Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill

I move, That the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill be now read a second time. The bill gives effect to a deed of settlement signed by the Crown, the Tumuaki, and Ngāti Hauā in 2013 to settle all remaining historical Treaty claims of Ngāti Hauā. I think I said this in my first reading speech, but this was an iwi who came and saw Bill English and me towards the end of 2012 and said they wanted to conclude their settlement negotiations by signing a deed 6 months hence, and we said: “Yes, let’s go for it.” We did not believe that it was possible, but they did it because they are excellent negotiators. They were focused on the task. They had dealt with overlapping claims. It was a very, very impressive effort, and once again I commend them and their negotiators for their splendid work. The settlement provides financial, commercial, and cultural redress and acknowledges the losses suffered by Ngāti Hauā arising from serious breaches of the Treaty by the Crown.

Once again, I want to thank the chair and members of the Māori Affairs Committee for their hard work in considering the bill and exploring the issues raised in submissions at hearings held earlier this year in Karapiro and in Wellington. The committee received four submissions from interested groups and individuals and heard three of them. I am very happy to hear that people took the time to examine, to make submissions on, and to think about, the bill. It was especially pleasing to hear from those who supported it, and in particular I want to acknowledge the warmth expressed from a neighbouring iwi. Treaty bills like this one reflect prior agreements between claimant groups and the Crown. It is not always possible for the committee to make the changes suggested by submitters, but I want to assure submitters that the committee investigated the changes to the bill that they suggested.

In 2008 the Crown and Waikato-Tainui signed a deed of settlement in relation to the great Waikato River. This settlement will geographically extend the co-management instruments afforded to Waikato-Tainui to cover the Ngāti Hauā area of interest, and that means that Ngāti Hauā will play an important role in the co-management of the Waikato River within their area of interest, through Waikato-Tainui. The committee has incorporated a small number of changes to the bill. These changes are technical in nature and they do help to clarify aspects of the redress. I look forward to the third reading and seeing this wonderful iwi move into a positive future. I commend the bill to the House.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to support the second reading of the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill. Although it is not in my technical electorate boundary, it is within my childhood rohe. I was very pleased to be able to attend the signing of this particular settlement at Rukumoana. There was a strong air of anticipation that some great things can emerge from a very discreet and small settlement.

The Ngāti Hauā settlement exists outside of the Waikato raupatu boundary. Some of the key pillars for the settlement are around the Tumuakitanga and its relationship to the Kīngitanga and, more important, the way in which Ngāti Hauā marae have organised themselves. Their governance has been propelled by the expectations of having a settlement that can help them to develop their marae and their resources, and look forward to see how they can optimise the value of other shareholding interests that they have within the Ngāti Hauā area.

Ngāti Hauā is rich in history, rich in resource of its people and marae, and rich in so far as some of the business and farming activities that they are involved in. There are two components through the submission process that the Māori Affairs Committee turned its eye to. One was in relation to an objection—the only objection to the settlement—and we have mentioned that in the report with relation to the supporting of the Tumuakitanga. We were very satisfied that nothing in this bill provides for the transfer of a payment to an individual. In fact, on ratification, tribal members themselves were informed that a component of this particular redress allowed for the support for the Tumuaki and an institution to be able to achieve that. This is a really important part of the bill, albeit a small commentary from the select committee, because it would be right for tribal members to have a strong sense of objection if they felt that in any way a particular individual benefited specifically from a Treaty settlement. I really want to assure members of the House that we put our minds to that objection.

The second one was in relation to the transfer, I guess, of similar instruments that relate to those Waikato River iwi. If members have an appreciation for the Ngāti Hauā region, some of the catchments feeding the Waikato River are inextricably linked to the Ngāti Hauā area. What is happening now as a result of the river settlement is that catchment plans have been developed in conjunction with the regional council and Waikato-Tainui iwi representatives to be able to provide for the more efficient, better management and care and protection of tributaries through catchment plans, thereby influencing the positive impact on the Waikato River.

But here is a particularly unique example in Ngāti Hauā. This is how this settlement, I think, will build on greater stewardship and protection for our waterways. They have gone into a partnership with the regional council to be able to do something like the Clean Streams Project, such as put up fences, plant along waterways, and stop cattle from going into streams that have a high intrinsic value for Ngāti Hauā themselves but also are important in terms of the network of streams within the Hauā area. I can see that my colleague Tim Macindoe is very familiar with what I am saying.

The point of this is that giving effect to the instruments contained in the Waikato River settlement and making clear that the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill allows the instruments to be extended to their rohe creates, dare I say it—excuse the pun—a streamlined effect for efficient management of waterways. That is a good thing. I know that members of Ngāti Hauā are very excited about their settlement. I know that they are very appreciative of the Government pursuing this with some vigour, because in relation, I guess, to Waikato they understand that they would be seen as a very small component part of Waikato. So they have an immense amount of gratitude to the Government for getting their settlement on the table and through the House with such speed, and I feel compelled to convey that to the Government on their behalf.

There are other aspects of the bill, but can I say that of all the settlement bills that we have heard at the end of last year and this year, this was probably the most efficiently managed bill, to the extent that all but one submission supported it. The ratification process was extensive. It was very clear how the components of the redress would be utilised. It has been very encouraging to see the growing attendance of the Ngāti Hauā people at their monthly meetings and the way in which they have organised themselves. I think that Ngāti Hauā have become a model for Waikato to that extent. You can go to a meeting within Hauā and they will have near on, for the size of the hapū, 60 to 80 people turning up at Rukumoana for their monthly meetings. I think that is a great hallmark of real development of people in their area.

I do not have too much more to say, but can I commend the bill once again to members. Can I say, although it may be ruled inappropriate, that it does concern me that members who are not represented on the Māori Affairs Committee see fit to attack Treaty settlement legislation, and I would urge members who feel that they need to be on particular Treaty settlement bills to actually have members on that select committee, albeit for each one. Thank you. Kia ora.

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker. Ā, anō tēnā koutou kua tae mai nei ki tēnei hui ō tātou me te kaupapa e takoto nei i mua i a tātou i te rā nei. Tēnā koutou, whakapiri mai.

[And so, salutations to you collectively who have arrived here at this gathering of ours and to the matter that reclines here before us today. Greetings to you collectively; draw closer.]

I stand to tautoko the second reading of the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill and to note that the clear and pragmatic approach that Ngāti Hauā has brought to the settlement of their claims is a triumph and the product of their absolute belief and commitment. I endorse what Nanaia has said about the iwi and their commitment to their affairs. I quote Ngāti Hauā co-lead negotiator Lance Rāpana, who said: “The key to arriving at this sort of outcome is … the ability of your iwi to pull together, 100 per cent together, and move as one.” So tēnā koe, Lance. It was a result of hard work, unity, and the pursuit of justice by generations of Ngāti Hauā that has allowed us to reach this point today. Although the recent Treaty settlement negotiations that culminated in the bill before us were perhaps some of the fastest on record for Ngāti Hauā, this path was instigated many years ago by their rangatira Wīremu Tamihana. Wīremu Tamihana anointed the first Māori King, giving rise to the position of Tumuaki, a role of local, national, political, and spiritual significance that endures to this present day. The family is always involved in the appointment of Kīngi to Kuini Māori. I would like to acknowledge the role of the tumuaki, whose leadership has contributed to the timely success of this settlement.

In this settlement the Crown apologises for breaches of Treaty rights from the 1860s onwards. In doing so, it has acknowledged the means employed by the Crown to strip Ngāti Hauā of their fertile lands, their rivers, and their maunga. Thriving communities with a strong economic base were totally destroyed. During the invasion of Waikato in 1863 and 1864 many Ngāti Hauā were killed or wounded. In 1865 the Crown confiscated a large area of Waikato land. The raupatu caused destitution within the Ngāti Hauā rohe and left them virtually landless.

Until his death in 1866 Wīremu Tamihana sought the return of Ngāti Hauā lands—a course subsequently pursued by his son Tupu Taingakawa. Wīremu Tamihana submitted petitions to the Crown and his pursuit of justice and peace became a model for many generations of Ngāti Hauā, who continued to be confronted by prejudiced Crown systems. By the 1880s private parties had acquired a large quantity of Ngāti Hauā land. The alienation was exacerbated through public works for roading, railways, schools, and hydro electric purposes. This included a Ngāti Hauā longstanding grievance relating to the Crown’s public works taking of land at Waharoa. In World War II the land was taken for an aerodrome, after which there was a complete failure to return that land. Slowly, surely, and comprehensively the landscapes and waterways within Ngāti Hauā rohe were forcibly taken out of their hands. The loss of land undermined their social and traditional structures, removing the ability to exercise customary rights and responsibilities.

Despite the long history of seeking a meaningful relationship with the Crown and despite Ngāti Hauā’s insistence for peace and justice, Ngāti Hauā has endured great prejudice at the hands of the Crown. So this settlement acknowledges the wrongdoings of the Crown in this regard. In doing so, this settlement heralds a new chapter in the relationship between Ngāti Hauā and the Crown based on respect for the mana and rangatiratanga of Ngāti Hauā and its leaders. Tēnā koutou. Ngāti Hauā is already well regarded within its community and around the motu, and this bill will legislate in law the importance of their relationship to their whenua.

The settlement includes eight sites to be vested in Ngāti Hauā, totalling 706 hectares. This includes Maungakawa vested in Ngāti Hauā as a scenic reserve with public access maintained. Ngāti Hauā will also be involved in the co-management arrangements for the Waikato River, as has been mentioned, within their area of interest through Waikato-Tainui, and if the Waharoa aerodrome land is no longer required for the aerodrome and ancillary aviation purposes and reverts to the Crown, then it too can be vested in Ngāti Hauā. This and other redress, including the settlement package, actually in no way compensates for the huge loss of land experienced by Ngāti Hauā at the hands of the Crown. However, I am really encouraged by the humility of Ngāti Hauā, their graciousness, their hard work, their unity, and their pursuit of peace and justice koutou as an iwi. It is inspiring not just to iwi in Waikato and around the country but to all New Zealanders. Joy, tears, and applause greeted this settlement when it was signed in July last year. Today I stand in support of the second reading of this bill with the same acclamation and commendation. Nā reira, tēnā koutou katoa, tēnā tatou. Kia ora.

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker, ā, tēnā tātou katoa ngā mema o te Whare nei. E te iwi, a Ngāti Hauā kua tae mai, tēnei te mihi ki a koutou, nau mai, haere mai ki tō Whare i tēnei wā. Nō reira, e ngā mana, e ngā reo, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and greetings to us all, the members of this House. To the people of Ngāti Hauā who have arrived, I acknowledge you collectively; welcome, welcome to your House at this point in time. And so, to the authorities and voices, I therefore acknowledge, commend, and salute you collectively and us all.]

I join with previous speakers in honouring the second reading of the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill and particularly with members on the Māori Affairs Committee. We ensured that the submissions were well examined and that constructive recommendations have been brought to the House. The purpose of the Ngāti Hauā bill is to give effect to the deed of settlement signed on 18 July 2013, in which the Crown and Ngāti Hauā agreed to the final settlement of the non-raupatu historical Treaty of Waitangi claims of Ngāti Hauā.

I join with the member from this side the Hon Nanaia Mahuta in acknowledging the unique settlement of Ngāti Hauā, the unique history of Ngāti Hauā, the breaches that occurred to the people of Ngāti Hauā, and their commitment and resilience to getting and participating in a reconciliation process that has brought this bill to the House. I do acknowledge and commend Ngāti Hauā who are in the gallery and those who are at home. Of course, the third reading is where the rubber hits the road, when the bill becomes an Act, but I do want to acknowledge those who have turned up to support this second reading.

Like I do with all Treaty bills I try to find the unique part in each settlement. My colleague Nanaia has already alluded to it and I briefly want to touch on it, and that is the commitment of Ngāti Hauā to the Tumuaki. I particularly want to acknowledge Ānaru Thompson, the Tumuaki of Ngāti Hauā, and his lovely wife, Hine Love Thompson. In acknowledging them I recall my first introduction to Ānaru many, many, many years ago through the late Hon Parekura Horomia in our many visits to tūrangawaewae. What a lovely man Ānaru is. I want to acknowledge him in referencing Parekura’s passing, which accorded many of us who worked alongside Parekura to understand the intricacies of iwi, hapū, and whānau in terms of our people. I was privileged enough to meet Ānaru. In Parekura’s way, he tried to tell me that his role was so significant because of the importance of his support of the Kīngitanga. I learnt in my time alongside Parekura of the importance that the role Ānaru plays in terms of the tautoko of the Kīngitanga movement.

I do want to acknowledge that and I do want to acknowledge that through this settlement a contribution to the institute of the Tumuaki has been negotiated. I think of a lot of kaumātua around our motu who honour, protect, and manaaki kaupapa Māori within our whānau and within our hapū. I always think about the kaumātua who do a lot of travelling on behalf of our people to support and uphold the mana of whānau, hapū, and iwi. So it is fitting that you have a component in your settlement package that acknowledges not only the role that Ānaru is playing currently but the role the Tumuaki of Ngāti Hauā has played mai rā nō and hopefully continues to play as we go forward. It is really to acknowledge and celebrate the second reading of Ngāti Hauā’s settlement bill and acknowledge the significant role the Tumuaki plays not just for the Kīngitanga and not just for Waikato-Tanui but for all the motu. I cannot labour enough around the importance in acknowledging it in my small contribution on this significant bill for Ngāti Hauā.

I want to, again, support all members in this House in commending this bill for its second reading and look forward to it in the Committee stage. I join too in looking forward to the third reading, when we will have a gallery full of Ngāti Hauā to celebrate in fitting style this significant milestone in your history and to also acknowledge the opportunities of the doors unlocking for the future of Ngāti Hauā, particularly in relation to our Ngāti Hauā rangatahi and the opportunities that a settlement like this will bring to the iwi of Ngāti Hauā as we go forward and also for the wider interests of the communities throughout Aotearoa.

I say thank you to the negotiators of Ngāti Hauā and the people of Ngāti Hauā for your part in getting us to this point. As I always do, I acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Hon Chris Finlayson. He could not do what he does without the support of his officials, so I want to acknowledge the officials at the Office of Treaty Settlements and other officials who have participated in this significant bill. Of course, I cannot go without acknowledging my colleagues on the Māori Affairs Committee. As previous speakers have said, we had several hearings at Lake Karapiro, and every time I go back there I always have visions of the national waka ama competition and being hosted by the lovely people of Ngāti Hauā up there. Yes, I see you, Daniel, up there, and you were calling races. Of course, I also acknowledge the work and the stewardship of our committee chair, the Hon Tau Henare.

Without further ado, I support wholeheartedly the second reading of this significant bill on behalf of Ngāti Hauā and commend it to the House. Kia ora tātou.

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker. Tēnā koe e te Whare Pāremata, tēnā koutou Ngāti Hauā. He mihi nui ki ngā mana me ngā rangatiratanga.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. Salutations to you the House and to you collectively Ngāti Hauā. A huge acknowledgment to the powers and authorities.]

I am very privileged to speak to the second reading of the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill. It is my privilege to be a resident in the Hauraki and to therefore be in the neighbourhood of Ngāti Hauā, and to acknowledge, at the end of the rohe of Hauraki, Ngāti Hauā’s strong interest in, and relationship and whakapapa connections to, Te Aroha, the maunga ātaahua in our area, the beautiful mountain that we are working to restore from pollution.

I am going to take a brief call because in the third reading I would like to expand on some of these issues. I think the most critical issue is the need to bring the Pākehā community into an understanding of what Ngāti Hauā and other tangata whenua groups have been through, so that we can actually say that things have been settled. I think that a number of Pākehā might know the name Wīremu Tamihana Tarapīpipi and the word “kingmaker” but have no real concept of the extraordinary leadership of this tupuna, the history of his descendants, and everything that he and his people went through during the Land Wars of the 1860s. So it is really important to acknowledge his descendants here today and back in the rohe who have carried on since those times to assert their mana and rangatiratanga, despite the incredible process of violence and colonisation that took place in their rohe.

Of course, the Waikato being one of the most fertile and beautiful parts of Aotearoa, it was in the sights of General Cameron and in the sights of the colonial settlers, and they were determined to wrest that land from its rightful owners. Much of that land is now in private hands, and thus there is a conundrum when we talk about full and fair restitution and justice for Ngāti Hauā and other Waikato people.

The classic issues are involved in the settlement, but first I will acknowledge the effectiveness of this particular negotiation at this time. Obviously, Ngāti Hauā had initiated an excellent negotiation with the Crown and within 6 months had reached an agreement that represented the best that could be negotiated. I think we should acknowledge and celebrate that, while also stating the Greens’ refusal to accept that settlements are full and final. These deals can never be the end of negotiation. The reason I say that is that we know that issues like those Patricia Grace has just experienced with the Public Works Act, even though it ended in victory, and discussions around post - Treaty settlement monitoring are not entrenched in the settlements. They rely on the goodwill of the Government of the day, and that is insufficient.

We cannot rely just on the goodwill of the Government of the day in post - Treaty settlement monitoring. That is not sufficient. We actually need, if we are going to make a proper settlement, to recognise the absolute legal obligation on the Crown under the articles of te Tiriti to continue dialogue and negotiation for ever so that we can attempt to live in the right relationship, out of the mess that colonisation created in Aotearoa.

So the goodwill and willingness of each Government is not sufficient. We cannot rely on the fashion to support te Tiriti, depending on who is in power. We need to entrench those values and those articles of te Tiriti into these processes if they are going to be meaningful. I would like to acknowledge my colleague Metiria Turei, who said of the previous bill that although the process is designed by the perpetrator, it is pretty difficult to see that the redress is going to be appropriate in all senses, no matter how much good work has been done. It is an imbalance of justice.

I want to talk about war because the Waikato War is not written on the walls of this building. I am looking forward to the day when we acknowledge the wars in our own country as well as the wars offshore. I think we have had a recurrence now of acknowledging Ōrākau, Rangiriri, and Pukehinahina, for example, but they are not on the walls of Parliament. They are not expressed as a true part of our history, and that does not do them justice. They are the most painful wars we have been involved with, because they strike at the heart of our identity as a nation and they strike at the heart of some of the myths of our nation about how we live together. When they are on these walls, I am going to have faith that we have truly taken on te Tiriti.

The other issue in relation to Ngāti Hauā is that I read the aerodrome provisions with some interest. The Public Works Act in the 1940s and 1950s was used to divest these people of their whenua. At the moment, the settlement talks about the future, but what it gives them in concrete terms is the right to sit on the parking committee. I do not think that is what justice looks like. To say that one day they might get the aerodrome back if people no longer use it—well, that is not really justice either. One day when those people who like flying their planes around decide they might like to give the land back—I am not sure that that is justice.

I am interested in truth and reconciliation being meaningful, and it is not truth and reconciliation when one of the parties, i.e., the Waikato Pākehā community, has no idea not only of the content of the settlement—most of them—but also of what happened in Ngāti Hauā, what was done, and what conditions people have to survive with. Even the good things that are in the settlement do not really come to grips with that either.

Really interestingly, the constitutional review process that the Government and the Māori Party led talked about the need for these issues. The report talks about the need for te Tiriti education and civics education as being critical if we are going to create a genuine reconciliation to history and therefore a real settlement of the Treaty process in Aotearoa. But the constitutional review recommendations have not been followed through, as far as we can tell, in any meaningful way. There was a discussion in Parliament yesterday on this very matter, and it was not at all clear who was going to take responsibility for making sure that genuine, robust te Tiriti education, based on what happened at Waitangi on 6 February 1840 in the Te Reo Treaty signed by the chiefs of the rangatira, will actually have any place in the education system. Words are one thing, but we are way overdue.

If we are talking about the Ngāti Hauā settlement, we need the people of Waikato, the Pākehā community, tauiwi katoa, to really understand what has taken place, what has been done, what is being returned, what is not being returned, what is the finished business, what is the unfinished business, and how they as citizens under te Tiriti, who are protected by article 1 in terms of kāwanatanga, have a responsibility to work in a right relationship under article 2 rangatiratanga with the tangata whenua, the mana whenua of Ngāti Hauā, or anyone else in the Waikato.

We talk about co-management, co-governance, and all these models, but we have not got a basic understanding in the Pākehā population—and I know this because I have taught this subject for 20 years. The Pākehā population has no basic understanding of what the articles of the Treaty mean in terms of their responsibilities or that the settlement process is actually their process.

I am one of the few very privileged Pākehā who speak in the House about this. I do that because Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the most important issue for Pākehā in Aotearoa, tauiwi katoa. Tangata whenua have never given away their rangatiratanga, and te Tiriti does not give it to them. It merely affirms the existing reality that has been damaged and that we are now attempting to heal. We as Pākehā, my people, need to understand—and nowhere is this more significant than in the Waikato—what happened and how we have a role in supporting the restitution and justice for Ngāti Hauā.

I am looking forward to the day that this constitutional conversation actually leads to proper te Tiriti education, so that every citizen can stand up in the Waikato and say: “What happened with General Cameron and what happened in the burning of the women inside the church—what does that mean for me and how can I understand that?”. Not in a way of feeling paralysed with guilt or shame but in a way to feel empowered by history to live in the right relationship and support a settlement such as this one and to make the settlements in the future ongoing, robust, meaningful, and justice based. Kia ora tātou katoa.

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker. I have not taken a call on Treaty settlement matters in this House in the last 10 Parliaments, but I thought I should today. I want to acknowledge all the Māori members of this House and the great contribution that they make in the best interests of the multicultural society that we are today. I also want to pay tribute to my friends Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia in the Māori Party for being such great workmates around this place in recent years.

I rise to take this call today to update the record on Māori claims settlements in this House in the last 25 years. Firstly, I want to give credit to Sir Douglas Graham and his negotiation team of the early 1990s and the great work that that fine New Zealander contributed to in this House in Māori claims settlements, some of them very substantial, very complex, quite difficult, and surrounded by much controversy. So I give praise and I give credit to Sir Douglas Graham and his team of officials in the early 1990s, as I do to the Bolger Government of the time, where I sat on the front bench and served for two terms.

I want to now come to the present. This Government, under the leadership of John Key, has grasped this nettle and what I would call the mopping-up exercise of 25 years of Māori claims settlements. It is mopping up because many of the claims are small. They are not small in terms of the significance, because I understand the significance of what happened in the Waikato in the 19th century. I understand it well. I know the area from where these good people have come this morning—they have migrated from the Waikato to Parliament Buildings—and which they represent. I know the pain and hardship caused to those people by the injustice done to them—from, in particular, around 1860 to 1865.

I want to give praise to Chris Finlayson QC for the work he has done in the finest traditions of setting aside party differences and getting these Māori historical land claim grievance settlements once and for all settled on behalf of the people of this country.

I know where these people come from. I have fond memories of flying gliders well above this place to great heights many, many years ago. This is a small iwi, significant in their historical value to this country and its future, a great people, and dignified citizens who have worked tirelessly to bring this settlement together today with the Minister Chris Finlayson QC and his officials. So I want to join this House in congratulating them, in saying to them that we remember the past and we must never forget it, and in wishing them every success for the future.

Kia ora, Mr Assistant Speaker. Mihi atu ki ngā whānau o Ngāti Hauā. Tēnā koutou.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I acknowledge the families of Ngāti Hauā. Greetings to you collectively.]

I stand to support the second reading of the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill. I must say, reading all the information and listening to the submissions, I am very impressed with the process that Ngāti Hauā has gone through. The documented evidence of the ratification process and the submissions that came through when we were up in Hamilton talking with you and listening to you was just absolutely amazing. I was very impressed.

This bill is a Crown offer of statutory acknowledgments over the following areas: Waiōrongomai, part of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park; Ngatamahinerua, part of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park and Maurihoro Scenic Reserve; Te Wairere, the Wairere Falls Scenic Reserve, part of the Gordon Park Scenic Reserve and part of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park; Te Weraiti, part of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park; Whewells Bush Scientific Reserve; Te Oko Horoi, a marginal strip alongside the Waikato River; and the Waikato River and tributaries within the Ngāti Hauā area of interest. This is just absolutely going to be a changer for Ngāti Hauā, and I congratulate you. I am not going to go on any more today because I am going to save that for the third reading. So without any further ado I commend and support this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker. The Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill, sponsored by the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Hon Christopher Finlayson, has been set down for its second reading. The purpose of this bill is to give effect to the deed of settlement signed by the Crown and Ngāti Hauā.

I would just like to touch on some of the aspects that were raised during the select committee process. The Māori Affairs Committee examined the bill and recommended that it be passed with the following amendments. The committee recommended amending the bill so that right of first refusal land could cease to be subject to a right of first refusal where the governance entity waived or varied their rights in relation to that land. This would allow for the land in question to be transferred in accordance with the waiver or variation. We also amended the bill to enable notices to be sent by electronic means, because we are very modern these days.

I would also like to reiterate what colleagues around the House have been saying earlier and throughout the Treaty claims settlement readings. This John Key - led National Government is making great progress on completing final, endurable settlements of Treaty of Waitangi claims. The settlements recognise and right the wrongs of the past and strengthen the partnership between the Crown and Māori. These settlements are about rangatiratanga. They are about mana motuhake, for each individual iwi and hapū to define their motuhake according to their iwitanga. These settlements are also about kotahitanga, the building of our nation collectively as two partners in the Treaty of Waitangi. I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker. E ngā mana, e ngā reo, rau rangatira mā, ngā whānau o Ngāti Hauā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa. I too have been looking through quite a bit of history and documentation around Ngāti Hauā and how we have come to be where we are today. What struck me was that in 1865 Wīremu Tamihana signed Te Maungarongo, which was the covenant of peace. I think what I have felt today is that covenant of peace that is part of your entire settlement process. So I want to acknowledge that. I want to acknowledge that tikanga. I want to acknowledge that tupuna and the influence that he has and continues to have over how Ngāti Hauā conduct their business. I think within the context of Treaty settlements that is an incredibly empowering Ngāti Hauā trait that should be recognised, because I think it is the manner in which we conduct ourselves that defines who we are as a people and also provides the context and the platform for how we then move into the future. So I congratulate Ngāti Hauā on the second reading of the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill.

I congratulate our Māori Affairs Committee and also this Parliament for prioritising these Treaty settlements. The reality is there are 25 more sitting days, I think, before the House rises on 31 July, and then we enter what will be an interesting election phase. But what this Parliament has done is prioritise our Treaty settlements. So we are hopeful that you will have your third reading before this session of Parliament concludes. I want to pay tribute to all the work that you have done.

I am particularly interested in the joint committee that will be established with the Matamata-Piako District Council. It has a specific kaupapa, which is about the management of the aerodrome at Waharoa. But what I am hoping that that opportunity provides is a more sophisticated conversation about Ngāti Hauā’s role within the operation of the council. This is an opportunity for the council and Ngāti Hauā to work constructively together within a partnership framework. I think that as we move into the future the conversation about mana whenua representation on our local councils is of this time. I think it is opportunities such as this that will provide opportunities in the future that continue to embed Ngāti Hauā’s identity and their status and also opportunities to take all of our Māori values and beliefs into how we prepare and plan for the future of our rohe. It is something that we on this side of the House are concerned about.

It is about constitutional change. It is about constitutional recognition. A lot of the Treaty settlements have statutory recognitions. This is one such recognition, because what it does is embed your status within your rohe and within the context of a governance aspect of how our country will be governed going into the future. So I will look with interest.

I think this is another one of those areas where the implementation of legislation and this new entity that the Office of Treaty Settlements has established will provide more of an opportunity for Ngāti Hauā and for other iwi around the country to have more of a formal say. It is based on our status. So I am excited about that aspect.

I am not going to speak for much longer. I regret that I had to move from the Māori Affairs Committee. I do want to acknowledge our chair, the Hon Tau Henare, and all other members of our Māori Affairs Committee, because we do work hard. In fact, I think if we looked at the number of bills that have been through the Māori Affairs Committee in this term, we would see that that committee has been the most productive select committee. Therein the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations has been the most productive Minister. I think what you see is normal practice across this Parliament, and that is that we have consensus around Treaty settlements. For us it is about moving forward positively and productively and trying to realise the partnership that was envisaged when some of us signed the Treaty. It was about not losing who we are, not losing our responsibilities as Māori, but how we can now work constructively in terms of our country Aotearoa, New Zealand.

So I wish you safe travels home, but, more important, I look forward, as you do, to the third reading of your settlement legislation in this celebration, and the opportunity to recognise all the leadership, all your tūpuna, both past and present, who have brought us to this point in time. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Kia ora, Mr Assistant Speaker, mauri ora ki a koe. Ngāti Hauā, tēnā koutou katoa. Tēnā koutou i a koutou i haere mai nei i tēnei rā. Nō reira, piki mai, kake mai ki tēnei wahi tautohetohe. Nō reira, tēnā koutou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, and good health to you. Greetings to you all, Ngāti Hauā, who came here today. Welcome aboard this place of debate.]

I will be very brief. I want to be able to say this in a manner that does not offend anybody. It is not my intention to offend anybody. I have prided myself on moving through my life without offending anybody. Whether they take offence is their worry. That is their problem.

A couple of speeches in this House have talked about truth and reconciliation. It is not about that. This is about justice. This is about righting a wrong. Truth and reconciliation will come later on. If we imagine a 100-metre sprint—or for those who are older than me, Pita, the 100-yard sprint—where we are is about, say, 20 metres into the race. Truth and reconciliation will come once that move to justice is complete. I just want to put that out there. It is not that I am dissing those who believe that this is a truth and reconciliation process, but I think that we are not even there yet. We are still in the mode of seeing whether we can sort out some justice for a wrong. That is the background.

Ngāti Hauā, like everybody else, deserve at least a modicum of justice from where they were. They deserve their place in history. They deserve to be able to move from where they are to where they want to be, on their own, without being told what to do, told how to do it, and told when to do it. That is about tino rangatiratanga. That is about mana motuhake. It is about people figuring out for themselves where they want to go, with the sort of package that has been agreed to between the Crown and themselves.

Like my colleague Joanne Hayes, I will leave the pearls of wisdom to my third reading speech, if and when they come. Nō reira, kāti mō tēnei rā. Anei anō te mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Tēnā koutou katoa.

[Therefore, enough for today. Here again is my huge acknowledgment to you all, and congratulations.]

Tēnā koe, Mr Assistant Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te iwi, tōku iwi a Ngāti Hauā kua tae mai. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou, ki a tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. Greetings to the tribe, my tribe, Ngāti Hauā, who have arrived here. I acknowledge you and us all greatly.]

It is a great honour to take a short call on this bill, the Ngāti Hauā Claims Settlement Bill, because this bill is a little reflective of some of my own whakapapa. Being born and raised in the Walton and Matamata areas, it is very appropriate to be able to speak in favour of this settlement bill. I want to pay my respects to the iwi for their tenacity. Certainly, in my upbringing the name of Wīremu Tamihana was one that we talked about a lot. We talked about him a lot in our education system, actually—not nearly enough, but certainly Wīremu Tamihana and the folklore and the culture and discussion about the area that I was brought up in were very, very prominent, and so they should have been.

I want to particularly reflect on and support the comments made by the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Meka Whaitiri, and Louisa Wall when they spoke on this bill. I particularly want to back up their support of the idea of Ngāti Hauā having a relationship with the Matamata-Piako District Council. I do see part of this settlement as a real opportunity going forward. I hope that that is an opportunity that the council will make the most of, because I can see a real opportunity for not just management and decisions around the Waharoa aerodrome but many other things that will benefit our part of the country as well.

I am really pleased to see the very familiar names of scenic reserves in our part of the country that are going to be under the guardianship—the very good guardianship—of Ngāti Hauā. I have complete and utter faith that that means that the environmental aspects of those very important pieces of land will be absolutely guaranteed, and that makes me feel very proud.

I am interested in thinking about—and I hope to ponder on this more before the third reading of this bill comes along—the matters that were taking place in Waharoa in the 1950s, when land was taken by the State for infrastructure development. That was done against the wishes of the collective land ownership at the time. My family had some involvement with that, and I had no idea about it, but I will undertake to try to find out whether they were part of that collective movement or not. My grandparents Eleanor and Charlie Casey “owned” the land at the beginning of the area that was taken under the Public Works Act for the railway going to the Kaimai Tunnel.

It is a little bit of a departure, but I have got to say that every time I drive over the Kaimai Range and get stuck behind three trucks that are trying to overtake each other while going up that road on the Kaimais, I really sit there and curse and wonder why men lost their lives putting the Kaimai Tunnel through. We send so much going over that road cargo-wise and I would like to see much more of it go through the actual railway tunnel, but I depart from what I really wanted to say.

People might be familiar with that part of the country. If you are driving along on State Highway 27, there is an overpass that goes over the railway line going through the Kaimai Tunnel. The land sitting beneath that was the land that my grandparents farmed. It is such an important part of our family’s history and our whakapapa that my mother has made sure that my children—the great-grandchildren of Eleanor and Charlie Casey—have gone there. Even though that land has nothing to do, necessarily, with our family these days, my children have been taken for a walk by their grandparents around that land and told the story about my mother’s upbringing there—and about the walnut tree; there is a very famous walnut tree on that piece of land—and about her upbringing in Waharoa. The story is not always a pleasant story, because there were frictions and there were conflicts and there were misunderstandings and there were laws that got in the way of good relationships.

So I am not going to say much more on the second reading of the bill except to congratulate the iwi on their good grace—their good grace—in finding a way forward with the Crown and the State and to wish them all the best for the future. I look forward to the third reading of this bill.

Bill read a second time.