Delahunty Catherine: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Delahunty Catherine: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6196. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Speaker. Tena koutou e te Whare. He mihi nui ki te whanau o te rangatira Mokomoko me Te Whakatoheahapu iwi katoa tena koutou. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker. Greetings to those of you of the House. A huge acknowledgment to the family of the revered Mokomoko and to the subtribe and all the people of Te Whakatohea. Salutations to you collectively. 
] 
Thank you for coming here today to hold us to account and for your persistence in doing that. For me and my party the Green Party we believe that the Treaty gives us a place to stand if we honour it but you are holding us consistently to account for our failure to do that both as the Crown and as a culture. We are grateful to you for the holding to account that you have done at great cost—a price that you have paid for many many years. 
I would like to speak a little bit about the concept of apology the history of the Opotiki region and the way in which colonisation targets individuals in order to commit raupatu which has been manifest through the story of the rangatira whom we speak about in the House today. Having lived in the rohe—my mother-in-law lived for many years at Ohiwa—when driving through those beautiful wealthy fertile lands the question remains: is the price paid? Is enough price paid yet? Have people been given the right to regain their resources? The answer is no but this bill the Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill is a step along the way. 
Other speakers today and particularly the Minister of Maori Affairs have well traversed some of the history. The 1860s were an incredible time in the history of indigenous peoples right around the world because if you look at the histories of indigenous people in North America as well as Aotearoa that was a time when confiscation and death descended upon many of those communities because of the resources and the power they held. The colonisers wanted the resource and so they had to find a way to get it. 
If you read the history of the rohe hear it spoken on the marae or study Judith Binney’s contribution you will see the way in which Tuhoe Whakatohea and the Mataatua waka in general paid the price for the aspirations of the Crown. It is often paid by a particular whanau. That whanau in this instance the whanau of Mokomoko has held us to account and up until this day the Crown has not yet succeeded in apologising. So we look forward to the passing of this bill and succeeding in apologising with the full meaning of apology. 
 The description that some people have given of the humiliation and the murder of Mokomoko is a very moving story. Again as with many of the stories it is not just a story; it is a reality and it is a particular reality for the descendants. I would love to do a poll of the landowners the Pakeha landowners of the Whakatohea region and ask them how many of them know the story of Mokomoko and the role of the Crown. Because having been to the church where Völkner was murdered I do not see a story in that town in English that tells Pakeha how this occurred. If we do not tell the truth we do not really hear our own part in history. History is always in front of us. History is a very important part of who all of us are in Aotearoa if Te Tiriti o Waitangi is to be fully honoured. 
The colonisation process does target an individual. It targets the individual in order to create the opportunity. Mokomoko was the opportunity for the raupatu and Völkner’s death the death of one missionary became an opportunity not only to murder an innocent man but also to confiscate vast areas to rape literally and to pillage literally. The waves and ripples of that action which this whanau have come to ask us to take responsibility for continue to this day. It is often through the story of a person that we can come to understand the bigger history and that is why this story needs to be told and must be told. 
I would also like to speak about the issue of pardon. I find “pardon” quite a strange word for an innocent person. I think that for the issue of an apology the word “apology” is the most powerful word. We need to look at what happened in 1992 and we need to look at what is being put forward very positively in this bill today. The first pardon was not negotiated. If we talk about what apology is and if an apology is going to ring true then all apologies but particularly ones between the Crown and wronged families and iwi katoa need to be properly negotiated. They need to be a genuine expression of contrition with a clear commitment not to repeat or reinforce in any way that action. That is something that needs to happen and that is a process that does not stop merely with historical process but with contemporary process. 
We need to talk about Tuhoe in this instance and whether any Government is prepared to apologise to them for what happened in Ruatoki in 2005. The contemporary refusals to apologise for breaches of legitimate behaviour by the Crown do risk the credibility of what we are doing. We are talking about the fact that history lives on and it is good that we are apologising. We need to look at all the things all the hara all the hurts that need to be addressed so that this apology is given respect along with all the others. 
The other key element of an apology is when it is accepted. If an apology is accepted then healing can begin between the parties and that is why it is really awesome to see the descendants the uri here today accepting the apology offered in this bill. That was the problem with the 1992 apology: it differentiated between Ngati Awa and Whakatohea which is an unfortunate maybe well-intentioned action. But if you do not consult then it is still justice denied. Justice denied is when the person or the State defines what that justice is. The State cannot under te Tiriti define the meaning of justice or any apology; the State must negotiate in the relationship and that is about starting with consultation and negotiation as this bill does. So we celebrate that. 
I would also just like to talk about the role of the State in causing the deaths of individuals. The death penalty was repealed in 1958 but it was too late for these people. I remember as a child sitting by the radio listening to Parliament when the death penalty was repealed. My father was one of the people who worked for the repeal of the death penalty and one of the reasons he did that was that the Crown can make mistakes and the Crown can cause harm and make use of innocent individuals. So it is important for the Crown to recognise the seriousness of the situation when it uses the death penalty. It is a good thing we no longer have the death penalty but it will not restore the situation. This needs to happen in a process that is starting here today. 
Like the descendants of Te Kooti the people who are stigmatised by the actions of the Crown are entitled to full complete recognition and redress even 146 years later. That is why I mentioned contemporary potential issues and breaches because in 100 years’ time will there be whanau standing here asking us to relook at ourselves? 
Again I recognise the whanau of Mokomoko and recognise that this is a door that opens for a relationship and a continued conversation about the Treaty settlements in that beautiful part of the country Whakatohea. We really do need to educate everybody about the story of this rangatira and about the process of what we have gone through and learn from the fact that a well-intentioned pardon that is not correctly negotiated will lead to the need for another negotiation. I think that learning is a very powerful issue within this particular bill. We all—Maori tauiwi Pakeha katoa—need to listen and respect the reason why the descendants of this tupuna have had to come to Wellington to this House today why he was killed who benefited and who paid. The story is an opportunity but—as I think the Hon Parekura Horomia said—it does not finish the pain and hurt. But it allows for the beginning of healing. So the Green Party is very happy to support this bill through all its stages. He mihi nui ki te whanauMokomoko. Tena koutou tena koutou katoa.