New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill

I move, That the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill be now read a third time.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Madam Deputy Speaker and members of the House, tēnā koutou. To Te Atiawa iwi, tēnā koutou. To New Plymouth District Council, tēnā koutou. To Taranaki Regional Council, tēnā koutou. Tēnā koe, Mum—great to see you up there.

This bill addresses one of the most contentious land issues that this Parliament has seen in recent years, an issue that has vexed the people of Waitara, the people of Taranaki, and the people of Aotearoa New Zealand for over 150 years.

In 1860, the first shots of the New Zealand Land Wars were fired at Te Kōhia Pā, just to the 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. He said, “I will not permit the sale of Waitara to the Pāhekā. Waitara is in my hands. I will not give it up.” The Crown persisted in the 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, but martial law was declared. I have reflected on the words of Wīremu Kīngi—the words that he made to Governor Browne about the Pekapeka Block in April 1859. He said, “You should remember that the Māoris and the Pāhekās are living quietly on their pieces of land, therefore you do not disturb them.”

However, in early March 1860, the Crown took military possession of Waitara. Kīngi’s supporters then built a fortified pā at Te Kōhia on 15 March. Two days later, on 17 March 1860, the Crown fired and bombarded Te Kōhia Pā. This action of the Crown firing shots against the people defending their rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi sparked the New Zealand Land Wars.

In 1861, peace was reached and the agreement to investigate the purchase of the Pekapeka Block was committed to. In the meantime, it remained occupied by military troops. 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 one million acres of land at Taranaki was taken.

I was once conversing with somebody on Facebook and, at that point in time, they were asking questions about Te Atiawa Treaty settlement claim. They asked me “How much will it cost?”—I know this is separate to this bill—and I replied, “Not nearly as much as it has cost the iwi of Taranaki and of north Taranaki.” And the reply came back: “Fair enough.” So somebody out there had seen just the tremendous loss that had occurred in those periods of time. So, of those one million acres of land at Taranaki taken, only three hectares today remain in the ownership of Ōtaraua, and Manukōrihi owns no land. That’s what’s happened.

The Crown apologised to Te Atiawa tīpuna, hapū, and whānau for the dispossession, in its 2014 deed of settlement, and I’m so pleased to have beside me the Hon Christopher Finlayson, who has led such tremendous work in our country and, particularly, in Taranaki. The Crown in the 1860s granted much of the confiscated land in Waitara to settlers. However, it also transferred land to the borough council and to the harbour board as what is termed “endowment land”. Over time, this land was developed into leasehold land in order to provide much-needed housing and a reliable income stream for both borough council and harbour board. In the 1940s, all land was consolidated into the hands of the Waitara Borough Council.

New Plymouth District Council took over the endowment land as part of the 1989 local government amalgamation. Since then, the district council has been attempting to address the historical issues in relation to the Waitara lands. This bill is the council’s third attempted resolution, after previously promoting a local bill to Parliament in 1992 and then offering the land to the Crown for inclusion in Te Atiawa’s settlement.

The Supplementary Order Paper 184 provides for a number of funds to be established. The Hapū Land Fund has been established to enable the Waitara hapū to be able to form a strong economic, cultural, and spiritual base for their onward and future development as a hapū, and I believe that is one of the core facilitations of this bill. There is a Waitara Perpetual Community Fund for the social, economic, cultural, and environmental benefit of the Waitara community, another fund to enable health and well-being of the Waitara River and its catchment, and a fourth fund to improve Waitara and the lower river catchment.

So accumulated income and future income from the Waitara endowment lands through lease income or freeholding of leasehold properties enables these different funds to receive income, and the expending and investment of those funds is for the community of Waitara—for the hapū, for the people there, for the health and well-being of the Waitara River, and I believe it is going to be, in terms of what this bill seeks to achieve, an incredible opportunity for the people of Waitara as they look forward to that.

So I want to thank the people who have been involved in this. This is a bill that has come from the local people, New Plymouth District Council, the Regional Council, Te Atiawa iwi, Waitara hapū, leaseholders, and it is something which, as a community in North Taranaki, we have worked together to develop and bring to this point. It has been a long journey. The long journey of this bill has been only since 1992 and, latterly, in the last couple of years, but for the people of Te Atiawa, it’s been a journey of 160 years. So we acknowledge that. My hope and my prayer is that this becomes a foundation for going forward, for establishing the aspirations and being able to fulfil the dreams that you have for your people.

I would like, in the last minute or so of my speech, to acknowledge a number of people. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the person who has worked relentlessly behind the scenes, Nashwa Boys, who has done a tremendous amount of work as she worked between all parties. Thank you, Nashwa, for your amazing work.

I would like to acknowledge my good friend and colleague the Hon Christopher Finlayson for his work, and the Hon Nanaia Mahuta and my North Taranaki fellow MP Adrian Rurawhe. Thank you very much. I’d like to acknowledge the Hon Andrew Little for his contribution as well, and I would like to acknowledge also the Mayor of New Plymouth, Neil Holdom. Thank you to you and your team, in particular Alan Bird. Thank you for the work and the willingness and the vision that you have shown.

Thank you to the Waitara hapū, who have had to grapple with not only the past but you have needed to take hold of the future in this bill. I acknowledge you and I thank you for your courage and your belief and your faith in your future. I’d like to acknowledge David Cochrane and his team at Simpson Grierson, David McLeod, and chief executive Basil Chamberlain from the Taranaki Regional Council. I’d also like to acknowledge Andrew Judd, the former Mayor of New Plymouth, and thank him for his care and his vision.

Without a willingness of all parties to find solutions and progress this issue, the Waitara community would not be able to anticipate a strong, unified, prosperous future. Through this bill, our prayer is that that can be achieved. Thank you very much. I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe, Madam Deputy Speaker and tēnā koutou katoa to those of you in the gallery who are visiting here from Taranaki and from New Plymouth. Can I begin by acknowledging the member who’s just resumed his seat, Jonathan Young, not only for his contribution today but actually for picking up this legislation on behalf of the New Plymouth District Council and shepherding it through, doing so over many years in what, I think, has been an incredibly sensitive and sensible way.

Mr Young has, in his engagements with me and my colleagues on this side of the House, been very clear that this is and has been a difficult issue. The history has been fraught, and we all agreed that this was not about ramming something down people’s throats but about treading very carefully and understanding the sensitivities and taking people with us. So I want particularly to acknowledge the work of Jonathan Young in that, and I know he’s been well supported by the Hon Chris Finlayson, whose contribution to the world of Māori/Crown relations has been extraordinary and will be a great legacy when he leaves this House.

Can I also acknowledge my colleague Adrian Rurawhe, also MP for that area and MP for Te Tai Hauāuru, and the work that Adrian Rurawhe has done in working with local parties in that area—also my colleague the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, who has brought her incredible skills of dealing with difficult situations and bringing people together and forging solutions. She is totally remarkable in that respect and unmatched, in my observation and experience, for people dealing with difficult situations. Can I acknowledge the mayor, His Worship Neil Holdom, who is here, the former mayor Andrew Judd, the regional council chief executive Basil Chamberlain—I know there are other councillors here. Can I acknowledge the people of Te Atiawa, and can I acknowledge the people of the hapū of Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua.

This has been, as Jonathan Young has said, a difficult journey in recent years as we have striven to come to terms with the history that, I think, in the Pākehā world we feel considerable regret for and, in fact, wish had never happened. But it did happen. The land confiscations in the 1860s did happen, and in Taranaki it was brutal and it was harsh and it left a people dispossessed for generation after generation after generation. Much work in recent decades has gone to reconcile, to understand the history, and, most importantly, through the Treaty settlement process, to come to terms and to provide redress, but the issue of what happened at Waitara was never truly settled, and members in the House and members in all parties of the House have acknowledged that and understood that.

The local district council has been grappling with the issue of what to do with the lands that it owns in Waitara, knowing that in order to heal the wounds of the past it had to come to a solution on the issue of the leasehold land at Waitara and the other lands around Waitara. So this bill seeks to do that. It is not perfect, and there will never be a perfect solution, I suspect, as we strive 160 to 165 years after the events to come to terms and to try to provide fairness as a consequence. More recently, for the people of Te Atiawa, as they have come to terms and sought agreement over their Treaty settlement, this issue has been left to be dealt with separately, and that has been the origins of this local bill.

It does a number of things, and it provides for the use of funds that come out of either the leases that will continue or the sale of the lands in ways that will benefit Waitara and the people of Waitara, whoever they may be. But there is the issue of the interests of the leaseholders as well, and this afternoon, very late in the piece, a petition has been presented by Grant Knuckey on behalf of several hundred others. Their request was to slow the process down and to delay the third reading of this bill, but I think we all realise that a lot of work and a lot of effort has gone into this. It has been difficult for some of the leaseholders over the last 20 years as they’ve litigated their position, as they’ve sought to find a result for them that is fair as well. But the passage of time means that opportunities that might have been taken some years ago are no longer available, and I think this bill has allowed us to arrive at a position and a place that, in the end, is the fairest even if it is not perfect. So those who are leaseholders will have the opportunity to buy out their leases and to take freehold title of the properties that they have.

There are some, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, who have been opportunistic over the last several years. There are some who have gone to take up multiple leases and who have urged a result that would give them a windfall gain. Well, you take your chances in these things but “If it don’t work out, it don’t work out.” And, for some, that has not worked out. There are others who have been longstanding occupiers of their leasehold property but who are at a time in their life where it will be difficult for them to summons the means and the funds to buy out their lease and purchase the freehold. That is unfortunate. They won’t be able to take up the opportunity that is provided for in the bill, and over the next 15 months they can purchase the land at the frozen rate that is provided for in the bill.

That is one of the reasons why the bill is not perfect, but it could not be perfect, and the challenge for Jonathan Young and the respective mayors of the New Plymouth District Council, the other MPs who have been involved, those who have been talking and in kōrero with the various interested parties—there were so many interests, over such a long period of time, that it is not possible to produce, and has not been possible to produce, the perfect result for everyone. But there is now a result.

I would hope that what has been achieved here with all of those who get a chance to utilise the provisions of the bill—that it will allow everybody, if not tomorrow but in the months and years ahead, to start to turn their gaze towards the horizon and towards the future, and to think about what the future of Waitara might now hold, a Waitara where people are settled, people can take the opportunities that are presented to them, resources can go into those things—the cleaning up of the river, that mighty river that flows from the hills of the maunga out to the Tasman Sea—and that we will see a Waitara, a township, that is revitalised, re-energised, a town that can find peace amongst its people and be at peace with itself. If this bill helps us take an important step in that direction, then the bill will have served its purpose.

So I conclude simply by acknowledging the mahi that has gone into it—the work that has gone into it—and the extraordinary emotional investment that has gone into it from all parties: from the iwi, from the hapū, and from all the people of Waitara. Let’s now see this as an opportunity to put to bed the unrest and the unease that has been sitting there for generations, and let us turn now to the future and strive to fulfil the hopes of the next generation and those who follow to make this a place, a town, of prosperity, of hope, and of great good fortune to all who live there. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Madam Deputy Speaker, as I’m out of here in the next couple of weeks, I’d very much like to give a general statement about Treaty settlements and Taranaki without being reprimanded by you for not strictly complying with the Standing Orders on third readings.

I remember very well going to Māui Pōmare Day at Owae Marae in 2009 as a rookie Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and saying to the representatives there how great it would be if we dealt with the remaining Treaty settlements, and I don’t think I was too popular at the Office of Treaty Settlements on the Monday after Māui Pōmare Day, but we got started. On 17 March 2010, the then Prime Minister John Key and I signed the terms of negotiation with Te Atiawa in New Plymouth, and I went around the coast to sign the terms of negotiation with Taranaki, and then we also signed with Ngāruahine. They were great settlements and great negotiations, even if Mahara Okeroa, whom I welcome to the House today, and Jamie Tuuta, who’s in the gallery, drove me to distraction at the eleventh hour when they said to me, just when I was ready to initial the deed in relation to Taranaki, “What about Parihaka?” I was angry then, I have to say to him—through you, Madam Deputy Speaker—but I understand now why it was so important to deal with the issue of Parihaka. Mr Little and I and the Chief Justice and others went to Parihaka in June 2017 to acknowledge what had happened there and to apologise for it.

The other delight for me as a Minister—this time, as the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage—was to work with others in Taranaki to ensure that those beautiful Motunui panels could come back from Geneva and now to Puke Ariki, where they hold pride of place there thanks to the work of Kelvin Day.

There were two remaining issues on the Treaty front that needed to be addressed—first of all, the issue of Mount Taranaki and the issue of legal personality, building on the excellent work done in the 1970s by the Hon Venn Young, Jonathan Young’s father, who was then Minister of Lands in the Muldoon administration. I never got to that stage, and it’s going to be a task that will be carried out, I am sure, by Mr Little. The final issue in Treaty settlement terms was a settlement with Ngāti Maru, and that is progressing under the leadership of Mr Little.

But there was one issue, after all that enjoyable and wonderful work, that worried me intensely, and that was the issue of Waitara. That is why I am so very pleased that today we reach what I believe is a very satisfactory conclusion to that issue. No one, as the Minister so insightfully said, is fully satisfied. What happened in Taranaki—and for me, it’s been the education of a public man—was very, very serious, a blot on our nation’s history, an affront to the rule of law, cruelty of a degree and of a magnitude that I think is without parallel in the history of our country. I can understand the depth of feeling and the fact that there probably, as someone said to me not so long ago, won’t be true forgiveness in the Taranaki region for a couple more generations. But the good peoples in the gallery today need to understand that local and regional government have worked very hard with central government to at least try and create the conditions where, ultimately, there can be reconciliation. That is why this bill is so very important, because it was in Waitara where the Land Wars started, where there were such dreadful abuses, and the lands, the Pekapeka lands, were and are lands that mean so much to the hapū of Waitara.

But the threefold aims of this bill, I believe, go a long way to create a more just situation. Land is to be returned to the hapū of Waitara. There’ll be an opportunity to purchase further land. Leaseholders receive a right to freehold; they are victims of those dreadful Glasgow leases—I almost was tempted to move a Supplementary Order Paper to include a right to achieve justice for Te Aute in the Hawke’s Bay, because they’re victims of Glasgow leases as well—and then a fund to be used for the benefit of the Waitara community and, as the Minister said, the Waitara River. They’re very important components of this bill, and I believe the fund is going to be used for the benefit of the people of Waitara for years to come. Through this fund, we will be also able to address environmental quality issues in the Waitara River.

So I can’t say it’s with great pleasure that I stand here and speak, because I know too much. I know the suffering that there has been in the Taranaki over the years, and that is why I was so lucky, as a Minister, to be involved in dealing with these issues. But I really do want to commend my very dear friend and colleague Jonathan Young for his tireless work on this issue, the sensitivity with which he has approached it. He hasn’t tried to rush the issue; he’s tried to deal with it very carefully and methodically, working in more recent times with the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, seeking the counsel of Andrew Little, of course, who grew up in the New Plymouth area and knows so many of these issues instinctively. It’s been a tremendous effort by parliamentarians across the Chamber, and I acknowledge that and thank them very much.

Jonathan Young was very generous in his comments about Nashwa Boys, and I too want to say how much I have appreciated her contribution. I first got to know her when she was an official in the Office of Treaty Settlements. Since then, she’s been an independent contractor, but she’s really thrown herself at this task and has done a wonderful job, and I want to acknowledge her. I want to acknowledge Briar Gordon from the Parliamentary Counsel Office for her wonderful contribution, building on the excellent drafting of the bill by David Cochrane, who is a consultant in Simpson Grierson. One of the real pleasures of knowing that this bill has passed will be that David Cochrane, with whom I play golf on a regular occasion, will not start talking about the bill when I’m about to tee off. So that, if anything, is a positive that will come out of this legislative mechanism.

It has been a long and difficult struggle. There will be people who will question the justice of this, but I truly do believe that very good efforts have been made by the district council and the regional council and central government to deal with these issues justly. I believe that in years to come, we’ll all look back and say this was a very good piece of legislation which tried to do the very best it could to play its part in addressing the shocking inequities of the past. So I do commend the bill to the House.

Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te W’are, otirā, e tika ana kia tuku mihi atu ki te tokomaha o ngā tāngata nō Waitara kua tae mai ki Te W’are nei, nō reira koutou i tae mai ki Te Whare Pāremata, Manukōrihi, Ōtaraua, Te Atiawa, koutou katoa. Tēnei ahau e tuku atu te mihi ki a rātou.

Nō reira, he tika hoki kia tuku mihi atu, kia whakapiri tōku nei mi’i ki ngā mi’i kua mihia e te mema a Jonathan Young. Nō reira, ka tuku mihi atu ki a ia, ki te mema me tēnei pire. Kei te mihi atu ahau ki a ia mō ōna ma’i katoa ka mahia mai e a ia i roto i ēnei āhuatanga. Nō reira, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Greetings to the Speaker, and indeed it is right to greet the large number of the people from Waitara who have arrived at this House, therefore to those of you who have arrived at Parliament, Manukōrihi, Ōtaraua, Te Atiawa, all of you. I am delivering my greetings to them.

Consequently, it is also right to deliver greetings, to append my greetings to the greetings which have already been expressed by the member Jonathan Young. Therefore, I acknowledge him, the member, and this bill. I acknowledge him for all his work that he has done with regard to these matters. Therefore, greetings to us all.]

It is a great honour for me to speak on the third reading of this bill. I spoke on the first reading and the second reading. In the first reading, I spoke about all of the competing and different interests that a number of groups had. I talked about what each one of those, in my opinion—what their interests were. I reflect on the words of the Hon Andrew Little in his contribution, and I would add to what he has contributed around looking for a perfect solution. The unfortunate part is that to provide a perfect solution for one of those groups will provide an imperfect solution for another, and the Māori Affairs Committee, I believe, did a very good job on working through all of those issues along with the member Jonathan Young. I want to commend him for his patience and his understanding, because it cannot have been an easy task to shepherd this bill through every stage of this process.

It has been a very long process. The first reading was in September 2016. We are now 27 months later. It hasn’t been rushed. It’s been a very slow process, but I would say a very thorough one as well. It’s also a pleasure for me to follow the contribution from the Hon Chris Finlayson. I think Mr Finlayson’s contribution contextualised what happened before this bill, and Mr Young and Mr Little have talked about everything that’s happened up until now.

I want to add my thoughts around this, and my thoughts are mainly about the future. Some of the things that Mr Finlayson spoke about were the challenges of coming to a solution, but I would also add in there the generosity of everyone that was involved in it to try to find a solution. In particular, I also really want to acknowledge, along with colleagues, the contribution that Nashwa Boys made to bringing us to this point, because she did work closely with every single party on this bill and, in her own quiet way, challenged all of us to do better. I think that was the right thing for her to do and for us to hear.

Not everyone will be happy with this bill, but, as I said before, a perfect solution for one group would be an imperfect one for other groups. Thinking about the future, what this bill does is provide the avenue for both the Waitara hapū and the Waitara community to fulfil their aspirations and gives them the means by which to do it. I think that’s a really important point to note. It won’t happen tomorrow, but over time it will happen. I say to those who really don’t want this bill to go through today that this is just one part of a long-term solution, I believe. I think I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that passing this bill today in its third reading is much better than not passing it, because not passing this bill will have implications for much longer than passing it today.

I hope that over time we are proven correct and that the benefits of this bill—this Act, as it will be—will provide the means for Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi, the Waitara hapū, to establish themselves in the way that they would like to establish themselves and to achieve the aspirations that they want to achieve. As I said in the first reading of this bill, and at that time we had not yet had the third reading of Te Atiawa Claims Settlement Bill—we had that about a week or so later—I talked about the opportunities that Te Atiawa Claims Settlement Bill would have for all of the hapū. It’s well-known that the hapū weren’t happy with everything that was in that bill and the process that that bill took, but I’m certainly hoping that this today—this bill and the future of the arrangements within it—adds to their ability to be able to achieve their aspirations.

I want to encourage the new entity that has been established—Te Kōwhatu Tū Moana. I believe that through this vehicle, the hapū will be able to achieve those very aspirations that I talked about. I believe also that help and ongoing relationships with both local government and central government will be critically important in the days ahead for the Waitara hapū.

Nō reira, kāore e roa tēnei tū. Oti noa e tika ana kia mihi ake anō ki a rātou i mahia ngā mahi mō tēnei pire.

[Therefore, this speech won’t be long. So then it is right to acknowledge again those who carried out the work for this bill.]

I just want to, as other members have, acknowledge the New Plymouth District Council, Mayor Neil Holdom, the Taranaki Regional Council, and the leaseholders who, no doubt, were going through stages of wondering what was going on with this bill. I hope that the future is much better for the whole community. My hope is that this bill will add much more to the community, the wider community of Waitara. I believe that through this particular bill, that will be so. Nō reira, tēnei ahau anō e tuku mihi atu ki a tātou katoa, nō reira.

[Consequently, I am standing to deliver greetings to us all, therefore]

I commend this bill to the House.

It is with much pleasure that I get up and offer my support on behalf of New Zealand First for this New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill. We note that this seeks to resolve part of a longstanding dispute going back to the 1860s. I am not as versed in the background of that as the previous speakers, who I think have done a fantastic job of outlining the circumstances that have brought us here today. I can only just imagine the injustices for your people of having a million acres of land confiscated—quite unthinkable. I think, actually, it is of great credit to us as a nation that we have sought to redress some of these wrongs. I note that we are about to have a plaque mounted on the Parliament here, in this debating chamber, to commemorate the land wars, which are probably not as well understood as they should be—and possibly wilfully so from past generations. It’s great that this generation, and, hopefully, generations of the future, are seeking to right some of those wrongs as best we can under the circumstances.

So we know that, overall, the bill enables some transfer of lands back to Te Atiawa and the Waitara hapū, and it does allow leaseholders to freehold some of their properties—I think they’ve got about 15 years to do so, or continue on with those perpetual leases. This must be quite the balancing act, because it’s important that we don’t create a fresh set of grievances out of addressing the past. So I commend all those involved in bringing this agreement together. Of course, this is off the back of the Crown acknowledging the dispossession of the lands of Te Atiawa and Waitara hapūs back in that 2014 deed of settlement.

The funds that will come flowing from the fund that will be set up—we hope that it will provide economic boost to your people, and that they will be used wisely. I note one of the uses for this money is to clean up the Waitara River, and that is to be commended.

New Zealand First actually abstained in the second reading of this bill. We had some concerns about 25A and just the mechanism or the make-up of that subcommittee, where there were—I think now we’ve landed on three from the hapū and three appointed by the council, which we’re quite happy about. We just wanted some clarity on that during those earlier readings, but we are happy that that’s landed where it has.

I think, in closing, we definitely have to acknowledge, first of all, the local member, Jonathan Young, and I will just endorse the comments that were made earlier about him in this. This will have been a significant achievement for you as a local MP. There are a lot of issues to bring together, and your temperament, as has been noted earlier, will have been a great asset in doing so, and it’s a great credit to you, Mr Young. The previous Minister, the Hon Chris Finlayson—I think his legacy in this field, across a number of Treaty settlements, he will be remembered for, and we acknowledge him. And, of course, the current Minister, Andrew Little, is picking up that baton and is attempting to progress these settlements on behalf of the Government now, and is really rolling up his sleeves and doing that. Of course, the local leaders—Mayor Holdom, I believe, may be here. Congratulations for getting your end of the deal sorted out. There is significant local leadership needed in bringing these issues to hand. So without further ado, New Zealand First is delighted to support this bill, and we commend this to the House. Thank you.

Ā, tēnā rā koutou ngā puāwaitaka o tō tātou mātua tīpuna. He mihi hōhonu ki ngā uri o Awanuiārangi. Nō reira, e koutou rā, e ngā mane, e ngā reo o rau rakatira mā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, he mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

[Well, greetings to the fruits of our ancestors. Profound greetings to the descendants of Awanuiārangi. Therefore, to the authorities, to the voices of the many leaders, greetings, greetings, greetings to you all.]

What a hard process the passage of this bill has been. I want to just acknowledge very quickly the Māori Affairs Committee of the 51st Parliament, and particularly those members that are not here in this 52nd Parliament—Chester Borrows, Marama Fox, and also Pita Paraone—because there was a lot of work, actually, that was done on this particular bill.

There are two aggrieved peoples before us: the Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua hapū of Te Atiawa, and the leaseholders on the iwi’s lands who were given reassurances of being able to buy the land they leased. It’s been encouraging to see all parties acknowledge the grave injustice committed against the Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua hapū. Not 20 years after a treaty was signed between the iwi and the Crown, fighting had broken out in Waitara. Notwithstanding the loss of life that occurred on both sides of the fighting lines, any reasonable view of Māori land alienation could only have concluded the Treaty obligations the Crown then, and to this day, had. The various hapū of Te Atiawa, Taranaki iwi, Ngāti Mutunga, and Ngāti Tama, along with the support of their once mortal enemies, Ngāti Maniapoto, reluctantly took up arms to try and protect their diminishing landholdings.

The Crown response was almost gleeful as they took up the patu of confiscation to hasten the alienation of the land Taranaki Treaty partners were objecting to. Confiscation is a dreadful tool that shines a poor light on our predecessors in the House here. Quite how a New Zealand Government could think it just to impoverish a people for protecting lands they held for hundreds of years—what did the Crown think would happen to Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua? I shudder to think of what the answer might have been from my predecessors. That history—and we are bound to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors. Are we going to do that?

Before us today is the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill. Finally we can begin to correct the hara of the past. As is so often the case with matters Treaty and endeavours to address the past, the solution here, in a lot of ways, is imperfect, and that is because we cannot address one injustice by creating another injustice. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the past, and irrespective of how the leaseholders came on to the land, they are here, the leasees, and they have made lives for themselves and their families. They have invested time, money, and sweat into the property. They were mistakenly told they could convert their freehold title. I think it’s a callous person that is unreceptive to the genuine anguish of ordinary Kiwi folk trying to minimise their family losses.

Our role as politicians in this House is to carefully balance the needs of all New Zealanders as we seek to address the past wrongs. This bill is that balancing act in action. This is, I believe, a pragmatic, albeit imperfect, response to the issue before the House today, and it has the support of the New Plymouth District Council. It is to this council now that I turn my gaze. Like us, you are a Crown creation, and like us, you have Treaty responsibilities that extend back to 1840. I applaud you for having been in discussions and finally coming to the point we are at here today. As the Crown’s parliamentary representative, I have to take the accolades and spoken attacks that go with my role. I have to be responsible for the actions of my parliamentary predecessors. I have to own Crown failings as though they are my failings, and, to the New Plymouth District Council, so do you—so do you.

It has taken 30 years for you to get to this point, and I have to express my surprise that it took this long. Notwithstanding that the fault lies with people who were in your seats before you, it is still your responsibility as a collective entity. The issue was, indeed, black and white. The lands unlawfully taken were passed across to people who were given reassurances that should never have been made. It is as much these reassurances in the leases that brings us here today that finally is the end of this journey.

All the acknowledgments have been made to those that have assisted in this bill, but one thing that I’d like to do is to finally acknowledge again the hapū of Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua, because your journey has been hard, but you have now the opportunity to actually make that journey, and then it is for your children and their children after you. Nō reira, e huri noa i Te Whare nei, he mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

[Therefore, right around the House, greetings to you all.]

Koutou kei ngā mana o Ōtaraua, koutou kei ngā mana o Manukōrihi, koutou kei ngā mana o Te Atiawa, mauri whakaheke, pupuru ngā taonga i waihotia e ā tātou nei mātua tūpuna. Tēnei ka tū ake ki te mihi atu ki a koutou. Ka tū atu rā ki ngā kaihautū o ngā kaunihera ā-rohe e ārahi tēnei o ngā kaupapa. Tēnā tātou katoa.

[To you the authorities of Ōtaraua, to you the authorities of Manukōrihi, to you the authorities of Te Atiawa, the transmitted essence, hold onto the treasures that were left by our ancestors. I am standing to greet you. Also to the leaders of the regional councils who have led this initiative. Greetings to you all.]

I rise to take a call in a significant bill that is a local bill, but you would think by listening to all the contributions that we’re doing something a little bit more and a little bit more special today. Jonathan, the accolades around stewarding through a very difficult issue across the House, I think, is something that one would want to have as a positive reflection in the service to Parliament but also to an electorate, and I acknowledge you for that.

In the preamble to the bill, there is a statement that really, in my mind, sets the context for what is being achieved here. I will read it from the preamble as it’s stated: “In the words of the whakataukī written by Whiti Te Rangitaake to the chief land purchase commissioner in 1859—‘Ko enei whenua ekore e hoatu e matou ki a korua ringaringa ko te Kawana, kei rite matou ki ngā manu o te moana e noho ana i runga i te kōwhatu, ka pari te tai ka ngaromia taua kōwhatu e te moana, ka rere ngā manu, no te mea kaore he nohoanga mo ratou’.” Translated, it reads: “These lands will not be given by us into the Governor’s and your hands, lest we resemble the seabirds which perch upon a rock, when the tide flows the rock is covered by the sea, and the birds take flight for they have no resting place …”.

That was an insertion of a part of a context of history that has been well spoken about across the House today, but it sets, I think, a nice sense of purpose as to what we’re trying to achieve through a very difficult circumstance of history, but rectifying a challenged space that has been very hard to deal with, which is freeholding leasehold lands. In doing so, it was evident through the first reading and the select committee process that unless we tried to do something a little bit more to address the significant historical issues that have already been referred to, which are the first confiscated lands at Pekapeka, we may create more harm than good.

So while much of our contribution sounds like a Treaty settlement, it isn’t. For that reason, I want to acknowledge albeit a very difficult journey for the conversations across the district of New Plymouth District Council, as well as Taranaki Regional Council. The path to reconciliation requires continual effort and commitment to do the right thing, and, for New Zealand, it’s a long road. For New Zealand, albeit through a Treaty settlement process, we have a way to try and move in the right direction. It’s still a long road.

This is a local bill, and I can remember when I came into this House as a very fresh-eyed MP, if you like. My electorate extended down into actually as far as Te Tai Hauāuru and to Whanganui. But one of the people who stewarded me through my parliamentary career around understanding the other side of the picture and what happened in Taranaki—because I grew up very much understanding the Māori historical context—was a former colleague who is here in the House, Harry Duynhoven. In fact, we had a number of clinics and visits into the Waitara area, and, even at that early time, I knew that we needed to show much more commitment as a country, but also as local MPs, into the way in which the Waitara community could thrive and sustain itself. Harry, I’m glad that you’re here to witness something significant as well, and I know you’ve had a hand in some of that.

There are aspects of the bill that have been well commented on, but, really, if I was to tie everything up into a nutshell, it’s around the ability to ensure that across the catchment there will be a significant opportunity to contribute to the well-being of the health of the Waitara River catchment, and that’s significant from an environmental point of view. From a community point of view, the ability to ensure that funds go to the Waitara community, of which both Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi are a part, will see in time a contribution directly into the community around the regeneration of Waitara, and that’s been commented on. But, significantly, what it delivers—and it is an opportunity, and it isn’t everything but it’s something for the hapū of Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi. It secures and anchors a footprint of hapū who belong there to actually have more of a say about how their community evolves and goes forward. It’s an opportunity.

This has been a really difficult path for those who have really worked alongside Nashwa Boys to negotiate in many respects some innovations into a local bill that we wouldn’t see otherwise—some innovations into a bill that we wouldn’t see otherwise. To the Manukōrihi people, Patsy Bodger, Māwhaturia White, and Moana Denness, I acknowledge you. I acknowledge the work that you’ve done. To Ōtaraua, Rāwiri Doorbar, Donna Eriwata, and Alice Doorbar, I acknowledge you.

To the communities that have come together to try and ensure that you’ve been kept abreast of what’s being achieved here, I acknowledge all of you, and I acknowledge that while it doesn’t go to the full extent of your aspiration, it does create an opportunity to work forward. But here’s the thing: what this will secure and anchor to the hapū of Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi—and in time, we would hope, alongside their other whānau of Te Ātiawa—is to secure the history to the community of Waitara in a way that tells the story and balances up the way in which New Zealand recognises what actually happened in Waitara and on the Pekapeka Block.

I’ll leave one last comment, really, and it is to the acknowledgments of Nashwa. The innovations in this local bill would not have been as they are were it not for the Treaty settlement experience that you brought to the table, but more importantly the listening heart to the people of the hapū of Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi, because we have seen—again, captured within the context of this bill—the types of innovations that happen in Treaty settlements but not in local government legislation. I had many a meeting with the councillors, the mayor, and the Taranaki Regional Council about aspects of this bill that I was trying to nudge along.

One last comment: there is an aspect of the bill should we continue down a path of reconciliation with a mind to do something more. The nature of the Hapū Land Fund being a perpetual land fund is something that should be revisited, because if we want to ensure that the hapū continue to be a presence that can sustain itself in its contribution to the heart and soul of the way in which Waitara develops, that may be an area that we look to for the future.

I’ve taken up more time than I need to, but I want to acknowledge this hasn’t been an easy path. Every group represented in the House today have got many, many stories to tell. Briar, from a drafting point of view, I know that you worked tirelessly to make sure we shape the words and the intent of the bill in the way that it was going to ensure and give assurance to all the parties that are represented here. So we’ve done something right.

Nō reira, he iti tāku kia tuitui ki ngā kōrero mō tēnei kaupapa, Jonathan, koutou, tātou katoa, tēnā tātou.

[Therefore, my contribution is but small to weave in with the speeches about this initiative, Jonathan, all of you, all of us, greetings.]

Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Ki a koutou o Ōtaraua, Manukōrihi, Te Atiawa hoki, kia ora tātou katoa.

[Greetings to the Speaker. To those of you from Ōtaraua, Manukōrihi, and Te Atiawa, greetings to us all.]

My discomfort in standing here today is in trying to balance the mana of all of the hapū and all of the uri of Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua and the work that you have all done to try and seek true justice. My discomfort is to try and acknowledge the genuine work that has happened in this House, in the council, and among all of the hapū, and yet stand and say that the Green Party will be opposing this bill today. Despite all of the genuine efforts, we do not feel that we have the full mandate of all hapū to be able to support this bill in its entirety. We absolutely welcome the positives of this bill, and we absolutely uphold the mana, particularly of mana whenua katoa, Manukōrihi and Ōtaraua, in seeking to do their best.

My discomfort is absolutely nothing compared to the injustice that happened to Taranaki iwi, to people, to Waitara, to the original birthplace of the tragic land wars at Pekapeka, to the lack of the return of the land that was illegally confiscated, or to the ongoing generational impoverishment—both spiritual and physical—that happened as a result of that injustice, of that cruelty, and of the inhumane treatment of peoples and hapū. I stand here trying to uphold the vision of what we could really actually do to see true justice, while not wanting to take away from the efforts of various Ministers, the Māori Affairs Committee, the council, and Ōtaraua and Manukōrihi leadership at all levels to try and drive forward where hapū can make do and do the best that they can with what the Crown is offering.

I want to acknowledge Catherine Delahunty, our previous Green Party member, who has brought the bill to its passage before now when she was a member in this House, and particularly her ongoing discussions with hapū members. I also want to acknowledge Metiria Turei, who nominated that the Māori Affairs Committee would take this bill through its passage, which is absolutely the right place that it should have gone through.

Out of that injustice that this House and, of course, all hapū members know far too well, some things have come from the bill that we are passaging through today. The Green Party absolutely welcomes that there will be a return of 44 hectares of land to hapū, and with the sale from leaseholders being able to purchase land, some of those proceeds will be able to go back to hapū.

We absolutely acknowledge the importance of the Waitara awa, and a fund will be established to help restore the mauri to that awa. I am particularly pleased to hear about the Hapū Land Fund. That will help hapū to be able to acquire and develop whenua into the future and, of course, also the reserves that will be transferred at the discretion of hapū from council, should they wish.

I am congratulating everyone for the benefits that have been worked hard to bring the hua, the fruit, to account in this bill today. What I am standing here to do, as uncomfortable as it is, is be truthful that we should really be aiming for full justice and for the peace and restoration that will come from truly realising it. That is not to undermine any negotiations that happened but merely uphold a Crown responsibility, one that fully understands that the full return of land—that the burden of those challenges has been on the shoulders of hapū this whole time. The burden of that pragmatic challenge should rest, absolutely, with the Crown. We can’t keep passing the buck as to who is going to fix up this mess the best. So I am standing here to acknowledge the privileges that have happened from that land confiscation over generations, and the dilemma that faced Ministers, council, Parliament, and hapū in trying to reconcile that incredible raupatu in what happened.

So we wish every bit of aroha to the work that is ahead of us. If a peace and reconciliation process is demanded or wished for from any hapū, I would be pleased to be able to add my support to that in any way that is appropriate. I don’t wish to delay my contribution any further. I am pleased to honour the benefits of this bill. I am also proud to do my duty to uphold that we should be reaching for a further vision and a higher vision of true justice. Kia ora.

It’s a pleasure to welcome the people of Taranaki here and to take a very short call in the interests of your time frame. You’ve waited a very long time for this to happen. I want to congratulate Jonathan Young, Chris Finlayson, Nanaia Mahuta, and others who have been actively involved in where we are at today. So I’m not going to take any more time out of your timetable, because I remember as a child with this growing up knowing about Waitara. I’m 58 years old, and it’s a lot longer than my lifetime. So I want to commend this bill to the House and congratulate you all today. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I understand, if I take more than one minute, then we’re all coming back in an hour and a half to finish this off. So I’m going to make this really speedy, whānau, because I know that you’ve been up for a long time. I know that you had karakia at 6 a.m. I know that the bus picked you up at Ōwae Marae, and I know that it made a stop off at Stratford to pick some people up as well. So I want to move this through.

I want to acknowledge you and acknowledge the compromise that you have gotten to by even just being here today. I acknowledge you, I acknowledge the pain and the heartache that it’s taken to get to this point, and I say that as one of Te Atiawa whānui as well. We are the Coffeys from Rāhotu—that’s right. And, once upon a time, way back when, we made the journey down to Wellington. I grew up here, in Lower Hutt, because my family had escaped the terrors of the land wars. So I say that as one of your whānau: I wish you all of the best going forward. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora anō tātou katoa. I commend the bill to the House.