Tirikatene Rino: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tirikatene Rino: Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 26 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:4054. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 Tena koe e te Kaiwhakamana tena koutou e te Whare ia nga tangata o nga pari e ma ra e Ngai Tamanuhiri tena koutou tena koutou. Nau mai haere mai whakatau mai ki te Paremata e takatu nei tena koutou tena tatou katoa. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Speaker and greetings to you the House and indeed those people from yonder white cliffs Ngai Tamanuhiri salutations and greetings to you collectively. Welcome draw closer to Parliament standing here ready acknowledgments to you and to us all 
.]  
I am delighted to stand and make my contribution on this the final passage of the Ngai Tamanuhiri Claims Settlement Bill. As a new member it has been a thrill actually being a member of the Maori Affairs Committee to follow the passage of this bill right the way through to the House from the first reading select committee hearings second reading and now to this final reading. So it is a steep learning curve for me. 
Being the member for Te Tai Tonga there is actually a connection in addition to the Ngai Tahu whakapapa connection that we share with our Tahu Potiki and our whanaunga here in Ngai Tamanuhiri. There is also a common connection because our whanaunga there Tutekawa Wyllie was also the member for Te Tai Tonga a few elections back. So we do share many things in common. But I am delighted to be speaking at this stage. 
We have heard this afternoon about the shared history that Ngai Tamanuhiri share with Rongowhakaata. Therefore the Crown’s breaches of the Treaty its acknowledgments and its apologies as set out in this bill are very very similar and aligned to the same breaches that occurred to Rongowhakaata when I think of the attacks at Waerenga a Hika the loss of life at Ngatapa and the tensions that were over there on Wharekauri. So you cannot differentiate the two. The two iwi were part of all of those atrocities so it is appropriate that they are acknowledged they are recorded in this bill in the deed of settlement and flowing through now into the passage of this legislation. 
We know that the redress that is offered and that is part of the package that we are putting through today does not compensate for the loss that has been inflicted on these iwi for many generations but as Minister Finlayson noted this is a step forward. This is a beginning and we have seen it happening right across the motu for the past 30-odd years in terms of the modern-day Treaty settlement process. So this is a very hallmark occasion for Ngai Tamanuhiri. 
I have had the pleasure of working with Ngai Tamanuhiri when I was with Ngai Tahu. I am thinking of a settlement in a different context and that was in the fisheries context. I acknowledge the close association that Ngai Tamanuhiri has had with Ngai Tahu and in particular the Treaty Tribes Coalition and the support and the whanaungatanga that I had the privilege of being amongst and working with in the years when I was there—and it is still strong today. 
There are many elements to these settlements as my colleagues have spoken about. I would just like to pick up on what my matua Parekura mentioned about how disappointed we are in some aspects of these settlements. We know that the Crown has vast assets as its disposal—all the king’s horses and all the king’s men you can muster and write out a $1.7 billion cheque to bail out some investors in a failed finance company when you really have to; when it really wants to. 
I just want to say how disappointed I am in that the arrangements in some of our Treaty settlements could go a lot further. I look at the arrangements of Ngai Tamanuhiri and it is great that we have had the recognition of the mana of Te Kuri a Paoa / Young Nick’s Head but I prefer Te Kuri a Paoa. But for this whanau here to go and visit their wahi tapu they have to seek permission from the American owner of the surrounding adjacent lands. That is not good enough. 
There are too many examples of Maori magnanimity—that is a word that my tuahine Nanaia was speaking about this afternoon. There are too many examples of magnanimity in Treaty redresses these days. So receiving back our sacred mountains and our islands for a period of 24 hours and then having to re-gift them to the people of New Zealand smacks of paternalism and an unwillingness to fully acknowledge the wrong. I would just like to encourage this Minister and in all future Treaty settlement processes that the Crown really does make an effort to make sure that there is full recognition of the mana of the owners of those wahi tapu sites such as Te Kuri a Paoa and many others that will be coming through in Treaty settlements that are yet to come through this House. I would like to think that the Crown can also be adventurous and maybe look at having a chat with the American landowners arranging a round of golf or having a few drinks but coming up with a solution where everyone’s mana is enhanced and that the end result will be never again having to ask permission to visit Te Kuri a Paoa. 
We have seen in other elements the gifting of the right to purchase back the Pakowhai Scenic Reserve and other very important wahi tapu sites. Again it would be good to see in terms of future settlements more commitment and more going back to the actual mana whenua and the aggrieved Treaty partner. Yes the acknowledgments and the apologies are vitally important and it would be good to see some more measures being taken whereby some more control and rangatiratanga can actually go back to the mana whenua for their sacred sites. 
This is a defining moment for Ngai Tamanuhiri but also I think it is a step forward and we are looking at economic development opportunities that will flow on through these settlements. I wish Ngai Tamanuhiri all the best in terms of their future activities and their aspirations. I know they are highly skilled and a very well-organised iwi and they have got some very talented people in their midst. I look forward to seeing what is going to happen in the Turanga region when we look at the likes of our recapitalised iwi: Rongowhakaata Ngai Tamanuhiri Mahaki to come and also the various land incorporation interests in that region. I am sure that will be a driving force for the Turanga region in the coming years. 
This is our final bill for the day. I am delighted that I have been able to make this contribution right the way through the process through this House. I would just like to conclude by mihi-ing once again to the whanau of Ngai Tamanuhiri who have travelled all the way down here to support this day. I think of all the people on the claims committees and the researchers and a 20-year process that has gone from tribunal hearings right through negotiations with the Crown all the way through to a deed of settlement and then a long passage through the House right up to this stage here. So I thank you. My colleague Charles mentioned the gratitude that we have for your partnership with the Crown through this process. We are looking forward to seeing what that future will hold beyond the passage of this bill. So I mihi to you all. Kia ora ano tatou katoa.