Moriori Claims Settlement Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill.

💬 SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

I move, That the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill.

E ngā mana, e ngā re, rau ieriki-ieriki mā. Tēnā kotou, tēnā kotou, tēnā kotou katoa.

[Exalted figures and voices of authority, and multitudes of leaders. Acknowledgments to each and every one of you.]

We are joined in the House today by members of Moriori. E te imi e Rēkohu, tēnā kotou.

[To the people of Rēkohu, you are acknowledged.]

In February last year, I had the honour of standing at Kōpinga Marae and signing the Moriori deed of settlement, and I remember it well. I remember standing in that very fine whare, in front of the two pou that had the names of many of those who perished in the 19th century on those islands. It was a privilege at that time to be embraced by your manawarekatanga, and it is with pleasure that I and this House reciprocates your hospitality today.

I extend a warm welcome to you all and thank you for making the journey to this House to witness the first reading of your bill. Today’s celebration has been long anticipated, and it is a bright light after the challenges of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a first reading of your bill was delayed by close to a year. That we continue onwards, having weathered numerous uncertainties, reinforces the importance of this settlement. I applaud your pragmatism over this period, and I thank you for your patience on our journey to this day.

This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. I’m delighted to be here for its first reading today and to celebrate this significant milestone with you all. We remember and pay tribute to Moriori karāpuna, or tūpuna, who have suffered grievances, and acknowledge their legacy of peace. They are in our thoughts today, and will be always. I also pay tribute to those who initiated this process who cannot be here today to celebrate the result of their years of effort, courage, and commitment.

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e ngā ieriki-ieriki.

[Sleep, sleep, sleep peacefully great leaders who have passed on.]

I acknowledge and thank the Moriori chief negotiator, Maui Solomon, for his tireless efforts in seeing this settlement through to completion. It has been Maui’s life work to seek justice for Moriori and to honour his karāpuna by telling their story and returning to Moriori their place in the world. It’s a testament to his unwavering resolve that we are here today.

I also acknowledge the wider Moriori negotiating team: Tom Lanauze, Paul Solomon, and Grace LeGros, and claims manager Susan Thorpe for their efforts in bringing about this settlement. On the Crown side, I want to acknowledge the Crown’s chief negotiator, the Hon Dame Fran Wilde, for her very able leadership that has got us to this point. I thank my ministerial colleagues for their work and support, particularly the former Minister of Conservation, the Hon Eugenie Sage. I thank also the officials from Te Arawhiti, from the Department of Conservation, and others who have worked tirelessly to pull the redress together. I acknowledge the Chatham Islands Council for their support, as well as the Chatham and Pitt Island communities. Finally, there are a number of ministries and Crown agencies represented here today, and I thank them all again for the work that they have done.

The first reading of this bill presents a valuable opportunity to reflect on the relationship between Moriori and the Crown. I’d like to take a few moments to acknowledge this history and to remember key events which led to this settlement. Moriori karāpuna arrived in Rēkohu, Rangihaute, and other nearby islands sometime between 1000 and 1400 Common Era. There they developed an egalitarian society governed by Nunuku’s law of peace, which banned war and killing on the islands. In 1835, Moriori were invaded by two iwi whose traditional rohe was Taranaki. Faced with this great threat, Moriori held steadfast, making a conscious decision not to retaliate with violence. As a result, approximately one-sixth of Moriori were killed and the remainder were enslaved, and so began decades of trauma.

In 1842, Rēkohu and the surrounding islands were annexed to New Zealand. At this time, the Crown was aware that Moriori had been subjugated and that many had died at the hands of their captors. Moriori karāpuna pleaded for the protection owed to them under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but for many years the Crown failed to act to end Moriori subjugation. Many karāpuna continued to suffer greatly and died in oppressive conditions, including some who died of an illness known to Moriori as kongenge, a deep despair of the spirit.

In the decades to come, the Crown’s acts and omissions caused Moriori to lose their autonomy and connection with their culture and to suffer severe social and economic deprivation. In the late 1860s, the Crown did not consult Moriori karāpuna when promoting the native land laws. As a result, Moriori were left virtually landless. The tribal structures were undermined, and Moriori were severed from their land, their wāhi t’chap—or wāhi tapu—and their responsibilities as guardians and hosts.

Over a period of many years, the Crown, through the Colonial Museum, collected, removed, and traded kōimi t’chakat, or Moriori human remains, from Rēkohu. This was but one example of the cultural degradation faced by Moriori.

By the beginning of the 20th century, ta rē Moriori had been lost as a living language due to the Crown’s failure to actively protect it. The Crown also contributed to the wrongful stigmatisation of Moriori as a racially inferior people who became extinct—a myth which caused great suffering and hardship, particularly to generations of children of Moriori descent.

In this House, we know that no settlement package can ever fully compensate any iwi—or, in this case, Moriori imi—for the magnitude of loss and prejudice that they have suffered. Today, I think back to the Moriori deed of settlement signing ceremony, where I had the privilege of delivering the Crown’s apology to Moriori. Sharing in their remembrance of all that had passed and being welcomed to the heart of their community despite that past was painful, profound, and brought home the true magnanimity of Moriori. Through this settlement, the Crown hopes to go some way to atone for its past injustices and to alleviate Moriori’s acute sense of grievance. I am humbled by the generosity of Moriori in accepting this settlement.

The Moriori Claims Settlement Bill seeks to give effect to the Moriori settlement package as outlined in the legislative statement. The Moriori Claims Settlement Bill heralds a new relationship between Moriori and the Crown, one based on cooperation, mutual trust, and respect for Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles. It’s my hope that this legislation will create a strong foundation for the continued restoration of the social, cultural, and economic wellbeing of Moriori. I look forward to continuing to take this legislation through the House to achieve the final settlement of your historical Treaty of Waitangi claims.

I consider the bill should proceed without delay to the Māori Affairs Committee. I commend this bill to the House.

Nō reira, tēnā kotou, tēnā kotou, me rongo kotou.

[Therefore, acknowledgments to each and every one of you, and may peace be upon you.]

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

It’s an honour to rise to speak in support of this bill, on behalf of the National Party, which supports this bill. I wish to take this opportunity to recognise and thank everyone who is in the House today.

I know it’s been a very long journey from 1835, when many Moriori were slaughtered and many more went into enslavement. It’s been the wrongs continued from the 1860s, when their rights to land and resources in the Chatham Islands weren’t recognised by the Government of the day, or the Government body of the day, and it’s been a long time coming, even to today. The proceedings were filed in 1988, I believe, and it was not until 2003 that the Government at that time, with the Treaty Minister, the Rt Hon Margaret Wilson, first announced that the trust had been recognised to negotiate the Moriori settlement. Then matters took quite some time from there. I want to recognise also that the Hon Chris Finlayson signed an agreement in 2017, and it’s a real pleasure to be here today for this bill. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing it proceed through to the Māori Affairs Committee, which I have the privilege of being on.

The Chatham Islands is 739 kilometres east of Napier, 838 kilometres east of the Banks Peninsula. It’s a place that I haven’t yet had the privilege to go to, but I’ve spoken to Paul Eagle—who is not here at the moment, but he’s the member for Rongotai—and he’s told me that the hunting and fishing is incredible. So I hope to get there one day. The islands are known by three names, and taking them in the order in which the islands were occupied, the names are Rēkohu to Moriori, the Chatham Islands to Europeans, and Wharekauri to Ngāti Mutunga. The history of its people is both fascinating and tragic, and also one of hope and revival, which we are seeing here today. I note that Moriori first appealed to Governor George Grey in 1862, when they sought release from enslavement and the return of their lands. So it’s been a very long time coming to today, in 2021, but it’s good that we’re here.

The Moriori claims which this bill addresses is as much about the recognition of the Moriori today as it is about the conversation of the historical losses and the denial of land rights. Moriori have faced numerous challenges to their status and identity, which was exacerbated by the School Journals in the early part of the last century, which set up a false narrative that Moriori were a separate race, which, arguably, led to some of the wrongs that were made against them. They also represent a unique and distinct culture that greatly enhances New Zealand’s cultural heritage and our current cultural mosaic. They developed the rule of peace, known as Nunuku’s Law, which was developed to an unprecedented level in early New Zealand.

The history deserves a little bit of background, which I take from the discussion from the Waitangi Tribunal. Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga invaded Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands, in 1835, five years before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840. They voyaged more than 1,000 kilometres from Port Nicholson, where they had been under threat from Ngāti Toa. Their true ancestral home was in North Taranaki, from whence they had been driven by Waikato tribes moving south in search of arms. This is all part of the 1820 wars, after the musket came to this country. Such rapid tribal shifts were not known to have occurred before. The Moriori welcomed Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama to the Chatham Islands, and it seems they were willing to have them among them. But later, they were attacked. Moriori offered no resistance, and this was due to the rule of peace known as Nunuku’s Law.

There was an interesting issue addressed at some length in the Waitangi Tribunal regarding Ngāti Mutunga’s contention that Moriori had lost their rights to the land and resources under the law of conquest, which was, they argued, active at the time in 1835, prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The counterargument for Moriori was that there had been no conquest as there had never been a war. War was against their law, and still is, and they were prepared to share the land. The contention was that there’d only ever been a kōhuru, or murder. I’ve mentioned that Moriori wrote to Governor George Grey in 1862, seeking redress, release from enslavement, and the return of their rights. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the lands was not returned to Moriori at that time and it rendered them, effectively, landless.

There was another interesting discussion in the Waitangi Tribunal about the loss of mana versus subjugation. Ngāti Mutunga had initially filed legal opinion with the Waitangi Tribunal that said, “As a matter both of customary law and practical reality Moriori lost the status of tangata whenua of the Chatham Islands in 1835 by conquest and total subjugation.” It was heartening to note that the tribunal wrote in its report, “as matters progressed, there was a growing acceptance of the duality of tangata whenua status. Eventually, this was acknowledged in submissions by Moriori, Ngati Mutunga, and the Crown.” And the Waitangi Tribunal also noted, regarding mana, that although the contention had been that Moriori had lost mana through conquest and enslavement, the tribunal said that may be so, but mana is personal to persons or to peoples, and it comes and goes; it is not an institutional power given by history and then entrenched for all time. Were it the case that mana is irretrievably lost by conquest and enslavement, then many tribes, including Ngāti Mutunga, would have no mana today. If it were true that mana went for all time when people were displaced from the land, then most Māori would be without mana today, in light of the land losses and the outcome of the wars that followed European colonisation. I know that this was the point of the late Sir Mōnita, who said, when describing the Māori way, that the mana is in ourselves; we are a people. Mana depends on how we act today and what we make of ourselves.

I’m very pleased and proud to stand here on behalf of the National Party to see the mana of Moriori recognised, and will know they’ll grow and develop over the coming years. I commend this bill to the House.

I understand this is a split call. I call Tāmati Coffey—five minutes.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker.

Tiro, Tiro, ki taku tau.

Kei hea ra?

Kei hea?

Kei runga, ke. Kei raro, ke?

Kei roto i taku moemoea.

[Searching for my beloved.

Where is that?

Where?

Is it above, or is it below?

It is in my dreams.]

I stand today having given that song as a song of lament, a song of loss, a song of heartbreak, and a song of a depth of feeling, which I know is what our Moriori whānau come with today, as you come into this House. So I want to acknowledge you, and the loss that you have suffered, and the journey that you have been on. Nau mai, haramai ki tō Whare. Ki te Whare Pāremata ki konei.

[Welcome, welcome to your House. To Parliament.]

I want to acknowledge the significant journey that you as people have been on over the years, from the bloodshed, from the slavery, the raupatu requests, the discussion, the debate, the frustration over myths according to who you are and where you’ve come from and what your history has been like. I want to acknowledge those people that have passed and who are unable to be here today to be able to help tautoko this journey that you are on—you, the descendants of those that have passed. It is a poignant day. It is an emotional day, but it is a day that’s time has come. And I appreciate and acknowledge everything that has got you here to this point right now. Welcome to our Parliament. Although you might think that you’re at the end of your journey; actually, in our parliamentary process, in this part, you’re only at the start of this part, and I want to welcome you here with open arms.

Your Treaty settlement is coming through our Māori Affairs Committee. I’m the chair of that committee and I look forward to hearing your stories come through: the good, the bad, and the really bloody ugly, because actually, I can give you my 100 percent guarantee that your stories will be treated with the respect that they deserve as they come before our committee. The process that you’re going through currently with Te Arawhiti—to be able to really drill down into the detail of what your redress looks like. Yes, we’ve got a bill here, a piece of legislation, but part of this process is that you have to come before the committee, and we have to have the first reading in here. As a committee, we hear the different submissions. We report it back to the House—that’s a second reading—and then we debate it all as a whole House. And then we have a third reading on top of that as well. Sometimes that process can take far too long, but hopefully, for your sake—and for the story that you will share with us—it doesn’t take too long, because too many people have already been lost along the way, and we need to make sure that this moves through our House with the kind of urgency that it deserves.

I want to let you know that your presence here is welcomed, because we know that while some of you live here on the mainland, actually some of you do live back home on the Chathams. I was fortunate enough to join the MP for the Chathams, Paul Eagle, a couple of years ago when we ended up there. He invited us over, so we came over. And this is something that’s familiar to you, but the day that we were supposed to leave, after having been there for three days, a plane didn’t get out of the airport because of the weather, which was really terrible. But then, when we showed up the next day to try and get off the island, there was a man inside the wing, at the end of a ladder, who was shouting out, “Not going to go. Not going back to the mainland today. You’ll have to try again tomorrow.” It was actually because of this firsthand experience that I started to realise what it must be like to have that kind of uncertainty of transport. So my good colleague Paul Eagle is forever lobbying to make sure that we get good connections to and from the Chathams so that you may travel freely as you wish and as it should have been a long time ago.

I look forward to hearing your stories and knowing you all on a more personal basis, but again, nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei Whare. We look forward to shepherding your bill through the House and again, as I said before, giving it the incredible respect that it deserves. Nō reira tēnā koutou, kia tātou katoa, kia ora.

The Hon Meka Whaitiri—five minutes.

E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe otirā ngā mema katoa o te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. E ngā uri o Rongomaiwhenua nau mai haramai hoki mai ki tō Whare. Ka nui te mihi kia kitekite i a koutou i runga i te kaupapa whakahirahira. Nō reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou.

[Greetings to the Speaker, and to all members of the House. To the descendants of Rongomaiwhenua, welcome, welcome back to your House. I really acknowledge seeing you all here upon this important occasion. Thank you once, twice, thanking us all here.]

I was honoured to join with colleagues in welcoming our visitors to the legislative chambers today, so I felt it was important that I acknowledge their presence in this House in supporting the first reading of their settlement bill. It is, indeed, an honour to stand as the member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, and I bring the wishes of the many tribes from the East Coast to acknowledge your presence here, but, more importantly, to acknowledge your story. And that was shared in the pōwhiri. I want to acknowledge the many tīpuna that they read out, those that were around in the 1862 part of the pitihana that was written to Sir George Grey—to those tīpuna who are no longer here. It is some 159 years later since that first original petition in 1862 was written to this place—to Sir George Grey—seeking protection as guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi.

So it is unique. It is important that I stand and honour these people, the iwi of Rēkohu, and their story here today. The uniqueness in every settlement has this one—but this particular settlement acknowledged that the invasion wasn’t the Crown. The invasion in this story is Māori on Moriori, and I think it’s important that we acknowledge the significance of this legislation in acknowledging that. And there’s a lot of history, I know, that will come out as we passage the bill, but I just want to acknowledge the Moriori iwi for their patience, for their perseverance, but, more importantly, when most people have their homes invaded, there is very few that may not lift up arms to protect, and, essentially, this is what these people did: in all humility, they maintained their tikanga no matter who came to their shores. So it is timely that this House recognises that absolute commitment to their tikanga as a people and as they return some semblance to how they operated on these beautiful islands of Rēkohu as we initiate this bill through the House.

Like many, I’ve had the fortune to visit Rēkohu many years ago when the delegation of Government Ministers went and helped open the extension of the wharf. And my colleague the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee talked about the runway. I know that’s an area that we need to also look at improving in terms of access to the island. But it’s a beautiful island, and in my visit there—and my connection to that area is also as an uri of those people that were incarcerated: Te Kooti, but also my great, great, great, great grandfather Te Warahi Poutini, who was also incarcerated on the Chathams.

So I want acknowledge the Moriori people for your manaaki of our people that got sent to your islands in acknowledging the importance of this first reading. Nō reira e te iwi i tae mai nei, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[To those of you that have arrived here, greetings.]

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e rau rangatira mā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

[To those of authority, to the voices, to the tribes, to the hundreds of leaders, acknowledgments to each and every one of you.]

Can I begin by acknowledging those we acknowledge and apologise to today: the Moriori people who will share this moment with us. Can I acknowledge that today in this Parliament we are reclaiming your rightful place in the history of New Zealand and the history of Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands. Today we acknowledge the Moriori as the tangata whenua of the Chatham Islands and we apologise, on behalf of the Crown, for the failure to address the deeply felt and longstanding grievances of your people. We acknowledge that those failures were both actions and inactions. Acts of omission are sometimes as powerful as acts in themselves.

In this bill, we do several things. One of them is that we provide cultural redress; another is providing commercial redress, including an $18 million settlement. But what I want to focus on in this contribution today is the apology and the historical account which this bill puts into our statute book for ever more so that every New Zealander may know the true history of the Moriori people and acknowledge the Crown’s role over our past years. In doing so, I want to first acknowledge the Hon Chris Finlayson, who restarted the negotiation with the Moriori people as the Minister for Waitangi settlements. I want to acknowledge former Prime Minister John Key, who signed an agreement in principle in 2017. And I want to acknowledge Minister Andrew Little, who took that agreement in principle to the bill that we have today.

When we talk about the historical account of what happened with the Moriori people, I think it is important that we acknowledge the role of false histories, of the stories we tell about each other. As other speakers have mentioned, both the 1916 and 1946 School Journal incorrectly stated that Moriori were the original inhabitants of New Zealand before being driven to the Chatham Islands. The inference in these School Journals was that the Moriori were somehow a racially inferior people. That history was both false and hurtful, and undermined the Moriori people. Its significance is such that I remember, myself, as a school student, believing that history of the Moriori people, because it had been handed down from generation to generation as the true history. It wasn’t, actually, until I read Michael King’s history of New Zealand that I realised quite how false and wrong that was.

Well, today, in this bill, we set out in writing that not only was that wrong but we put in writing the correct history of the Moriori people, which is that the Moriori karāpuna were the waina-pona—the original inhabitants—of the Chatham Islands; of Rēkohu, Rangihaute, Hokorereoro, and other islands. You arrived between 1000 and 1400 CE. You were descendants of Rongomaiwhenua. You had an egalitarian society and you outlawed violence.

It’s here that I want to talk about a history of honour that we also acknowledge today and we put in our statute book, because what is particular and special to the Moriori people is a history of non-violence: Nunuku’s Law. In 1835, when 900 Māori were sailed on British ships to the Chatham Islands, the Moriori people welcomed them and fed them in accordance with custom. Now, when people began to be killed and when violence began, there were many Moriori people who wanted to resist, but the elders Torea and Tapata urged the people to obey Nunuku’s law of peace. There is a history of honour here, because that is what happened here: that law of peace was honoured, though many hundreds were killed and enslavement followed. I think we should acknowledge this history of honour, because living in this peaceful way is something that we all across this Parliament aspire to today and that, I think, many New Zealanders believe in.

But then we have a history of a Crown that failed the Moriori people. It’s here that I want to focus particularly on what I would call “acts of omission”—the failure to act. In 1842, New Zealand annexed the Chatham Islands, and yet the Crown took no action to alleviate the conditions of Moriori enslavement that it was very well aware of. Letters were written to the Crown, appealing for it to exercise its Treaty of Waitangi obligation to offer protection to its subjects, and those letters fell on deaf ears. But the Moriori people continued and, in 1862, put a petition forward asking for those protections, and it was in 1863 that a resident magistrate was, in fact, put on the Chatham Islands.

But I want to read to you from the apology that the Crown offers today, because it puts it very clearly what the omission here was: “The Crown profoundly regrets that it failed for many years to take action to end Moriori enslavement, and that your karāpuna continued to suffer greatly in oppressive conditions which caused many more to die, including some who died of an illness known to Moriori as ‘kongenge’, a deep despair of the spirit.” I want to acknowledge that deep despair of the spirit, because what we know happened with the Moriori people was, through this history of oppression and the inaction that occurred, there was a loss of language and there was a loss of mana and there was a loss of authority, and that was passed on through the generations. In 1870, when the Native Land Court heard the claim to the Chatham Islands, it ruled that 97 percent of that land was the rightful ownership of Māori iwi precedent and not of Moriori, and that was a deep, deep blow to your people.

So, as I acknowledge that, I want to positively acknowledge the perseverance shown by the Moriori people, in spite of this. At the turn of the century, the population of the Chatham Islands, of Moriori people, was only 31 people, and yet here we are today, signing into law an apology, an acknowledgment, and a package of redress that has been made possible by those ancestors and those that followed them, making sure determinedly to do right by their ancestors and by their people and for future generations. That is despite extraordinary odds, despite the loss of language, despite oppression, despite land being dispossessed. Yet the Moriori people have persevered and today we find ourselves here.

I want to acknowledge, also, the compounding pain that took place over 100 years, which was the collection of the skeletal remains of your ancestors, in complete violation of tapu and of tikanga, as we would express in te reo. But that that was not only done to you by others but that it was done to you by the Crown in the form of the Colonial Museum. We know that that both undermined your authority but was also deeply hurtful.

So, since the 1970s, we have seen a determination by the Moriori people to rebuild your identity and culture. Today, with this bill, you are reclaiming your rightful place in the history of New Zealand. We acknowledge the Moriori. We acknowledge the Crown’s failure to address the deeply felt and longstanding grievances. We acknowledge the Crown’s acts of failure and its acts of omission. We offer cultural redress. We offer commercial redress. We apologise. But, most importantly, we put the history right and we put it in the statute book for all to read so that all New Zealand children growing up in this country won’t read the School Journal version but will read the real version and will know of the perseverance and determination of the Moriori people. Kia ora.

Te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Me mihi kauanuanu ki a koutou te whānau o Moriori. E mihi ka tika ki a koutou. Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei Whare. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou.

[To the Speaker, greetings. I must respectfully acknowledge you, Moriori families. Welcome, enter into this House. Therefore, acknowledgments to each and every one of you.]

It’s my honour today to speak for the first time in the debate in this Whare, and as the MP for Northcote, and a new member at that, I’m honoured and blessed in the opportunities in the short time that I’ve been a member of Parliament. Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard submissions from Māori on the Māori wards, and today we will hear that debate in the second and third readings. It’s also an honour to stand here today with our Moriori whānau and acknowledge their special day and this bill going through the House in its first reading.

I took the time this afternoon to head out and welcome our whānau to this Whare, to welcome this kaupapa, and, most of all, to hear their story, and their first speaker, Maui Solomon—mihi atu ki a koe, te pāpā—shared the story of the whānau and what today means to them. To the whānau that have come here today and share the next part of their journey, a journey that started long, long ago, I say that one of my responsibilities in this place is as the deputy chair of the Petitions Committee, and my colleague Meka Whaitiri talked about a petition that was sent through to Governor Grey 159 years ago. Maui spoke today of the 1,663 names that were signed on that petition.

He also acknowledged the tamariki—the children—that didn’t sign the petition but that were there at that particular time, and it’s those generations that are all the more important in this debate, in this bill, and in the future of Aotearoa New Zealand and the future of Moriori. It’s important that we share their stories in our New Zealand history, in the books that we read and the stories that we tell, so that they know the whakapapa—that they know the history—of those particular islands, and one particular analogy that stood out from Matua Maui for me today was the analogy of Rangi and Papa as an analogy of this particular journey. It’s a story that we share between Māori and our Moriori whānau, and he talked about the 10 pillars. In Māoridom, we talk about the demigods that stand between Rangi and Papa and that help them to separate. Maui talked about the pillars, and as this journey continues—and today is another step—that light shines upon this particular whānau.

Today, the whānau also read out the names of those who signed the petition—the names of those people that have supported this journey to happen—and when you sit in a pōwhiri like that and you hear stories from our whānau, it’s very difficult not to shed a tear, because in amongst that, you feel their hurt and their pain that that history has put upon them. Today is an opportunity to start the redress of that, to make steps towards coming together on that bridge. We talk about te arawhiti—a way of Aotearoa New Zealand coming together—and this is another part. It’s inviting everyone to stand on that bridge together—together—to improve our relationships and to set a pathway forward as individuals, as iwi, as whānau, and as Aotearoa.

I want to acknowledge the research of Dr Keri Mills, a professor at Auckland University of Technology in Auckland. She’s written a large amount of academic research that shares the story of our Moriori whānau that are here with us today, that attempts to put right and correct history. When I grew up, I was one of those people that didn’t know that our whānau existed. Today, I want to acknowledge my shortcomings in this, in that my learnings weren’t accurate, but the research that Dr Keri Mills starts to talk about is the shortcomings in our education system up until the late 1960s.

It also acknowledges the power play that, through colonisation, set up Māori against Moriori, and that was the cover of colonisation within our country. Yes, there was an attack on our people, on our Moriori people—yes, we acknowledge that. But what this bill does is it acknowledges the failure of the Crown and it acknowledges the loss of mana of the Moriori people.

As a Māori, I’m sympathetic to the loss of mana. You can touch and feel that when one of our whānau is impacted in that way, and what this bill sets up to do is correct that loss of mana and to re-establish it by way of supporting this particular whānau to thrive. It enables the whānau to make decisions with the right resources to support the future of their own tamariki. It gives them rights of whenua—the things that uniquely establish them as an iwi, as the whānau of Moriori.

With Labour, in our manifesto, we’re committed to completing all historical Treaty settlements in our manifesto, and this bill is a step towards completing that commitment. As a whānau member, I also follow my own journey in the Mōkai Pātea claim, and I acknowledge to the Moriori whānau that you’re well through this particular process. But what this bill does is it intends to give effect to certain matters contained in the deed of settlement signed on 14 February 2020 by the Crown and Moriori. The explanatory note of the bill states that the deed provides for the final settlement of all the historical Treaty of Waitangi claims of Moriori against the Crown, and this bill aims to address the aspects of the settlement that require legislation.

Today, I want to acknowledge our whānau that have travelled from far and wide. I acknowledge this day for you and I acknowledge the journey that you’ve been on but also that that light that shines between Rangi and Papa, those pillars that you have put in place. May the light shine upon all of you, and your future is a very prosperous one. Nō reira, e mihi atu ki a koutou. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Thank you. It is my great privilege to stand on behalf of the Green Party and acknowledge today imi Moriori in this House and all of your hapū. Even though you are behind me, we see you in the gallery, and in the deed of settlement we hear your collective cries across the generations: the cries that existed before the harm, that offered the world a new way, a way without conflict and war, and the cries of pain on the assaults on your mana and the duplicity and treachery of the Crown in failing to protect you and using your experience to continue pain against others.

This day has been a long time coming. I can’t even really understand it as a 50something-year-old woman standing here. It is many generations beyond my life experience that has taken us to get to this point in the House today. It’s been spoken of already in the House, of the petition from 1862 as kind of the beginning, in some ways, of this process of engagement with the Crown to get the acknowledgment of the harm. While the Crown back then did not take the opportunity to step in, even though they knew what was happening and the terrible slaughter of people and taking people into slavery from the iwi that had come across, they chose not to act. It’s hard, I think, for many of us to understand the struggle and the impact of a struggle that goes on for that long.

As a Green Party member, I also have to acknowledge that the challenge of negotiating these settlements is imperfect—is a polite way of saying that—and could also be described as another act of violence. I want to remind this House, as we stand here and acknowledge the pain of the past, that that is still present in the systems that we continue to use today, and that as this settlement offers cultural redress that can be agreed between the Crown and imi Moriori and hapū, it is not what is deserved, and it is, as was spoken by the Minister, not a restoration in any sense at all. It is the best that you have managed to negotiate in appalling circumstances. I really want to acknowledge the resilience and tenacity to hang in, in that process, and keep your heads up to the future for those who are to come and for yourselves. I really look forward to the day where the spirit that you have brought with you through these times is able to flourish to the extent that the world needs, not just that you need.

I do have to just say that when we see the settlement and the financial aspect of it, which is $18 million—I want to bring that into this House and acknowledge that all of the Treaty settlements combined in this country amount to two months of superannuation. I really wish that people who are on online chats spreading hate would actually just come to grips with that reality and recognise the deep generosity and absolute resilience of imi and iwi to be able to accept these realities, to have a hope of moving on.

We have heard from quite a few of the speakers some of the retelling of the history. I, too, will just touch on some of that. I always feel slightly conflicted in the House doing this, because it feels in some ways at times that it’s like—when people have lived through the harm, hearing it acknowledged has a power, but it’s also having to hear it again and being taken back to that pain, and I’m always reluctant to do that in the face of such resilience. But I also feel a duty for us to be talking to the broader population to get through this message of how great the harm has been, and in this instance in particular, because it has been mentioned about the role of the School Journal in creating the myth of the Moriori as an inferior people who were—in a completely made-up history that was used to justify the Crown’s further colonisation in this country, and the deep harm to Moriori of that, but to us as a country, has been absolutely appalling. Many of us in this country have held those stories, believing them to be true, and we still see those lies come up in arguments when it comes to race relations and colonisation.

So it cannot be said enough that they were lies perpetuated by the Crown to continue the process of colonisation and that the Moriori were not pushed out from New Zealand, that they were the first people in Rēkohu, and that they were not conquered by anybody, that they held their mana and their practices of Nunuku’s Law to be able to have a hope of their future according to their own values, and that meant not engaging in war; and the contrast to the Crown’s action of imposing war and failing to offer the protections of the Crown that were supposedly one of the few benefits of colonisation really brings the harshness of this into focus.

I also just want to acknowledge that within this settlement, and for people and some of the hope of the future, a critical part is that retelling and that acknowledgment of the history, because of the deep harm caused by the lies. But it is also around cultural redress and ensuring the correct names for places on the islands. That matters because, really, how we know the world is by how we name it, and when we impose colonial or incorrect names on places, we create a lie of what is there. That renaming, I hope, brings some peace and a strengthened sense of connection for the Moriori hapū.

Also, there are arrangements around co-management and also ensuring that Moriori will be consulted on some critical—I’ve lost the word; I’m going to use “infrastructure”, but it’s not the right word, but in terms of key assets—and that this is not the end of the process. This is part of the process and there are more discussions to come, and some land will be returned. But again, too, that conversation is not finished, because of the overlapping interests.

But I do want to finish this speech again just acknowledging the incredible generosity of Moriori people in coming to this settlement and the phenomenal resilience, and I can’t imagine but that your karāpuna would be so proud of you today, and the children in this country and around the world really should take inspiration from this story of survival. I, for one, look forward to a time where your cultural traditions are able to thrive and, hopefully, influence more of us towards a world where peace is the norm.

I stand here today on behalf of the ACT Party to speak on the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill, a bill that allows provisions from the deed of settlement to be made in law so that that deed can actually progress and you can be awarded what you should be awarded for the travesties that you have experienced. The deed and this bill records historical events—ones that I have only just recently read about and educated myself on. I’m pleased to see that there is an apology that is in there that is awarded to you, because you greatly deserve that.

Rēkohu / the Chatham Islands, occupied by Moriori karāpuna, the ancestors of Rongomaiwhenua—and I welcome you here today, and I see you and acknowledge you as the ancestors of Rongomaiwhenua, standing here, or sitting here, as the case may be, to watch this bill progress. I welcome you all to this Whare, where we will progress that deed of settlement and this bill on your behalf. I acknowledge the work of the Labour Party, our Government, in getting this through, and I also acknowledge Paul Eagle, who looks after the constituency of the Chatham Islands. I did try to get it from him, but I wasn’t successful. But I do acknowledge the work that you’ve done there, Mr Eagle.

Moriori remained undisturbed on the Chatham Islands until 1791. You lived such a peaceful, non-violent life. Your way of life was turned upside down, and, by the 1830s, we heard of how many had been killed and how many had been enslaved. For me to read about how in the 1840s you wrote letters, you submitted petitions, asking for the Government to stop the enslavement, to award you back your land, and it was all ignored—when hundreds of your people have been killed and enslaved and you are being ignored, I commend you for spending this amount of time to push so hard for the recognition that you do deserve. Even after the Chatham Islands / Rēkohu became a part of New Zealand Aotearoa in 1842, you were still enslaved, you were still ignored, and in the 1870s, when you did get some redress, it really just wasn’t good enough. The outcomes of that redress were not good enough. Most of your land had been lost, the numbers of Moriori had deteriorated, and many had left the Chatham Islands. By the early 1900s, it shows that it was just an untenable place to be and an untenable situation to be in. You were losing your historical references, you were losing the language, and you were losing your people.

I am one of those that were brought up in the education system at school where I was told that Moriori no longer existed—where I was told that the effects of the people were nothing that we needed to be worried about or concerned, but I will tell you that by the time I got to college, that had been corrected. And at college, I was told Moriori did exist and that they were treated badly, both by Māori and by Pākehā. So I want you to know that while I grew up with a School Journal, I was taught by my Māori teacher at Sacred Heart College that that was not indeed the way or the truth.

By the 1970s, you looked to rebuild your culture, your heritage, your language, and your identity. When I read of the deaths from deep despair, I recognise that that is the harsh realities of ill-treatment, and I am not surprised, when you hear of a people who founded their entire being on peace, on love, on unity and non-violence—to be treated in such a way and not recognised. To hear of the deaths by despair is saddening, because it never should have occurred. But you are here, you have fought hard, you’ve fought with determination, with effort, with bravery, and with courage to make sure that none of those deaths have gone unnoticed, because they will be recorded for ever here in our legislation.

I had the great opportunity of visiting the Chatham Islands—I think it was about 2014 or 2015. I came for the annual pig-hunting competition and, I must say, it didn’t go ahead because there was an unexpected death the night before we arrived. So the island went into lockdown, and I have never experienced such a beautiful, heartfelt community, where everybody gathered around to support the other whānau and the visitors that were on the island at that time. I must say to Tāmati over there, yeah, I went to catch the plane out too and couldn’t. Ha, ha! When we got told, “No, it’s too windy. You can’t get on the plane. Come back tomorrow.”, we all thought “Choice!”, because the island that you have is beautiful—just it’s so magic to be there. So from my heart, I do feel the pain that you must have been feeling as the ancestors of Rongomaiwhenua for the actions that have occurred to you since the 1800s.

The ACT Party support the first reading of this bill. This bill acknowledges the loss of respect, the loss of dignity, the loss of property and land rights in the displaced sector of New Zealand’s history. ACT supports the righting of the wrongs by returning the rights to the Moriori. Kia ora.

I call the local MP, Paul Eagle.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Nau mai, haere mai e te iwi o Rēkohu, ngā whānau Moriori. Tēnā koutou.

[I would like to welcome the tribe of the Chatham Islands, the Moriori families. Greetings.]

I stand here as the very proud member of Parliament for the people of the Chatham Islands, and together with Rino Tirikatene it’s a wonderful experience to be here and celebrating this historic occasion. It’s my pleasure to welcome you here to our House—or your House—because today we make the gains that others in this House have talked about. I particularly want to acknowledge the whānau from across Aotearoa New Zealand and other parts of the globe who are watching.

Thank you for your warm welcome of me. I’ve been your member for three years, and I’ve been to Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands, many times. I also want to say thank you for the warm welcome of my whānau, particularly my son Tamarangi, who is a Huff and a Daymond, so you have always afforded your hospitality and your warmth to him, and to I and my wife, Miriam. I have been to many parts of your island, whether it’s Waitangi West, Kāingaroa, Ōwenga, or the south coast, and thanks to you. You’ve taken the time to show me around, you’ve taken the extra effort to make sure that I understand the things that really matter most, and this is one of them—the redress of your people, the Moriori. Every time I’m there, I learn something new. I see things and I think, “Wow!” Behind the Catholic church I see a gravestone with Tamarangi Huff and I think, “Wow, there’s a story there to be told.” It’s next to—I think—a Catholic nun, when the nuns used to run your health services there, but every time there’s another story.

I also heard Maui and I want to acknowledge Maui Solomon, Susan Thorpe, and the negotiating team for the patient effort in getting to where you are today. But I want to acknowledge the karāpuna who were talked about at our mihi whakatau this afternoon, because in there I hear names like Rongomaipango. It was actually Pita Thomas, who many of you will know, who showed me around parts of the Islands once. I used to see this wee sign, as you drive from the airport into Waitangi, and I remember looking at that sign and he said, “Don’t take a photo of that and put it on social media”, but I did, and I always thought, “I wonder what the meaning of that is”. Today I know that it’s one of your ancestors and it has deep meaning. That’s the spirit of Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands, that I’ve come to know as their member. There is a story in those four corners of that island, and not to forget Rangiaotea, Pitt Island, and the whānau from there too.

I go there and hear the issues of infrastructure, be it the roading network on Pitt Island, which needs some work, to say the least, or whether it’s the airport extension, the lack of renewable energy and other resources—I know the windmills are still down—or whether it’s something like a cell phone network. During COVID-19 the many young people who returned home from boarding school emailed me and said, “Look, Mr MP, if there’s one thing you could do for us, could you redress our cell phone network and our Wi-Fi?” That’s coming, can I tell you? So I’ll be back for a celebration, or ringing you on your mobile phones, when we get down to the island come December.

But, more importantly, can I acknowledge all of those who have pulled this together with dignity and decency, and that’s the Minister, Andrew Little; his predecessor, the Hon Christopher Finlayson; and I do want to point out Eugenie Sage as well, who, as Minister of Conservation, went there, went out to those outer islands, got around Mangere, South East, etc., and had a really good look around and understood the issues. So when this redress was put together, it was put together with authenticity and the know-how to make sure that this was done in the correct manner. My predecessor, Dame Annette King, sort of left the hands-on stuff to Christopher Finlayson, but her 24 years there too was also done in such a way where she said to me, “Look, I’d like you to really invest some time in Rēkohu, look at those Treaty settlements there, and make sure that they’re resolved in your term.”

Other people I want to acknowledge, too, are the negotiating team led by Dame Fran Wilde, and she certainly has had a tough time, I feel. But no negotiation and no redress is done without some hard work—and, often, a lot harder than one thinks. I know in talking to Dame Fran many times about all the settlements, she’s proud and wanted me to say how proud she was in terms of what we have achieved so far. I couldn’t go amiss without acknowledging the mayor of the Chathams, the former mayor Alfred Preece, but also Monique Croon, who both are working hard behind the scenes and talking me weekly, saying, “Look, these are the things that are the most important to our people on Rēkohu.”

I’m not going to say too much more, because I think it’s been covered, but what I do want to say, ladies and gentlemen, is that I get lots of material to read, and one of the most honoured occasions I had was accompanying the Minister Andrew Little on the Hercules—so we took a different form of air transport to you lot, and actually got there and back. But what we did do is do the signing of the deed of settlement, and that in itself was my history lesson; that in itself told me the full story, and the tears flowed internally, because I thought, “Wow, this is the story that hasn’t been told.” I have to say, I didn’t know half of it. But after that, I went away thinking, “Wow, this has not been fair; this is unjust.”, and I probably didn’t really understand the significance of what that day was about. So to all of the Moriori people, the Crown apology is just words, but I’m hoping the redress and the actions going forward from here really make amends in some small way.

When Kōpinga Marae opened in 2005, a waiata was composed, and I want to read out some of those words:

Tōrea iho rā te tohinga o Rongo,

Ki runga o Rēkohu, Mū, Wheke, ka eke Rongomaiwhenua

Toitū te whenua, toitū te moana, toitū te tangata

Mano tau rongomau, rau tau Wharekauri

Ka tū Te Kopinga hei tūnga mō te motu hei tauwhiro i te iwi, Moriori tūāuri

Hutia ko te mate, hutia ko te ora

I te pō uriuri, i te pō tangotango i te ao tāngata

Hutia ko te mate, hutia ko te ora

Rēkohu haumako e.

The ancient covenant of peace rises again, and casts itself over the island of Rēkohu

the covenant originating from ancestors such as Muwheke and Rongomaiwhenua

Ensuring the land, the ocean and the people remain in a state of constant peace and tranquillity

For 1000 years the covenant was maintained, until recently when the name Wharekauri came into being.

And now Te Kopinga is born,

a sacred foundation for the island,

A source of protection and shelter, for the ancient Moriori people.

Who always stated,

let life or death be in the hand of the gods

not in the hands of man.

Let life or death be in the hand of the gods

And so Rēkohu flourishes.

Me rongo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. One of the best things about being in this House is the ability to make positive change for people, meaningful change that really impacts on their lives, and I think this bill today is a nice milestone in achieving that for the Moriori.

One can only imagine what it would’ve been like way back then to be invaded, to have everything you hold dear taken from you, to then be enslaved for those who survived, and to have that persevere for such an extended period of time. It must have been harrowing, and I really commend the Moriori for being able to stand by their beliefs, to persevere through those difficult times, and to, indeed, petition the Government as it was only newly formed and to eventually—eventually—get support.

I think this acknowledgment that we are beginning through the final stages here today is a just one in that it acknowledges a few factors: obviously, the time it took to correct the issue. Once it was brought to this House’s attention, it shouldn’t have taken so long. So correcting that change is an important acknowledgment and part of the apology.

The other aspect that I was amazed to learn—and I think we need to keep in context that for most New Zealanders, they don’t have much understanding of the Chatham Islands and the Moriori, and the false history that was taught for many years through the 20th century indeed impacted on that. One of the things, I think, out of that is that—you know, a message we can take is different doesn’t mean inferior. Different is special, and having unique cultures and experiences to offer are very rewarding and should be celebrated.

So I think now where we’ve got to with the apology but also with acknowledging the Moriori as tangata whenua of the Chatham Islands, and, of course, the financial redress—$18 million—and the fisheries Minister bringing in customary fishing rights, as well—those are all good steps, I think, that will help to ensure that the next stage of the journey for Moriori can proceed from here. So I want to acknowledge their perseverance, but also the perseverance of those who have helped get to this point—the negotiations team; the current and former Ministers, Andrew Little and Chris Finlayson for all of their work; and I know Paul Eagle as well, as the local MP, does some fantastic work and loves getting out there often, as I believe anyone well should. I haven’t yet had the privilege of visiting the Chatham Islands, but rest assured, it is on the list. And for me, I think this settlement today, as I said, acknowledges the perseverance that it has taken to get to this point, and I would just ask for a little bit more perseverance as we progress through these last couple of steps in this House before we are able to get everything squared away and proceed from there.

For me, I think it will be a magnificent opportunity to help showcase another part of New Zealand, another part of our history that a lot of New Zealanders don’t have a strong understanding of. I would encourage all Kiwis, actually, to take a moment to learn a bit more about the Moriori and about the Chatham Islands. It is a very remote and very unique part of New Zealand, but I think the opportunity from here also will be for the Moriori to showcase their beautiful environment and their beautiful culture and share that with more New Zealanders so that we can be more informed and be richer for that experience, as well. So I look forward to seeing this progressing through the last remaining stages and look forward to meeting some of you at some point on the Chathams. Thank you.

Ka tangohia taku pōtae e hika mā. Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou te iwi Moriori. Koutou te imi waina pono o Rēkohu, o Rangihaute, o Hororereoro, me ngā moutere pātata ki Rēkohu. Ngā mihi anō hoki ki tō karāpuna a Rongomaiwhenua, ki ō karāpuna kua riro ki te pō. Ko rātou te imi kaha nei ki te pupuri i te mana o te Waina Pono me te whakapapa o te Moriori. Nō reira tēnei te tangi, tēnei te mihi.

[Let me remove my hat, oh friends. This is my welcome to the Moriori people. Those of the waina pono people of the Chatham Islands, of Rangihaute, of Hororereoro and the islands close to the Chatham Islands. I acknowledge your ancestor Rongomaiwhenua, and your ancestors that have passed to the night. They were resilient people who held fast to the prestige of the waina pono people and the genealogy of the Moriori. Therefore, this is my lament, this is my acknowledgment.]

I acknowledge the presence of our Moriori relatives, the waina pono of Rēkohu, of Rangihaute, of Hokorereoro, and of the islands that make up the Chatham Islands. I acknowledge your karāpuna, Rongomaiwhenua, and the many ancestors that have kept your story of resilience, your song of truth, belonging, alive, and well. I acknowledge the tenacity of your karāpuna, Tommy Solomon, and his legacy to ensure his people, the Moriori, the waina pono, were not exterminated by the colonial history books or by the lens of early ethnographers, colonial historians, and educators that deliberately classed Moriori as extinct, and racially distinct from and inferior to Māori, in their School Journals—the impact still haunting imi waina pono today, and also Māori, for that matter. This history needs correcting to ensure that the colonials’ misconception of false history and kōrero of the Moriori can be told and honoured.

I would like to acknowledge the negotiators—E Maui, tēnā koe; ko koe e hautū nei i tēnei kaupapa i roto i ngā tau maha [Maui, I would like to acknowledge you; you have lead this important work for several years]—and your team for your tireless commitment to ensure the kaupapa of the Moriori was brought to light. I know the immense commitment and work negotiators have to go through, therefore, kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui.

This House and what it has sponsored in the past have a lot to answer for. It should be ashamed of its history. This is why the Māori Party policy for history to be taught in schools correctly is so important, as this ensures the Moriori can correct the shameful history portrayed by Pākehā academics and share their own stories according to waina pono tikane. I acknowledge the summary of historical account, and it provides a good opportunity to acknowledge the Crown’s atrocities and breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. No Treaty settlement should be considered full and final, and the process for reconciling our past must never stop. As Moana Jackson often says, treaties are not settled; they are honoured. Every generation has the right and obligation to continue the struggle for justice.

Te Paati Māori looks forward to continuing to support this bill through the House, and as a member of the Māori Affairs Committee, I look forward to hearing more from the Moriori people about the importance of this bill for them and how the Crown can be doing more to honour their rights. As an active member of the Ringatū faith and as a tohunga, I acknowledge te herenga Te Matua Tangata me te iwi Moriori ki runga i Te Kōpinga Marae and the Whakarau [the ties to Te Matua Tangata and the Moriori tribe from Te Kōpinga Marae and Whakarau].

In ending, as Rangitokona illuminates the path ahead, waina pono affirms you to the land, and the principles of me rongo live on. Ko Rangitokona ki runga, ko waina pono ki raro. E ū te manawa, me rongo. E ū te manawa, me rongo.

[Rangitokona in the sky above, the original people on the land below. The heart holds strong, ’tis peace. The heart holds strong, ’tis peace. Acknowledgments to you.]

Tēnā koutou.

E ngā mana, e ngā re, e rau ieriki-ieriki mā. Tēnā kotou, tēnā kotou, tēnā kotou.

[Exalted figures and voices of authority, and multitudes of leaders. Acknowledgments to each of you.]

I wish to first acknowledge te imi o Rēkohu gathered here today. Ki a koutou katoa. Haramai, nau mai rā. He mihi aroha ki a koutou. I acknowledge you as the living manifestation of the hopes and dreams of the Moriori karāpuna, to be worthy guardians of the henu Rēkohu, and to carry yourselves with the peacefulness, the poise, and the grace for which they were known. This bill is the result of many years of hard work and advocacy by our guests in the gallery and those who began this journey who couldn’t be here today. I thank everyone who has shown commitment and patience and peacefulness to see this mahi through. Tēnā koutou.

I’d like to highlight for this House, and those watching, the special place of Moriori wahi t’chap to Moriori and the importance of conservation in allowing Moriori to act as tiaki of their lands for the benefit of all New Zealanders. This bill goes some way to resourcing and formalising the role of Moriori in the protection of our natural environment.

For example, the bill would enable Moriori to make use of a primary industries protocol that would allow aspects of environmental management and the participation of Moriori in things like national fishing plans and managing non-commercial fisheries in a customary way, including the use of rāhui. The importance of that management for the people of Rēkohu shouldn’t be underestimated. But it also provides for a framework where the Ministry for Primary Industries interacts with Moriori in relation to biosecurity, and noting the following views of Moriori—which I quote from the schedule to the deed of settlement—that “the indigenous biodiversity of Rēkohu/Chatham Islands is a core part of Moriori natural and cultural heritage, and is important to the social and economic well-being of the residents of Rēkohu/Chatham Islands; pests and diseases not currently present on Rēkohu/Chatham Islands could pose a serious threat to Moriori cultural values and limit future opportunities to provide for the social and economic wellbeing of residents of Rēkohu/Chatham Islands; despite the significant physical distance between Rēkohu/Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand, threats to biodiversity from pests and diseases are still possible and measures to enhance protection for Rēkohu/Chatham Islands may need to be considered; the benefits of guarding against biosecurity threats to Rēkohu/Chatham Islands have the potential to include the islands becoming a source of disease-free flora and fauna that could be of benefit to mainland New Zealand.”

It’s that generosity of spirit—to see the henu o Rēkohu as a taonga for all New Zealanders—that I want to touch on now. Nunuku’s law of peace, which resounds so many generations on, is reflected in this desire to protect biodiversity and our natural environment for everyone, not just inhabitants and visitors, but all of us who are yet to visit your shores.

The role of our guests from Rēkohu is tiaki, is kaitiaki, of the biodiversity and natural ecosystem of their land will be properly recognised in law, just as it is now properly recognised in tikane Moriori and tikanga Māori, with the passage of this bill, and that is why I support it.

I want to speak to those descendants of ngā Moriori who may be watching and thinking about the future. Over the next part of this parliamentary process, my colleagues and I on the Māori Affairs Committee, who have been entrusted to hear those stories, will welcome them. I can’t emphasise enough the honour and privilege of being part of that select committee, which gets to hear these stories, and to do our part to set the record straight. You’ve heard from my colleagues in the House this afternoon about how important hearing those real histories are, and acknowledging the mistakes of the past that have gone down as accepted history where they were not true. So this process in Parliament where we get to air those stories and hear as select committee members are so important, and I would encourage not just those in the gallery here today but all descendants and everyone who wishes to tell their story to be a part of that process.

Finally, I wish to mihi to ngā karāpuna Moriori, whose manaaki, whose manawa ririki of my tīpuna of Rongowhakaata, Te Whānau a Kai and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki in 1866, when they were sent to Rēkohu after being captured during the siege of Waerenga-a-Hika, and especially their koiwi, ki a Rēkohu.

My great-great-grandfather Tamihana Teketeke was among the exiled, and he was there when Te Kooti founded the hāhi o Ringatū on your shores of Rēkohu. I thank ngā Moriori for their continued tiakitanga of a place which has so much tapu for so many people in New Zealand, and acknowledge not only the kaitiakitanga, the tiakitanga, that you exhibit over your natural resources but the wairua of that place and of what it has become as a cultural pou for not only the Hāhi Ringatū but the whole fabric of hāhi Māori within New Zealand.

Ngā mihi aroha ki a koutou. Ngā moemoeā o ngā karāpuna Moriori.

[The dreams of Moriori ancestors.]

It’s been an honour to speak on this bill, and I want to mihi as well to all of those young people who have come along to see the next step in this process, which has taken so much time. I can’t emphasise enough how much it is a process, and we are only at the beginning stages of the parliamentary journey for it and welcome all submissions on that. That’s why I commend this bill to the House.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. Tēnā koe e te Whare. Madam Speaker, and those in the gallery, it’s always good when we’re in the House to deal with a Treaty settlement bill of historical grievance, because we know then that we’re really getting somewhere and we’ve almost reached a point when the redress and the resolution of the grievance is done. I note that, effectively, for all of these Treaty settlements that have gone through the House over now—what is it?—30 or so years, some of the settlement doesn’t require legislation; some of it does. Here, as we often see, there’ll be all manner of legal things: protocols, statutory acknowledgments, deeds of recognition, vesting of cultural redress of properties, and commercial redress—and all of that is here. And in a sense, like I say, it’s always good to speak on such bills. I wouldn’t say they’re perfunctory—they’re not. They’re always special to the iwi that is before the House, through the bill, for their redress, and there’s always injustice and there’s always these things that we talk about and we recognise as important to iwi.

But it’s a privilege to speak on this bill—a special privilege—on this Moriori Claims Settlement Bill, because, like the ACT member Nicole McKee, I confess I didn’t know accurately what had happened here. It is—and you can use quite a number of superlatives, really—a remarkable, poignant, painful story and part in our history that New Zealanders, Māori and non-Māori, should know, in terms of what happened to the Moriori people on the Chathams—not exclusively there, of course—as we call them today. I won’t recount in detail, but as is listed in the law—I think that’s quite a special feature—if you like, it gives the formal imprimatur stamp of approval of this Parliament in terms of the egregious injustices that happened. But we have a people who were egalitarian, peaceable, offering hospitality to outsiders, who were then attacked, with some 300 dying. Those who survived were enslaved to manual labour. Then there was no Crown action, despite the years that rolled on, even through the 1850s.

The Moriori people sought protection from the Crown, from the State. The issues and the injustice—and, I mean, it’s just not a word we would think we would be using in this Parliament about our own country post-1840, but—the slavery continued. We saw it go before the Native Land Court, which perpetuated further injustice. Sadly, at around this time, that wasn’t uncommon for the Native Land Court, where some 97 percent of land went to Māori, but only three percent to Moriori.

In 1901, the population from pre-contact being at least 2,000 people—as I say, egalitarian, peaceable people living together in harmony. In 1901, there were only 31, it is recorded in this law. I agree with Rawiri Waititi that in a way, whilst it’s not for me to judge, it’s for those here today in the gallery to do so.

The worst of all is actually that for these people, there was the added indignity of being portrayed as extinct and racially distinct from and inferior to other people and, in particular, Māori. Schools in New Zealand—it seems remarkable to say this today in 2021; maybe not so remarkable—actually taught this inferiority. That’s what we saw. And the myth continued. I confess, it was sort of roughly the story at a level that I understood as a child, and what a shameful blot that is on a people, on Moriori.

Today, we acknowledge it as a Parliament, and this law that we are putting through acknowledges it. It’s right that in this bill there is the acknowledgment. It is there for all to see today, tomorrow, and into the future. There is an apology of—well, the bill actually says “deep remorse”, and, of course, other redress that has been touched on.

So I, for one, confess that I learnt a lot in thinking about this bill. Whilst there are many Treaty settlement bills that have come through this House, it’s a privilege to speak and be part of this particular one. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. If I may, Madam Speaker, I want to give my attempt at the reo of Moriori and to welcome my whanaunga here, te imi o Rēkohu, te imi o Moriori, tēnā koutou.

Tēnā koutou nau mai whakatau mai. Ko koutou ngā uri o Rongomaiwhenua me Rongomaitere, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata e takatū nei me kī te ana o te raiona. Ka hoki ngā mahara ki a rātou mā, ngā kaiwawao o koutou e hāpai nei i tēnei kaupapa, e kōkirihia nei te kaupapa ki tēnei pire. E tū tautoko ana ahau tēnei pire i tēnei pānuitanga tuatahi. Nō reira e aku rangatira, rau rangatirā mā, te iwi Moriori, me Rongo, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Greetings and welcome. You are the descendants of Rongomaiwhenua and Rongomaitere, welcome once, welcome twice. Welcome to the House of Parliament gathered here, also known as the lion’s den. I think back to those who have passed, the defenders of those of you who championed this matter, this bill. I stand in support of this bill in its first reading. Therefore, my regal ones, my noble ones, the Moriori people of Rongo, thank you once, twice, and thrice.]

I’m delighted to be able to speak in support of this historic bill this afternoon, to add my welcome to the Moriori people who have travelled from far and wide, I’m sure, many from Rēkohu and around the country, to be here today, and those that will be tuning in as well. This is a historic occasion. I don’t need to really traverse the historical context, because I know that it has been well covered by the contributions today, much less to say that this was a terrible stain on the history of Aotearoa. Such was, though, the nature of the marauding type of people that Māori were and the interactions that we have had, it’s a fact of our historical context as a nation; likewise, the role that the Crown had to play in its omissions and its acts of what is another bloodstained history in our country.

But I’m just here to tautoko this bill because I want to acknowledge the iwi of Moriori, the proud people, distinct people, of Rēkohu, who have long fought for recognition and have finally, through the passage of this bill, gone another step, another step in their cultural revitalisation as a people. I want to pay tribute to all those that have been involved in Moriori, in their re-emergence as an iwi on the landscape of Aotearoa and here in Parliament. I want to acknowledge Maui Solomon and the role that he has played, dedicating his life to his people, for his tribal identity to be recognised and celebrated, and that’s what we’re doing here today in this House.

I think back. On occasions like this, we have our own personal connections to places and to people, and I think back to when I was a young lad. I was fortunate enough to travel and to support—and to be in the Rātana band, actually, that marched on—when the Rt Hon David Lange, in 1986, unveiled the statue of Tommy Solomon. That, for me, I guess, marked a major imprint of Moriori into the modern community of the Chatham Islands. That was a wonderful occasion, to go with the Prime Minister and to be able to support that big occasion where the whole of the Chathams came together, staying at Te One School and being able to take part in so many wonderful community occasions and celebrations and ceremonial occasions as well. So I think back to those occasions and I think how far Moriori have come in those 35 years. When I think of the fisheries settlement that has been recognised with Moriori, a major stakeholder in the iwi fisheries of the Chatham Islands, along with Ngāti Mutunga, but also in the wider fishing industry, all of that was hard work, hard fought by the whānau of Moriori.

I think back to the family also, of Maui’s cousins. Gary, Dennis, and Tommy are the ones that I recall—very similar to their grandfather in stature, and just absolutely wonderful to spend time with them. Yeah, I marvelled at their appetites then. I think their koroua, he’s renowned for—how many swan eggs did he eat? About a dozen or so. But it’s just wonderful to reminisce with Maui and his whānau. Even more recently, Tom Lanauze and the contribution that he’s made. A wonderful weka hunter extraordinaire is Tom, and he took me on a few expeditions. I won’t go into the details of the very secret terms of the weka-hunting, but it’s wonderful to see one of many, many individuals here who have played a part and are continuing to play a part in the passage of this legislation.

So we have a lot of connections. I want to acknowledge the connections that we have as iwi, because, of course, Ngāi Tahu and Kāti Huirapa Arowhenua, we claim the Solomon family as our own and rightly so—rightly so. We claim all their whānau, and I do acknowledge those connections that we share. I even played a part as a fledgling—we were ahead of our time, but I did play a role in the first iwi Ngāi Tahu - Moriori joint venture in fisheries—Tangaroa Seafoods was its name—along with Nick Preece and Grant Huwyler, back in those days. They were wonderful, wonderful times that we had, and it’s great to see that these relationships and connections are still playing a strong role today as we all work together as iwi in this post-settlement environment.

So I once again just acknowledge the people that have travelled here today. This is a very significant bill. As we do with all Treaty settlements, we acknowledge those that have gone before, but we also look ahead to the future.

One thing that struck me today was the kōrero from Maui and from Kiwa that we had earlier today. It was not only the pronouncements of the tūpuna that presented the petition in 1862 and to hear their names ring out in the House but I hope we get the opportunity to put those names formally on Hansard in some future readings. But to hear the reo—to hear the Moriori reo spoken—to hear the names of their tūpuna that were spoken, and to bring that all right up to the present day with the passage of this legislation, I think, is hugely significant. I’m very proud to be here, along with my colleague Paul Eagle, who’s quite the local member for the Chathams. I know he probably knows every kina, pāua, and crayfish. Myself, I’m more of a fan of the sea tulip—kāeos. I am quite partial to them. I regret that I won’t be able to travel that way with the Māori Affairs Committee to hear the hearings because I’m sure they’ll be very rewarding, and very important to hear the kōrero as well.

But with that, I tautoko this bill and I want to make sure that I finish with kia tau te rangimarie—in peace—which is what the Moriori people stand for. Hokomenet ai, me rongo, me rongo, me rongo.

[United as one, peace, peace, peace be upon us.]

Kia ora tātou. I commend this bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

The question is, That the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill be considered by the Māori Affairs Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.

Waiata