Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill

on behalf of the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations: Kia ora, Mr Speaker. I move, That the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time. Ko Ōtawa te maunga, ko Te Raparapa-a-Hoe te awa, ko Hei te tupuna. Ko Takakōpiri te tangata, ko Te Arawa te waka, ko Waitaha te iwi. Nā reira, ka huri au ki te mihi atu ki a rātou kua hara mai nei ki konei ki tēnei Whare Pāremata kia whakatutuki ai i tēnei kaupapa ka whāia e tātou katoa. Nā reira, tēnā koutou nau mai, hara mai rā.

Hara mai rā me te kaupapa e whakahuihui i a tātou i tēnei rangi, he kaupapa nui. Nā reira, kai te tangi atu ki a rātou kua ngaro atu, ngā mate kua pā ki a koutou, e tīraha tonu i ngā marae maha o te motu, ā, tae noa ki a rātou o te kāinga nei. Nā reira, ko te kōrero, rātou ki a rātou. Haere koutou me ngā hūpē, te roimata kia okioki pai koutou, ā, i mua o te aroaro o Te Kaihanga.

Nā reira, kia hoki atu ki te kaupapa tino nui rawa i tēnei rā tātou mā, he kaupapa harikoa, te whakamutunga o te ara o tēnei pire i roto i te Whare Pāremata i tēnei rā. He rā nui tēnei mō koutou, otirā, mō tātou katoa, nau mai, hara mai rā.

[Ōtawa is the mountain, Te Raparapa-a-Hoe is the river, and Hei is the ancestor. Takakōpiri is the man, Te Arawa is the canoe, and Waitaha is the tribe. So I turn to acknowledge those who have arrived here at this House of Parliament to conclude this matter that we are all pursuing. Salutations to you collectively, welcome, welcome.

Welcome indeed in relation to the matter that has assembled us here on this day. It is a matter of great significance. Therefore I mourn those who are gone, the deaths experienced by you collectively that continue to lie prone on the many courtyards of the nation, including those from this place. So the statement is that they, the dead, to the dead, go collectively and enshrined in mucus, in tears so that you may rest well before the Creator.

Therefore, returning to this matter of great significance today, fellow colleagues, it is one of sheer delight and of final note in the House today. This is a great day for you and for all of us indeed, so welcome, welcome.]

The story of Waitaha is hugely significant—an iwi whose members have never yielded to the Crown, a people devastated by the cumulative effect of the Crown’s acts, the Crown’s omissions, and its breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles.

As he stood aboard the deck of Te Arawa waka and looked to Ōtawa maunga, the tipuna Hei declared: Te takapū o taku tama, ko Waitahanui-a-Hei. “Let this land be the living land of my son Waitaha.” Over time the uri o Hei settled along the coast extending from Katikati to Ōtamarākau and to the island of Tuhua. Waitaha has close whakapapa links with Tauranga, Waikato, Ngāi Tahu, Ngati Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Te Arawa. By the 1840s Waitaha primarily occupied the land between Tauranga Harbour in the west and Waiari River in the east, as well as staying inland. The people before us today are the living proof that the children of Waitaha have kept this ancient promise—a promise kept across generations, through incredible hardship and in the face of unnecessary suffering. Te takapū o taku tama, ko Waitahanui-a-Hei—these living lands of the people of Waitahanui. But it is has not been an easy promise to keep. Much of the unnecessary suffering borne by the Waitaha families took place after the Crown brought war to their homelands, just a few decades after Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed.

The Waitaha prophet Hakaraia Mahika blended Christian philosophies with Māori teachings, and preached peaceful engagement with Pākehā for the first part of his life. However, as he witnessed the loss of Māori lands and lives across Aotearoa, as the Crown invaded Waikato and edged towards Waitaha, Hakaraia the spiritual leader also became Hakaraia the warrior leader. He would spend the latter half of his life fighting against the confiscation of Māori lands and would ultimately die defending them. When his body was found in the Waiōeka Gorge, he was draped in the Kīngitanga flag.

The reputation of this incredible New Zealander has been tainted in the so-called official history of this country. The Crown’s Tauranga confiscations were unjust, and yet Hakaraia Mahika was killed because he opposed them. He was labelled a rebel. Homes, crops, livestock, and belongings of Waitaha people were burnt to the ground under the Crown’s scorched earth policy. Survivors fled. Much of the ancestral and wāhi tapu lands of Waitaha were confiscated, and remain so to this day. Such was the loss of Waitaha families that the following lament would shape their dealings with the Crown over successive generations: Ko Waitaha te iwi, he tāngata ngākau rua—Waitaha, once powerful, but, due to the loss of land, now divided.

Without the land and without the resources to take ownership of their own destiny, generations of Waitaha people were denied by the Crown the right to determine their own economic and their own social well-being. By confiscating sacred sites such as Ōtawa maunga, the mountain of Hei seen from Te Arawa waka, the Crown also sought to deny the people of Waitaha their cultural treasures. This land loss, this identity loss, coupled with the stigma of raupatu, meant that the Crown actively sought to deny the descendants of Hei and Waitaha the right to uphold their own mana motuhake, the right to exercise their own rangatiratanga.

Today’s settlement is made up of cultural, financial, and commercial redress. Cultural redress includes the vesting of cultural sites and reserves and a Crown acknowledgment of the Waitaha values regarding their wāhi tapu, referred to as their whakairinga kōrero. The Crown will provide statutory acknowledgment of Waitaha’s statements of their particular cultural, spiritual, historical, and traditional association with 15 areas, including the peak of the maunga tīpuna Ōtānewainuku, beds of several watercourses, including the Kaituna River, and the coastal area between Mauao and Maketū.

He hōnore māku—it is an honour for me—and I am pleased to announce that $1.3 million has already been provided to Waitaha to prepare a full historical account of Waitaha and Hakaraia, and for a contribution to the restoration of Hei Marae and other cultural support purposes. I look forward to that. Too many of our tīpuna who fought for their people died and were branded—not by their history books but by Pākehā history books—as traitors, and yet they are the reason that we are still strong as Māori.

The Crown will provide letters to Ministers encouraging support for Maranga Waitaha, a link to Government initiatives, to assist with the social, economic, and cultural needs of Waitaha. The Crown will also provide letters of introduction to local authorities. The Crown will institute three ministerial protocols relating to taonga tūturu, conservation, and Crown minerals. Financial redress for Waitaha includes the payment of $7.5 million plus interest from the agreement in principle signed in March 2008. Commercial redress for Waitaha includes the right to purchase three land bank properties on settlement, the right to purchase five sites on sale and leaseback provisions, and a right to purchase land bank properties.

But to me this bill, importantly, pays tribute to Hakaraia Mahika and the important legacy he leaves his descendants as a spiritual leader, rangatira, and warrior leader. As his name in the official history of our country is restored, it is right that the Hakaraia Mahika endowment fund will nurture and support future Waitaha leaders. A rangatira who died fighting for his people’s rights—te rangatiratanga, te mana motuhake—Hakaraia’s vision of peace for Waitaha will soon be fulfilled. From today it will also live on in New Zealand law, and when the volume about the Māori history of Hakaraia is completed, everyone will know he was a chief, a rangatira, and a warrior.

All those things taken from the families of Waitaha due to the actions of the Crown can never be totally replaced, and yet today the families of Waitaha seek to settle their grievances with the Crown with mana and with honour. Mai i Te Rae-o-Papamoa, i Te Ōkere ō mua, Te Ōpere-o-Tua i te wehenga whakamutunga o Tamatekapua ki Ōtawa-ki-Te Rangi, Te Ūpoko-o-Hei, ki Te Kikiri-o-te-Ūpoko o Taranui, whakawhiti atu ki Te Ara-a-Hei, ki Ōtānewainuku, te maunga o ngā patupaiarehe, he maunga tipua. Ka mihi ki a Pūwhenua, ka mihi ki a Mauao, te takapū o taku tama o Waitahanui-a-Hei—these living lands of the people of Waitahanui.

[From Te Rae-o-Papamoa, formerly Te Ōkere, then to Te Ōpere-o-Tua, the final departure place of Tamatekapua to Ōtawa-ki-Te Rangi, to Te Ūpoko-o-Hei, to Te Kikiri-o-te-Ūpoko o Taranui across to Te Ara-a-Hei, to Ōtānewainuku, the mountain of the fairy folk and a spiritual mountain. I acknowledge Pūwhenua, Mauao, and my son Waitahanui-a-Hei’s abdomen—these living lands of the people of Waitahanui.]

I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Ā, tēnā koutou e aku rangatira huri noa i te Whare. Ki a koutou Waitaha iwi, Te Arawa waka, ngā uri whakatipu o Hei me tana tama a Waitaha, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou. Nau mai, hara mai ki te Whare Pāremata e takatū nei. Nō koutou tēnei rā, ko te rā whakahirahira. Kāti, tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, ā, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Greetings to you, my esteemed leaders throughout the House. To you, the tribe of Waitaha, the canoe of Te Arawa, and the descendants of Hei and his son Waitaha, salutations and greetings to you collectively. Welcome, welcome indeed to Parliament House standing in readiness here. This is your day, and a significant one at that. Enough for now, so salutations, greetings, and congratulations to us all.]

It is a great privilege for me to speak at this final reading of the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill. Every iwi has a story, and every story is very significant. One of the great things about being a member on the Māori Affairs Committee is that we have been able to learn a lot about the history of iwi right around the country. For me, especially, coming from down south, I have been enlightened quite a lot with the work that we have achieved with the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill, because Waitaha are in the South Island as well. I understand that the sons of Waitaha settled throughout Aotearoa. So I sort of think that there might be a connection there through the Waitaha that we have down in Murihiku, puta noa i Te Wai Pounamu. For me it was nice to make the connection there with the people of Waitaha.

Every iwi does have a story, and regrettably the story for Waitaha is a very dark history. But it is wonderful to be here at this final reading to see the revitalisation and the re-emergence of the identity and the mana of this great iwi. Waitaha is an iwi that almost—almost—lost its identity along with its lands. We know that they are from the Te Arawa waka, but their area of influence stretched from Mauao down to Maketū and inland past Te Teko. When the Crown invaded Waikato in 1863, and as caused by the pressures of those situations, whānau had to side certain ways. So some sided with the Kīngitanga, some fought with the Crown, and some remained neutral, but it caused great division between tribes and internal conflict, as those situations must have done.

Throughout that, regrettably, it was very unfortunate that the Crown punished Waitaha severely by confiscating 214,000 acres as punishment. It said that it would retain a quarter of the land and return the rest, but that never happened. I think it is important to never forget why Waitaha live in a place called Manoeka—and that is the beauty of the Māori language, Manoeka, which literally means 1,000 acres—because that was the remnant pieces of land, a few small areas of land that were the only pieces of land that were retained.

As a result the iwi really struggled to retain its identity and to maintain its way of life, because it had so much of its lands taken. But it had very prominent leaders, and Hakaraia was one such leader who rose to prominence. He dared to challenge all of the terrible deeds that were going on, or as Parekura used to say, “the dastardly deeds of the Crown”, in terms of the Crown’s surveys, and the surveying of confiscated lands, and all those other modus operandi, as I call them, of the Crown around those land confiscations. So Hakaraia, the great rangatira, rose up, and as a result the Crown saw that as a threat and it harassed Hakaraia all the way to his death. At the time it was carrying out a scorched earth policy of the time. That really calls to mind the deed of signing that we had earlier this week with Ngāi Tūhoe. The same tactics were applied to Waitaha.

That is a very dark and very blood-drenched history that is a reality for the people here of Waitaha, and the same goes for many iwi around the country. So it is important that these stories can be told. I have spoken about them in my earlier speeches in greater detail, but it is important that they are put into the statute book. It is great that there are Crown acknowledgments and apologies for those acts or omissions.

There are many aspects to the settlement, and I know the Minister of Māori Affairs has gone through them in greater detail than I have, but I do like to focus on the future—as my colleague Katrina talked about—on our children and their children. That is definitely the tribal slogan, I guess, for Ngāi Tahu: that it is for us and our children after us. It is wonderful to see the activities that are happening throughout Waitaha through the renovations and revitalisations of their whare tūpuna, Hei Marae. They have only one marae, but I am really hopeful and I am pretty sure that there will be many more marae for Waitaha that will be re-established over the coming years and decades to come. There is also the new wharekai that is now gracing the marae there at Hei. I think it is wonderful to see what the benefits of a settlement can achieve for iwi. Likewise, there is the recognition, the documentation, of the story of Hakaraia and also the creation of education endowments in Hakaraia’s name for his descendants and uri.

So those are the aspects of settlement that I am really pleased to see—likewise, to see all the happy faces that are here in the gallery today from Waitaha. It has been a long journey, but we are almost there. Again, I will not prolong my kōrero today, only that I wish Waitaha all the very best. Feel free to come down to Te Wai Pounamu and make the hononga connections. I am sure our whānau down there would be delighted to make those connections. I wish you all the very best. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora tātou.

It is my pleasure to take a call on the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill today. I would like to welcome all the representatives to Parliament and to the House today. It is good to see so many of you in the gallery. I also would like to acknowledge the youth in our gallery today, because, actually, these settlements are not just about recognising the past and what has happened in the past, but they are about ensuring we have a strong foundation for the youth going forward. It is important that they are here today so they can tell these stories to their children and their children’s children—that they were here today and they witnessed this very historic moment for your iwi. And it is a historic moment, and it has been a long journey. Many of you have worked very, very hard to get here today, and I would like to acknowledge that, and also those of you who are not here with us today. I see some pictures in the gallery that have been brought along. I acknowledge those who have not got to this point of the journey and the work that they have done.

Also I would like to acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Minister Finlayson, and all the work that he has done to ensure that we have got many of these Treaty settlements into the House and into their third readings and getting out the other side of that, and also the work that Tau Henare does. He is the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. We sit on that select committee, and it is a very hard-working committee. He is always very focused on getting these bills through the committee as fast as he possibly can. We always go out to the iwi, we always go into the communities, we always go on to the maraes. As members of Parliament we are privileged to do that. What it allows us to do is to hear your stories, to hear the history, to get an understanding of it, so that when we look at this bill we have a much greater understanding of the journey to get to this bill, to make sure that it is the best that it possibly can be for you during this process. So in this particular bill we talk about an agreed historical account—which is extremely important—an apology from the Crown, cultural redress, and financial redress, which are all equally important aspects of this Treaty settlement.

I am not going to take a long call today, because it is important we get this bill passed today, and we are time-limited for this session. So I want to wish you well. I want to thank you for everything you have done to get to this stage. I hope that we can work together—the Crown and iwi—in a constructive, positive way to make a real difference to the people in your iwi, the people in our community, and the people in New Zealand. Thank you very much. I commend this bill to the House.

Ā, tuatahi, tēnei ka tuku aku mihi ki a koutou Waitaha, kua eke mai nei i runga i te papa nei i roto i tēnei Whare nō reira, ki a koutou katoa, e kaha ana ki te kawea nei i tēnei kaupapa i waenganui i a koutou, kia whakatakoto i mua i te aroaro o te Kāwanatanga, te Karauna, hei tutuki i tēnei kaupapa, tēnei te mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

[Firstly, I extend my greetings to you, Waitaha, who have arrived here on the floor in this House and worked so hard amongst yourselves to bring this matter forth and place it before the Government and the Crown to finish off. I therefore commend you all.]

It gives me great pleasure to be able to speak in the third reading of this particular bill, the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill. Having listened to the previous contributions, I was trying to think what contribution—what small morsel of a contribution—I might make today. I would not hope to try to express and retell your history, because much of it cannot be told within the context of this bill. Much of it really still lies within the hearts and minds of the generations that have descended from Hakaraia to this day. But we share a common thread. The common thread goes back to the 1860s—back to a time when our ancestors were labelled with the current lexicon of that day as “rebels”. Tame Iti would have called them “freedom fighters”. Today I would much rather prefer we were “sovereigns”—Māori sovereigns fighting for something that we knew defined us as who we were in our own country, holding on to our land.

So I share that connection to the extent that the label and classification of “rebels” from Hakaraia’s time down, I think, provided a bit of a stigma. I can say that, because I went to school not so long ago when the history books told only one side of the story. In that story they said why Waikato were rebels. The effect that that had within the classroom was that every Pākehā child in my classroom stigmatised my value, my worth, and the history that I was told from my ancestors, because the history books said we were rebels. I am pleased that there are young people here today, because what this bill does is it shines Waitaha’s light on a dark day in history. The colonial Government had created some very dingy and suspect feelings towards our people, and as Māori sovereigns who fought for our lands, who fought to retain what we had, who fought to ensure that nobody could critically take away what belonged to us, today some part of that poor history has been redressed. So what it has done is it has shone Waitaha’s light on the Crown’s dark days in history that it created.

What it has also done, though, is it has enabled the light to shine out, because this is an intergenerational settlement. When I read the terms of the settlement in terms of the endowments for education, the redress in terms of restoring a key marae for your people, the redress in terms of establishing the endowment fund, and all the statutory acknowledgments, your financial and commercial redress—all that, in total sum, is by some small measure an opportunity to say to the next generation: “Hey, if people said your tūpuna were rebels, don’t you believe it. Your tūpuna fought for what they knew was right, so that you would have two legs to stand on, in your own rohe and on your land.” I am, without a doubt, assured by the fact that because there are so many young people here today, your history has been carried quite proudly within your people. Now we have an opportunity to open that history up to the rest of New Zealand, and it is an important thing to do, as the speaker before me said. Once stories are told, once the history is corrected, then New Zealand can walk forward into a proud future that says: “Hey, we’re trying to do things a bit better. We realise hurt was caused in the past, but reconciliation begins with acknowledging that damage was done in the past and it was wrong. It was wrong, and it was not right, and it hurt a lot of people through the generations. Now is the time to heal and look forward.”

I want to commend the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations because he has certainly taken it upon himself to be so ambitious around the aspiration of getting all the Treaty settlements done that we can only support it. In this House there are very few times when members of Parliament come together to support legislation with a huge majority, but this is one of the times—Treaty settlements. We know that in order to heal the past and reconcile and move forward into the future, the Treaty settlement process is absolutely critical. Once that is over and done with, it goes back into your court, and that says that it is now our challenge to make it work. I am not fazed by the sums of money or the things like that, and neither should you be, because it is what you do with it. If a story of Treaty settlements can be told within New Zealand around our collective experience, no matter what sum of money you are given, it is actually what you do with it. It is how your people grow, how you prosper, how you ensure an intergenerational perspective to opportunities going forward. It is going to be how we, as iwi, collaborate, and I think that is the real benefit of a Treaty settlement landscape that positions Māori, the Māori economy, and the Māori development future of our people in a far stronger position so that we can weather the storms now and into the future.

I wish you well. I wish the young people well, and tell them to remember this day. Remember this day because it is the day that your tūpuna and your kaumātua who are here with you have given you the opportunity to look forward unencumbered by the heaviness of the past. I wish you well, because now is the beginning of another journey and another opportunity. I want to thank everybody who has been involved, the negotiators on Waitaha’s side and certainly on the Crown’s side, to be able to ensure we have got something to be able to acknowledge that Waitaha’s torch is now shining on the history that must be told and cannot be forgotten. Kia ora koutou katoa.

Ki ngā manuhiri, ngā hapū, ngā whānau o Waitaha, tēnā koutou katoa.

[Salutations to you, all visitors, subtribes, and families of Waitaha.]

I am pleased to take a short call on behalf of the Greens to speak to this important piece of legislation, the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill, and to reaffirm our support for the passing of this very significant bill. A couple of times this morning I have enjoyed my whanaunga Tau Henare speaking of his regret at the lack of attention that we as New Zealanders pay to our own history. He commented earlier that perhaps he and I were some of the exceptions to the rule, having parents and family who enjoyed and revelled in learning and speaking about New Zealand history. But many New Zealanders of my age, and even younger, grew up knowing about Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Robin Hood, but knew next to nothing about Te Rauparaha, Hongi Hika, Kawiti, and Te Kooti, who were extraordinary men living in extraordinary times and doing extraordinary things.

In that context, I must confess that my own knowledge of the story of Waitaha was fairly minimal up until coming to grips with and reading this bill. It is a sad story, it is a heartbreaking story, but it is also a story that is represented in the doings of their tipuna Hakaraia, who showed the leadership that was so common in Māoridom. The leaders at that time were warriors, they were philosophers, they were writers and poets, but, critically, they were leaders. They took on the responsibility and the burden of leadership at a time of incredible change when an entire history of a people was under threat, and they retained that. Their strength of purpose, their example, remains for us in the present day and for the descendants of those extraordinary people to remember their sacrifice and their efforts, and to carry that forward into the future.

The story is well told, as ever, in the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill. It is a very succinct story in the telling, in this context anyway, but it is one I recommend to any New Zealander who wants to know more about the history of this country and particularly of that area. It is noted that after the death of Hakaraia particularly, the Tauranga raupatu took away the economic underpinnings of the people of Waitaha, and that very nearly led to their demise entirely. Sadly, that is a story that was repeated across the country. People, families, hapū, and iwi can survive a great deal, but cannot survive the complete loss of the land that sustains them and that had sustained them for many generations.

We must acknowledge in entering into the settlement that, as ever, Waitaha are forgoing full reparation, as have iwi and hapū throughout the country. I have heard a figure that typically the settlements, in terms of value, represent between 2 and 5 percent of what was lost. Again, we must admire and acknowledge the generosity of ngā iwi katoa who take that hit, who accept much less in return. Critically, they hear the apology of the Crown, they hear the acknowledgment of the mana whenua, and that is equal, at least in value, to the land, the resources, and the financial redress that comes along with it.

I would like to quote our late and much-lamented friend Parekura, who in an earlier debate on this very bill in reference to Waitaha said: “there is a feeling in me that this is one of the most persistent tribes in all of Māoridom.” I think you could put up a lot of nominees for the award of the most persistent, but I will certainly bow to Parekura’s superior knowledge. For an iwi to win that award from that gentleman is, I think, remarkable. Persistence is a quality that we all admire. It speaks not only to the determination of the people who have endured so much for so long but also to the integrity, the essential rightness, of their claims and their very justified demands for restitution over the generations.

It is my pleasure on behalf of the Greens to acknowledge ngā tūpuna o Waitaha and the iwi, hapū, and whānau of today who have worked so hard to get to this point, whose objectives in their negotiations include cultural revitalisation, social enhancement, and economic and political participation. This legislation that we will pass today will make a contribution to enabling that.

I would like, on behalf of my colleague Catherine Delahunty—who, unfortunately, is unwell, or else she would take an opportunity to speak today—to quote briefly from her speech in an earlier debate on this bill. She talks of meeting with some Waitaha people, who laid out around the issue of Newmont Waihī Gold and Glass Earth Gold their aspiration to mine Muir’s Peak. Catherine said: “I met then with some Waitaha people, who laid out very clearly their passion for their maunga down to the ocean, and their passion for preserving their waterways and protecting the area from mining. It was very humbling to have met those people, and I want to acknowledge them.” So I greet Waitaha on Catherine’s behalf, and I am sure she will continue in that shared battle to protect the whenua.

So Māori and the Greens share an essential concern for the well-being of people, for the well-being of whenua, for the well-being of ngā awa and ngā moana. We recognise that those are interwoven, that they are interdependent, that the well-being of one determines the well-being of another. Toitū te marae o Tāne, toitū te marae o Tangaroa, toitū te iwi.

[The courtyards of Tāne and Tangaroa are permanent, and so is the durability of the people.]

To the extent that we damage the land and water, we damage ourselves. Restoration of land and water is also restoring our own well-being, and these settlement processes are a step towards that restoration, and for that reason we welcome them.

This bill provides acknowledgment and recognition of the mana whenua of Waitaha, and, as ever, the Greens are pleased to see mana recognised and restored, not only for the people of Waitaha but for the land and waters, which we know they are making an enormous contribution to restoring and bringing back to life and to bringing back to the quality that is within them. We wish Waitaha well, and with real pleasure we continue to support this legislation. Kia ora.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker. Whatitiri ki te rangi, ko Waitaha, ko Maunganui ki te whenua, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā anō koutou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. As thunder is to the sky, so are Waitaha and Maunganui on earth. Greetings, salutations, and acknowledgments once again to you all.]

This settlement, as with other settlements of Māori grievances, is long overdue. The devastation and deceit perpetrated upon Waitaha was so brutal, and the deception so Machiavellian in its execution, that it beggars belief. Men, women, and children massacred, possessions burnt, and land systematically taken, stolen throughout the years—and what land it was that was taken. It was some of the most fertile land in New Zealand. We are talking about the Bay of Plenty, and we only need to look at the importance of agriculture and horticulture to the Bay of Plenty, and the revenue that it brings to our area.

This settlement is an important marker for the identity of Waitaha. The real story needs to be told. Waitaha has so many strands with so many tribes linked to Waitaha that many have learnt and discovered their identity on the journey that has taken so long to come to this pathway but important nexus here today. These strands of knowledge are like the weavings of a harakeke kete basket that are still unfinished, but strong and able to carry so much.

It is important and right that Hakaraia is acknowledged in this settlement, but I would just like to depart a little and talk about the education and acceptance of wider New Zealand. We do not have to cast our minds back so far; we can look at the disgusting cartoons that we saw a couple of weeks ago. But I want to take you back to about 5 months ago when Maritime New Zealand had a public meeting with some of the great brains of New Zealand there to talk about the effects and devastation of the Rena on the area. A question was asked about the knowledge that was there. One man, a local kaumātua, stood up and spoke of the kuakua, a shellfish from the deep. The person who was running this meeting turned round and said: “Oh, we’re working very closely with local iwi on this.”, and yet that person did not recognise Maru Tapsell. If that sort of thing happens again, the man to go and see is sitting right over there, the Hon Chris Finlayson, who is an honourable Minister and genuine. For Waitaha, we need the education, and continuing education, of people throughout New Zealand, and, most certainly, the authorities. The kuakua date right back to te ao-hau-pao-ua, which is a wind that comes up and causes a cross-current in the ocean and created that tsunami. Those deep-sea shellfish would have brought us so much knowledge on the contaminants from the Rena. If only they had listened to Māori, eh?

Moving forward, Waitaha require a continuation of explanation to counsel the general public, territorial authorities, and, most important, the children and people of New Zealand and the Bay of Plenty so that those in the bay recognise the enormous debt of honour and gratitude that they owe Waitaha and, most important, the role that Waitaha has played in our history and our futures yet to come. Kia ora.

As Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, I take the last call in this debate. I usually take the first call, but I deferred to Dr Sharples, the Minister of Māori Affairs, who is a great ministerial and parliamentary colleague, as is the local Waiariki MP, Te Ururoa Flavell, who has been advising me on many aspects concerning settlements in the Bay of Plenty. When Dr Sharples was giving his speech I left the Chamber, not because I had the pip with him but simply because, as the Minister in charge of the Waitaha Claims Settlement Bill, I cannot be here if someone else is moving the third reading. So I just thought I should make that clear. Dr Sharples was most anxious that people not think there was any disagreement between us. He has shot away to do something else, and I can assure you that it is not because he has got the stitch with me.

This day signifies the end of a long journey for Waitaha. I want to congratulate all present here on your vision, on your endurance, and on your patience, because settlement negotiations began in February 2008 in parallel with those of your close relatives from Ngāti Mākino. Waitaha signed an agreement in principle with the Crown on 16 October 2008 and, finally, on 20 September 2011 we signed the deed of settlement. So I am so pleased that we have now reached this legislative stage.

I want to say this also: as Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, I am very lucky. You have heard some comments in the course of the morning about not knowing the history of this country—that too many people do not know it. Well, I am very lucky because, through being Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, I sure do learn the history of this country. So I can understand what drives Tūhoe, who signed a deed of settlement here a couple of days ago, in their yearning for reconnection with te Urewera. I can understand the hurt and the suffering of the iwi of the Taranaki arising from the land wars that started there a little over 150 years ago. I can understand the anger of Rongowhakaata over Te Hau ki Tūranga, which is why Te Hau ki Tūranga—which of course they own—needs to go back to Tūranga.

And so it is with Waitaha, because Waitaha negotiations have sought recognition of their identity and particularly the acknowledgment of the tupuna Hakaraia. Hakaraia rose to prominence as a leader of the resistance to the Crown’s survey of confiscation land. In January 1867 Government forces assaulted Waitaha settlements near Te Puke. They destroyed houses, crops, and livestock as a special punishment for Hakaraia. Using scorched earth tactics, the Crown pursued Hakaraia to his death in 1870. The fate of Hakaraia is central to the story of Waitaha and their claims. This settlement acknowledges that fact and will address the matter directly through, for example, an education endowment fund of $3 million in the name of Hakaraia, funding for Waitaha to record the story of Waitaha and Hakaraia, and, as has already been mentioned, the restoration of Hei Marae. The intention of the redress is to restore the mana and identity of Hakaraia, and I am so very pleased to hear that the funding of the marae restoration has gone to building a new wharekai that is now in place at Hei Marae.

The settlement redress also includes commercial and cultural redress. One of the important aspects of settlements, particularly in the cultural redress area, is to provide facilities for iwi to work with regional and local government, for example, on cleaning up canals, lakes, and rivers that have become polluted over the years. That is why I am so very pleased, for example, that my ministerial colleague Amy Adams has just announced this morning the investment of $2.4 million by the Government to clean up Kopeopeō Canal. It is in the Bay of Plenty and used to be a place where folk would swim and fish, and, hopefully, in the not too distant future, for the first time in decades, that will be able to happen again. It is a priority site on the part of Amy Adams to clean up contaminated sites and it is but an example of the sort of work that can be done when iwi and the regional council and the Crown work together. I have to tell you that in the last couple of years about $28 million has been spent seeking to restore some of these sites around the country.

This settlement, which has its third reading today, is not the end. These settlements are never “done and dusted”, a phrase that irritates me considerably. They are never over and done with, but they are designed to mark a relationship between the iwi and the Crown that will build on trust and cooperation and respect for the Treaty. A very important part of what now happens is for the Crown to audit the relationship between the particular iwi and itself to make sure that the mistakes of old are not repeated again. That is why we have established within the Ministry of Justice a post-settlement organisation under the guidance of the Secretary for Justice to ensure that if the Crown says it will do something, then it does it—not just today and tomorrow but 25 years on from now. That is the very least that iwi who settle with the Crown can expect, and I believe that if the Crown lives up to its promises, then the relationship can be very good indeed.

There is so much more that needs to be done outside Treaty relationships. For example, the reform of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act is a huge task and doubtless will impact on many of the whānau in your iwi. There is good work being done on that, and I am hoping that we will be able to have some reforms next year to make that legislation more user-friendly. But today we are concentrating on this great iwi, its persistence, its courage, and its dogged determination to see the mana of Hakaraia restored. I end by echoing the great Waitaha whakataukī: Kua tau te rangimārie ki te Whare o Hakaraia, ake, ake, ake.

[Peace has settled upon the House of Hakaraia for ever and ever.]

I commend the bill to the House.

Bill read a third time.

Karanga

Waiata

The House adjourned at 12.43 p.m. (Thursday)