Roche Denise: Te Tau Ihu Claims Settlement Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoche Denise: Te Tau Ihu Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 05 June 2013. Volume:690;Page:10808. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENISE ROCHE (Green): Tēnā tangata whenua o Te Tau Ihu te rā ki Ngāti Apa ki Te Rā Tō Ngāti Kuia Rangitāne o Wairau Ngāti Kōata Ngāti Rārua Ngāti Tama Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui me Ngati Toa Rangatira. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. It is my privilege to rise to speak to this bill Te Tau Ihu Claims Settlement Bill. It is a privilege to be a representative in this House when these settlements are being brought here to enshrine them in the history books and in the legislation of our country Aotearoa New Zealand. Before I go much further I should declare my interests like my colleagues have already in that I whakapapa to Raukawa and claim connection to Ngāti Toa through Te Rauparaha’s mother Parekōhatu. So those are my interests declared. But this is your day.In bringing these settlements to the House I recognise and pay tribute to the many people over very many generations who have bravely fought for justice for their peoples for their lands and for their resources. It has been a long journey to gain recognition of the wrongs that were done and for the Crown to attempt to address the wrongs and also apologise for its acts and omissions.The legislation as it appears in the bill states that this is a full and final settlement. The Greens’ position has always been that although we will of course support this bill we also believe it is not a full settlement. How can it fully compensate for the injustices heaped since 1839 upon the iwi represented here today in Te Tau Ihu rohe?We do not agree that it is a final settlement either. We know that even now the Crown may intrude on the rights of iwi and we uphold the right of iwi to challenge the Crown when that happens and to seek further compensation. Furthermore how can a settlement be final when the coming generations of these people may still suffer from the losses that have happened over the last 180 years or so? How can this be a full and final settlement when we know that this is a Crown-driven process—that the Crown really determines who is recognised and who is not? This will come out more I am sure during the select committee process. That is not really so very different from the actions of the Crown in the early 1900s when it allowed the division of land and placed ownership of collective land in individual hands.This stance is not to undermine in any way the enormous amount of work that has gone into getting these settlements to this place. However the Greens must state clearly that we maintain that this is a deal. It has come with much blood sweat and tears and we must never underestimate its importance and we certainly do not undervalue the worth of the Crown’s apologies. I acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations his staff and the staff of the Office of Treaty Settlements and their workin delivering a full apology to the people of these iwi. Even so this settlement is a deal. It is the best that could be negotiated at the time and the settlement deeds themselves say that they could never possibly compensate for the full costs of the losses suffered.As others have already mentioned these settlements include financial and commercial redress. For Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu for example that amounts to just over $12 million and other amounts for the other iwi. It frequently saddens me that many New Zealanders and indeed some parties in this House see settlements as some kind of largesse from the Crown—that somehow these settlements are undeserved.Sadly a lot of people in New Zealand do not know our history. Most people in New Zealand do not visit the website of the Office of Treaty Settlements and read the historical accounts that have been painstakingly researched and they are included in the deeds of settlement. The details I have found can be harrowing to read. They must have been far more harrowing to have lived through as these iwi have. For those who gripe about the financial redress they need to bear in mind that this Government bailed out a South Island finance company to the tune of $12 billion and that finance company did not even lose the names of their places or their land.The impacts of the losses have been huge. This is an excerpt from the Ngāti Rārua’s settlement about the socio-economic impacts and cultural loss: “By the late nineteenth century Ngāti Rārua had retained interests in the Nelson Tenths estate including the occupied Tenths at Motueka a handful of Mohua reserves and the Wairua district reserves. Most of these reserves were either too small or of poor quality for their owners to participate in the colonial economy … As settlers took up the land around the reserves Ngāti Rārua and other Māori owners were hemmed in losing the option of grazing their stock on Crown wasteland and of accessing traditional food resources located outside of the reserves. This development and the inadequacy of the reserves often led to inter- and intra-iwi competition creating rifts within communities … In the late twentieth century the Māori population of Te Tau Ihu including Ngāti Rārua still registered poorly across a range of social and economic indicators and the position of Māori culture and language was weak.”These settlements return some land to iwi but will never return the land that was lost. They do provide for cultural redress and some of that redress includes vesting lands and returning wāhi tapu overlaying classifications in some areas the recognition of the particular cultural spiritual historical and traditional association that iwi have with some significant areas deeds of recognition of iwi in relation to areas of Department of Conservation - managed land and the changing of some names to their original names and some unnamed areas being granted their original names. I note that some of the settlements also give important areas of land back to iwi which they will keep for a week before handing back to the Crown for the enjoyment of all New Zealanders.I acknowledge that this is a day of celebration and that iwi wish to move into the future with hope and with their pride restored. I acknowledge the huge generosity of those iwi who are part of this settlement because it benefits us all.I will finish my speech by quoting one part of the apology in the settlement deeds. It says: “The Crown hopes this apology and settlement will mark the beginning of a renewed and enduring relationship … based on mutual trust co-operation and respect for Te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.” and I guess that highlights the dishonour that the Crown did to itself.It is my sincere hope that as a country we will abide by the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and this bill is a huge step towards that. Congratulations. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.