Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe. Otirā e ngā mema katoa o te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. Moriori mana Moriori reo Moriori tangata nōku te Hōnore e tū ki te kōrero i ō koutou pire. Nō reira ōku rau rangatira mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[To the Moriori authorities to the Moriori voices to the Moriori people it is my honour to stand and speak to your bill. Therefore to all the chiefly authorities greetings one and all.]It is indeed an absolute honour to speak on the third and final reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. Can I add my appreciation and acknowledgment to the chief negotiator Māui Solomon for his hard work and his diligent work over the course and passage of this settlement. Can I acknowledge the team behind him and those that filed the original claims the many members of the Moriori iwi who are no longer here with us. Can I also acknowledge our Crown negotiator Dame Fran Wilde the officials the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Hon Andrew Little and of course my Māori Affairs Committee members who worked very hard over examining this particular bill. It is a great time to celebrate but great in acknowledging the contribution and the generosity and the patience of the Moriori people and their story should be told. Their story should be told in our school history. Their stories should be shared not only on Rēkohu but throughout Aotearoa New Zealand because they've got a story to tell and in the passing of this bill—very quickly as we all appreciate with settlements—you want to tell the full extent of your history. But in the bill particularly under the summary of the history account I draw members' attention and the attention of those that are watching this debate it talks about what happened on Rēkohu in 1835. It talks that in 1862 the Moriori people wrote an extensive petition to this Whare—to this House—seeking recognition of their land rights—their ancient land rights—and then of course it talks about the Moriori's customary land tenure and the interpretation of it being held communally whereas the Crown title individualised land titles hence the problem that we are seeing in the passage of this particular bill. As with all Treaty bills there is the conflict between communally owned and guarded whenua versus individual title but it's in this particular bill that I acknowledge the Moriori's passion for retention despite all odds. When we talk about Treaty settlements and when we talk about the Waitangi Tribunal it can only go back to 1840 and so many of the hurts that Moriori and I would say our northern tribes had which happened pre-1840 have never ever been addressed by successive Governments. But I want to make the point in the third and final reading about the Moriori situation and its concern of what happened to them in 1835. So the redress package as the Minister spoke doesn't do justice—like most Treaty settlements—for what was sacrificed and what was lost. But we are here acknowledging the conclusion of a long-drawn-out negotiation period which acknowledges and attempts to rebuild to support the absolute development of Moriori people as they see fit. In the time I've got left I want to talk about my connection with Rēkohu. I want to talk about Rēkohu in so far as it is the birthplace of the Ringatū faith. On 15 November 1865 as a result of the Waerenga-a-Hika siege in my own home region of Tai Rāwhiti Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki along with his followers from Rongowhakaata Ngai Tāmanuhiri Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki Te Whānau a Kai and Ngāriki Kaipūtahi were imprisoned at Rēkohu without trial. So hence the relationship and on that journey one of the followers that went with Te Kooti was my great-great-grandfather Te Warahi Poutini. So for our people of Tūranganui a Kiwa going to Rēkohu and being manaaki-ed—and so as a descendent of the Tūranganui people I want to record my appreciation to the Moriori people who looked after my tipuna at that very trying time in our history.One hundred and fifty years later in 2016 a delegation of our people from home re-travelled back to Rēkohu and were hosted by the Moriori people. They got taken to where Te Kooti and his followers camped and got shown around the island and I want to record again my appreciation to the Moriori people for their manaaki of our people 150 years after Te Kooti and his followers were incarcerated without trial on Rēkohu. I thank the Moriori people for the generosity their hospitality their manaaki again of our tipuna. In 2018 I was lucky to travel with a delegation of Crown Ministers and officials to open and launch the wharf on the Chatham Islands. It was my first trip to the Rēkohu and I enjoyed again the hospitality of the local people of the Moriori people and I too got a visit to where Te Kooti was in prison. They took me to the lands where his followers—and I can say the shivers across one's spine when you are retracing your tipuna's footprints over such a significant period could only be realised like I said by the generosity of the Moriori people. Again I want to acknowledge my appreciation and thanks to them in this third and final reading of their bill. It is important that we acknowledge and tell the Moriori story and I have every faith that we will do that led by the Moriori themselves. There are huge opportunities on the island. I want to also acknowledge the surrounding islands of Rēkohu and their contribution to the wellbeing and the welfare and the opportunities of the people that reside on that island. I am looking forward and we continue to work with them with the people of islands on a number of fronts. But for today for this afternoon in the third and final reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill it is an honour to acknowledge this third and final reading. I wish the people of the Moriori the very best. I know that they will take this day as one of celebration but also of remembrance of the enormous sacrifice they have made. Without hesitation I commend this bill to the House.