New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill

I move, That the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill be now read a second time. E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā hau e whā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. The New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill addresses one of the more contentious land issues this Parliament has seen in recent years. This second reading of the bill marks the halfway point in its journey through this Parliament. It is a point in time that marks not only the very significant progress to date but also the beginning of an intensive period of consultation and kōrero for the Waitara hapū of Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua as they consider what this bill offers them.

The Māori Affairs Committee has received over 100 submissions from throughout New Zealand and held public hearings in New Plymouth, Waitara, and Wellington. The Waitara land being dealt with by this bill has a long history and is reflective of New Zealand’s history as a nation. Mr Deputy Speaker, while you may be familiar with Waitara’s history, so much of New Zealand is not, and it is for the benefit of all New Zealand that I will place the history of Waitara on the record.

In 1860 the first shots of the New Zealand Land Wars were fired at Te Kōhia Pā, just south-west of Waitara, over the Crown’s attempted purchase of the Pekapeka Block. Wīremu Kīngi Te Rangitake refused to let the land at Waitara be sold, saying: “I will not permit the sale of Waitara to the Pākehā. Waitara is in my hands, I will not give it up;”. The Crown persisted in its purchase of the Pekapeka Block, despite its prior commitment not to purchase disputed land, and when it came time for the block to be surveyed, Wīremu Kīngi sent a party to prevent this, and it was at that time that martial law was declared.

Throughout this process I have reflected on the words of Wīremu Kīngi—those he made to Governor Browne about the Pekapeka Block in April of 1859, when he said: “You should remember that the Maories and Pakehas are living quietly upon their pieces of land, and therefore do not you disturb them.” However, in March 1860 the Government took military possession of the Pekapeka Block and so began the first of the New Zealand’s Land Wars. In 1861 peace was reached and an agreement to investigate the purchase of the Pekapeka Block. In the meantime, it remained occupied by military troops, and, before the investigation was completed in April 1863, Governor Grey renounced the purchase of the Pekapeka Block. Sadly, though, this did not help the people of Waitara, as it later became part of the land confiscated in 1865 for rebellion against the Crown. Over 1 million acres of Taranaki land was taken. The Crown apologised to Te Atiawa tūpuna and hapū and whānau for this dispossession in its 2014 deed of settlement.

The Crown then granted much of the confiscated land in Waitara to settlers. However, it also transferred land to the borough council and the harbour board as what is termed “endowment land”. These local bodies were transferred land in order to make an income to pay for the necessary infrastructure and services to build a town and harbour. Over time, this land was developed into leasehold land in order provide much needed housing and a reliable income stream for both the borough council and the harbour board. In the 1940s all land was consolidated into the hands of the Waitara Borough Council. The New Plymouth District Council took over the endowment land as part of the 1989 local government amalgamations. Since then, the district council has been attempting to address the historic issues in relation to this Waitara lands bill.

This bill is the council’s third attempt at resolution, after previously promoting a local bill to Parliament in 1992 and, secondly, offering the land to the Crown for inclusion in Te Ātiawa’s settlement. The revised bill now before the House is innovative, but I must mention that Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua hapū are still working through the provisions in the bill, discussing this with their people. I look forward to seeing and hearing how that goes and am convinced that, with the leadership of the hapū wanting to lay this issue to rest and move forward into a stronger future for themselves, and with the council’s wanting to lay this issue to rest, the relationships and outcomes this bill engenders will be long-lasting and fruitful for everyone.

Firstly, the bill provides that 45 percent of the endowment land would be returned to mana whenua. The committee reflected on the concerns of Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua hapū, and so it has recommended that the bill also include a new Hapū Land Fund to provide the two hapū of Waitara with the rangatiratanga to build their social and cultural base in Waitara. This Hapū Land Fund will comprise half of the proceeds that the district council receives from the leasehold land. The district council, which supports this new fund, advises me that it expects about $28 million will be available over the next 20 years for hapū to buy, develop, and maintain land in and around Waitara, such as for papakāinga.

Secondly, the committee has continued a proposal to enable leaseholders to freehold their homes. The committee heard of the issues some leaseholders have faced when their 21-year lease cycle rolls around, and their desires to achieve the Kiwi Dream by owning their own home outright. Enabling leaseholders to freehold will mean they will live in peace, quietly, on their own pieces of land.

Thirdly, the committee has ensured that all funds from the lands are spent to the benefit of Waitara through co-governance mechanisms with mana whenua. The New Plymouth District Council’s share will be spent by a co-governance board on the community well-being of Waitara. The board will have three members appointed by Te Atiawa and three members appointed by the district council. The funds will be invested into a new perpetual fund and the board will distribute the annual interest. In time, this could result in over $1 million being invested into the Waitara community each year.

The committee has made two changes to the Taranaki Regional Council share, with the support of the Taranaki Regional Council. Firstly, the committee has set aside 70 percent of the regional council’s proceeds to be dedicated to the environmental and cultural health and well-being of the Waitara River and its catchment, while 30 percent will be able to be used for regional council activities in Waitara or the lower river catchment.

Secondly, the committee has amended the bill to provide that the regional council establish a new committee with equal appointments from the various mana whenua iwi of the Waitara River and the regional council for this spending. The regional council’s funding will directly benefit the Waitara community, either through direct expenditure on the town and surrounds or through having a healthy river flowing through the town.

The New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill addresses one of the most vexed issues for one small Taranaki community, but they are issues that resonate throughout Taranaki. The Māori Affairs Committee has dedicated itself to ensuring that this bill provides benefits to all parties as much as possible, while recognising the different interests and issues that already exist.

In closing, I would like to thank the hard work of the leadership of the hapū of Waitara, the trustees of Te Atiawa, the committee’s advisers from the Office of Treaty Settlements—in particular, Nashwa Boys—and the Department of Internal Affairs. I would like to thank the committee members for their willingness to work with ideas on how to progress the bill, as well as the mayors of New Plymouth District Council—both former mayor Andrew Judd and current mayor Neil Holdom—for their vision. Thanks to their executive team—to David Cochrane and his team. I would like to the regional council, and in particular David MacLeod and chief executive Basil Chamberlain for their cooperation around changes to the bill.

Without a willingness to find solutions and progress this issue, the Waitara community would not be able to anticipate the prospects of a strong, unified, prosperous future—each on their own land, undisturbed and living in peace, in the spirit of what Wīremu Kīngi foresaw before the conflicts of the 1860s even began. I commend this bill to the House.

Ā, tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare, otirā, e tika ana kia tuku mihi atu ki ngā hapū nei, ki a Ōtaraua, ki a Manukōrihi, anō hoki ki Te Iwi o Te Atiawa, oti noa, ki Te Kaunihera ā-Ro’e o Ngāmotu, ki Te Kaunihera ā-Ro’e o Taranaki anō hoki. Tēnei ahau e tuku mihi atu ki a koutou mō ō koutou ma’i ka ma’ia mai e koutou hei whakatū i ēnei pire, i tēnei wā, nō reira, e tika hoki kia tuku mi’i atu ki a koe, Jonathan Young, te mema mō Ngāmotu, tēnei te mi’i ake ki a koe, otirā, tēnā tātou katoa.

[And so thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, but at the same time it is apt that an acknowledgment is accorded to these subtribes, Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi, and to the tribe of Te Atiawa, and accordingly to the New Plymouth District Council and Taranaki Regional Council as well. I acknowledge you collectively for the work that you performed to set up these bills. Therefore, it is fitting also that I acknowledge you, Jonathan Young, the member for New Plymouth. I commend you, but at the same time all of us.]

First of all, I want to acknowledge Mr Jonathan Young for bringing this bill to the House. I want to offer my thanks that the House referred this bill to the Māori Affairs Committee following its first reading. I think that that has had a huge impact on the progress of this bill. As I stated in the first reading, this is a bill about a number of stakeholders with competing interests. I asked all of the different interested parties, through my speech, that they bring their compelling arguments to the select committee so that they could be considered by the committee, so that we could try to make this bill work.

I have to acknowledge, first of all, the New Plymouth District Council for its willingness to take a new look at the provisions of the bill. I acknowledge that it has moved considerably from where the bill was. The bill originally, as the member for New Plymouth has pointed out—the history of Waitara, and the Pekapeka Block in particular, but also the progress of this bill.

I want to acknowledge that, first of all, these submissions that were heard by the Māori Affairs Committee moved the members of the committee to take another look at the bill itself and to ask the officials to go back to the stakeholders interested in this particular bill and ask that they relook at the conditions of the bill. To that extent, I join with Mr Young and acknowledge, in particular, Nashwa Boys for her work, which I would imagine would not have been an easy task. So I want to acknowledge her input into bringing this bill to where it is today.

The district council has moved considerably, in that it has agreed to set up a hapū land fund. I think that is a significant move, because it does a couple of things: first of all, it provides the opportunity for the two hapū concerned—Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua—to be able to have what they have always wanted, except by different means. What they have always wanted is the return of their land.

This does not return all of the land; however, it does provide an opportunity. It provides an opportunity to acquire land, but it also provides the means by which that can happen. I think that ought to be recognised. I understand why the hapū are wanting to take extra time in considering it. It needs to be acknowledged in the House that they are going through their own process to get to a point of whether they agree with this bill or not. But what they do agree with is the extended opportunity to discuss this bill further. They agree with this second reading in this House. So it is incumbent upon this House to take note of that and to progress this bill to the next stage.

I want to recognise the leaseholders as well. In fact, I want to acknowledge all of those who made submissions to the select committee. I want to acknowledge the thoughtful and respectful and sometimes passionate way in which those submissions were made. As I said previously, they gave the select committee the opportunity to relook at the bill and try to find a new way forward, which we did in that select committee.

The changes have already been outlined, but I do want to talk about some of those changes. When we look at the interest of the leaseholders, there have been changes to their interest, in that they now have a longer period of time—that being extended from 12 months to 15 months in which to decide whether or not they want to take up the offer in the first instance. The great thing about that extension is that the price, or the valuation, of their particular property is fixed at the day of assent of this bill. I would think that is a good thing—although they are not locked into that either. If, for some unforeseen reason, the value of their property decreases they can opt out of that again.

It also sets up a new entity for the two hapū, so that they have the ability to purchase land. They also, within this arrangement, have a side agreement with the New Plymouth District Council that the district council will use the accumulated funds to purchase a 49 hectare block of land and—[Interruption]

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am finding it very difficult to speak above everyone else who is speaking. I think this bill is a very important bill and I think it deserves to be heard.

That is a reasonable point of order, but I am sorry to interrupt the member anyway, because by a determination of the Business Committee I now call on Jono Naylor to commence his valedictory statement.

Debate interrupted.