Little AndrewThird ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations): I move That the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time. This bill represents the culmination of the Crown's efforts to fulfil its obligation to redress the wrongs of its past actions with respect to the iwi of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. It's my great pleasure to welcome the members of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki to Wellington for this momentous occasion. It was a great pleasure to meet many of you while you were down here during the lunch break—or our lunch break—and it's good to see so many of you here in what is I know the end of a long and difficult journey. Nau mai haere mai e ngā iwi e ngā reo e ngā mana tēnā rā koutou. [Welcome to the tribes to the spokespeople to the representative entities; greetings to one and all.]I acknowledge that many of you—when I talk about a long journey it's not just the journey of the settlement but many of you have travelled from far away to attend today and this is the last step in that much longer journey that your iwi has undertaken to reach a settlement with the Crown. You've had to wait far too long but that wait is now finally over and it is indeed my great honour to be walking with you in these last few steps. At this time we remember those who have passed on before seeing this settlement come to fruition.For those members of this House or any here in the gallery that may not know Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki are an iwi centred at Maraetai with interests throughout Tāmaki-makau-rau. Seafaring is core to Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki's identity and their interests also extend throughout the islands and waters of Tīkapa Moana. They are a part of both the Tāmaki and Hauraki Collectives and are included in the settlement of Waikato raupatu and river claims.Despite these negotiations the raupatu claims of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki to the confiscation block in east Wairoa and other historical claims remained unsettled. Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki have sought to negotiate a full and final settlement with the Crown since 1989. In 2010 the Crown recognised the mandate of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Tribal Trust to negotiate the settlement of the remaining historical claims on behalf of the iwi. Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and the Crown signed the terms of negotiation in June 2010 entered into an agreement in principle in November 2011 and finally signed a deed of settlement on 7 November 2015. The history of the Crown's wrongs against Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki have been touched on throughout the passage of this bill. However it is incumbent upon me today that we do not forget why we are here. The Crown repeatedly failed the people of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and breached its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. The historical grievances of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki primarily relate to alienation of land through the failure to implement the terms of pre-Treaty land transactions and raupatu. The Waitangi Tribunal reported on the claims of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki in its Hauraki report.In the 1830s Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki were involved in several land transactions in Tāmaki in the Hauraki Gulf islands. Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki believe their tūpuna intended the transactions would help foster ongoing mutually beneficial relationships with Europeans rather than permanently alienate their ancestral lands. On 4 March 1840 Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki tradition records that two Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki rangatira signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Karaka Bay. In 1842 a land claims commissioner investigating the pre-Treaty Tāmaki transactions recommended the Crown leave one-third of the land involved for the undisturbed possession of Māori. The Crown subsequently made an award of land to settlers but retained much of that land as surplus. The Crown made no assessment of the adequacy of lands remaining in the possession of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. In 1854 the Crown paid Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki £500 to relinquish their claims to land within the Tāmaki Block and granted the iwi the Umupuia Reserve. The reserve was a fraction of the size of the original Tāmaki Block and substantially less than the one-third recommended be set aside for Māori.Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki also had interests in a confiscated 51000-acre block of land in east Wairoa. Unfortunately the revered rangatira of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Ānaru Makiwhara was not able to register a claim for this land and despite repeated petitions to Parliament over 44 years—half his lifetime—he did not see the return of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki's ancestral lands here before he passed away in 1927 aged 85.This bill cannot change the past nor will it be enough to fully compensate the loss incurred by Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. However the redress included in this bill will recognise and acknowledge the loss suffered by Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and provide a new future for the iwi and its relationship with the Crown. With the passing of this bill the Crown's apology to Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki is enshrined in legislation and the full redress contained in the deed of settlement will be released.The redress items provide a starting point for the restoration of the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki economic base and cultural redress in recognition of sites of paramount significance to the iwi. Sixteen cultural sites will be vested in Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki which will provide the iwi with a more visible presence in their land and a more active role in how that land is cared for.I now turn to acknowledge the hard work and cooperation of the many parties involved in achieving this settlement. I acknowledge the contribution of the former Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Christopher Finlayson who has walked in the journey of many of the recent settlements that have come to the House and whose herculean workload is bearing fruits for many iwi today.I acknowledge my officials at the Office of Treaty Settlements those of other Crown agencies and the Parliamentary Counsel Office for their service and commitment to the Treaty settlement process. I acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee and the members of this House for their consideration of this bill. Most importantly I'd like to acknowledge the leaders and people of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki for their willingness to work with the Crown. You have endured many many delays to reach the outcome that we now have before us. In particular to the negotiators from Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki you took on—as negotiators for settlements with the Crown always do—a demanding and difficult role carrying the weight of your tūpuna. You have my absolute respect for the strength integrity and dignity with which you have represented your iwi and conducted yourself in negotiations with the Crown.What has been achieved is a significant investment into the present and future generations of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki a provision for the mokopuna to have a connection to their iwi and customary lands and what I hope can be the start of a new relationship with the Crown. For the Crown one of the important values of these Treaty settlements is that while it brings to conclusion a long and difficult and sometimes tortuous path for those who have sought redress for the Crown's breaches of the Treaty it is also a new beginning a chance to build on the relationship now established as a result of the negotiations and the exchanges and it is now an opportunity to start to build a real partnership—a shared relationship built on a shared vision of the future that will come from your rangatira your kaumātua your kuia and working with the Crown as an equal partner. I am honoured to be in the privileged position of presenting this bill for its third reading and I commend this bill to the House.