Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill

I will take just a brief call to explain the Supplementary Order Paper, which deals with clause 36. It contains a transitional process to extend the vision and strategy to include the Upper Waipā River, which is contingent on what at the time of drafting was a future event, namely the coming into being of the Waikato River Authority and the initial review of the vision and strategy by that authority. It is no longer workable in that form because the river authority has come into being and in the meantime has completed its initial review on the vision and strategy, hence the need for the Supplementary Order Paper.

Again, I want to take just a short call in the Committee stage of the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Bill to set out and put on the record some of the issues that were raised in the Māori Affairs Committee on the legislation. Again, it is companion legislation to the Waikato-Tainui raupatu claim and to the management of the river, but this one is very specific about the Waipā River.

It is worth noting for the House that this river and the surrounding area were subject to serious degradations as a result of development of these areas that was contrary to the wishes of the hapū and the iwi for whom these areas are their rohe. They talked about how the river has been degraded over time from diversions from the building of stock banks, from sewage pouring into the river, and from farm runoff pouring into the river. They talked about land being destroyed by quarrying and farming, and from housing developments over which they had no authority or control.

There was one story told of soil from the urupā, from Ngāti Ruanui, being used to build a stopbank on the river, and that human remains were found to be part of the building of that stopbank. These are the consequences of the colonisation process that has trapped and locked Māori out of the decision making over their own lands. We are now in the process, through settlements, of trying to find some redress for what are very serious harms to that land and to that decision making, authority, and tino rangatiratanga of these hapū and iwi.

Although the settlements are supposed to provide some redress, actually you simply cannot provide redress for the degree of loss and harm that has been caused over time. So I think we need to acknowledge the generosity of Māori in even beginning to agree to settlement processes and settlement legislation like this. It is enormously generous that Māori agree to participate in this process. Part of it comes from the duress of poverty, that there is real desire to gain some resources so that Māori can work and do this work, and also a very strong desire to be involved in the clean-up and the fixing of the damage that was caused by others to their land and to their waters. They make enormous sacrifices in order to find some mechanism to do this work. That has to be put on the public record in this House, so that in time—because these things will be revisited regardless of how much the Government wants this to be full and final—these issues will be revisited by the descendants of these claimants. It is important that these issues are put on the table and on the public record.

We will be supporting this legislation. I am not aware of any major objections to this at this stage, but I was not on the select committee and did not hear the submissions. The Green Party will be supporting this legislation.

The question was put that the amendments set out on Supplementary Order Paper 4 in the name of the Hon Christopher Finlayson be agreed to.

Amendments agreed to.

Preamble, Parts 1 to 3, schedules 1 and 2, and clauses 1 and 2, as amended, agreed to.

Bill to be reported with amendment presently.