support it in spirit but actually support it with resourcing.So I join with all members in this House in supporting the first reading of this bill. I too look forward to it coming to the Māori Affairs Committee and I encourage people to participate in that process to ensure that these grounds have a major and unquestionable part to play not just in our history as a nation but definitely in our future going forward. Nō reira tēnā koutou katoa.MIKE SABIN (National—Northland):It is a privilege to take a short call on this particular piece of legislation the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. As the MP for Northland I just want to acknowledge the work of the Waitangi National Trust Board and Pita Paraone and Greg McManus and the work that they are doing there. There has been something of a renaissance in the efforts in Waitangi and that is so very important to not only the people of Northland but the people of New Zealand because of the significance which many have regaled of the history and the personalities and the individuals and of course because of it being the birthplace of New Zealand.Can I just acknowledge the Hon Tau Henare who has been an outstanding member of Parliament and a flamboyant and colourful individual. I will certainly miss his involvement in this place now that he has signalled via the Twittersphere that he is moving on. I will always remember of course that he spent most of my first political term trying to convince me that Tau Henare Drive was actually named after him and not after his great-grandfather. I have since come to learn that I have been defrauded by his machinations. He is a very very important part of this place and its history here but I also think we should acknowledge the contribution that he has made to Māoridom and this bill is I think another step in a very positive direction in terms of the significance of our nation and the way in which we are coming together as many peoples in actual fact and forging ahead.The significance of Waitangi cannot be understated. As a Northlander for many many years of my life the significance of Waitangi has not really landed upon me in the way that I think it should. It is probably a sad indictment that in many ways we have not got the cultural settings or the identity in the fit place. I think that a bill like this—and the good work of the Hon Chris Finlayson in terms of the Treaty settlement process and the opportunities that are in front of us to be led by law from Waitangi the birthplace of New Zealand—is very very important.I look forward to participating in whatever way I can to support the interests of the Waitangi National Trust Board. I think that the governance structure and the model that is obviously set ahead of us in terms of this legislation makes absolute sense in a practical and pragmatic way but what we should also reflect on is the importance of where we are going as a nation where we have come from as a nation and what the Waitangi National Trust Board can be and is and should be for this nation. It is a privilege to support this piece of legislation and to support those in Tai Tokerau who work in the interests of all of New Zealand. I support this bill wholeheartedly.CLAUDETTE HAUITI (National):Tēnā koutou katoa. The Waitangi National Trust Board Act 1932 incorporated the Waitangi National Trust Board which administers the Waitangi Treaty grounds and associated lands. National is delivering on its promise to improve governance for the arts. The governance structure of the Waitangi National Trust Board will be modernised to reflect the cultural and historical importance of the Treaty grounds at Waitangi. Waitangi is the birthplace of this nation both old and new and it is fitting that this important heritage status is acknowledged.The Treaty House was originally known as the residence where James Busby conducted much of his official mahi from 1833 to 1846. Te Whare Rūnanga was the idea of two great tūpuna: Tau Hēnare and Sir Apirana Ngata. Te Whare Rūnanga was opened in 1940—100 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The waka house near Te Ana o Maikuku homes the ceremonial waka Ngātokimatawhaorua. The flag that was first flown at the grounds was that of the United Tribes of New Zealand.These are the historical stories around Waitangi but there are also very modern stories around Waitangi and many of us in the House were part of that modern-day story when we marched in protest about the honouring of the Treaty. I am really proud to be standing with this Government and alongside my Ministers in this Government who have signed the majority of Treaty claims.The trust is self-funded and maintains the Treaty grounds without cost to the people of Aotearoa. The changes in the bill will strengthen the financial viability and governance structure of that trust. This will enable us to increasingly place Waitangi—its history and significance—at the heart of being a New Zealander and as an essential experience for overseas manuhiri as well.The Waitangi National Trust Board currently consists of two categories of members—ex officio members and representative members. At this time I would like to acknowledge our rangatira Pita Paraone Ērima Hēnare and Sir Tumu Te Heuheu.The Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill introduces changes to the composition of that board. The Governor-General and Ministers will be removed from ex officio positions on the board. The Governor-General will become an honorary patron of the trust. The Prime Minister the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage and the Minister of Māori Affairs will form a Crown representative group to foster good relationships and share information with the board.Two members of Parliament one representing the Government and one representing the Opposition will be appointed as full members of the board. By removing the Governor-General and Ministers from ex officio positions on the board the bill removes the risk of conflict between their constitutional roles and their roles as trustees. I commend this bill to the House.LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō):I am very pleased to speak on behalf of the National caucus on this Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. Colleagues before me from both sides of the House have gone through the history in quite a lot of detail.But I do want to bring just one extra point to the House. Minister Chris Finlayson talked about the original members of the very first trust board one of whom was Vernon Reed. Vernon Reed became a member of Parliament in the Bay of Islands from 1908. He is the grandfather of my father’s wife Kirsty Reed so I have a very interesting connection to the Williams family. Having been involved in many discussions with Kirsty and her family—and they have portrayed the stories of that time—I do want to acknowledge each and every one of the members of both the original board of the Waitangi National Trust and every single member who has served since that time and obviously Lord and Lady Bledisloe themselves because what they have done is allow a very important part of New Zealand’s history to be maintained and restored. So whether it is schoolchildren visiting as part of their education about Waitangi or whether it is the pilgrimage of many many New Zealanders on Waitangi Day they have preserved a treasure that is important to all Kiwis.One of the other things that were interesting when my stepmother Kirsty was going through some of the history and bringing out some of the books that were written at the time including one by Vernon Reed was looking through some of the photos. I was intrigued to read the name Tau Hēnare. Of course that was Tau Henare’s great-grandfather who I have since learnt was a great friend of Vernon Reed. So it is somewhat interesting to then see that two descendants albeit connected through marriage are serving in the House of Parliament now.I do want to acknowledge my colleague—if he is listening—the Hon Tau Henare who is muttering. I want to acknowledge his service to this House over a significant period of time and I acknowledge the announcement of his intention to retire from Parliament at this upcoming election. He has served New Zealand very well and I am very proud that his forefathers served with a member of my extended family in this House and that they have allowed for this national treasure to be maintained. Thank you.Bill read a first time.Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement BillThird ReadingHon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs)on behalf of theMinister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations:I move That the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time. Ā tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou kua tae mai ki tēnei Whare mō te wā whakamutunga. Kua oti te tono mai te whiriwhiri ngā kōrero me ērā atu. Nā reira kua tae pai mai koutou i tēnei rangi tēnā koutou katoa tae noa ki ngā mihi ki a rātou kua ngaro atu rātou kua tukuna atu ki te kōpū o te whaea. Nā reira haere ngā mate. Waiho rātou ki a rātou tātou ki a tātou e kawe nei i tēnei kaupapa mō te rā nei. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Greetings to you all. Salutations to you collectively who have arrived here in this House for the final time. Submissions statements and everything else have been completed. Therefore you have arrived here safely on this day so we acknowledge you all including the tributes accorded to those who have passed away and have been interred in the womb of mother Earth. So farewell the dead. Allow them to remain there among their own while we deal with this matter that is before us today. Greetings and acknowledgments to you all.]I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the members of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū who have travelled here to join us on this important day. I acknowledge those who carried the burden of the wrong suffered by Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū many who have passed away without seeing this day. Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū are tangata whenua within their takiwā. In their takiwā they have held and continue to hold ahi kā roa. Their takiwā extends from Maungaharuru Range in the west to Tangitū in the east from Waikari River in the north to Waiōhinganga and Keteketerau in the south. This is the takiwā of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū who are commonly known as Ngāti Marangatūhetaua also known as Ngāti Tū Ngāti Kurumōkihi Ngāi Te Ruruku ki Tāngoio and Ngāi Tauira—tēnā koutou.In this takiwā Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū were the recipients of the Crown’s actions and inactions which cannot be ignored or excused. In this takiwā Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū were challenged on their own whenua yet despite this here they are today to settle with the Crown. The story of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū is therefore not a story about land loss but one of determined continuity. The settlement for Maungaharuru-Tangitū as encapsulated by this bill is a result of that determination. Prior to the arrival of the Pākehā Maungaharuru-Tangitū lived independently and without the need to leave their rohe to survive. The Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū whakatauāki “Ko tō rātou pā kai ngā rekereke” means that their fortified villages were in their heels and it eloquently describes that life for the hapū. Resources available on the coast of Tangitū and available on the inland areas mean9t that Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū had year-round nourishment without having to leave their tribal boundaries. These rich resources were and continue to be taonga to Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. The Crown’s actions completely changed this way of life.We are here today to consider a bill that resolves injustices inflicted by the Crown through its acts and omissions under the privileges of Te Tiriti o Waitangi arā Treaty of Waitangi. From the 1850s the Crown undertook a process that systematically confiscated nearly all of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū ancestral lands. The Waitangi Tribunal recorded in its Mohaka ki Ahuriri Report that Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū suffered land loss through pre-1865 Crown purchase the operation from 1865 of the Native Land Court the 1867 confiscation and later Crown purchasing mainly conducted from 1910 to 1930. The impact of the land loss the lack of development opportunities the fragmentation and multiple ownership of tiny parcels of land and the lack of access to the remaining land completely undermined the social economic base of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. The impacts of that land loss can still be seen today.Yet despite that Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū are here today to settle with the Crown—me mihi ki a tātou. For generations Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū have sought redress for the many breaches of the Treaty by the Crown. From Te Teira Te Paea’s petition to the Privy Council in London in 1901 over the confiscation of Kaiwaka Block to the filing of claims with the Waitangi Tribunal in the 1990s Maungaharuru-Tangitū have continued to seek justice for the wrongs they have suffered.In May 2004 the tribunal presented the then Minister of Māori Affairs the late Hon Parekura Horomia with the Mohaka ki Ahuriri Report. It reported that the claims of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū were well founded. It concluded that overall it had identified serious breaches of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown in the loss of Māori land in their district. The Waitangi Tribunal recorded in its Mohaka ki Ahuriri Report many actions and inactions by the Crown a few I will mention here. It found that the Crown negotiated unscrupulously to purchase land at Ahuriri and Mōhaka in 1851. It described that the Crown was unjustified in its attacks on Pai Mārire followers at Ōmaranui and Pētane and its subsequent pursuit of the escapees and destruction of their property.Further the tribunal reported that the Crown unlawfully confiscated land from Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and had no basis for depriving the hapū of ownership of the Tāngoio and Maungaharuru blocks. It did not provide any redress for this exclusion of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū from the title to the Kaiwaka Block in 1870 despite protests by the hapū over many years and the extensive legal action they successfully took to be included in the title. The Crown also failed to adequately protect the environment in Mōhaka ki Ahuriri including Lake Tūtira coastal reefs and other places. Through its failure to adequately protect the environment the Crown’s actions negatively impacted on the treasured resources of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and the little land they retained. With resources impacted upon the Crown failed to make adequate efforts to halt Māori depopulation and improve the health and living standards of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū to standards equal to those of the Pākehā. These actions by the Crown and others cannot be ignored or excused and today Maungaharuru-Tangitū is here to settle with the Crown.Today this bill gives effect to the deed of settlement negotiated between the Crown and Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. This bill provides for cultural financial and commercial redress in compensation for these breaches. It is a way that the Crown can acknowledge that it breached the Treaty of Waitangi. It is a way the Crown can apologise for those breaches and their consequences. This bill looks to make amends for the Crown’s past actions and to build a shared future with Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. The legislation before us is much more than a new law. It is a history of a people. It is the future of a people. It allows Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and the Crown to acknowledge the past grievances and look forward to a more prosperous future. It is about creating a bright and prosperous future for Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū.At this point I just want to pay tribute to Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. They have suffered heavily at the hands of the Crown but Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū have a proud history of seeking justice and have not remained passive as these injustices have occurred. They have continued in their kaupapa resolute and determined. I stand before you to acknowledge the courage and determination you have shown. However my words can only briefly touch upon the mamae and the pain that Maungaharuru-Tangitū have had to endure and carry. This settlement will support the healing of the relationship between Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and the Crown. It also serves an important lesson for the Crown to ensure that the devastation inflicted on Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū is never repeated. I hope the apology that forms part of this settlement will also assist in this healing. We acknowledge that as a consequence of the Crown’s actions from 1850 Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū have been left bereft in its own whenua yet they have come today to settle with the Crown. I commend this bill to the House. Tēnā koe.MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa ngā mema o te Whare nei.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Greetings to us all members of this House.]It is an honour to rise and speak in the third and final reading of this significant bill the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. It is an honour on a couple of fronts. It is an honour because I am the local member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti from which these people descend. But more important it is an honour for me to rise in support of this bill because I share common ancestry with my kinfolk who have joined us here in the public gallery today. My great grand-uncle Harvey Whaitiri is borne in the urupā of Pētane and I share common ancestry with the Spooner or Puna whānau. E te iwi kua tae mai tēnei wā nau mai nau mai haere mai. Hoki mai ki tō tātou Whare i runga i te kaupapa whakahirahira. Nō reira ōku rau rangatira e kui mā e koro mā ngā mātua ngā mokopuna tamariki hoki kei te mihi kei te mihi kei te mihi.[To the tribe who have arrived here at this point in time welcome welcome welcome. Return to our House in regard to this important matter. And so to you my leaders of a hundredfold my elderly women and menfolk my parents grandchildren and children as well I acknowledge salute and greet you.]The Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū deed of settlement is the full and final settlement of all historical Treaty of Waitangi claims of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū resulting from acts or omissions by the Crown prior to 21 September 1992. It is made up of a package that includes an agreed historical account and Crown acknowledgments that form the basis for a Crown apology to Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. It includes cultural redress and it includes financial and commercial redress. The benefits of this settlement will be available to all members of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū wherever they may live.All Treaty claims are unique and there is no difference with this particular claim. I want to acknowledge the envy that I share with the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū in terms of their takiwā and what it stands for. To members of the House and to the people who are listening if you ever get the opportunity you see amongst us a proud people—a proud people who enjoyed prior to the wars of the past and the confiscation of land that occurred the absolute subsistence of a beautiful forest out at Maungaharuru and all of the bounties of the coastline. Maungaharuru-Tangitū ki te tai Maungaharuru-Tangitū ki uta.[Maungaharuru-Tangitū to the shore and Maungaharuru-Tangitū towards the hills.]I mihi to you all in your tenacity and commitment to getting to today’s final reading of your important bill.The Hon Pita Sharples has amply described the history and the mamae suffered by these people. Like I said every settlement is unique. When I look over the settlement of Maungaharuru-Tangitū I want to touch on two particular areas that for me are unique to this settlement. I did mention them in my second reading speech when this bill came through the House. Unfortunately we had bad weather so we could not get the whānau here but I know that you were all here in spirit as we spoke of that.The unique point of difference for me in this settlement is the speed with which the claims were actually settled. The speed that I acknowledged in my second reading speech was on looking at it 3 years and 7 months. Some people will say that that may be too fast and others may say “Phew that was really efficient.” but I do want to acknowledge your negotiators. I do want to acknowledge that without the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū getting behind the process I do not think you would have met those time lines. I know Tānia Hopmans. I mihi to Tānia and Uncle Bevan and the others involved in the whole negotiation process for not only the swiftness with which you presented the claims but the way you shepherded your whānau the hapū to actually get to this point.Like I said the deed of mandate just for the record was signed on 20 October 2009. The agreement in principle was signed on 22 September 2011. The deed of settlement was signed on 22 March 2013 and it was ratified by the whānau on 25 May 2013. So from go to whoa—and I mention that the significant difference that stood out for me in this settlement was the speed—in 3 years and 7 months is pretty tough going. As a former Treaty negotiator I can say that that needs to be acknowledged. Underlying it is the work that went on behind the scenes. Also being a former mandated negotiator the pressures on the whānau to move that swiftly cannot be underestimated. I am labouring this point but I am doing it in acknowledgment that you would have got to this point only if you had the buy-in and commitment of the whole kainga so again I mihi to you all for that.The second significant part that jumps out at me in this settlement is the strong emphasis Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū have placed on the cultural redress in this bill. I acknowledge the many reserves the lake beds and the coastline that they have obviously fought to return some sort of control back to ngā hapū of Mangaharuru-Tangitū. Without dwarfing the financial redress it speaks volumes of the importance that those cultural redress sites and those sites of significance have to a people who were left I guess desolate in terms of the land that they lost. So again that was clearly a strategy and a commitment from ngā hapū of Maungaharuru-Tangitū to ensuring that our lands our waterways and our coastline have returned back under the mana where they rightfully sit. So I want to acknowledge that as a significant component of this settlement.I also want to quickly turn to the select committee process. I too want to acknowledge our chairman the Hon Tau Henare. I am not going to say farewell—that will come in due course. The hearing that we had in Napier which many of our whānau attended was ably chaired by Te Ururoa Flavell. Because Tau likes to keep us moving in the Māori Affairs Committee we had half the committee up at Auckland on that day and the other half came to Napier. So I do want to mihi to those who attended that hearing. The issue that came up that was addressed at the select committee hearing was hapū not feeling included and also the cross-boundary issues between Maungaharuru-Tangitū and Ngāti Pāhauwera. I can say that through the work of the select committee we were pleased that no one was going to miss out—no one was going to miss out. That became clear in the submission response on behalf of Maungaharuru-Tangitū that those whānau—who are our whānau—who felt they were not being included now would be. So the select committee process was fairly straightforward and robust and we were very happy to support this bill in getting to where we are today.As I close it is important that I acknowledge people who have shepherded this bill to the House today. I do want to pay tribute to our kaumātuas first and foremost—those who are here and those who are not here—for your wisdom your guidance and your patience in getting us over the line. To the negotiators the settlement claim members I mihi to you all. I mihi to ngā hapū for your involvement in ratification and the Hon Pita Sharples mentioned the hapū. Also I mihi to the Hon Chris Finlayson the Office of Treaty Settlements and Government officials for their support and making sure that we got here today. I mihi to you Mr Finlayson. Finally I mihi to members of our select committee who did the job expected of us to ensure that when this bill got to this House we had dotted every “i” and crossed every “t”. I can say without a doubt that that was done ensuring that our part in this process was completed to the satisfaction of this House. I join with all members in this House in celebrating with ngā hapū of Mangaharuru-Tangitū this full and final reading of this bill. I commend it to the House. Kia ora tātou.Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations):I too acknowledge the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and the long road that they have taken to reach this day. I welcome those who have travelled from the Hawke’s Bay to be here to listen to this the third reading of their bill the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. To those of you who have worked so tirelessly to make today possible I offer you my sincere thanks. It is wonderful to have this day arrive. It has been more than 20 years since Fred Reti Bevan Taylor Heitia Hiha and others brought their raupatu claim to the Waitangi Tribunal and those three individuals have been involved in the negotiations to this day.I acknowledge the many kuia and kaumātua who are no longer with us including Rere Puna and Arona Rangitere Taurima who provided leadership wisdom and inspiration to the negotiators and to the hapū in their long journey for justice. I think the negotiators and the komiti for Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū have done their people proud. They left no stone unturned and no aspiration untold. Their determination to achieve the best for the hapū has I think led to a robust settlement package. It is a package that clearly reflects the four aka or vines—the intertwined aspirations of the hapū—which I believe will continue to grow upwards long after settlement date.This bill settles the historic Treaty grievances of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. In this bill the Crown formally acknowledges its breaches of the Treaty offers an apology and provides cultural financial and commercial redress. I think it would be good if many many New Zealanders looked at the history of this hapū. The claims relate primarily to war raupatu and Crown land - purchasing methods that left the hapū virtually landless by 1930. The Crown purchased large areas of land from the hapū in the 1850s and 1860s without ensuring that the hapū would always retain adequate reserves. In October 1866 the Crown’s military forces unjustly attacked Māori at Ōmarunui and Pētane and began to treat the hapū as rebels. Some individuals were detained without trial for nearly 2 years on the Chatham Islands and after they escaped became embroiled in a war with the Crown during which Crown forces summarily executed some prisoners at Ngātapa in 1869.The Crown confiscated hapū land at Tāngoio North and awarded their land at Kaiwaka to one of its Māori allies who was not a member of the hapū. This led to the hapū beginning litigation which proved fruitless and led to huge costs for the hapū which were borne for generations. The Crown’s confiscation process led to the extinguishment of the hapū’s customary titles to nearly all of their remaining land. The Crown did agree in 1870 to grant this remaining land to individual members of the hapū and also agreed that this land would be inalienable. However between 1911 and 1930 the Crown unfairly and oppressively purchased nearly all of this land and left the hapū virtually landless.Since the 1880s deforestation and the development of pastoral farming have significantly increased erosion and pollution in the takiwā. For example the health of Lake Tūtira has dramatically deteriorated and the hapū have lost significant fisheries here and along the coastline. Over the years many hapū family lines died out due to infectious diseases and diseases of poverty such as typhoid and tuberculosis. Although living conditions and Crown health services have improved since 1945 there continues to be a substantial disparity between the health of hapū members and other New Zealanders.The Crown failed to actively protect the hapū from the degradations of war the alienation of their land and the effects of native land laws. The hapū were not able to retain their land maintain it economically or prevent its deterioration. As with all Treaty settlements it is not possible to provide full reparation for the losses that have been suffered. By entering into a full and final settlement the people of this hapū have agreed to forgo full compensation thereby contributing to the future development of New Zealand. I place on record on behalf of the Crown our acknowledgment of that and our thanks for this act of generosity.As so often happens in a third reading there are so many people who deserve to be acknowledged—those who have contributed to this settlement over the years. I want to acknowledge my ministerial colleagues—in particular the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister of Conservation. The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and the Hastings District Council deserve recognition because they really have been very helpful and very willing to engage with officials and the hapū. That has been central to a number of elements of the redress. I acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee and my good friend Tau Henare. Now is not the time for a valedictory address in the direction of Mr Henare but he has been a fantastic chair of the Māori Affairs Committee over many years and he is going to be missed.I want to acknowledge the valuable support and contribution made by the work of many Government officials and departments who have contributed to this settlement. I also acknowledge those who have worked with Maungaharuru-Tangitū and I particularly want to mention their advisers. I see Professor Richard Boast up there in the gallery. He is this country’s pre-eminent legal and Treaty historian. His analysis of the history of this hapū needs to be read. It is devastating. I love the story of how he became involved when a bright young law student called Tānia Hopmans approached his office in the law faculty of Victoria University and asked him a couple of questions. The rest as they say is history. I thank him for the work that he does not only for this hapū but for other settling groups around the country as well. I also acknowledge his wife Deborah Edmunds and the team at Kensington Swan who have done very good work in this area over many years.Most important I acknowledge the tireless work of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and in particular their negotiators Tānia Hopmans and Bevan Taylor. They are two of the nicest and most professional negotiators with whom I have worked in this area and so nice that I was so willing to concede on so many points. I know that you have had a huge load to carry and it has not been just your sacrifice. I am very grateful to your families for supporting you to fight hard for your hapū and to get your settlement to this point.To the members of the komiti of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Incorporated and to the trust thank you for supporting your negotiators and making some extremely difficult decisions at critical points. The dedication and determination of the hapū have been vital on the path towards settlement and I commend you for your commitment to negotiating a settlement with the utmost good faith and with tenacity and it does take courage. This settlement is the basis of a new relationship between the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and the Crown based on trust cooperation and respect and it will succeed if the Crown regardless of administration honours its commitments to this hapū not just tomorrow not just in 10 years or 25 years or 50 years but for ever. That is why it is so important to ensure that the Crown lives up to its commitments and that is why we have established the Post Settlement Commitments Unit.Once again thank you to those who have travelled here this morning. I commend this bill to the House.RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Korōria harerūria ki a Ihowa o ngā Mano Matua Tama Wairua Tapu me ngā Ānahera Pono me te Māngai hei tautoko mai aia nei āke nei āe. Maungaharuru-Tangitū hapū tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou kua tae mai nei ki te Whare Pāremata. Nō koutou tēnei rā he rā whakahirahira tēnei. E ngā pou o te hāhī tēnā koutou ā huri noa e rau rangatira mā i roto i tēnei Whare tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you. Glory and praise be to Jehovah of Hosts Father Son and Holy Spirit and the Faithful Angels and the support of the Mouthpiece now and forever after amen.Greetings and acknowledgments to you the subtribe of Maungaharuru-Tangitū who have arrived here at Parliament House. This is your day and an important one at that. Greetings to the pillars of the church and to you leaders of a hundredfold throughout this House acknowledgments salutations and greetings to you and to us all.]It is indeed an honour for me to speak to the final reading of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. Can I firstly acknowledge our manuhiri Maungaharuru-Tangitū who have travelled from afar. I understand you had to get up very early this morning in the wee hours and have travelled all the way through to come down here to Pōneke. So I would like to welcome you all.I do want to give my acknowledgments at the start because there are so many people who have been part of this culmination that we are at at this point. I do want to acknowledge the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Trust and in particular Tānia Hopmans and Bevan Taylor the negotiators and the trustees. I would just acknowledge all the whānau and our kaumātua and kuia who are here to witness this historic occasion and to represent their whānau and the whānau who have gone before them who have been on this long journey in taking their grievances forward and who have been fighting for recognition over many generations. I do acknowledge you all for all your mahi and for coming here at this historic time. In particular I started off my speech today with a wee Rātana inoi because I acknowledge the pou here and Fred Reti and Hine Reti the whānau. I know your dad the late āpōtoro Joe Reti who played a significant role as the initial claimant for the hapū. I do acknowledge your presence here today also.Maungaharuru-Tangitū is a collection of hapū. They include Ngāti Kurumōkihi Ngāti Tū Ngāti Whakaari Ngāi Tauira Ngāi Te Ruruku ki Tangōio and Ngāi Tahu but not the one that I am part of. We may have a connection; I am not sure. As has been mentioned in the contributions from Minister Sharples and my colleagues there has been a terrible history that was inflicted upon this people. The trouble started back in 1851. We know about the Crown and its modus operandi in the early settlement of our nation and how it went about purchasing large tracts of land at Ahuriri and Mōhaka. It failed to ensure that sufficient reserves were set aside for the hapū. They were not adequately consulted on any of the purchases and those also included areas like Ahuriri and Te Whanganui-ā-Ōrotu which were never part of the deal.So there is a long history. Maungaharuru-Tangitū is not a familiar name in the history books. This hapū and its history seem to have been bypassed by historians by and large. Most Kiwis know about the history of our country and the land wars in Taranaki and Waikato or maybe the pursuit of Te Kooti through Poverty Bay and the Tūhoe land on the Central Plateau but not many have heard of Maungaharuru-Tangitū and the hapū there or their district or the way they were ill-treated by the Crown. But not today—today is their day and today their history and their grievance are finally being recorded and being recognised by this House. Indeed it is a historic occasion. I do acknowledge the historians in the House too—Richard Boast and his work with this wonderful hapū over many years also.Not too many people have heard of Maungaharuru-Tangitū but they do have a very particular mamae because this hapū was the only hapū in the Kahungunu that suffered raupatu. I would like to talk a little bit about that because that particular mamae is the way the lands at Ōmarunui and Pētane were attained. A group of inland chiefs wrote to the Crown to say they were travelling to Napier to negotiate the end of their participation in the New Zealand Wars only to be stopped by colonial troops and given 24 hours to give up Ōmarunui.They did not. A battle ensued and the chiefs were left to count the cost—23 Māori killed and around 80 exiled to the Chatham Islands Wharekauri Rēkohu where they were detained for 2 years without trial. Members of Maungaharuru-Tangitū who were part of that were also part of Te Kooti’s escape from Wharekauri. When they returned they found themselves in a fight not of their making. They were just part of the rebellion. It goes without saying that because of so-called rebels within the hapū that was reason enough for the Crown to alienate 9000 acres at Tāngoio as raupatu land and land taken as recompense for their disloyalty to the Crown. They then split the land into 12 blocks and gave title to individual Māori owners.We are familiar as I mentioned with the tactics of the Crown in this situation a tactic that it has employed in many other settlements that we have spoken about in this House. Another way to pressure the hapū into selling the land was to forbid the owners from leasing to private owners. This made the land less productive and less valuable and it played right into the hands of the Crown. So the land could not be sold. But it went further. In 1909 there was more legislation that made it possible for individual owners to sell shares in the land to the Government. So by the 1930s by these actions of systematically forcing the purchasing of the land from these people some 100000-plus acres of land had been bought by the Crown and taken from these people. The remainder of the hapū were left without an economic base or a presence in their takiwā. The only land they have left is 3 acres in Tāngoio where their marae is. Think about that—110000 acres down to a mere 3 acres. It was a huge loss. As I say it is the greatest land-grabbing machine—legal land-grabbing machine—in the history of this country that the Crown created as the Native Land Court. That was a part of systematically depriving these people of their whenua.I do want to talk about that landscape that ancestral landscape of these people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū. It is that lovely stretch of coastal land mixed with foothills and a dividing range between Napier airport to the north along the coast past the mill at Whirinaki and onwards to Tāngoio and its dramatic gorge heading towards Lake Tūtira. Nothing expresses this dramatic country of Maungaharuru Tāngoio better than driving from Napier to Taupō. The land is as beautiful as it is dramatic from the fertile Esk Valley and its row upon row of grapevines and its pretty little church to the lakeside settlement of Te Pohue high up in the Maungaharuru Range. Throw in some big rivers such as the Mōhaka and you pretty much get the big idea of the geography that I am talking about.It is this part of the country that the beneficiaries of Maungaharuru-Tangitū whakapapa to along with their relatives and whanaunga in NgātiPāhauwera. It is mountain to the sea in all its ruggedness and glory and the people who should be binding the land together holding it together—the tangata whenua—have been marginalised to Tāngoio which is a very flood-prone area. That is the beautiful ancestral landscape of these people.I am delighted that we can be here to celebrate the passing of this bill. This marks a new chapter for the hapū. I am delighted to be able to mihi to you all and commend this bill to the House because it certainly is a historic day. I wish you all the very best for the future. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.DENISE ROCHE (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. E ngā tangata o tēnei hapū o Maungaharuru-Tangitū ngā rangatira ngā kuia mā ngā koro mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. To the people of this subtribe of Maungaharuru-Tangitū leaders elderly women and menfolk acknowledgments salutations and greetings to you all.]I rise to take the call for the Green Party on this third reading of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. I want to acknowledge the people in the gallery today who have come from their rohe to witness this historic occasion: the final passage of this bill as it is passed into law. I mihi to the people of Ngāti Tū Ngāti Kurumōkihi Ngāti Whakaari Ngāi Te Ruruku ki Tangōio Ngāi Tauira and Ngāi Tahu.As well as acknowledging those who are with us today those in the gallery and those who are watching at home I also want to acknowledge those who are not with us. That includes those who have passed away over the many decades it has taken to bring this legislation to its conclusion in the House today. Legal action for this bill started in 1870 so there are generations who have worked to bring this justice to the House and who have passed away.I also think it is right to acknowledge the mate who are mentioned in the bill itself those who died in 1866 defending themselves from the Crown’s forces at Ōmarunui and Petāne those who were summarily executed by the Crown at Ngātapa in 1869 and of course those who died from poverty-related illnesses as a result of the loss of their land over the last 150 years. Tēnā koutou me ō koutou tini mate. Nō reira haere e ngā mate haere ki te wā kāinga haere ki te kāinga tūturu o tō tātou Matua i Te Rangi haere haere haere.[Acknowledgments to you and your many many deaths. Therefore depart the deaths. Return to the homeland to the true home of our Father in Heaven. Farewell journey on and goodbye.]To return to the living I want to address what this legislation is about. This legislation is an acknowledgment from the Crown that it breached the Treaty of Waitangi and acted abominably towards the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. It offers some small compensation for the Crown basically stealing through various dodgy methods the land that belonged to the hapū. The legislation does not mince words. The Crown’s actions are described as a sham as a misuse of its monopoly powers. The bill says things like “the Crown exploited …”. So the point of this bill is to restore some of the mana lost as a result of the hapū being alienated from most of their lands and consequently having their role as kaitiaki taken away from them. From my understanding of the legislation the first land alienations were in 1851 with the Ahuriri Block and the Mōhaka Block when the hapū were tricked into accepting a low price for the land believing that they would receive full ongoing economic benefits from European settlement and that just did not happen.The hapū lost more land in 1866 when the Native Land Court awarded the Moeangiangi—I will try that again. The Moeangiangi—I have really got to work on my Māori pronunciation sorry. I will come and talk to you later and get the right pronunciation. That reserve and the Pētane and Te Pāhou blocks were awarded to individual Māori. The land losses continued in 1867 with the Crown declaring a confiscation district over most of the takiwā of the hapū.In 1870 the Crown also gave—and it has been mentioned before—30000 acres at Kaiwaka to a Crown ally cutting the hapū out of the deal. The legal expenses that were incurred by the hapū at that time have been described in the legislation as crippling. The actions of the Crown continued to alienate the hapū from their land throughout the 1900s with the compulsory vesting of Tāngoio South in the Ikaroa District Māori Land Board in 1907. It continued through the 1930s with the Crown abusing its powers through various mechanisms to ensure hapū remained separated from their land. This is spelt out in Part 1 clause 8(13)(e) where is says “the Crown’s actions were unfair oppressive and did not live up to the standards of good faith and fair dealing which are expressed in the Treaty of Waitangi …”.So it is worth restating that the loss of their land has had a massive impact on the people and it has had a massive impact on the land as well. With no land—or hardly any land—the economic base for the people was gone. The hardship they endured was extreme. I think one of the most distressing aspects in the history here is that entire bloodlines entire families died out. In Te Ao Māori we recognise that whakapapa links are hugely important. When the people lost their role as kaitiaki the land suffered as well. The legislation lists the pollution of Lake Tūtira the pollution of the coastline the degradation and loss of mahinga kai and the flooding of the community and marae at Tāngoio. It mentions the degradation of the environment from deforestation and pastoral farming. Like others I note that the flood-prone 3 acres with the marae at Tāngoio is all that remains from the original 100000 acres that was the takiwā of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū in 1850.In this context the fact that this hapū will settle with the Crown is phenomenal especially when the compensation is so very small and covers maybe a fraction of what the land losses alone are worth. Even then there is very little land actually returned to iwi. Separate from the commercial redress property there is roughly 30 hectares in total in the two reserves in the cultural redress package. We should also contrast this with the four gifting-back properties that are some of the Ōpouahi Reserve the Bellbird Bush Scenic Reserve the Boundary Stream Scenic Reserve and the Whakaari Landing Place Reserve which together make about 1100 hectares. These are the reserves that the Crown will symbolically give to the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and they will give them back to the people of New Zealand. I have to recognise that these people are incredibly generous.I am aware that with the legislation the apology of the Crown is accepted by the hapū as they wish to move forward and to heal. I celebrate with them the enormous success they have achieved in bringing this settlement through the House and into law. Like others I wish to acknowledge the Treaty negotiators the kaumātua the people who have ushered this through.But I have to say that although we celebrate with Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū we also disagree with the Government that this is a full and final settlement. We say this every time because as we all know it is not full compensation. We do not believe it is final either because we do not know how the generations that are yet to come will be impacted by these historical claims. What is known is that the hapū will be on a surer economic footing as a result of this deal than it has been for the last 150 years.My dearest wish is that with the passing of this bill and the many others like it that have been passing through this House that the true history of our country like the account that is listed in the deed of settlement and in the bill will be taught in our schools so that the rangatahi of this hapū for example will be able to hold their heads up with pride and know where they come from and know what happened to their people. I also wish that every citizen of Aotearoa comes to understand that the Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of our land. Nō reira to the whānau and the iwi here today tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.Hon CRAIG FOSS (Minister of Commerce):Tēnā koutou to so many familiar faces of people from Hawke’s Bay who have been there for a lot longer than I have ever been there. Thank you so much for your cooperation your generosity and your patience.I just want to talk about something a little bit different—maybe it is part of my journey. We have heard from other speakers. When we signed the deed at Tāngoio Marae not too long ago there was a moment of change for me. That shook my faith a bit in our system. Up until that time I had always looked at the progress we are making with Treaty settlements around the country but I always rested upon the legal framework trying to address things that had not been right many years ago and resting upon that framework as a legislator but also as a fair play Kiwi who does believe in fair play and fair dealing as prescribed in the Treaty.But it was when the most wonderful person Bevan Taylor spoke. He told the story about—and excuse me if I do not get it quite accurate—how his grandfather had used legal process to seek redress. He had gone all the way to the Privy Council and had borrowed large amounts of money which are still being paid off or have only recently been paid off. They were huge huge sums in today’s terms. It was at that moment when I learnt how the Privy Council the place of last resort for all of us who rely on the legislative process the fair and transparent legal process had let you down. For various reasons that are beyond my limited legal brain it let you down and actually let all of us down to this day leading to the bill we have in the House today.At that moment I started to question my faith in the process the procedures and the system that we have to allow all New Zealanders redress before the law whoever they are. I was shaken when I learnt that story—absolutely shaken. I thank and acknowledge you and particularly Mr Taylor for his calm and gentle way of describing more of that to me later during the day. It was a fundamental moment for me—a learning a revelation—that the system that this place is set up to be part of to protect had let you down and let New Zealand down. That made me start to question so much else of what is discussed and talked about in and around all Treaty settlements and in and around all issues about our identity as a country and the founding people of our country. I have been doing that for quite some time.I am thankful of course that we have got to this point. It is a tragedy that we had to even get to this point but we have with all the hurt with all the things that happened long ago and with the implications for whānau for family for bloodlines for people for pride and for mana that have been so so attacked and damaged over many years. But it is an absolute credit and strength and I admire and bow to you because you have kept the faith and at the end—I can be thankful but it has taken far too long—the legal process and the parliamentary process has finally worked in your favour in at least a limited way.Again I just acknowledge your standing. I am proud to be part of Hawke’s Bay but I am just proud to have been there on the day of the signing of the deed and I am thankful for my understanding for my family and our community’s understanding of learning about what actually happened and how you have come to this place. I do thank you for my glimpsing of the system’s failure so long ago. Yes it may be working a little bit better now but at that moment—I will say again—my faith in the judicial system was shaken when I learnt that story regardless of it being in the context of 100 or so years ago.I look forward to working with you to make sure that that system we all have faith in good faith and fair dealing serves us much better as a people going from today onwards than it has obviously in the past. Kia ora.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tuatahi tēnei ka tāpiri atu aku mihi ki a koutou kua uru mai nei i roto i tēnei o ō koutou Whare ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero e pā ana ki tā koutou kerēme Tiriti. Nei te mihi maioha ki a koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. In the first instance I add this salutation of mine to you collectively who have entered this House of yours to listen to the speeches about your Treaty claim. Heartfelt greetings to you all.]It gives me great pleasure to join with my colleagues Meka Whaitiri and Rino Tirikatene and the Ministers to be able to support the passage of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Claims Settlement Bill and make it law. None of us in the House could hope to express the rich tapestry of history good and bad that has led to this point in time. I suspect people have been up very early travelling to get here. I suspect that there has been a lot of excitement from people to be able to say finally that it is done and we can move on. I suspect that there are a lot of kaumātua who are thinking about other kaumātua who are no longer with us because this is an important day for you and it is an important day for us. It is not only a day to remember history but a day to celebrate the future and one your children grandchildren and mokopuna will be able to hold on to because this is an opportunity as well.I was not on the Māori Affairs Committee for this particular bill so I thought well what I would like to do is have a look at the cultural redress components of your settlement because often that is the place where the stories are told and where the histories have been retold and will continue to be retold. If New Zealanders were interested to know what was happening in their own area in relation to Treaty settlements they would go to the cultural redress components of Treaty settlement legislation. This is what I found.Interestingly enough with the help of Google and the help of my colleague Meka Whaitiri I managed to find a number of very interesting things. Firstly I remembered that during the by-election Meka and I were travelling through her electorate Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. I do not know how many kilometres she had already travelled but we went past Lake Tūtira. You know seeing is holding on to things. She proceeded to tell me stories about the area and Lake Tūtira and things like that. I notice that a significant component of your Treaty settlement is the vesting of four lakebeds back to you: Lake Tūtira Lake Ōrākei Lake Waikōpiro and Lake Ōpouahi.As I used my Google engine I said: “Well gee Lake Tūtira.” I remembered that we went past that and I found that both Lake Ōrākei and Lake Waikōpiro were close by. Further investigation showed that they are on a number of websites. When New Zealanders come to look at the Hawke’s Bay and see what they could experience these are some of the lakes they get steered to because there is wildlife there there are walkways there is access to these particular lakes. If you were not a frequent visitor to the Hawke’s Bay Lake Tūtira might be a reason why you would want to go there.I found that particularly interesting. I thought: “Well if these are being vested back as reserves with public access then why are people going there?”. So I had a look and there is a wildlife refuge order over the lake. It makes particular mention of people being able to use the lake but you cannot have powerboats on Lake Tūtira. Well I did not know that. But it did then give me a sense of the fact that people enjoy this place because it is a place where you can experience nature and the wildlife around it and they also utilise the lake in ways that people get enjoyment out of.We have a connection albeit remote and it is through Lake Ōpouahi. I understand that round the lake there is a pest-proof fence. I rather suspect that that pest-proof fence might be the same kind of fence that we have got at Maungatautari in Cambridge. The whole idea of the pest-proof fence for Maungatautari was to regenerate and repatriate natural wildlife into the area so that you can keep the predators out and get our wildlife back there. There are stories in that because I suspect that it is a place where our tūpuna gathered because of the wildlife that was there. It may have been the kai that was there. So that is our connection albeit remote.I was really interested to see that on your websites around restoration around preservation and around telling stories—and it is all in Google—there are a whole lot of activities that have already happened; activities you are already doing prior to the Treaty settlement to repatriate the things that belong there in ways that you can be very proud of.Then I come to some of the statutory acknowledgments and deeds of recognition. Here is a story or two. The peaks of the Maungaharuru Range are—well there are so many pictures on Google that actually it is breathtaking. It makes you want to experience them and have a look for yourself at what is to be shared in the Maungaharuru Range. But it is the Mangapūkahu Scenic Reserve that I want to come to. Interestingly I found out with a little bit of research that the background of the reserve was connected to the Arapaonui Block which was in the New Zealand Gazette in 1860. It had its native title extinguished but there was going to be a reserve put together. So I am kind of weaving back through the history finding this out. What it indicates is that this is perhaps the reserve at Mangapūkahu.But when I go back to our history here in Parliament there was a petition that came before Parliament from Peter Bloomer in 2008. He petitioned the Māori Affairs Committee in particular because of the lack of access for Māori to get to their sacred sites. I thought: “Well that is interesting.” It was the former member for Te Tai Tonga in 1987—and Rino’s auntie—Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan who made a point of actually ensuring that that petition got some recognition by the Department of Conservation at the time. That was interesting because then what it indicated was that yes this was a reserve; yes it had sites of significance. There needed to be an opportunity to ensure that Māori could continue to go back to the reserve because at the time it was seemingly under Crown land administration. That particular petition was supported by the Māori Affairs Committee in terms of reviewing that. So we do have walking access there in that particular scenic reserve. I thought to myself golly gosh if you are reading through the deed of settlement and you just read the name of the “Mangapūkahu Scenic Reserve” you would not have any sense of what was really happening in this area or any sense of all the bureaucracy I guess that had to be got through to be able to repatriate important sites of significance back to people.So again I reiterate that I am but a humble newcomer to the full extent of the rich history that you have within the context of your settlement. But can I say again and reiterate in support of your Treaty settlement that if anyone wanted to have a glimmer of the essence and the rich tapestry of history that belonged to you the people of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū then they should go to the cultural redress section of your settlement. You have done well to get to this day. A lot of people have worked really hard within your team and I guess mention has to be made of the Crown officials in the Office of Treaty Settlements whom you have had to negotiate with and certainly the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations for his efforts to get this progressed as speedily as possible. I wish you well. I know that the future will look bright but more important when your children tell these stories they can visit their places with pride and know that those stories can continue to be told to their children and their children after them. Tēnā koutou katoa. Kia ora.Hon CHRIS TREMAIN (National—Napier):Ā tīhei mauri ora. Whaia te pae tawhiti kia tata whaia te pae tata. Whakamaua kia ū kia tina ā tēnā koutou.[Behold the breath of life. Reach for the distant horizon and the one close at hand. Seize and hold fast to them and greetings to you collectively.]Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker and members of Maungaharuru-Tangitū. Welcome nau mai haere mai ki te Whare. It is a huge privilege to be able to speak in this third reading of your settlement bill the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill and to welcome you to Parliament to be part of this historic occasion. Today those of us in the House and in the gallery are part of history.This bill sponsored by the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Christopher Finlayson is another step along the pathway towards meeting a huge commitment that we made as a Government back in 2008 to settle as many outstanding grievances and issues as possible with hapū with iwi and with whānau throughout Aotearoa. It is great to be here today and to be part of the historic occasion of making one of those settlements in my own electorate of Ahuriri of Napier.Today I have to acknowledge the Minister because he has done an outstanding job in getting to where he has got to. To put it into perspective over the course of history over the last 20-odd years there have been 69 Treaty settlements and the Crown is now over halfway towards completing that journey—a very important journey. Of those 69 settlements the Minister before us today has been responsible for 43 deeds of settlement since November 2008 which I think is an outstanding achievement. I believe that he will be remembered in this Parliament and in New Zealand for the accomplishments that he has made and for the work that he has done to progress some very difficult issues.I have no doubt that within your own hapū there have been issues to overcome. I remember talking with Bevan about getting to the point of settlement and the issues that you have had to overcome. It is a huge undertaking. So I do acknowledge not only you but the Minister in this process.The great thing about the settlements is that they do recognise and right the wrongs of the past. I would like to think—I guess only history will judge us properly—that it strengthens the partnership between the Crown and Māori. There is no doubt that it does unlock economic potential and boost regional and provincial areas such as Heretaunga Ahuriri and Hawke’s Bay—the place that I call home just like all of you in the gallery today.The purpose of this bill is to give effect to the deed of settlement signed by the Crown with the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. I have got to say that this settlement is particularly relevant to me given that my home lies within the rohe of Maungaharuru-Tangitū at its southern boundary. As Nanaia Mahuta said in her speech it is in my opinion too not only one of the best parts but the most beautiful part of Aotearoa. There is no doubt in my mind.To the south is the old Ahuriri lagoon and lagoon farm. That is sort of at the southern boundary of the area which is the rohe of the Maungaharuru-Tangitū in that beautiful area of richness of Bay View. I am fortunate to live in the Esk Valley which is again at the southern boundary of this beautiful area. But if you think that to the east is the Tangitū coastline and the richness of that area of the rohe from Waipātiki Beach Tāngoio Arapaonui and further up the coastline it was renowned historically for the kai moana and still is in that part. I have had the good fortune of being able to be part of that over my 47-odd years—to be able to go out with my whānau with my family when we are holidaying out at Waipātiki Beach and dive for pāua and kina and kōura. It is an amazing place. To the north is the Mōhaka River which we were fortunate last year to settle with Ngāti Pāhauwera. We have seen the result of the settlement there which is to empower Pāhauwera to go forward as an iwi and a hapū. To the west we know that the area is bound by Maungaharuru which is the mountain range—“maunga” meaning mountain; “haruru” meaning the area of many beating wings. My hope is that over time we can return some of those birds to Maungaharuru. I know that Julian Robinson is working closely with the hapū on a project to do that.I am particularly fortunate not only to have my home in the rohe but also to own some land there. My brother and I own some land on the ridge line of which there was an old pā site from many years ago. In January of this year members of the iwi met with me. We wandered across the land looking for old pits and other evidence. We spoke of the opportunity for a coastal pathway from Napier to Waipātiki a pathway that I think could bring significant tourism potential over coming years. We spoke at length about the beauty of the land and the rich resources there. So like I say this settlement has particular relevance to me and my own family. But more important today’s third reading ends a process that began many years ago.Can I acknowledge as I said at the start of my mihi those in the gallery who have contributed to the journey. There are too many to mention but in particular can I acknowledge Bevan Taylor and Tānia Hopmans who have led the negotiations. I mihi to you and acknowledge the huge undertaking that you have done and what you have achieved here today. More generally can I acknowledge all the whānau who are here today and who are part of this process.I chose in my opening the whakataukī “Whaia te pae tawhiti kia tata whaia te pae tata. Whakamaua kia ū kia tina.”[Reach for the distant horizon and the one close at hand. Seize and hold fast to them.]I chose it not just because it is another whakataukī that I could use in the speech but more as a wero a challenge. Today is not the end of a process; it is the start of a journey and my challenge to you is to reach for the stars to use this opportunity to be everything it can be for your respective hapū to rise to the challenge and to become leaders in our community leaders for your mokopuna your tamariki. Use this opportunity to be the very best that you can be.It has been a huge privilege to be part of this process and I am particularly honoured to be here at the third reading with members of the hapū in the House. Can I thank you for that privilege. It is indeed one of the highlights of my time as a member of Parliament and I will remember it for the rest of my days. Thank you very much.LOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa):Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. E ngā mana e ngā reo rau rangatira mā ngā whānau o Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. To the authorities languages leaders of a hundredfold and families of the subtribe of Maungaharuru-Tangitū greetings salutations and acknowledgments to you all.]I am a proud member of this Parliament. I am also proud to be Ngāti Tūwharetoa to be Waikato and I know that all of us here in the House—our Māori caucus Māori members across the House and as we have seen displayed not only Māori members but all members of this House of Parliament—congratulate you on what has been a battle since 1851. I congratulate you on this the third reading of your settlement legislation the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Settlement Bill. I congratulate you on the heart and soul and tenacity to get to this point of recognition.I say welcome to your House. Parliament is your House. You are tangata whenua. You are not manuhiri here. I acknowledge that status that you have and I thank you very much for the journey that you have made. I know that for all of you there will be many emotions that are flowing not only through your bodies but through your minds as you think about your tūpuna our tūpuna and the fight that they have had for over 100 years now to get to a point in time where we as a country can acknowledge you for your status as tangata whenua and as mana whenua which cannot be underestimated in the context of the bill.I am always really interested in the statutory acknowledgments in the deeds of recognition because what they do is to be very clear about the co-governance—co-management—of a number of historical sites over waterways and over reserves. There is the fact that within your piece of legislation 22 place names will hold the names of tūpuna who will for ever be acknowledged as having mana whenua over your rohe.I want to acknowledge all the members of your Maungaharuru-Tangitū Trust because what today is all about is the future. You have a board that has been established and committee members. Your chair is Bevan Taylor. I would like to acknowledge Bevan Charmaine Butler Tānia Hopmans Tamehana (Tom) Manaena Kerri Nuku Sabre (Thursday) Puna Cathy Spooner and Elaine Taylor. The people within your Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū who have now been empowered with the leadership role in terms of taking your hapū forward I acknowledge you.What this piece of legislation does is create a base for you and it is a base that adds to the base that you have and have always had in terms of your identity your language your culture and your marae. This adds to that base and from that base it has been great to see—I have visited the website; I am a bit of a googler just like Nanaia and I have looked at your priorities—that engaging with central government and local government will be a key priority for you. In terms of these statutory acknowledgments you will have an ongoing role in resource management issues related to these specific areas and also you have established protocols with the Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage so obviously you see a partnership going forward between yourselves as mana whenua and the Crown. Actually if we are all really serious about what these settlements are about they are about finally realising what the Treaty of Waitangi was all about. It was about a partnership between mana whenua and the Crown. That is the biggest acknowledgment that I can say today. It is actually about the going forward and our rightful place now in terms of the decision making that will be required within our rohe.The other issue that I want to focus on is for me a clear commitment to you to serve your people within the context of education and within the context of health. I see that one of the opportunities you have is to establish other entities that can then contract from the Crown to make sure that the services your people will receive in the future are culturally appropriate and will reinforce your language and your particular kawa and protocols. I see that as the other aspect of this piece of legislation going forward. It is that part that I want to focus on and wish you all the best for because within that context we provide opportunities for our tamariki and mokopuna to be educated and to get the skills that you require as a group of hapū leading into the future.I am not going to talk too much more other than to again congratulate you. I am sure you will travel home and have a big party back at your marae and within your whānau.I hope that this process has empowered you and that you have seen through the speeches here in the House that this is an area where we have consensus. Every member of this House of Parliament going forward will work with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and with our Māori Affairs Committee and as a member of the House of Representatives in this 50th Parliament I am incredibly proud to be part of a process that acknowledges our true status as the original sovereign owners of this land. The opportunity going forward is now in your hands. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.CLAUDETTE HAUITI (National):Ka tū ake anō ahau ki te mihi ki a koutou katoa. Ki te whānau o Maungaharuru-Tangitū ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa.[I rise once again to acknowledge you all. To the family of Maungaharuru-Tangitū greetings to you all.]The purpose of this bill is to give effect to the deed of settlement signed by the Crown and Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū. The Māori Affairs Committee whānau examined the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū Claims Settlement Bill and recommends that it be passed. A number of submitters expressed dissatisfaction with the way Maungaharuru-Tangitū claimants have been defined in the bill. The concerns centred largely on two issues—the entitlements for claimants with connections to both Ngāti Pāhauwera and Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and those individuals descended from ancient hapū who may fall between two settlements.Ngāti Pāhauwera—it is an important part of the settlement process for claimant groups to have the opportunity to set out their whakapapa as they see it and this has been done in the deed of settlement. Although different approaches to self-identification have been taken the select committee is confident that this has not resulted in any entitled individuals being excluded from benefiting from one or more settlements.Ancient hapū—we also heard from submitters who believe that as their ancestral hapū were not explicitly mentioned in the deed of settlement they could not benefit from it. The committee is satisfied that between the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū and the Ngāti Pāhauwera settlements the people and hapū in that region will be fully represented and that after the enactment of this bill no outstanding claims will remain to be settled.Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū comprises six hapū with interests in historical claims in the Hawke’s Bay area north of Napier—Ngāti Kurumōkihi Ngāti Tu Ngāti Whakaari Ngāi Tauira Ngāi Te Ruruku ki Tangōio and Ngāi Tahu. The claims of the hapū relate primarily to war raupatu and Crown land-purchasing methods. The only land left in the possession of Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū is in a flood-prone zone which is the location of its marae Tangoio and its kōhanga reo.The bill gives effect to the undertakings by the Crown in the deed of settlement. The bill includes a summary of the agreed historical accounts Crown acknowledgments and apologies and provides for a cultural redress package including vesting of part of Opouahi Station and part of Opouahi Scenic Reserve unencumbered; and the vesting of Te Pohue Domain Recreational Reserve subject to reserve status and public access being retained and excluding the hall that is located on the site. The site will continue to be administered by the Hastings District Council. The bill provides for the vesting of the lakebeds of Lake Tūtira Lake Orakai Lake Waikōpiro and Lake Opouahi subject to reserve status; and the vesting of administration of the stratum above the lakebeds in the hapū in trust subject to reserve status. The stratum is a space occupied by the water and air above the lakebeds but not the water itself. The bill provides for vesting and gifting back four significant cultural properties: the Boundary Stream Scenic Reserve the Bellbird Bush Scenic Reserve the balance of Opouahi Scenic Reserve and the Whakaari Landing Place Reserve.These sites will be vested in the hapū on the anniversary of their confiscation 12 January 2017 and gifted back to the Crown 7 days later. The bill provides for tātai tūāpapa an overlaying classification over nine sites of significance to the hapū; and the establishment of a fund with the purpose of soil conservation in the Tangōio area and the formation of a relationship between the hapū and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. The regional council is to manage the fund. The redress reflects the special nature of the Tangōio area and the desire of the hapū to exercise kaitiakitanga there. The bill provides for te kawenata with the Minister of Conservation that will recognise the special relationship that Maungaharuru-Tangitū Hapū has with that land relationship agreements with the Ministry for Primary Industries and Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporation in respect of fisheries statutory acknowledgments and deeds of recognition for several sites including the hapū coastal marine area and the appointment of an advisory committee.This Sunday 50 kōrure will be released into Maungaharuru and we wish you well on that occasion. I commend this bill to the House.Bill read a third time.WaiataNgāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement BillNgāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement BillTapuika Claims Settlement BillThird ReadingsHon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Minister of Māori Affairs)on behalf of theMinister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: I move That the Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill the Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill and the Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time. Nā reira Te Arawa waka Te Arawa iwi Te Arawa tangata nau mai hara mai rā. Hara mai rā ki tā koutou Whare kia whakaoti ai tēnei kerēme. Tēnei te wā whakamutunga mō tēnei kerēme nā reira he hōnore māku te tū ki te mihi ki a koutou me ngā tini mate kua mauria mai e koutou ki rō Whare. Nā reira rātou kua ngaro atu i a koutou i ēnei wiki i te mārama nei haere. Haere okioki pai ki te Kaihanga hei whāriki mā tātou nei. Nā reira koutou ngā mate ki a koutou ā ko tātou hoki te hunga ora ki a tātou. Nā reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Therefore to you the canoe of Te Arawa the people of Te Arawa welcome welcome. Welcome indeed to our House to finalise this claim. This is the final stage for this claim so it is indeed an honour for me to rise and acknowledge you collectively and the very many deaths you have brought with you into the House. Therefore to those who have passed in these weeks and this month farewell. Journey on and rest well with the Creator to pave the way for us here. So you the deceased remain there amongst yourselves as we the living remain here amongst ourselves too. Therefore acknowledgments and salutations to you all.]Today we welcome the sons and daughters of the great Te Arawa waka. I do not usually say that in front of Te Ururoa Flavell but he is not in the House anyway—he has probably gone for a run. I am honoured to welcome the people of Ngāti Rangiwewehi Ngāti Rangiteaorere and Tapuika for the third reading of legislation arising from the omnibus Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru Claims Settlement Bill. Iwi eternally bound by whakapapa for ever bound by history and today in this House finally bound by justice. We remember the tīpuna who a millennia ago set off from the sands of Whenuakura. Today their journey reaches Parliament as Ngāti Rangiwewehi Ngāti Rangiteaorere and Tapuika once again work together for the future of their people.Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru is a large natural grouping of these three iwi of Te Arawa whose members are based in and around Te Puke and Rotorua. Although they have negotiated some aspects of their settlements as part of the tokotoru they have signed separate deeds of settlement. They have shown whanaungatanga on the one hand as well as rangatiratanga. Tēnā koutou.The Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru omnibus legislation here gives effect to aspects of all three deeds of settlement signed by the Crown between 2012 and 2013 with all three iwi and will settle all outstanding historical Treaty and Waitangi claims for Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika.Ko Tiheia te maunga ko Te Awahou me Kaikaitāhuna ngā awa ko Tarimano te marae ko Puhirua me Ōrangikāhui ngā takotoranga o ngā tipuna ko Rangiwewehi te iwi.[Tiheia is the mountain Te Awahou and Kaikaitāhuna are the riversTarimano is the courtyard and Puhirua and Ōrangikāhui are the resting places of the ancestors. Ngāti Rangiwewehi is the tribe.]The Crown brought war to Tauranga in 1864 and after Ngāti Rangiwewehi supported their traditional allies 290000 acres of land were confiscated. All customary interests in lands returned were compulsorily extinguished. A hundred years later in 1966—in our lifetime—Ngāti Rangiwewehi’s land loss continued with the enforced Crown acquisition of whenua at Ngongotahā. A pump station was built over the ancestral Taniwha Springs which remains to this very day unless something happened overnight.The Crown breached the Treaty of Waitangi in its dealings with the descendants of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Over generations lands were lost lives were taken and the potential of the iwi was eroded. Today we focus on the future.I acknowledge Ngāti Rangiwewehi’s 2040 strategy and the advancement of Ngāti Rangiwewehi people as Rangiwewehi which captures the essence of what a Treaty settlement should be: to focus the energies into the future while considering the social economic cultural and spiritual growth and activity that affirms and maintains the mana and the tino rangatiratanga over Ngāti Rangiwewehi resources and the knowledge—mātauranga—of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Ngāti Rangiwewehi tēnā koutou tēnā koutou.He wai kōriporipo nō Waiōhewa ka ū ki Mātaikōtare. Ka koinga te titiro ki ngā uri o Rangiwhakaekea te whakapakari nei i te pupuri i ngā taonga tuku iho o Ngāti Rangiteaorere ka ora e.[The glittering waters from Waiōhewa extend to Mātaikōtare and the glance moves to the descendants of Rangiwhakaeka who are to strengthen this hold over the resources handed down by Ngāti Rangiteaorere for their betterment indeed.]The 1800s saw Ngāti Rangiteaorere drawn into the New Zealand Wars with huge huge consequences. The Native Land Court’s land policies left the Crown with lands that were flat fertile and easily accessible by road. Ngāti Rangiteaorere were left with lands that were fragmented steep inaccessible and uneconomic. Fifty years ago the Tikitere geothermal field prized by generations of Ngāti Rangiteaorere for its medicinal spiritual and economic benefits was taken by the Crown by the Geothermal Energy Act of 1953—the compulsory takeover of an ancestral wāhi tapu. A whakataukī from Ngāti Rangiteaorere kuia i reira captures the challenge of this new Treaty settlement era. Kāhore i hangaia te kupenga hei hopu ika anake ēngari i hangaia kia oioi i roto i te nekeneke o te tai. Awesome Ngāti Rangiteaorere tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. The net is not fashioned purely to catch fish but also to be flexible so that it may flow with the tide—awesome. Ngāti Rangiteaorere tēnā koutou tēnā koutou.Mai i ngā pae maunga i te toro puke e tūkau mai rā i te awa e rere mai ana waiho te whenua ko te takapū o taku tamaiti a Tapuika.[From the mountain range in the distance to the hill that stands before me as the river flows towards me I proclaim the land to be the belly of my son Tapuika.]This ancient claim defining the boundaries of their homelands was made by the tipuna chief Tia aboard the Te Arawa waka. However the arrival of the Crown in this rohe soon brought war to Tia’s people and his ancient claim along with the promises within the Treaty of Waitangi were broken. A series of claims made by others to Tapuika ancestral lands culminated in the Crown land alienation policies that were akin to raupatu punishing Tapuika for taking up arms against the Crown in the 1860s. The land loss was widespread and severe. Tapuika’s loss would lead to the alienation of Tia’s people from their ancestral lands. Deprived of economic social spiritual and cultural autonomy generations of Tapuika families have suffered incalculable loss.This settlement sought to address historical grievances which included the wars in the Bay of Plenty; the Native Land Court; the impact on Tapuika of management modification and degradation of the waterways within Te Takapū o Tapuika; Public Works takings; and the loss of Tapuika’s identity. Today Tapuika can move forward in a positive Treaty relationship to rebuild to restore and to once again thrive. The Tapuika reo revitalisation strategy is an example of what is already taking place—congratulations.All these things the peoples of Ngāti Rangiwewehi Ngāti Rangiteaorere and Tapuika have suffered can never be forgotten and yet these iwi despite that wish to settle their grievances with the Crown with mana and with dignity. So they honour us with their incredible generosity. Ahakoa te hītori o te raupatu kua tae mai koutou. Kua hoki anō kua hoki anō koutou ki konei Ngā Puna Wai o Te Toko Toru.[Despite the history of the confiscation you the Three Water Springs have arrived and returned here repeatedly.]Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru has enabled all three iwi to negotiate collectively with the Crown and also help each other with their individual claims. The spirit of whanaungatanga and rangatiratanga demonstrated by Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika has enabled the resolution of claims across three tribes. This cooperative approach is already being replicated across Aotearoa so I thank Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru for leading by example. So many of those who have made this day possible are no longer with us but with this bill’s passing their mana and their mahi kua oti i a rātou [their integrity and the work that they have completed] will for ever be honoured in the laws of this country and in the hearts of you the descendants.Today is the day to remember those who have passed on to resolve grievances with those who are with us today and to plan for those yet to be born. From the sacred marae of Taputapuātea to the beating hearts of Te Arawa to the New Zealand House of Representatives Te Arawa e tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Ā tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Te Arawa waka Ngāti Rangiwewehi Ngāti Rangiteaorere Tapuika Ngā Puna Wai o Te Tokotoru tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. Nau mai hara mai ki te Whare Paremata e takatū nei. Harikoa ahau ki te tū ki te kōrero i te wā whakamutunga o tēnei pire. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. E rau rangatira mā huri rauna i te Whare tēnā koutou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. To the canoe of Te Arawa Ngāti Rangiwewehi Ngāti Rangiteaorere Tapuika and Ngā Puna Wai o Te Tokotoru greetings and acknowledgments to you collectively. Welcome welcome to Parliament House standing here in readiness. I am pleased to stand and address this closing stage of the bill. Therefore well done and congratulations. To the leaders of a hundredfold throughout the House I acknowledge you all.]It gives me great pleasure to speak to the final reading of the former Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru Claims Settlement Bill. Today is a historic day. It is a historic day in the lives of three proud iwi of the Te Arawa confederation. After so many years and so many Governments the tribes Rangiwewehi Rangiteaorere and Tapuika can start to look towards a new future for their people and for their whānau and it is wonderful to see so many of them who have travelled from afar to be here to celebrate this historic day.For over 20 years these tribes have been more than patient and it sort of concerns me that after such a lot of mahi has gone on we get only 10 minutes to devote to three iwi in these speeches. But such are the procedures of Parliament that we have to adhere to. It does not give us much time. Nevertheless I will do my best to reflect something of the tragic circumstance that befell these three iwi that have led us here today. The three iwi to use an Office of Treaty Settlements term are a “large natural grouping”. In Māori terms they are whanaunga—or cuzzies to use a more colloquial term. Rangiteaorere and Rangiwewehi descend from Tamatekapua while Tapuika descend from Tia. Both are of the Te Arawa canoe which came to Aotearoa from the Pacific.It goes without saying what a terrible impact the New Zealand Wars had upon these three and many other iwi as shown in various other settlement bills we have put through this House. I like to say in my speeches that to understand the whakapapa is to understand Māori history. That has been a consistent theme that I use throughout. From Polynesia to the Bay of Plenty and inland to Rotorua the tribes of Rangiwewehi Rangiteaorere and Tapuika certainly have had that close relationship. They are part of what is known as the eight beating hearts of Te Arawa which play such an important part in tribal life.I will attempt to make mention of at least one grievance of each of these tribes that they have had to carry bearing in mind though that there are hundreds. Firstly let us acknowledge all three iwi. They were drawn into the Kīngitanga dispute with the Crown. Whether on principle or because of a genealogical relationship all played a part on all the sides of the wars. Truly it became for some whānau against whānau and hapū against hapū. Heoi ano—such were the divisive ways of the Governor and his war machine. It was about divide and conquer. That was the standard modus operandi of the day: take from them what they value most and you will deprive them economically and spiritually.So that is what the Pākehā did. It took them 25 years to come up with two wars and the Native Lands Act of 1865 to subjugate the natives and to engineer as I call it the greatest legal land-grabbing machine in the history of this country the Native Land Court. Auē taukiri e! It is at the forefront of every claim that ever came before the tribunal and it is the tino taniwha in the history of the Treaty of Waitangi and nearly every claim that has been made and it certainly is with this bill. So much mamae is shared between these three tribes but such are the travails of interrelated hapū—the taking of the good with the bad.Let us look at the economic benefits that these tribes have missed out on. Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Rangiteaorere were owners of significant geothermal areas. Who amongst us here does not enjoy the therapeutic and healing waters a waiariki offers? Never mind the cultural benefits the tribes have missed out on; what about all that geothermal capacity? Have these tribes like all indigenous tribes the world over not really missed out on sharing the wealth from the natural resources of their own estate?Whether it is gold or ore or oil or geothermal energy the tangata whenua always seem to be missing out. As fossil fuels dwindle across the world new and alternative methods of realising our future energy sources are needed. To my way of thinking Rangiwewehi and Rangiteaorere have not only had their warm healing waters taken away from them but also the chance to benefit economically from that geothermal capacity. I know that when it comes to those natural resources such as minerals and oil and gas the Crown has first dibs. Crown Minerals has the mana. That is the law but surely it is time for that law to be rethought to let the hapū and iwi share in the profits.The Tapuika iwi have had an interest in the Maketū area since their arrival on the Te Arawa waka many many years ago. They have had more than their fair share of mamae over land loss and loss of mana. They have had their economic opportunities seriously curtailed. I would like to highlight two points. They suffered the indignity of losing tribal estate and challenging to have that estate returned only to have the Crown acknowledge the wrongdoing and then try to right that wrong by making the hapū beneficiaries in a block of land they had no cultural connections to. We have come across that in various other settlements whether it is Mangakino or we could talk about SILNA in Te Wai Pounamu as well. This appears to have been quite the done thing back in the day in the 1890s and 1900s. Is there any greater ignominy to Māori than being placed in lands far away that you have no connection to? I also think of the Palmerston North Square for Te Ātiawa to just highlight another one of those actions that were taken in those days.There have been many missed economic development opportunities for these iwi and if anyone needs a reminder of another missed opportunity for Tapuika one needs only to look at the takutai and the change of tides that it brings over a 24-hour period. Every tide brings in its precious—precious—resource known as sand the same sand that road makers and builders the country over need to help construct the roads and pathways that lead to our big cities. And yet the only ones making any money off this resource are the big corporate players who have only to whip over the railway lines and dig up truckloads of ordinary sand and turn it into a multimillion-dollar business. Well why can a tribe like Tapuika not be a part of that industry? Why should the natural resources from their tribal estates go offshore to make other people rich?I have tried to use my time allocated to highlight just a few things of these three proud iwi. Ngā Punawai o te Tokotorutapu—not Tokotorutapu; sorry my Rātana-ness is coming out of me—Ngā Punawai o te Tokotoru. It happens—the wairua. I have highlighted those three examples of missed opportunities but the great thing is that these settlements provide a new chapter for these iwi. They provide an opportunity for them to actually harness these opportunities now.I am delighted to be able to speak here and to mihi to all gathered here today. We know that the Crown apologies have been offered and accepted. Cultural and commercial redress has been offered and accepted as well as financial redress. Now it is time for the descendants of Tamatekapua and Tia and Kahumatamomoe and Rangitihi to finally start a new and exciting voyage like their ancestors of long ago. All those years ago back in Hawaiki Te Arawahad little choice but to leave but now the mana has been given back to Ngāti Rangiwewehi Ngāti Rangiteaorere and Tapuika to decide their own future and I wish them all the very best. No reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora mai tātou katoa.Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations):To the representatives here today from the three iwi who have travelled from your homes for this occasion nau maihaere mai. Today we approach the end of a long road for a partial agreement was reached between the Crown and NgātiRangiteaorere as far back as 1993. In the early 2000s the three iwi took their claims to the Waitangi Tribunal’s central North Island district inquiry. Comprehensive negotiations with Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika began in 2008. In 2009NgātiRangiteaorere joined the collective and Ngā Punawai o te Tokotoru was born. All three iwi signed agreements in principle with the Crown here in Parliament in 2011. The Tapuika and Ngāti Rangiwewehi deeds of settlement were signed in December 2012 on a beautiful day at Ngāti Moko Marae near Te Puke. The Ngāti Rangiteaorere deed was signed not long after in June 2013 20 years after that first agreement.These bills the Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill the Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill and the Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill have received their previous readings as an omnibus bill. When the omnibus bill was read for a first time in July last year I acknowledged some of the key individuals from the three iwi who worked with tireless determination to make these settlements happen. Today I want to emphasise the collective achievements that these settlements represent. What I want to do now is speak briefly on each of the three settlements before the House. As the bills are being read in cognate I must necessarily be succinct in my comments. Mind you I am always succinct; the problem is for other people in the House to contain themselves! The Tokotoru iwi have been very gracious in accepting that as the election date has put pressure on the agenda of this House the bills themselves will not each receive a third reading. For this I am very grateful.Let me first turn to Ngāti Rangiwewehi an iwi based on the north-western shore of Lake Rotorua near the mouth of the beautiful Awahou River with interests stretching out toward the coast at Maketū.Te Ururoa Flavell: That’s right.Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: I hear my friend Mr Flavell approving of my geographical assessment and I am grateful for that. Water is of vital importance to all these iwi. For Ngāti Rangiwewehi Te Waro Uri—Taniwha Springs—and Te Puna-a-Hangarua—Hamurana Springs—are the dwelling places of the taniwha Pekehauā and Hinerua. The Taniwha Springs actually feed the Awahou River and that flows through the main settlement of the iwi and is a prized taonga. The claims at the heart of their settlement relate to the Crown’s role in alienating these precious waterways. In the 1890s the native land laws facilitated the Crown’s acquisition of Hamurana Springs. In the 1960s Ngāti Rangiwewehi lost Taniwha Springs through a public works taking. I have been to both those springs and one can understand the feelings that the iwi have for them.Other key Ngāti Rangiwewehi claims relate to confiscation war and the treatment the Crown meted out to two prominent 19th century tūpuna the scholar and rangatira Wīremu Maihi Te Rangikāheke and the warrior prophet Kereopa Te Rau. Over the generations the Crown’s breaches of the Treaty compromised the social and the traditional structures of Ngāti Rangiwewehi the autonomy of the iwi and the ability of its members to exercise important customary rights and responsibilities. With great sorrow the Crown apologises for its actions and for the impact that these had on so many individuals whānau and hapū. The iwi and the Crown negotiated a settlement of these claims that includes very importantly the agreed historical account Crown acknowledgments and the apology the quantum of $6 million and several commercial properties a statutory pardon for Kereopa Te Rau statutory acknowledgments and deeds of recognition over Crown-owned lands across the rohe and the return of culturally significant sites including 37 hectares at Hamurana Springs and recognition of the profound importance of this place to Ngāti Rangiwewehi.Can I say something about Tapuika an iwi based in and around Te Puke with an interest that runs from slightly to the north of Rotorua to the coast at Maketū. As I have said earlier water is the thread that links the Tokotoru iwi. The waterway most cherished by Tapuika is of course the Kaituna. Its waters are as precious to Tapuika as shimmering greenstone. Little wonder then that deeply felt Tapuika claims relate to the degradation and pollution of the Kaituna River in the 20th century. Other major grievances arise from the Tauranga confiscation: the line drawn by the Crown through the rohe in 1875 the ultimate exclusion of Tapuika from title to ancestral coastal lands and sacred sites and repeated takings by the Crown of burial lands for public works. The Crown profoundly regrets the anguish it has caused for Tapuika and for failing to protect the special relationship that Tapuika has with the Kaituna River and its tributaries.The settlement of the claims negotiated by Tapuika and the Crown includes the agreed historical account the acknowledgments and the apology the quantum of $6 million 17 commercial redress properties and rights of first refusal over 11 Crown-owned properties for a period of 171 years. It includes the return of 12 sites of special significance to Tapuika across their rohe totalling approximately 209 hectares three additional sites jointly with other iwi and crucially a framework for governance of the Kaituna River that recognises the great significance of the river to Tapuika which will help restore the mana and the mauri of the river for future generations.Thirdly I refer to Ngāti Rangiteaorere an iwi based on the eastern shores of Lake Rotorua near the Tikitere geothermal field. This iwi have successfully held on to and cared very much for Rotokawa one of the tribe’s cherished bodies of water. However the tribe was not so fortunate when it came to key ancestral lands—again largely as a result of the Crown’s introduction of native land laws. The individualisation of title resulting from the Crown’s award rendered the lands of Ngāti Rangiteaorere including the maunga more susceptible to partition fragmentation and alienation. On top of the quantum the redress negotiated and the settlement include the apology and the account quite a few statutory acknowledgments and the return of 321 hectares of Whakapoungākau reuniting Rangiteaorere with the maunga.So I want to conclude by expressing thanks to all those in the iwi who negotiated the settlements. I want to acknowledge my wonderful officials from the Office of Treaty Settlements and the chief Crown negotiator for these three iwi Patsy Reddy who did a fabulous job. I acknowledge her contribution as chief Crown negotiator to quite a number of settlements and look forward to her continuing work. She thinks she is going to retire; I have other thoughts.These settlements are three important steps towards a revitalised Treaty relationship and brighter futures for Māori and Pākehā in this country. As I said it is so very important that the post-settlement unit that is being set up monitors these settlements to make sure the Crown does do its job not just tomorrow but in the years to come. If the Crown lives up to the promises contained in these deeds of settlement things will go very well indeed. I commend these bills to the House.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato):Tēnei e tū ana ki te tuku mihi ki Ngā Puna Wai o Te Tokotoru koutou Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi me Tapuika. Anei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.[I stand to acknowledge you the Three Water Springs Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika. My congratulations to you all.]It gives me great pleasure to be able to make a small contribution on the third and final reading of these three bills the Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill the Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill and the Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill. The submission process was informative for the Māori Affairs Committee and gave a sense that we were doing the right thing at somewhat the right time. In 20 days’ time there will be a commemoration event at Pukehinahina recollecting the Land Wars that took place in the 1860s and the alliances that occurred over that time and recognising that Māori fought for their lands the assertion of their identity and the continuation of their mana motuhake within their own country. It is somewhat serendipitous that we have Treaty settlements occurring during this period. The time is right.I want to in my small contribution recognise the efforts of each of the respective claimant groups and your negotiators for bringing your settlement to fruition and providing an opportunity for the next generation to look forward. Firstly I will make my contribution with regards to Ngāti Rangiwewehi. It is a testament to the modernisation of aspirations amongst Ngāti Rangiwewehi that people can go to a website and see what is happening. They can see that actually over the last 150 years you have not been sitting around doing nothing and twiddling your thumbs. In fact if anything it is indicative that there has been a lot of innovation and creativity and a lot of looking towards yourselves for solutions around some challenges. What the Treaty settlement will do is I guess boost effort that has already been taking place. I want to acknowledge that because often when people come to the House to debate Treaty settlement bills there is a thought that Treaty settlements are the beginning of something. In fact it is the beginning of something more but it does not mean that nothing has happened before if I can say it like that. I want to acknowledge that for Ngāti Rangiwewehi.I want to acknowledge and support the comments of the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations with regards to the components of your redress which have restored and repatriated significant taonga to you so that you can look at ways to build your cultural history your asset base and also the cultural heritage and natural heritage that exists within your rohe. Not enough can be said about Hamurana Springs a significant component of your redress and Taniwha Springs because they are iconic features of the landscape within your rohe and it is really important that New Zealanders gain an appreciation of not only the natural beauty of these places in your rohe but the history that goes with them. This is a significant and positive step that all New Zealanders gain from.I want to also recognise that yes there is commercial redress but it is kind of like a seed. I am absolutely confident that Ngāti Rangiwewehi will grow the seed to its maximum potential and opportunity. Treaty settlements are always a space where the Government if it changes its frame around how to continue the Treaty relationship looks for active partnerships with Rangiwewehi when it comes to developments in your own rohe. So that is that.To Tapuika again your Treaty settlement provides added impetus to developments that have already taken place but can I say that when I look through websites—because it is a good sense of how you are engaging with your tribal members to promote information and to secure feedback—I would have to say that the Tapuika website provided a very clear and logical approach to how some of your tribal members from outside the rohe might be wanting to understand what is happening with the iwi and where we are going. In terms of the presentation of your website it was a pretty cool fulla or “fulless” who developed that website because it provided a really good snapshot and entry for people wanting to learn more.My sense of this settlement especially around the issues the instruments and the cultural redress component is that the Kaituna River through a co-governance framework will be a real opportunity for you to engage with local government importantly and also with users of your waterway to ensure the well-being of it and the ongoing sustainability and use of the water resource. Also your decision making in resource use starts with the Kaituna River but it does not stop there. So I hope that the co-governance framework will be I guess a further peg in the ladder to secure your ongoing advocacy with local government about ongoing resource use of all kinds within your particular rohe.For Ngāti Rangiteaorere this is a discrete continuation of a settlement. We had heard quite clearly from the submitters that although the 1993 settlement took place the geothermal interests were not covered and that in part informs some of the contribution here. We were reminded that there were some aspects of the settlement with relation to the Māori Land Court that you brought to the attention of the select committee although we could not address them. We recognise that those were some of the challenges that you were facing. Can I say that in so far as Ngāti Rangiteaorere interests are concerned it seemed to me that as a discrete settlement it did provide an avenue for others to follow when they are thinking about how to advance within a large natural grouping some very discrete components of settlements that must be recognised by the Crown. So that is a learning that I took forward anyway when I considered how things were put together by the Minister.Lastly can I say that I am under no shadow of a doubt that although there may well have been trials and tribulations in getting to this point this point is the continuation of a really important chapter for each of the respective groups that are here today and it pegs a firm stake in the ground for another generation to be able to look beyond those of their ancestors and their tūpuna to carve out a future of opportunity. That is the space that these three iwi in my mind have brought in front of Parliament and politicians. That opportunity through innovation and the total sum efforts of just pure determination have been captured within each of the components of these settlements and I am sure that given further feathers to fly with they will soar very high. Nō reira kia koutou katoa. Tēnā koutou katoa.CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki Te Arawa waka Ngāti Rangiteaorere Ngāti Rangiwewehi Tapuika. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata koutou Whare. It is wonderful to see you in all your splendour and to have all your generations present with us today. Before I start talking about the bills—the Ngāti Rangiteaorere Claims Settlement Bill the Ngāti Rangiwewehi Claims Settlement Bill and the Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill—I would just like to pay tribute to the descendants of Tamatekapua. I live in Hauraki and have spent many of my years at the foot of Te Moana Hau o Tama-te-Kapua the sacred mountain. In 1980 a mining company from Canada said that it would turn the mountain into a lake for us and without Te Arawa that might have happened. So thank you because your rangatira came and they said: “Skin and hair will fly before you touch this maunga.”. And so it was that the mountain could not be touched. We have not forgotten them. We are grateful in Hauraki for that leadership that rangatiratanga.These third readings are an extraordinary achievement and they say much about the extraordinary tenacity of the rangatira of these three iwi. It is also important to acknowledge the Minister of Māori Affairs the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and the Māori Affairs Committee and its chair. I cannot do justice to this let alone in the time available but I do want to acknowledge that this is an important and great day. The rohe of these three iwi is one of the most beautiful fertile and diverse rohe. It is a thermal energy wonderland and the once-sparkling rivers pure lakes and coasts were so beautiful and valuable hence the colonial enthusiasm for their appropriation by hook or by crook. Making it right is not a single action through a Treaty settlement process; it is a national project into the future and it enhances all of us—I am speaking to my own Pākehā whakapapa here all of us—to engage with it. The work that you have done the mahi that you have done is an intergenerational koha not only to your people but to Aotearoa. So thank you for that.To Ngāti Rangiteaorere I do not claim any special knowledge of your rohe although I have passed through it many times. I have passed Te Ngāe and I was very interested to read the history. But I would like to highlight the way in which establishing 19th century historical hurts and thefts are not the only challenge to be faced by tangata whenua here. For example this iwi has had to fight the renaming of their ancestral maunga Whakapoungākau in the 2000s. The Waitangi Tribunal in 2007 found that the Crown had breached the Treaty of Waitangi by failing to consult fully with Ngāti Rangiteaorere about this proposal in a timely manner. Why the Greens always say that we resist the term “full and final settlement” is that these situations continue. Whether it is the takutai moana the attempt to rename an ancestral maunga or Patricia Grace and her whānau having to fight for their land in 2014 the contemporary breaches and proposed breaches must be brought before the tribunal. The ability to negotiate justice by te Tiriti must never be shut down.I would like to acknowledge the achievement of Ngāti Rangiteaorere in maintaining through the turbulent years of colonisation many of their taonga assets despite the Crown’s best efforts. I particularly want to wish you the very best with your future your quantum and your cultural redress in relation to Te Ngāe Rotokawau Waiōhewa Tikitere and Ōkataina. The taniwha is individual title and it is collective strength that will restore these assets and these lands. Individual title brought through the Māori Land Court and every other mechanism has been a contamination of rangatiratanga but we have faith that through this process you are restoring the collective rangatiratanga.To Ngāti Rangiwewehi this historical account is sadly typical. Irrespective of their previous relationships in the post - Treaty of Waitangi signing period of 1840 to the 1850s when things went kind of good the raupatu was extreme against the so-called rebels. Who gets to call whom a rebel in this country is an interesting ongoing subject for debate. What is rebellion against injustice? Are you a rebel? But 290000 hectares around Tauranga were confiscated including land in which Ngāti Rangiwewehi had considerable interests.Then there is the tragic story of Kereopa Te Rau and how the Crown killed his whānau in Waikato and the subsequent consequences that we have heard about in other bills before this House including those associated with Mokomoko and Whakatōhea. Also there is the impact on Te Arawa katoa. At Ngongotahā a place where I spent many holidays in complete ignorance of these things like so many Pākehā do Taniwha Springs is a symbol of abuse. The collection of springs central to Ngāti Rangiwewehi’s identity was compulsorily acquired for waterworks in 1966—so we are not talking just about the 19th century; we are talking about the 21st century—by local government because the Crown had refused to make any other water available. Layer upon layer of alienation and all of us who have drunk the water have no understanding of this and are ignorant to the damage done around Ngongotahā. So I just want to mihi to Ngāti Rangiwewehi for those issues. Though you have obviously done well there is so much more that we all need to do to understand what you have been through.Lastly to Tapuika—again their stories are unique. There may be patterns of similarity but they are all different. I just want to focus on two aspects of this settlement bill in relation to Tapuika. One is to do with the Public Works Act—a wonderful familiar monster which involved more theft. The Crown acknowledges that it took land. This is what gets me when I read this stuff. It took the land three times from Tapuika urupā at Kēnana. The urupā was in use at the time and the people did not consent to any of these takings but this continued. And the urupā which is still in use today is now divided in two by a highway and a railway line. We drive through this oblivious to the pain the mamae. If it was our whānau we might be thinking again. So I want to acknowledge that the Public Works Act has been another tool alongside as my colleague has talked about the Māori Land Court—the engine of colonisation. There is no more abuse that you can do to people than to desecrate their urupā—none.I would also like to acknowledge the Kaituna River. Last night I was in the House and fought for Tarawera—another awa in the rohe—because it is deeply contaminated as I am sure you know. But Kaituna has a similar and equally tragic history. When you look at how the river was compared with how the river is—the modification pollution and degradation. I found this phrase in the settlement bill very interesting: “the Crown has failed to respect provide for and protect the special relationship …”. That is a bit of an understatement. I find it a little bit of an understatement—“failed to”. The Crown has actively facilitated the modification pollution and degradation of Kaituna—Kaituna.I live next to a river in Hauraki that is full of eels. One of them bit me the other day just to remind me of where I was. It was an awesome experience but that is what every river should be like. That is the Waiwhakaurunga in the Kauaēranga valley. But that is how every awa should be. Those tuna have a right to bite just as the tangata whenua have the right to collect them for kai. So Kaituna has been desecrated by sewage by the draining of wetlands and by the farming practices. It has affected wāhi tapu. It has destroyed kai moana and compromised water supply for these communities. But it is always more than that because people’s whakapapa and identity as I have been taught by tangata whenua relates deeply not only to their maunga but to their awa. So if you contaminate awa you contaminate the people. I believe that we are all contaminated by the pollution we have subjected this country to but we are not able to claim and should never claim the site-specific whakapapa responsibilities that were damaged during this process in the Bay of Plenty particularly in Kaituna.To look forward to the future positively I wish the Kaituna River all the best but also the people who are going to manage the co-governance. As iwi know better than anyone else co-governance is a huge challenge but it is also an opportunity just as long as Pākehā are listening as well as exercising well-resourced bureaucratic participation. We are very good at that and it does not always help. However I am getting the sign to finish my speech so I would just like to say to you all thank you for the privilege of speaking about your rohe. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia kaha katoa.Hon TAU HENARE (National):Te Arawawaka Te Arawa iwi nau mai. Haere mai ki tōku Whare tautohetohe nō reira ngā mihi nunui ki a koutou Te Arawa waka Te Arawa iwi.[Welcome to you the canoe and tribe of Te Arawa. Welcome to my House of debate; so a massive congratulations to you collectively.]I will not go over what everybody else has said. In fact I will talk about something completely different which is par for the course for me. But I do want to put this into a relationship with the first bill that we spoke about this morning which was the Waitangi National Trust Board Amendment Bill. Although we fall over ourselves talking about Waitangi and how it is the jewel in the crown and about what we have to do history cannot be just about the good parts. History cannot be about how lovely people may have been or may not have been. History is about the warts and all—all the bad stuff as well. History is nothing without a certain amount of heartache. This is why these occasions in New Zealand and in New Zealand’s Parliament are essential for the growth of a nation. It is the fact that we tell those stories about what the past has done to the indigenous people.I am always thrilled to bits to be a player on the field in this game that we play because my kids are growing up my mokos are growing up and I want them to be proud of New Zealand’s history and that includes Te Arawa history and other people’s history as well. But I also want my children and my mokos to know what the journey was like getting there. For us in this House and particularly for the Māori Affairs Committee—I take my hat off to the select committee because of the way it does its job because of the speed of our committee. Speed is not necessarily dangerous. Speed is because we want to get to a position whereby we allow Te Arawa to make the decisions which they rightfully deserve to do. Speed for our select committee is all about making sure that we hurry up and get to the next one. There are so many that they pile up behind each other; it is not that we do not do justice to them.I think that our committee out of all of the committees in the House does justice to every bill because there is a feeling of what each bill actually means. It is not like passing some sort of rates bill about Tasman and when that happens that is it. When we do our work when we finish our part of our work we know that it is a continual struggle and is part of that big story of Te Arawa.I am mindful that when we pick up the book the old book Te Arawa: A History of the Arawa People by Stafford who knows whether in 50 to 100 years they will write about this process in the updated version of the book. If we can play our part in that history then I think that we have done a pretty good job.I do want to mention one thing before I sit down because we have got only a short time. Who would have thought even 10 years ago that a Pākehā Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations from the National Party would stand in this House and talk about things like taniwha? That is the development that a nation goes through. You know it was not so long ago that people used to—and in fact some of them still do—laugh at those sorts of stories. But on the other side of the world they have the Loch Ness monster which makes millions of dollars out of the tourism budget every year.This country is growing up and it is growing up fast. The more babies that we have the quicker we are going to grow up. We MPs pat ourselves on the back but I want to congratulate Te Arawa and Māori in general on having the foresight for having the strength to actually go to battle for years and years and years and never ever letting go of the history—never ever letting go of who they are and who the nation is. I personally think that Māori have a great ability to see who the nation is whether it is 5 years from now or 20 years from now.The last thing I want to say—and it is very very heartfelt—is that I have had the opportunity to travel the world and I have got to say that Māori are the best indigenous race on this earth. This is only because—and I am not boosting anybody up—the fight continues and continues and continues. It is the one way that we keep ourselves alive—well one way our culture keeps itself alive. So I not only thank Parliament I not only thank the community but big thanks to Te Arawa. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora mai tātou katoa.MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti):Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā tātou katoa ngā mema o te Whare nei.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. Greetings to us all members of this House.]It gives me an absolute privilege and honour to stand in support of the final reading of this significant omnibus bill. First I need to mihi to Te Arawa waka Te Arawa tangata nau mai nau mai haere mai. Nau mai haere mai ki tō tātou Whare i tēnei wā. Harikoa te ngākau ki te kite i a koutou mō tēnei wā nō reira tēnā koutou ōku rau rangatira. Tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Welcome to you the canoe of Te Arawa and the people of Te Arawa welcome welcome to our House at this point in time. The heart is joyful to see you collectively at this momentso acknowledgments to you collectively my leaders of a hundredfold. Greetings and congratulations to you all.]In the time allotted to us it is going to be a challenge to recognise the significant day here today in Te Arawa’s history. I do want to acknowledge the people who have travelled from afar to be here today. I particularly want to acknowledge the rangatahi the faces who are joining here in the gallery. You are our future and I do want specifically to mihi to you this day. I am going to try to condense my talk but I want to go on record acknowledging the significant day today in particular the three iwi who have joined us here. I am going to quickly acknowledge the summary history of each three groups so bear with me. It will be a bit of speed reading but I do want to do this in seriousness to acknowledge the work that has gone on to bring us here today.Ngāti Rangiwewehi is a Te Arawa iwi based in the Rotorua area. In referencing their summary of historic background to the claims it describes the constructive relationship that developed between the Crown and Ngāti Rangiwewehi in the 1840s and 1850s. However when the Crown brought war to Tauranga in 1864 members of Ngāti Rangiwewehi went to assist their traditional allies. The Crown regarded Māori who fought in the Tauranga battles as rebels and confiscated 290000 acres of land around Tauranga including land in which Ngāti Rangiwewehi had customary interests. The Crown retained 50000 acres and returned the remainder to Māori. However all customary interests in the returned lands were compulsorily extinguished.Kereopa Te Rau was a member of Ngāti Rangiwewehi. In 1864 during the Waikato War his wife and daughter were killed by Crown forces. In the Eastern Bay of Plenty in 1865 a group of Māori killed a missionary who had previously sent the Crown a plan of the pā where Kereopa’s whānau were killed. In 1871 Kereopa was convicted of the murder of the missionary and sentenced to death. The historic account also discusses the impact on Ngāti Rangiwewehi of the land laws introduced in the 1860s and how in the 1870s Ngāti Rangiwewehi leaders criticised these laws and unsuccessfully called for tribal control of land and resources. In 1880 Ngāti Rangiwewehi were among the Māori signatories to an agreement made with the Crown to establish a township at Rotorua. A committee of local chiefs concluded Ngāti Rangiwewehi had interests in the township block but the Native Land Court did not award Ngāti Rangiwewehi any interests there. The Crown acquired most of the lands of Ngāti Rangiwewehi prior to 1909. In the 1890s the Crown purchased individualised shares in a block in the core Ngāti Rangiwewehi rohe before the block had been partitioned and the specific holdings of hapū and whānau had been defined.In 1896 the Crown applied to have its interests in the block defined and was awarded roughly a third of the block including the most valuable land in the block and freshwater springs near Hamurana which are taonga for Ngāti Rangiwewehi. The historical account concludes with a description of the 1966 taking from Ngāti Rangiwewehi of a block near Ngongotahā. This block which was compulsorily required by a local authority for waterworks purposes contains springs known collectively as Taniwha Springs which are central to Ngāti Rangiwewehi traditions and identity as an iwi. I understand a pump station was built over the springs where it remains today. I would like to mihi to the whānau of Ngāti Rangiwewehi particularly the kaumatuas and the negotiators for the mahi that you have done in bringing the bill to this House.I now want to turn to and acknowledge Ngāti Rangiteaorere. Ngāti Rangiteaorere is a Te Arawa iwi situated on the eastern shores of Lake Rotorua. It is one of the eight beating hearts of Te Arawa—ngā pūmanawa e waru. The summary of historical backgrounds that led to the claims of Ngāti Rangiteaorere describes how Ngāti Rangiteaorere were drawn into the New Zealand Wars from the mid-1860s. Those Ngāti Rangiteaorere who supported the Crown during the wars did so at a considerable cost to themselves. Damned if you do and damned if you do not when you fight on the side of the Crown. Ngāti Rangiteaorere held all their lands under customary tenure when the native laws of the 1860s came into force. However the Native Land Court was not designed to accommodate the complex and fluid customary land usages of Māori as it assigned permanent ownership to a clearly defined area of land. The title determination process also carried significant costs for Ngāti Rangiteaorere.In 1882 the Native Land Court investigated the ownership of the Whakapoungākau Block and awarded much of it to members of Ngāti Rangiteaorere and neighbouring iwi. In 1990 the Native Land Court awarded the Crown 348 acres from the Ngāti Rangiteaorere subdivisions of Whakapoungākau in lieu of survey costs. The individualised interests acquired by the Crown were spread across Whakapoungākau subdivisions but the Crown persuaded Ngāti Rangiteaorere to allow the Crown’s awards to form one contiguous parcel of land. The land awarded to the Crown was flat fertile and easily accessible by road. The land that remained with Ngāti Rangiteaorere was fragmented and much of it was steep and inaccessible.Ngāti Rangiteaorere have always valued the Tikitere geothermal field highly for medicinal spiritual and economic purposes. In 1853 without the consent of Ngāti Rangiteaorere the Crown acquired the sole right to regulate the use of geothermal energy resources when the Geothermal Energy Act 1953 was enacted. Ngāti Rangiteaorere considers that the Crown had no authority to override the mana of Ngāti Rangiteaorere in the Tikitere geothermal field.In the early 1970s the Crown purchased a land swap to extend the Lake Ōkataina Scenic Reserve. This involved the exchange of land in Whakapoungākau which Ngāti Rangiteaorere had significant ancestral connections with for land that they had no such connections with. As a result of this exchange Ngāti Rangiteaorere were alienated from the Whakapoungākau maunga one of their most sacred sites. Tēnei te mihi ki ngā whānau whānui o Ngāti Rangiteaorere. [Bell rung] I knew that was going to happen.To try to do justice to Tapuika can I please mihi to you and acknowledge the efforts that you have made to bring this Tapuika Claims Settlement Bill to the House and acknowledge that you along with Ngāti Rangiteaorere and Ngāti Rangiwewehi have negotiated what I think is not a settlement that we would all agree with but something that would absolutely go towards the future development of you as the people of Tapuika. Like I said in my earlier introduction it was nice to mihi to our rangatahi that have joined us here today. I would like to leave you with the thoughts of supporting you in your settlements today but also I would like to acknowledge that our futures are in their hands and it is good that they are here to join us on the significant day of the third and final reading of this legislation. I look forward to the returns from your settlement being put to good use to firstly preserve the mana—the prestige that Te Arawa is renowned for—but particularly with these young rangatahi coming through to use the opportunities that I know are available to them once this legislation is passed. So nō reira e ngā iwi o Te Arawa tēnei te mihi ki a koutou. I commend this legislation to the House.CLAUDETTE HAUITI (National):Ka tū ake ahau ki te mihi i a koutou katoa te whānau o Te Arawa.[I rise to acknowledge you all the family of Te Arawa.]The purpose of this legislation arising from the Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru Claims Settlement Bill is to give effect to the deeds of settlement signed by the Crown and Ngā Punawai o Te Tokotoru. There were changes made by the Māori Affairs Committee to Parts 3 6 and 9 of the omnibus bill in relation to the right of first refusal. We amended clause 292 and clause 293 but the select committee chaired by the Hon Tau Henare feels that these amendments only went to strengthen this legislation. So with that I commend this legislation to the House.TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In Te Reo Māori Mr Deputy Speaker.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Sorry?TE URUROA FLAVELL: Reo Māori Mr Deputy Speaker—Reo Māori. Kia tere. He tono tēnei ki te Whare Pāremata kia mutu taku kōrero kia waihohia ake mā Ngāti Rangiwewehi e whakakōpani ā-waiata nei. Kia mutu a Rangiwewehi ka tukuna te rākau waiata kōrero rānei ki a Rangiteaorere. Ka mutu a Rangiteaorere ka tukuna ki a Tapuika hei whakakōpani i te āhuatanga o wā tātau kōrero ā hei whakanui i te āhuatanga o tēnei rā. Nō reira koinei te tono ki te Whare kia whakaae mai ki tērā tono.[Māori language Mr Deputy Speaker—Māori language. Hurry along. I seek leave of this House of Parliament that when my address ends I would leave it for Ngāti Rangiwewehi to close it with a traditional song. When Rangiwewehi finishes that the rod of opportunity to sing a traditional song or make a traditional speech is passed on to Rangiteaorere. When they are finished it is passed on to Tapuika to close the circumstances relating to our speeches and to celebrate the circumstances about this day. So this is the nub of this leave being sought and I seek leave that the House grant it.]Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: In response to that my understanding is that permission has been granted for the tangata whenua to respond and I am not going to restrict how they might want to do that. The normal procedure is that that would occur after the vote is taken. Is the member happy with that? This is just so that we all understand that after the vote is taken there can be the three waiata and we are happy with that arrangement.TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Ko te mate kē ko ētahi o ngā waiata o Tapuika āhua roa nei. Nō reira ko te tono e pēnei ana mēnā ka hipa i te kotahi karaka ko te kōrero me ngā waiata kia haere tonu wā tātau kōrero kia oti katoa i runga i te rangimārie.[The problem really is that some of Tapuika’s songs are quite long. So if the songs of embellishment or the speech go beyond 1 p.m. leave is being sought to allow this to continue until everything is completed amicably.]Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well we are breaking new ground because it is actually not a debate in the House. I think in the spirit of the settlement there will be some tolerance. The member should get on with his speech so we do not go over.TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Ā tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker kia ora koe mō tērā whakatau āu. E mihi atu ana ki a tātau katoa kua tae mai ki te Whare Pāremata i te rā nei ki aku hoa mema Pāremata e kōrero nei mōku mō Ngāti Rangiwewehi mōku mō Tapuika mō te āhuatanga ki Ngāti Rangiteaorere tēnā koutou katoa. Ko te mate kē nō roto ahau i ēnei iwi. E āhua raruraru ana te ngākau kei kī mai ētahi e kī e kī kei te kōrero te tangata nei mō tōna painga. He iwi hūmārie a Ngāti Rangiwewehi. He iwi kore kōrero mō rātau mō ō rātau ake painga a Ngāti Rangiwewehi. Nō reira me whai au i te tauira o ōku mātua i o ōku tūpuna kia ngāwari te kōrero mō taku iwi.Hoi anō ko tāku kei taku rahi koutou kua eke mai ki raro i te kāhui o tērā kōrero mai i Maketū ki Tongariro; tēnā koutou haere mai. Ēhara i te mea māku koutou e whakatau ēngari hara mai ki tōku kāinga tuarua. Hāunga te taha ki Te Awahou ki Waitetī ki Ngongotahā ki Ngāti Rangiwewehi tonu haere mai ki te kāinga tuarua o Te Ururoa ā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.I a au e tū nei poto noa iho taku kōrero i te mea kua kōrerohia katoatia ngā kōrero. Ko te wāhi ki a au i a au e tū nei e ka hoki ngā mahara ki te hunga kāre i konei i tēnei rangi nā runga i te āhuatanga o te mea i te tīmatanga mai o te whakakotahitanga o ngā iwi e toru i puta te whakaaro o ngā pakeke ō roto o Ngāti Rangiwewehi i tērā wā kia haere atu a Ngāti Rangiwewehi ki te toro i a Tapuika a Ngāti Rangiteaorere nā runga i te āhuatanga o te ara whanaunga.Ka hoki ngā mahara ki te wā i tae atu ahau ko Huka tērā i haere atu ki roto o Tapuika. I whakatakotohia te kōrero te tono ki tērā o ngā marae a Makahae kia whakakotahi nei i te āhuatanga o ngā kerēme katoa kia anga whakamua te kaupapa nei. Nā nā wai nā wai nā wai anā koinei te otinga mai i tēnei rangi tonu nei. Ka hoki ngā mahara ki te haerenga ki runga o Rangiteaorere o Ngāti Rangiteaorere i pērā rawa te āhuatanga o te tono. Kāre au i te tino mōhio mēnā i reira au i tērā hui ēngari kua tae atu au ki tērā o ngā marae o Waiōhewa. Nō reira koinei te tangi o te ngākau mō te hunga kāre i konei i tēnei rā. Me haere mai koutou me ngā mate huhua ō roto o Tapuika. Me haere mai koutou me ngā mate huhua ō roto i a koutou o Ngāti Rangiteaorere. Ēngari me whakahuihui anō rā rātau katoa i tēnei rangi i te mea kātahi te rangi ātaahua hāunga te ua i waho rā. Ēngari ko te kaupapa nei me kī ko te otinga mai o ngā mahi nui o ngā mahi roa i ngā tau kua hipa ake.Ka huri atu rā ki te Minita e kōrero nei. Ā ka pai tana mōhio ki ngā kōrero mōku mō Rangiwewehi. E mōhio nei ia mō te taniwha nei o Pekehauā. Ka pai hoki e te Minita ka nui te mihi ki a koe me te tautoko i ngā mihi a te tangata nei a Tau Hēnare ki a koe mōu i kaha nei ki te whakatutuki i ngā wawata o ngā iwi katoa o te motu kia tutuki pai wā rātau kerēme. Ā i ngā tau kua hipa ake e hoa mā ko tāku ki te Minita he kongakonga noa iho tērā ka whakahokia ki roto i ngā ringaringa o ngā iwi ēngari i tōna mutunga mai ko ngā take ō roto i tēnei Whare Pāremata he take mā tēnā iwi tēnā e whai atu mā tēnā iwi e whai atu ā mēnā ka tutuki ka pai. Ki te kore ā hoi anō koinei te āhuatanga o tēnei mea o te wānanga.Nō reira e hoa mā wā tātau mate. Kua kite atu i te āhuatanga o te hunga kei ngā whakaahua kei a koutou ka tangi ake ka tangi ake ka tangi ake. Ē me te kī atu ki tōku ake rahi e aroha atu ana ki te āhuatanga o ā tātau mate i ngā wiki tata kua hipa ake me te parekura nui kua eke mai ki runga i a tātau i te kāinga. Nō reira kei te kite atu i a Haami koinā te tangata nāna tēnei kaupapa i āki i tōna tīmatanga mai. Kei te kite atu i a Te Meihana i whai tonu a ia i ngā tapuwae o Te Haami. Ka kite atu i a Hukarere ko ia tērā i haere ki ngā huihuinga katoa o te iwi. Nōnātata nei ko Marla. Ko ia tērā e noho nei hei pou mō tō tātau pakeke a Haami. Kei te kite atu i a Ngāti Rangiwewehi ki tai ā ko te hononga anō rā ki a Ngāti Rangiwewehi ki uta tēnā tātau katoa. Nō reira kāti ake.Ka nui te mihi ki a tātau katoa otirā ki te wahine rā poto nei ki a koe Patsy. Tēnā koe i kaha āki nei i ngā kaupapa kōrero kia eke ki tēnei taumata. Ko te pai o te wahine ka noho ka āta whakarongo ka āta wetewete i ngā take ka mutu ka puta tētahi whakatau. Nō reira ki taku mōhio kua rongo au i ngā kōrero i Ngati Moko kua rongo anō hoki i ngā kōrero ki ngā iwi e toru nei. Ko koe te wahine mō te āta whakakotahi nei i ngā kōrero. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe. Nō reira kāti ake.Taku kupu whakamutunga e pēnei ana ki a tātau katoa. Ēhara au i te atua ēngari he kōrero noa ake. Kua mutu te āhuatanga o te uauatanga ki te eke ki tēnei kaupapa ki tēnei rangi tonu nei. Ko tāku ko te pātai he aha āpōpō? He aha ā tahi rā? He aha ā ngā wiki? He aha ā ngā marama kai mua i te aroaro hei painga mō ngā tamariki mokopuna. Ko au tērā i te mura o te ahi i ngā tau kua hipa ake. Ēhara i te mea i tino rata nei au ki ngā kōrero katoa e pā ana ki tō tātau kerēme ēngari waihotia ake tērā ki roto i ngā ringaringa o te hunga nā rātau tēnei kaupapa i kōkiri. Ko te āwangawanga nui ō roto i te ngākau ka pēhea āpōpō ā tahi rā ā ngā tau kei mua i te aroaro. Āe kua whiwhi i te pūtea. Āe kua whiwhi i ētahi whenua ēngari kāre he take o ērā ki te kore tātau e whakatipu kia kitea mai ai tētahi painga mō ngā tamariki mokopuna. Nō reira tēnei te whakatau atu kia kaha tātau ki te whakariterite i ētahi kaupapa mō ngā tamariki mokopuna. Ēhara i te mea koinei te mutunga mai tērā pea he pai kē te kī koinei te tīmatanga mai. Koinei te tīmatanga mai mō ngā rā kei mua i te aroaro.Nō reira e harikoa ana ā kō ake nei kua hākari tātau ēngari ka hoki ngā mahara ki ngā hui ka hoki ngā mahara ki te hunga kua ngaro ka hoki ngā mahara ki ngā tohe otirā ka hoki ngā mahara ki ngā whakatau i puta. Kai taku iti kai taku rahi huri noa i tō tātau Whare tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātau katoa. Kia kaha kia toa ā ngā rā kei mua i te aroaro. Ngāti Rangiwewehi kei a tātau te waiata ka mutu ka huri haere kia eke ki te kotahi karaka. Tapuika kia māmā mai tā koutou waiata.[Greetings to you Mr Deputy Speaker and thank you for that decision of yours. Salutations to us all who have arrived here today at Parliament House and to my fellow members of Parliament expressing their sentiments about me Ngāti Rangiwewehi Tapuika and the circumstances relating to Ngāti Rangiteaorere. I thank you all. The problem really is that I am from within these tribes. The heart is somewhat apprehensive should some say to me: “Is that right? Well well this person here is going on about his benefits.” Ngāti Rangiwewehi is a humble tribe. They do not boast about themselves or about their own benefits. And so I must follow the example of my elders and ancestors and speak modestly about my tribe.So my greetings to you my great ones who have arrived here under the mantle of that aphorism from Maketū to Tongariro; greetings to you collectively and welcome. It is not really for me to officially welcome you but I do so to my second home. Apart from the Te Awahou Waitetī Ngongotahā side and Ngāti Rangiwewehi itself welcome to the second home of Te Ururoa. And so greetings salutations and acknowledgments to you all.As I stand here before you I need to stress that my address is to be but a brief one because everything has been addressed. The part for me then as I am on my feet is to reflect on those who are not here today. Because of the situation at the beginning when the three tribes were getting together it came to the elders at the time within Ngāti Rangiwewehi that it should visit Tapuika and Ngāti Rangiteaorere because of the kinship ties.The thoughts go back to the time when Huka and I went and arrived there among Tapuika. The statement the mandate was made at Makahae—that one of the courtyards there—to combine because that was the situation with all claims so that this matter could move forward. Eventually and over a period of time this is the conclusion on this very day. The thoughts go back to the journey upon Rangiteaorere upon Ngāti Rangiteaorere. The request was the same. I am not really sure whether I attended that meeting but I was at Waiōhewa that one of the courtyards. So this is why the heart laments for those who are not here today. Therefore come forth with the many deaths from within Tapuika and from Ngāti Rangiteaorere that are upon you. But they must also gather here today because it is indeed a beautiful day aside from the rain out there. But as far as this matter is concerned let us say it is the culmination of important and lengthy work over the past years.I turn to the Minister who commented. What he knows about me and Rangiwewehi is good. He knows about this supernatural guardian Pekehauā. Well done Minister. I commend you highly and I endorse the accolades accorded to you by this man Tau Hēnare in regard to your efforts to meet the expectations of all tribes of the country and to ensure their claims are completed well. Fellow colleagues a few years ago I told the Minister that only a minuscule amount is returned to tribes but ultimately matters in this House of Parliament are left for each individual iwi to address. If it is achieved that is good. If not that is the purpose of a discussion.Therefore what about our dead friends? Seeing the photographs you have with you moves one to mourn weep and cry. Indeed to my numerous I am saddened by the circumstances of our deaths in the past weeks and the great calamities that have come upon us back home. Therefore I see Haami there the person who urged this matter along when it began. I can see Hukarere.She was one who went to all tribal gatherings. Recently it was Marla. She remains a pillar for our elder Haami. I can see Ngāti Rangiwewehi coastal-wise and their kin Ngāti Rangiwewehi inland-wise; greetings to us all. So let us leave it at that.I do have great admiration for us all and especially that short woman there you Patsy. Congratulations to you to the lady who strongly urged that matters be discussed until it reached this level. The good thing about a woman is that she sits listens and critically analyses issues and then makes a decision. To my understandingthat is what I heard at Ngati Moko fromthese three tribes. You are the woman who carefully brought the stories together as one. I commend you greatly. So enough.My closing word to us all goes like this. I am not a god but merely bringing it up. The difficult part of getting this matter here has ended. My point is about this question. What about tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? The weeks and months ahead in terms of benefits for the children and grandchildren? I was intimately involved once years ago. It was not as though I warmed to all the stories about our claims but I left it in thehands of those who addressed this matter. What about tomorrow the day after and the years ahead is the primary concern within. Yes we have received funding and some land but those are of no consequence if we do not make them grow to ensure that benefits accrue for the betterment of our children and grandchildren. So I urge us to work hard to arrange schemes for the children and grandchildren. It is not as though this is the finish; it is better to say that this is perhaps the beginning the start towards the future.And so I am euphoric. Shortly we will feast but meetings are recalled. Thoughts go back to those who have passed away to the arguments and to the decisions that emerged. To my diminutive ones and great ones throughout our House greetings to you salutations to you and congratulations to us all. Be strong and courageous going forward into the future. Rangiwewehi we have the traditional song and after that it will continue on until we get to1 o’clock. Tapuika ease up on the length of your traditional song.]WaiataMr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Shall I put the vote?TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Taihoa Mr Deputy Speaker. Ngāti Rangiteaorere mēnā he waiata tā koutou ā tukuna.[A moment please Mr Deputy Speaker. Rangiteaorere if you have a traditional song sing it now.]WaiataHakaTE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Mai e te tipua mai e te tawhito mai e te kāhui o ngā ariki mai eee tāwhiwhi ki ngā atua. Ōī ka takina te mauri ko te mauri i ahua noa mai ki runga ki ēnei taura ki runga ki ēnei tauira. Kia tau te mauri ki runga ki ēnei tamatāne tamawāhine he tukuna nō te whaiorooro a Tānetewaiora. Tēnei te matatau ka eke whakatū tārewa ki te rangi. Ūhi wēro hara mai te toki haumi e hui e taiki e![I invoke the inspiration and guidance from the universe and the gods. Therefore I bestow upon these disciples and young men and women the life-force under the auspices of Tāne the giver of life. I invoke the inspiration and guidance from the universe and the gods. Therefore I bestow upon these disciples and young men and women the life-force under the auspices of Tāne the giver of life. Let them attain the sacred knowledge from the highest heavens. Hold fast hold strong and let it be done!]Bills read a third time.The House adjourned at 12.57 p.m.