Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill.

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

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

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

[To the powers, to the voices, to the esteemed leaders, greetings, greetings, greetings to us all.]

I am grateful to be able to speak to the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill. In December last year, the Crown was invited to Rangitihi Marae in Matatā to sign a deed of settlement with Ngāti Rangitihi—

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Sorry to interrupt the Minister. Would all those members who are leaving do so quietly and quickly. Thank you.

Ngā mihi, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Crown was, in December last year, invited to Rangitihi Marae in Matatā to sign a deed of settlement with Ngāti Rangitihi, and I was humbled to have the privilege to be able to stand on the marae that day and not only sign the deed of settlement but to apologise on behalf of the Crown for its acts and admissions that prejudiced Ngāti Rangitihi.

I want to begin with a few acknowledgments. Firstly, to the members of Ngāti Rangitihi in the gallery this afternoon, and in particular, their lead negotiator, Leith Comer. Tēnā koe, Leith. Leith and his team have put in a lot of hard work to get us to this point. Kei te mihi ki a koutou. I want to acknowledge the people, both past and present, who made the claims that this bill pertains to, and kept the fires burning. It’s been a long time coming. I especially want to acknowledge those Ngāti Rangitihi tīpuna who are no longer with us to see their claims settled. I’d also like to acknowledge the effort of chief Crown negotiator Katherine Gordon, and those people from the Crown who worked alongside her, and, of course, Te Arawhiti.

Finally, I want to acknowledge two rangatiratanga who have left us since the deed’s signing. I want to acknowledge Stephen Ihaka, who acted as a cultural adviser to the Crown for many years. Stephen was involved in facilitation and cultural support throughout the settlement, often during some of the more difficult times. Most recently, Stephen led the Crown party on to Rangitihi Marae at the deed signing in December last year. We were very grateful to have him with us on that day and watch him delight in the festivities of the day. I do believe that was the last official engagement on behalf of the Crown that Stephen took, and I have to say he is deeply missed by myself and, I know, many others.

I want to acknowledge also Allan Skipwith, the chair of Tūhourangi Tribal Authority. Tūhourangi are close neighbours to Ngāti Rangitihi. Throughout Ngāti Rangitihi settlement negotiations, their relationship was tested and strained, but ultimately improved, and no small part due to Allan’s measured yet firm leadership. And I enjoyed meeting him, I enjoyed his company. He was a very wise man and we are here in part because of the contribution that he has made to getting this agreement and this settlement.

Moe mai rā e ngā rangatira, moe mai, moe mai.

[Rest in peace, oh leaders, rest in peace, rest in peace.]

For generations, the people of Ngāti Rangitihi have sought redress for breaches of the Treaty by the Crown that have hurt them and harmed them. From the 1960s, they’ve made petitions, submissions, and claims to seek redress for Treaty breaches. This settlement contains Crown acknowledgements of an apology for well-founded breaches of the Treaty and its principles. The Crown acknowledges it breached its Treaty obligations when it failed to protect the tribal structures of Ngāti Rangitihi, failed to always act in good faith when leasing and purchasing Ngāti Rangitihi land blocks, failed to protect Ngāti Rangitihi from becoming virtually landless, failed to protect the Tarawera Awa, failed to actively protect te reo Māori and to encourage its use, failed to protect Ngāti Rangitihi from the impact of high survey costs, and failed to act in good faith by taking excessive land at Te Ariki for public works purposes.

The settlement provides for 19 sites of deep significance to be transferred to Ngāti Rangitihi as cultural redress on settlement date. These include two properties to Te Tapahoro Bay—the beating heart of the Ngāti Rangitihi rohe—two properties in and around the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, and five properties at Matatā. An important element of the settlement for Ngāti Rangitihi is the natural resources arrangement over the Tarawera Awa. The settlement establishes the Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group that will operate as a permanent joint committee of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. The Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group will support, coordinate, and promote the integrated restoration of the mauri and the wellbeing of the Tarawera River catchment. A settlement also provides $500,000 to help enhance the mauri of, and Ngāti Rangitihi’s relationship with, the Tarawera Awa.

The settlement provides statutory acknowledgements and deeds of recognition over four areas, including the Tarawera Awa, and statutory acknowledgements over seven areas. A whenua rāhui is provided over the Lake Tarawera Historic Reserve and part of the Lake Tarawera Scenic Reserve. A total and commercial redress for Ngāti Rangitihi is about $11.3 million plus interest. This consists of a share of Crown forest land in the central North Island, valued at $7.3 million, paid on account in 2011, and $4 million in financial redress.

It’s the Crown’s wish that through this settlement it can restore its honour and atone for its past injustices that it has inflicted on Ngāti Rangitihi. No settlement can ever truly atone for this wrongdoing or compensate for the hurt Ngāti Rangitihi have endured, but I hope that this settlement will be a starting point, signalling a new, strengthened relationship between Ngāti Rangitihi and the Crown, based on cooperation, mutual trust, and true respect for the Treaty and its principles. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

It is an honour to rise, as the member of Parliament for Southland and the spokesman for Treaty negotiations for the National Party, to speak on the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill.

Kia ora e koro mā, e kui mā, e rau rangatira mā, e ngā Ngāti Rangitihi, tēnā koutou, nau mai, haere mai ki te rā whakahirahira.

[Greetings to the elders, male and female, the esteemed leaders, those of Ngāti Rangitihi, greetings to you all, welcome, welcome to this significant day.]

It is a privilege to speak on this first reading of the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill. I’d certainly like to extend a very warm welcome to everyone from Ngāti Rangitihi who has come here to witness this historic occasion here today, in Parliament. Welcome to the whānau and hapū of Ngāti Rangitihi. This legislation and this process is about you, your tūpuna, and uri.

I note that this bill completes the settlement process which began under former Treaty negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson, under the last National-led Government. I want to acknowledge the Hon Andrew Little, who has completed this as the present Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. I also recognise the settlement negotiators for the Crown and for Ngāti Rangitihi, who, through their efforts, have shaped an agreement that helps to build a brighter future for the iwi and subsequent future generations.

On a personal note, I spent a short part of my childhood living near the shores of Lake Tarawera, looking across to Mount Tarawera, and I travelled on the school bus past the gates of the very village every day. The stories of the approximately 110 lives that were lost and the villages that were destroyed when Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886 made a deep impression on me as a child, as did the stories of what preceded that and what happened afterwards.

It’s an honour to stand here today, to be part of recognising the wrongs that were visited upon Ngāti Rangitihi following the eruption, when the people of Ngāti Rangitihi were already devastated by the effects of that eruption; to be here today to be a small part of righting the wrongs of the past, to strengthen the present relationship with the Crown and iwi, and provide some redress, which will help create a stronger base for Ngāti Rangitihi to expand on its economic potential.

I note Te Rangitihi the man was the eponymous ancestor of the iwi that became known as Te Arawa, and his eight children became known as the eight bleeding hearts of Rangitihi, pumanawa e waru. All of the children became the founders of significant iwi in their own right.

This bill reorients the relationship with the Crown and Ngāti Rangitihi towards the future. Through this legislation, the Crown recognises and apologises for the many historical injustices wrought upon Ngāti Rangitihi through its failure to uphold its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi. Crucially, the Crown commits itself to renewed and strengthened partnership with Ngāti Rangitihi.

An immensely valuable aspect of all Treaty settlement legislation is the enactment of the historical account. Minister Andrew Little today has laid out the historical events that led us to today; allow me, however, to draw attention to four aspects of the account. The Crown promoted land laws in the 1860s which individualised the tribal land tenure of Māori. Between the 1870s and the 1890s, the Native Land Court investigated the areas where Ngāti Rangitihi claimed interest. The court system involved significant costs for Ngāti Rangitihi, particularly for surveying. Although Ngāti Rangitihi rangatira protested against the outcomes of many court decisions, the Crown largely ignored those complaints. In the 1910s, the Crown drained the Rangitāiki swamp, depleting Ngāti Rangitihi of food resources. The drainage led to the neglect of two Ngāti Rangitihi urupā and degraded the mauri of Te Awa o te Atua. From 1954, Crown legislation allowed the Tasman Pulp and Paper Co. to discharge waste, which caused heavy pollution to the Tarawera River and Lake Rotoitipaku.

Despite the many challenges that Ngāti Rangitihi have faced, I want to acknowledge that they maintain a history of loyal military service in support of the Crown, which continued into the 20th century, with Ngāti Rangitihi serving in many countries and suffering through combat and disease. And it’s a particular moment to acknowledge that here today in the House. It’s a great sacrifice that your tūpuna made for our country.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Ngāti Rangitihi faced poor housing conditions and lower levels of education and employment than Pākehā. They recall being punished for speaking te reo Māori in schools. Those conditions, along with the alienation of their customary lands, had a devastating impact on Ngāti Rangitihi’s social and economic development, and cultural hauora. In a spirit aimed at genuine hope for reconciliation in this bill, the Crown acknowledges its failure to protect the tribal structures of Ngāti Rangitihi, its failure to act in good faith when leasing and purchasing Ngāti Rangitihi land blocks, its failure to protect Ngāti Rangitihi from becoming virtually landless, its failure to protect the Tarawera River from pollution, its failure to actively protect te reo Māori and encourage its use among Ngāti Rangitihi, and its failure to protect Ngāti Rangitihi from excessive surveyor costs, and by failing to act in good faith, by taking excessive land at Te Ariki for public work purposes.

The Ngāti Rangitihi settlement package includes a total financial and commercial redress of $11,334,820 plus interest. Nineteen sites have been transferred to the iwi as cultural redress, and three place names have been changed for the settlement legislation.

Mr Speaker, and te iwi of Ngāti Rangitihi, it is not possible to fully compensate Ngāti Rangitihi for the loss they have endured and the mamae of their ancestors. However, I hope and I trust that this settlement will forge a new relationship with the Crown and Ngāti Rangitihi, and will be a real catalyst for positive change for our present and future generations of Ngāti Rangitihi. Today, I hope, is a day for the heart of Ngāti Rangitihi to beat strongly with pride. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker.

Ko te manu

He kaikōkiri ata

He pānui māna

Mō te ao katoa

Kia mōhio ai

te nuinga o te whenua

Kua tata mai rā

Ka awatea.

[The bird

Calls in the morning

It has an announcement

For the whole world

So that they know

That in most of the land

Daylight

Is near.]

Today is a new day for Ngāti Rangitihi. It’s a new day on what has been a very, very long journey for them, and I want to acknowledge them today in the gallery for coming here, for traversing Te Ika-a-Māui to end up here in our House, in your House, on this very, very auspicious day. So thank you for being here.

Can I note that on the long journey to this point, we were talking not long ago about Wai 7. We were talking about the Central North Island Forest Land Collective. We were talking about, just at the end of last year, signing the deed of settlement over in Matatā, at the marae, and how significant all of those occasions have been. But my friends, my relations, the journey is not yet over. We have a bit of processing that we need to do in this House, and until that happens, we won’t be able to finally tick it off.

But we are involved in a process, and I do want to thank the chair of Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi, Leith Comer, for the work that you’ve done. Leith, it’s not an easy journey, jumping through the Government hoops, but your career in the Public Service has served you well, and you have guided our iwi to this House today. Can I also acknowledge the other trustees, Merepeka, Cathy; the negotiators, Ken, Tīpene, Del; and can I also acknowledge the officers from Te Arawhiti, who do a brilliant job in trying to mirimiri and manaaki through a process which has its ups and downs.

Can I mention as well that Rangitihi have a very special place in Te Arawa. We identify as Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru o Te Arawa. They are the children, the eight children, of Rangitihi. They are Rātōrua, Tāuruao, Rangiwhakaekeau, Rangiaohia, Rākeiao, Kawatapuarangi, Apumoana, and Tuhourangi.

Mr Speaker, anei tētehi uru o Tūhourangi e tū ake nei, e mihi atu nei ki a koutou, ōku hoa moenga.

[Mr Speaker, this is a descendant of Tūhourangi standing before you, greetings to you all, my bed fellows.]

That’s a line that we sing in one of our waiata—our waiata poroporoaki, our waiata aroha—about a significant event that we were both involved in, both Ngāti Rangitihi and Tūhourangi, back in 1886 in the pahūtanga o Tarawera maunga—the eruption of Tarawera—which, to this date, happened 135 years ago and about a week. So our whānau travelled to the top of Mount Tarawera to pay their respects and to remember those of our whānau that died in that eruption.

It’s beholden on me as a descendent of Monita Te Kitua and his wife, Ngakawhena, who proudly sits there in our whakapapa but who passed away in the eruption at Tarawera. Since then, there has been a relationship that has gone on between Tūhourangi and Ngāti Rangitihi which has stood us in good stead, even up until today, and our Minister, as he stood before, did a mihi to Alan Skipwith, who was crucial in helping to navigate some of those issues, those border issues that are so fraught in this House when we start talking about things like overlapping claims. Actually, the good relationship between Tūhourangi and Ngāti Rangitihi meant that we navigated that with mana and with dignity. So I want to acknowledge the late Alan Skipwith and the part that he had to play in this as well.

There are a lot of stories to come out of this, and as we move this bill through the Māori Affairs Committee, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other and sharing in those stories that are yet to be told. Through the submissions hearing process, we’ll put the call out, and anybody that wants to put in a submission is able to. We’ll hear about those people that are very supportive of the bill, and there may even be some people that aren’t very supportive, and that will create an opportunity for them to be able to come forward and be heard.

A precedent that we set when we listened to the submission hearings for our Moriori whānau on Rēkohu on Wharekauri, on the Chatham Islands, was that we went to the Moriori marae to listen to their submission hearings. It’s new territory, because I can understand that a very risk-averse Government process would not want to go to one particular marae for fear of alienating another particular iwi, or something like that, and so it’s been standard practice to go to the local hotel—not that there’s any in Matatā. Anyway. Or even the local rugby club—we could head there as well.

But I’m going to be supportive, and I’ll be talking to the whānau and also our members of our select committee about actually going to the marae. There’s only one that we want to go to, and I think it’s appropriate that we go there. The main thing is that we’re able to create a safe space for those submission hearings to be heard, and I hope that we can work together to try and create that outcome and that safe space that’s necessary for a process like this. I look forward to hearing the various submissions and the different pūrākau, the different kōrero that will come out of this inevitably, but most of all I look forward to tracking this through to the second and, eventually, the third reading.

I had a question before from Auntie Cathy, and her question was: what will happen—she had concern about, through the process, our ability to block this Treaty settlement, and I was able to let her know that, generally, when a Treaty settlement comes to this House, actually, it has already done a pretty thorough due diligence process by the iwi but by also our Crown officials through Te Arawhiti, and this Treaty settlement is no different.

There is a process that we have to go through though, and we’ll do that, but the intention at the outset is to support this bill through the House, because, as we mentioned before, it’s been a long process just to get to this point right now. So we will go forward with good faith and listen to people that want to be heard. Our select committee is made up of various members from across the House. We have members of the National Party, members of the Green Party, and a member from the Māori Party. But, actually, you’re in good hands as we go through this process.

So I know, in the select committee process, that we’re going to flesh through all of the detail that’s considered in this very hefty piece of legislation right here, but if this is the product of the due diligence, if this is what the iwi want, then, actually, it’s up to us not just to ensure that there’s a good process but to actually ensure that it moves through so that we can sign it off and we can put to rest an injustice and a hē. Hopefully, through identifying that, through fleshing out some of the details, talking about the good stuff and the bad stuff, we’ll get to a place of enlightenment, of māramatanga, and the ability for the iwi to move forward and achieve their aspirations, which is really about the oranga of the iwi—the oranga of the iwi. Whether it’s the oranga of reo, of tikanga, of hauora, we want to create through this process an avenue for them to be able to realise their own aspirations for the uri of Ngāti Rangitihi that they have so desperately wanted for a very long time.

So whānau, let’s get this show on the road. I look forward to the process. I commend this bill to the House.

I just want to acknowledge the Ministers who’ve been involved in this: obviously, Minister Chris Finlayson, no longer in this Parliament, and Andrew Little. More than that though, I want to acknowledge the Crown negotiator, Leith Comer, and, of course, iwi Ngāti Rangitihi, who I see here today and wish them well. I don’t want to take long on this bill. I acknowledge what the previous speaker, Tāmati Coffey has said, which is that this will get a good and thorough airing at committee. And I share with him the aspiration that it may indeed go into the rohe and local marae there and that the process will go well throughout that.

I really just want to make two points. And the first one really is that, of course, National, as we have in many debates on Māori-Crown issues, relationships, and so on—we have from the very beginning, as it were, supported the historical Treaty settlement process. And of course, whether it’s been the partnership really of Jim Bolger and Doug Graham or John Key, Bill English, and Chris Finlayson, we have strongly believed in this process. And the reason for that is—in this country there may be a small group of outliers who disagree, but I think there is in place, in this Parliament, a strong and a clear consensus that real wrongs were done in the 1850s, 1860s, 1870s in this land. They created very clear, real grievances, and it is right, it is just, it’s the only thing we can do to apologise as this deed of settlement does and, to some extent—and I say “to some extent”—right the wrongs of the past. And I say “to some extent” because, of course, what is true here is that the quantums, the recompense in kind, in no way come close to the real damage that was done in the past. And that’s true across the Treaty settlements; they are but a fraction of the real economic, social, and cultural harm that has been done. And there’s a bunch of reasons for that that, you know, I don’t need to go into. We may question—and indeed I will tomorrow at the Māori Affairs Committee with Minister Kelvin Davis—the extent to which contemporary claims, contemporary issues, ongoing things that happen by the Government, may be right and proper, but we certainly believe in this process as right. But I digress.

The second thing I wanted to say is, of course, that this bill in relation to Ngāti Rangitihi is part of that historic Treaty settlement process I have spoken of and I just really want to say we could run through the bill but it is there; we could run through the history, which is set out, I’m sure, at a level adequately, but to make the point, I think, quite simply, your rohe and the area that you are from are some of the most beautiful parts—if not the most beautiful—of New Zealand and, indeed, the world we know. I’ve always grown up with beaches and, of course, I love Mount Maunganui beach, but my wife as a pom likes lakes—and I think quite simply Lake Tarawera and also your Blue and Green Lakes are the most beautiful lakes in New Zealand. I think they’re the most beautiful lakes in the world. In the last year, I’ve been in them and at them several times. We stay sometimes on Te Mu Road. I’d like to buy a place on Spencer Road but it’s too expensive. Properties on the lakeside are about two million dollars and up, thanks to the policies of Kris Faafoi and his Government, but we won’t get into that. I do just make the simple point that it’s, I think, a wonderful part of this world of ours, a real favourite of mine. I always reflect when I’m at Lake Tarawera that it has a real magical and spiritual quality to it. You can feel it simply by being there.

So I want to give iwi here today the clear assurance that Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition, the National Party, are fully supportive of this process, of this bill. We wish it well and the speed that the Minister has urged upon it in his first reading and we are looking forward to participating constructively as it goes through committee. Kia ora.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker, and tēnā tātou katoa, ngā uri o Ngāti Rangitihi. It’s a pleasure to rise today to speak as part of this debate on what is your bill and the bill that sets out and gives effect to the deed of settlement which represents so many years of negotiation between your rangatira and the Crown.

You heard from my colleague Tāmati Coffey—who is the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, which will hear this bill—that it’s been a long process just to get to this point. And I want to reflect on that before I make my substantive points about this bill. It has been a long process which, your deed of settlement recognises, began with petitions, submissions, and claims to seek redress for Treaty breaches from your tūpuna dating back to the 1860s. In 1878, Arama Karaka petitioned the Government for a rehearing of the Haehaenga block, which was, effectively, confiscated by the Native Land Court, and that was the first of the recorded petitions to the Crown which fell on deaf ears.

In 1881, Niheta Kaipara petitioned the Crown regarding the unfair purchase of Kaingaroa, and the Crown’s response—it wasn’t long, and it included the phrase “if the petitioners have any grievance, which is very unlikely, it is against their own people.”

In 1888, Takawheta, Niheta, and others asked for a rehearing in the Native Land Court of all of those blocks, and the petitions went on. But it’s the submission of Raureti Mokonuiārangi and 17 others of Ngāti Rangitihi to the Premier in 1899 which I want to focus on. That submission was about all of those injustices and more. In April 1899, Raureti petitioned the Minister of Native Affairs and lands on behalf of those in Ngāti Rangitihi who had not sold Ruawahia. They repeated their request for the succession of the Crown’s purchase of Ruawahia, and Ngāti Rangitihi noted that the block was under the provisions of the thermal springs Act 1881, meaning that the owners could not enter into any alienation of their land, except with the Crown, and that some owners had sold their interests to the Crown.

I want to read for the House what that petition said, because it is with this spirit that I’m so proud to stand here and say that what the Crown gave as a response to those petitioners and those submitters was wrong. They said, “Be assured to us, because our thoughts are permanently attached to the places where our ancestors and parents who have passed away from us lie (buried), it is the mountain of parting for all the Hapūs of the Arawa. We cannot stop a person from selling land, seeing that the way is open for the Government to acquire land, therefore we ask the Government to have some regard for us and that you two put a stop to this, so that those who desire to sell may not be able to do so.”

That’s the history which we look back to today and acknowledge the tīpuna of the people in the gallery, who have been so engaged with the Crown, who have come not just from those meetings and those organisations within their own community who oppose those sales of land, they have reached out to the decision-makers here in Wellington to make their case so articulately about why the land is important and why it is foundational to their identity. It’s an honour to be able to say that this bill goes some way to addressing those wrongs and establishes again the identity and the cultural connection in law which should have always been in place.

Let me talk briefly about the Te Ariki isthmus. It’s particularly important, and I want to draw the House’s attention to the effect of the deed of settlement between the Crown and Ngāti Rangitihi in relation to the Te Ariki isthmus, because this puts a wrong right around public works takings, which are particularly important for the Crown to acknowledge. In that case, this land, which links Lake Tarawera with Lake Rotomahana, is approximately 100 acres. It was taken by the Crown in 1908, even though the Crown knew that it was a burial site and that it was of particular significance because of the pā built around the lakes. It was also taken under false pretence, and it was never used in the way that the Crown intended it to be used at the time that it was taken.

What’s important to acknowledge here is that these land takings and findings in the Native Land Court were not just about private sales of land to settlers in the area and that the Crown was actively involved in confiscations for public works, not for the reasons that they represented to those native landowners who had prior rights to that area. It’s particularly important for the Crown to acknowledge those wrongs and to put those on the record very squarely as things that we would not accept again.

The second point I’d like to make is about how Ngāti Rangitihi might move forward under this self-determined rangatiratanga, and particularly around the Te Arawa mandate. The deed of settlement acknowledges that there is significant overlap between Ngāti Rangitihi and other Te Arawa groups, and that the Treaty settlement negotiations between the Crown and other Te Arawa groups from 2003 to 2008 prompted Ngāti Rangitihi to challenge matters of mandate and redress in those negotiations that impacted upon them. The tradition of petitioning the Government and submitting here in Wellington continues. There were urgent Tribunal inquiries brought by Ngāti Rangitihi, and there were ongoing negotiations, but that advocacy by your leaders led to the assertion of customary interests in those areas.

This is not a matter of tribal politics, but it’s supported by kōrero whakapapa and in well-documented evidence: things like the submission in 1891 of Mikaere Heretaunga, who was a chief of Ngāti Rangitihi, who said during the Ruawāhia hearing that “I know the boundaries of Rakeiao’s and Apumoana’s land. I live at Ngaharete on this block. I was born on it, but have lived at Ōkataina and Ngaharete, two places on it. The greater part of the lands of Rakeiao and Apumoana was outside this block. All this land was one, and the forest given to Huikai had its boundary at Karamea and Waitangi, outside this block. Ōkataina was awarded to the descendants of Rakeiao, Ngāti Tarawhai, descendants of Ngātoroirangi; they are not Tūhourangi. They are descendants of Rangitihi. Tūhourangi laid down the western side of this block as their tribal boundary. Ngāti Rangitihi are not a hapū of Tūhourangi but an independent tribe of chiefs. At the fight of Te Tumu, Ngāti Rangitihi and Ngāti Tarawhai were not considered hapū of Tūhourangi. Rangitihi was the father of Tūhourangi.” It’s that point that I wish to make when we go into the Māori Affairs Committee and we consider who this settlement is for and why it’s important for Ngāti Rangitihi to have acknowledged in cultural redress and in their statutory acknowledgments the importance of Ngāti Rangitihi mana as being separate from that of their cousins.

The third point I want to make very briefly is—after making that point about their independence—the collectivism of Ngāti Rangitihi, and it’s something to be celebrated. It’s evidenced in the Central North Island (CNI) Forests Iwi Collective settlement, affectionately known as the “Treelords” deal, following the Sealord deal. That settlement is unique in that it’s eight iwi in the CNI, but procedural problems have meant that Ngāti Rangitihi hasn’t been able to assert their cultural interest in the forest as other iwi have. This settlement represents a significant step forward in that process, and it’s important because those cultural rights are significant. Statutory acknowledgments are meaningful, and the value of those is immeasurable. They’re things like the whenua rāhui over the lakes, but they’re also the acknowledgment of Ngāti Rangitihi’s relationship with the central North Island forests going back many generations. That has practical implications for things like the discovery of taonga. The deed of settlement creates a protocol for Ngāti Rangitihi to claim those taonga which are found on public and private lands within lands that they have a cultural linkage with. And the effect of having those taonga—of not having to fight for those taonga to be returned to them—cannot be underplayed.

So it has been a long process. And to those in the gallery, I want to acknowledge each one of you for coming along today to see what is a historic step. Now that we go into the select committee, I want all of you to feel welcomed and to feel a part of the process, because it is your process, particularly those young people who have come here today, because for you, this is the oranga of the iwi and this is your future. Tēnā tātou katoa, ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou.

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. I too would like to mihi to the people from Ngāti Rangitihi who are in the House today for all of their work to bring their settlement to this point for their people. I acknowledge that this has early origins of 1860s that this process today can whakapapa back to, and that even for the negotiation of this specific agreement that has been reached with the Crown, the mandate was sought in 2010. Here we are, in 2021—11 years on—and the slog of that work, when it’s about the very essence of who you are and the future for your people, I really think needs to be acknowledged.

I stand here as the Greens’ spokesperson on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. In first readings, we always acknowledge and put on record that the Crown and the representatives have breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi—and continue to—and that, from our perspective, this process is another breach of the sovereignty of hapū. We believe that there must be resolution and restitution that does honour to the harm that was done and that continues to be done, which is why we never believe that these settlements, as hard fought for as they are, should be considered full or final. This is a step in our history of partnership, and we have a vision of a fuller and more honouring partnership in the future where we truly acknowledge the sovereignty of hapū.

In this speech, I want to be specific to the experience of Ngāti Rangitihi. I want to start by acknowledging the points that guided the negotiation as articulated by Ngāti Rangitihi, which were the aspirations for kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, rangatiratanga, and the desire to restore the mauri—the health and spiritual wellbeing—of all those places in their rohe that contribute to the healthy environment for their people; to restore the health and wellbeing of the Tarawera River system, which is synonymous with the health and wellbeing of Ngāti Rangitihi; and to take an integrated approach to the management of our natural, physical, cultural, and historical resources. I want to start by acknowledging those guiding principles and the contrast between those principles and the historical actions of the Crown to seize land, to have that philosophy of man over nature about economic output at the cost of all else, and facilitating, in effect, at the heart of it, the destruction of the land that supports us. How much we could learn from actually taking our guidance from those aspirations and that world view, as so beautifully articulated by Ngāti Rangitihi.

I want to acknowledge within that too the really obvious generosity of taking those aspirations as the starting point within the negotiation, which required being able to set aside the pain of seeing the land that you are part of destroyed to the point where Tarawera Awa was considered dead, the people and the atua desecrated. To set that pain aside with the aspirations and the hope for the future is phenomenal generosity and extraordinary leadership that I really wish would filter in to the thinking of everybody in this House, and I acknowledge how much I have to learn in that process.

So to touch on just a few of the points in terms of the history that are acknowledged in this settlement, one of the starting points I want to acknowledge is that Ngāti Rangitihi were part of the Te Arawa inter-hapū hui that agreed not to sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the time or to accept the authority of the Crown, while they still actively engaged with the emerging colonial economy. I want to just remind people that may think that Māori have benefited from colonisation and that things have come out super-well—just on those points right there—Māori were able to have sovereignty and engage in the economy and trading, and were global participants, which is not quite what’s been represented recently.

Then, in 1866, there were large-scale Crown confiscations, and I also want to point out that there are several key things for me even in this settlement where the use of language is, I believe, important. As a voice for responsible Kāwanatanga, I want to put on record that “confiscation”, which is what the phrasing is in relation to public works taking, is trying to put lipstick on a pig. It was theft. I believe that a true apology would be honest about what has happened, and to refer to confiscations when my association with confiscation is when I had been really badly behaved in class at school and the teacher had confiscated the thing I was messing around with because I’d done something wrong—that was not the scenario. This was Crown theft of Māori land, and I really look forward to that future we will have where we can be honest about our history and we will be able to shape a different future.

In response, the pathway that was offered for Ngāti Rangitihi and other iwi and hapū to be able to try and resolve or address or complain about those confiscations was the Native Land Court. That was an institution established by the Crown that was putting out results and rulings that benefited the Crown, which, again, for me brings back, too, a fundamental problem with this House signing off and having a final say on settlements. When sovereignty was not ceded, why does this House have the final say? I do believe that we need to have that constitutional conversation and consideration of the recommendations in the work prompted by Matike Mai to work to a process that actually enables settlements to be truly agreed and finalised by the relevant parties, being hapū and the Crown.

While it was mentioned by a previous member that this is about historical breaches going back into the 1800s, actually, we know that those public works takings were in the 1900s and that a huge amount of land was taken at that time. Then the Rangitaiki Swamp was drained in the 1910s. That had a massive impact on the food base, as well as damaging urupā and the mauri of Te Awa o Te Atua, and that cannot be ignored. Even then, in 1954, Crown legislation allowed Tasman Pulp and Paper Co. to discharge waste, with heavy pollution of Te Tarawera Awa and Lake Rotoitipaku. These are not way back in the mists of time. The breaches from the 1800s are carried by people today, and the breaches are far more recent than so much of our discussion in this country would suggest.

The Greens are very happy to support this as the best that is possible at that time, and we call out to our fellow tangata Tiriti to consider the process to do better. But I want to thank, again, Ngāti Rangitihi for their generosity and leadership.

Well, thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT on what is a very special day. We want to support the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill, as ACT has always supported these bills. The reason for that, very simply, is that we believe very firmly in due process, the rule of law, and private property rights. We acknowledge that in the case of Ngāti Rangitihi and many other iwi up and down New Zealand over two centuries, we haven’t done a particularly good job in following due process, respecting the rule of law, or protecting private property rights. Bills like these go a tiny way to redressing that. I note in the legislation it tells us that there are around 5,000 people who are claimants of this settlement. There’s around $11 million that is being transferred in terms of value, and if you put that together, it’s simple mathematics: it’s around about $2,000 per person. That may sound like a lot of money, but, actually, it’s important to remember it’s for eternity, and it’s for some fairly large injustices over time.

People sometimes say these Treaty settlements have transferred so much money to Māori; why can’t Māori stand on their own two feet? To put it in context, if you were to take, for instance, healthcare spending, that’s about $4,000 per person per year in New Zealand; education about $3,000 per person every year. This Treaty settlement for Ngāti Rangitihi is $2,000 per claimant, roughly, for ever. I just want to put that on record, not to in any way diminish the settlement—it’s very important—but to answer some of the criticism I sometimes hear, that these settlements have transferred large amounts of resources. Actually, what they’ve done is restored respect, dignity, and mana to people who have lost a lot of that by a failure to uphold the rule of law and due process over a long period of time, and given some compensation in terms of some of the value lost.

I also note that 92 percent of the claimant community ratified this agreement. Now, hailing from Ngāpuhi, I can only imagine or dream of such near unanimity amongst an iwi, but it’s not a bad example to be followed. Clearly, it shows that a good process has been gone through, and a process that goes back many, many years. It was only in 2015 that a mandate was given to actually start negotiating this particular settlement, but the real process started many, many years before that.

So I see this as a very positive initiative. I think it’s something that ACT is very pleased to support, and I think it is something uniquely New Zealand, that we have dealt with quite serious conflicts and differences and managed to resolve them in a way that has been done, mostly, for the last century or so, at least, entirely legally with respect for due process and the rule of law. That is a real achievement for all New Zealand, that we’ve managed to settle differences that way.

I would say I believe that some of the settlements that have come to be in recent times have blurred the lines between private property that is owned and introduced co-governance over areas that many New Zealanders consider to be collectively owned. An example of that would be the collective redress in Tāmaki-makau-rau of 2014, which introduced, amongst other things, co-governance of Auckland’s volcanic cones by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority. Now, since that legislation was heard, I’ve heard Chris Finlayson, the then Attorney-General and the Minister responsible for many of the settlements done under the previous Government, say, actually, he regretted some of those arrangements. It certainly created a lot of difficulty with the governance of the maunga and the common use of them, and many of the people that use them have been unrepresented and there’s been a lot of friction in the set-up of that organisation. But that caution is with an acknowledgment that we are arriving at the end of a long settlement process, and so we’re not going to allow ourselves to oppose this piece of legislation for Ngāti Rangitihi, for example, because there is a worrying drift towards Treaty settlements that, rather than restoring property rights and giving back what is rightfully owned, are actually creating ongoing co-governance arrangements which may lead to more difficulty than they solve in the long term.

With that caution, I think it remains only to say that we think this is a wonderful day for New Zealand. We’re really pleased to see Ngāti Rangitihi, after a long process, get this settlement passed into law by this Parliament, and we hope that the provisions in it, the resources transferred and the arrangements put into law, will allow a platform on which Ngāti Rangitihi and their mokopuna, for many generations to come, will be able to build the mana and success of the people in that place. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou, tēnei te mihi o te wā. I stand, somewhat nervously, today to speak to this bill. I say that I stand “somewhat nervously” because this bill means an awful lot to not only the people of Rangitihi but also those of us here in the House who have the opportunity to speak. As tangata Tiriti, and my people have been here since 1842, I can say that it is an honour to speak in the redress of your claim. It has moved me and it feels to be a huge honour to stand here to do so.

I want to very quickly put on record, once again, what the apology says. I think it is important that we do that, because I feel a little bit like we’ve strayed from the purpose of being here today. So “The settlement contains [the] Crown acknowledgements of, and an apology for, well-founded breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. The Crown acknowledges it breached … Treaty obligations when it failed—to protect the tribal structures of Ngāti Rangitihi … act in good faith when leasing and purchasing Ngāti Rangitihi land blocks … protect Ngāti Rangitihi from becoming virtually landless … protect the Tarawera River … actively protect te reo Māori and [to] encourage its use … protect Ngāti Rangitihi from the impact of high survey costs … [and] act in good faith by taking excessive land at Te Ariki for public works purposes.” The importance of saying those words over and over again will not be enough, but, as we all know, here in this House, it is incredibly important that we say these things and that we learn the history of our country—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and we acknowledge and we seek redress.

I want to acknowledge Ngāti Rangitihi for the work, for the years and years of advocacy, and for the grace that you have shown in coming again and again and doing what is tika, and working the processes and the laws of this land in order to seek redress. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for the efforts and for the people who have gone before you and for your loss. I thank you for telling the stories and laying the story of your loss out for us. It is so very important that we as a nation come to understand what happens in this country when we have loss. It is generational and it is painful. I want to say this small quote: “Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” May you understand that we will become that empathetic witness and that we will hear you.

I also want to acknowledge the Minister who’s brought this bill to the House. I want to also acknowledge my friend the Hon Kiritapu Allan, who, because of the Matatā connection, would have been here and would have spoken, but for her illness. So I want to just acknowledge my friend Kiritapu Allan and acknowledge that she is not here today to do this task—probably a better job than what I’m doing, to be fair!

I read the settlement and I read the bill, which is quite long and technical, but this is my understanding for those people out there who do not understand the history—and this is a very brief history; my apologies if I do a disservice. So in the 1860s, with a change of land title from collective to individual title, Ngāti Rangitihi were required to pay the fees associated with the cost of surveying and title registration. The Crown leased Ngāti Rangitihi lands before that title had been awarded. Then the Crown stopped paying for those leases. The Crown then treated those lease payments as advance purchase payments, acting as a monopoly purchaser. During this time, Ngāti Rangitihi suffered the devastation of the eruption at Mount Tarawera in 1886. So with the approximately 110 people killed in the eruption, that was not the best position to hold in negotiation, and the devastation of the land, the terraces, and the loss of life resulted in wholesale movement to Matatā. Ngāti Rangitihi had to sell the land that they would have otherwise wanted to retain. In 1910, the Crown drained the Rangitihi swamp, which is a great source of kai, and further degraded the awa. In 1954, the Crown legislation allowed the Tasman Pulp and Paper Co. to discharge into the Tarawera River.

These are the things that build over years and years of history. These are the things that people can never, I guess, understand the links and the losses that you’ve suffered. But one of the ways that I think of it is that if something like that had happened to me, how I would feel; so, I think, I can have some empathy to understanding some small part of your story. I think it is so very important that we, here in this House, stand up and say, as representatives of the Crown, that we are sorry, and that this should not have happened. It has happened, we must acknowledge it, and I do so today. Ngā mihi nui.

Kia ora, welcome back to the House—I call Harete Hipango.

Tēnā koe, tēnā koutou. E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karanga maha, nau mai, haere mai, ngā uri o Ngāti Rangitihi.

[Greetings to you, greetings to you all. To the powers, to the voices, to the many lines of descent, welcome, welcome, the descendants of Ngāti Rangitihi.]

Tō koutou pire [your bill], Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill, is having its first reading.

Madam Speaker, and to members in the gallery, Ngāti Rangitihi, ko au he uri nō Whanganui [I am a descendant of Whanganui]. It is a privilege to return to this house today and particularly a privilege to be able to speak for the first time on my return to those who have gathered here of Ngāti Rangitihi. May I share the last time that I spoke in this House: in fact 11 months ago today, I stood and spoke in this House and addressed those who had travelled from Ngāi Tūhourangi and Te Arawa for the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Vesting Bill third reading. So, Madam Speaker and those of us here today, it’s by sheer good providence, serendipity, that I happen to be back in the House and I happen to be speaking to the uri of Ngāti Rangitihi, to the waka of Te Arawa. Tēnā koutou.

I hold in my hand the mere pounamu of my tupuna, and in my right hand I hold the Bible, both of which I carried into this House today to be sworn in and take the oath. Today at this first reading of this bill, holding both of these items of taonga, those of us of our Māori ancestry, as mana whenua, tangata whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand know full well, as we held these through the journey of other peoples coming to this land, that it was the stroke of the pen, it was the legislature and the legislation, that was mightier than the sword, mightier than the mere, mightier than the patu and mightier than the good word. And so it just happens to be that with my colleagues and members in the House today, we stand here as agents of the Crown to make amends for the power of that pen, mightier than the sword.

My call today is brief. I’ve talked about the good providence of now being a returned member of Parliament, standing representative as an agent of the Crown to convey to Ngāti Rangitihi the acknowledgment of the history that your peoples have travelled. You have gathered here today. That history will be captured in the law when it passes into the Act. That apology will also be inscribed into law. And it’s important that the members of the public who will be tuning in and listening to not just this first reading—I invite New Zealanders to listen to the second and to the third readings, because this is the shared story, histories, and herstories of Ngāti Rangitihi. These are the mamae stories that have forged Aotearoa New Zealand. We are back in this House for the first reading of this to select committee to hear more kōrero, to hear more stories, for us to make sure that we put right into the final writing and passage of law at the third reading.

The apology, which is something should I again have the fortuitous opportunity to address the House and Ngāti Rangitihi upon, is significant, and when I’ve had the good fortune, again in the past, to speak, I have referred to the written scribed word of the apology, which is so critical and important.

Today is a day to whakamana and to whakanui the kaupapa of this first reading as the bill again traverses through the stages to its final passage. I do not know if I will be a member again on the Māori Affairs Committee. What I do know is that I will ask to sit in and to listen, and that I will tune in. But in saying that, I invite members of the New Zealand public to do so, so that we know the depth of the mamae but also the traversing into a future of hope and fulfilling aspiration and possibilities. I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora.

Tēnā tātou e te Whare. Kua kite mai koutou, e ngā whanaunga, e rima meneti noa iho ki a au, ā, tekau mineti ki te katoa o tēnei Whare, nō reira kia tere rawa taku kōrero ki a koutou.

Te Arawa waka, tōia mai ki uta, Te Arawa māngai nui, upoko tūtakitaki, ko wai te taki tangata kei runga? Ko Tamatekapua, ko Tamatekapua. Inā te kōrero, te kūrae rā ko te kūraetanga o taku ihu. Inā kaha kainaha, Te Arawa e, i, e.

Aha, Te Arawa e, i, e,

Aha, ko te whakaariki

Ko te whakaariki

Aha, tukua mai kia piri

Tukua mai kia tata

Kia eke mai ki runga i te

paepae poto o Houmaitawhiti.

Ngā pūmanawa e waru o Te Arawa, whītiki taua. Rangitihi, tangata maranga mai rā, Ngāti Hinehua, Ngāti Hinerangi, Ngāti Ihu, Ngāti Mahi, Ngāti Whareiti, Ngāti Titonga, me Ngāti Tūtangata, tēnā koutou.

Nei rā tō mokopuna e mihi nei, e tangi nei i te āhuatanga o ā tātou mate. Ngā mate kua whārikihia ki mua i a koutou i tēnei rā. Tangihia rā, ngā mate putaputa o te wā, koutou e ngā mate, haere, haere, whakangaro atu rā.

[Greetings to the House. You have seen, my kin, I only have five minutes, and the whole House has only 10 minutes, therefore my address to you must be quick.

To the canoe of Te Arawa, paddle in to shore, Te Arawa of the resounding voice and strong determination, who is the leader on high? It is Tamatekapua, it is Tamatekapua. The narrative says, yonder headland is the headland of my nose. Such is your strength Te Arawa.

Indeed, oh Te Arawa

Indeed, it is the invading army

It is the invading army

Indeed, let it attach

Let it come close

To advance onto the

threshold of Houmaitawhiti.

To the eight beating hearts of Te Arawa, hold strong. Rangitihi, the person who rose up, Ngāti Hinehua, Ngāti Hinerangi, Ngāti Ihu, Ngāti Mahi, Ngāti Whareiti, Ngāti Titonga, and Ngāti Tūtangata, greetings to you all.

This is your grandchild greeting you, lamenting the circumstances of our deceased. The deceased who have been laid before you today. Grieve for them, the many deceased of this time, to you the deceased, go, go, go well.]

I stand here as a descendant of Rangitihi.

Kia mōhio mai te pouako e Cathy, ehara tēnei i a Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-a-Apanui noa, engari he uri anō hoki nō Rangitihi, nō Kawatapuarangi, nō Pikiao. Ko Tēpōreihua, ko Hinetamatepiki, ko Parehina, ko Ariariterangi, ko Te Roro-o-te-Rangi, ko Kerei Whenua, ko Ureonepū, ko Te Umu Iti, ko Amohia, ko Te Koha, ko Hori Kawa Kura, ko Hoani Kerei, ko Kirimātao, ko Mānihera, ko taku pāpā heke iho nei rā ki a au.

[So that Cathy the teacher knows, I am not just of Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-a-Apanui, I am also a descendant of Rangitihi, of Kawatapuarangi, and of Pikiao. There was Tēpōreihua, Hinetamatepiki, Parehina, Ariariterangi, Te Roro-o-te-Rangi, Kerei Whenua, Ureonepū, Te Umu Iti, Amohia, Te Koha, Hori Kawa Kura, Hoani Kerei, Kirimātao, and Mānihera, who was my father, and down to me.

I want to acknowledge Ngāti Rangitihi for your perseverance, for getting your Treaty claim settlement to the first reading, and we know how difficult this process can be. So I’m acknowledging you all today.

Leith, koutou, Rerepeka, koutou o te poari, Tipene, koutou kua tae mai nei i tēnei rā, tēnā koutou.

[Leith, Rerepeka, the board, Tipene, all those who have come here today, I acknowledge you all.]

I acknowledge the trustees and the commitment of your people; our ancestors, who endured so much; your negotiation team; your pakeke and kinsmen who have played their part for Ngāti Rangitihi today.

The Crown acknowledges Treaty breaches, and I’m not going to repeat, as I’ve heard them all today. You know them, you have made sure that they’re in your claim, so kei te aroha atu ki a koutou, kia kaha [so I commiserate with you, be strong].

Although our total due is worth 1 percent—and the Crown has paid more on COVID subsidies to the business communities that added up to more than all Treaty of Waitangi settlements paid out over the last 30 years in just one week—our whakaaro here, and we have shared this in many other of the claims by other iwi, is that the overhaul of the Tiriti settlement process and to end the “fiscal envelope”—would that have made a difference? Absolutely, in the amount that you have agreed to. We need to insert a relativity clause into all Tiriti settlements to ensure that all iwi have parity with Ngāi Tahu and Waikato-Tainui; make Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding on the Crown; implement all unaddressed Wai claims and recommendations; abolish “full and final”—although you’ve got 1 percent, the door must always be open to our mokopuna to fight for the other 99 percent; return all conservation land to whānau, hapū, and iwi Māori. Moana Jackson has often said, “Treaties are not settled, they’re honoured.” Te Tiriti is a document that is the foundation of the living, evolving relationship between tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti.

As a member of the Māori Affairs Committee, I look forward to playing an active part in this bill.

Nō reira e hika mā, kua tō te rā ki ahau, kei te mihi atu rā ki a koutou, i patua mai ngā rori, ā, te rangi kia tae mai koutou ki tēnei Whare.

[Therefore friends, my time is over, I greet you all, you who travelled today to come to this House.]

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

E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Can I open this afternoon, and just acknowledge Harete Hipango and her return today in Parliament from this side of the House, and how wonderful it is to have another Māori member of Parliament join us in this kaupapa and this journey.

Nō reira e te tuahine, nau mai hoki mai e te whanaunga o Whitikaupeka, tēnā rawa atu ki a koe kei raro i te pūtake, te ruruhau o tō tātou maunga. He maha ngā pā, ngā kāinga, ngā urupā, ngā kōiwi, ngā mahinga kai, pā tuna, taunga ika, mai i Kakaramea ki Ōkaro, Rotomahana, Te Ariki Maura, Tapahoro tae atu ki Te Kāhao o Rongomai, Te Auheke o Tionga, Te Awa o te Atua.

[Therefore sister, welcome back my kin of Whitikaupeka, many greetings to you at the base of, under the shelter of, our ancestral mountain. There are many fortified villages, villages, graveyards, bones, cultivations, eel weirs and fishing grounds, from Kakaramea to Ōkaro, Rotomahana, Te Ariki Maura, Tapahoro to Te Kāhao o Rongomai, Te Auheke o Tionga, Te Awa o te Atua.]

Beneath the base, the shelter of our mountain, there are many fortified villages, homes, human bone burial caves, cultivations, eel traps, and fishing grounds from Kakaramea to Ōkaro, Rotomahana, Te Ariki Maura, Tapahoro to Te Kōhao o Rongomai, Te Auheke o Tionga, Te Awa o te Atua. E ngā rangatira o tēnei iwi, Ngāti Rangitihi, ngā māreikura, ngā whatukura, ngā tāngata katoa, ka mihi atu ki a koutou, nau mai, haere mai, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

[From Kakaramea to Ōkaro, Rotomahana, Te Ariki Maura, Tapahoro to Te Kōhao o Rongomai, Te Auheke o Tionga, Te Awa o te Atua. To the leaders of this tribe, Ngāti Rangitihi, the supernatural females and males, all the people, I acknowledge you all, welcome, welcome, greetings, greetings, greetings to you all.]

Can I acknowledge the work of the negotiators, our rangatira that are here today, who stood firm by their commitment to achieve the best settlement that they could for their iwi, Ngāti Rangitihi, and we thank all of our whānau from Ngāti Rangitihi for their overwhelming support of the settlement, and I hear very clearly the journey that has been made to lead up to today, but also the steps that we still need to make over the Māori Affairs Committee process to get it through this House.

I start my kōrero today about why race relations in this country are so important. This bill is all about acknowledging our past so that we can move on together in partnership. Aotearoa New Zealand has shifted and it has been a great strength of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and our settlement process in Aotearoa that there has been today great cross-party consensus and support for the Ngāti Rangitihi Claims Settlement Bill. I acknowledge the work of Doug Graham and Chris Finlayson and the work that they did to advance this process, just as much as I pay tribute to our own: the mahi of Sir Michael Cullen and the Hon Andrew Little.

I also acknowledge the challenge of recent weeks in this House—since I came into this House in October—and the challenges that we have faced as Māori MPs, and that’s why it has been so sad on many occasions to see this consensus that we have today being chipped away in recent times. We’ve had whistling about He Puapua, a report written independently of the Government, which provides the expert opinions on how New Zealand could give effect to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—the same declaration which this House signed up to. It was seen—the suggestion of the new Māori Health Authority—as racist and separatist; when in Government, others started Whānau Ora for exactly the same reason—the recognition that monocultural delivery of health, of hauora, and social services has not worked for Māori and that by Māori, for Māori services deserve to be given a chance, resourced, and a chance to work. And we’ve seen the racism online and out on the streets as a result of this.

They’re tired old tricks at play, and today this kōrero, the pūrākau, the story of Rangitihi, their journey, is an opportunity for us to connect and come into consensus and a way forward. It acts as a reminder for all of us of why partnership is important in the future of Aotearoa New Zealand. This bill aims to settle historical grievances for Ngāti Rangitihi and their claims with the Crown, and our whānau here in Labour are committed to completing all of our historic Treaty settlements, as outlined in our manifesto. But this bill is intended to give certain effect to matters contained in the deed of settlement, which was signed on 5 December in 2020 by the Crown and by Rangitihi, and I acknowledge that today.

But I also want to take time to put on record and remind this House of the journey of Rangitihi to get to this point and recite certain parts of history. In 1820, Ngāti Rangitihi doesn’t have much contact with Pākehā. By 1840, Ngāti Rangitihi were part of a Te Arawa inter-hapū hui that agreed not to sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi or accept the authority of the Crown at that time. During the 1840s and 1850s, this iwi successfully engaged with the emerging colonial economy. Following inter-iwi conflict in the 1850s, Ngāti Rangitihi worked to maintain peace in their rohe. In 1864, Ngāti Rangitihi decided to join a Te Arawa force fighting alongside a Crown contingent that defeated my relations in Te Tai Rāwhiti in support of the Kīngitanga. In 1865 to 1872, Ngāti Rangitihi forces assisted the Crown against Paimarire forces and other iwi including supporters of Te Kooti. The Native Land Court granted Ngāti Rangitihi a 300-acre block to settle these claims and several other blocks to reward the military service that their people gave so willingly to this country. In 1870 to 1890, the Native Land Court investigated the area where Ngāti Rangitihi claimed interests. The court system involved significant costs for Ngāti Rangitihi, particularly for surveying. Although the iwi rangatira protested the outcomes of many court decisions, the Crown largely ignored the complaints.

These continued, and what we see is, devastated by the effects of the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption, Ngāti Rangitihi had to sell land that they may have otherwise wanted to retain. By 1900, they were virtually landless. And therein lies the effects of land confiscation, of Te Tiriti not being honoured. But despite the challenges that this iwi has faced, they are here today sharing their grievance—a reminder and an acknowledgment to this House that we have more work to do. We are still on a journey across that bridge; race relations is still a work in progress.

But I want to acknowledge Ngāti Rangitihi today—the work that you continue to do. I look forward in the Māori Affairs Committee to hearing more about your story, and no doubt my tupuna Henare Bennett—that we cross paths and that we get to whakawhanaunga at some point.

Nō reira, e mihi ana ki a koutou, te iwi o Ngāti Rangitihi, tēnā rawa atu ki a koutou.

[Therefore, I greet you all, the tribe of Ngāti Rangitihi, greetings to you all.]

I commend this bill to the House. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker, and can I add my words of support and acknowledgment to Ngāti Rangitihi, particularly those who have travelled here today to sit and listen to politicians from across the House seek to put, in our inadequate words, the importance of this legislation, the acknowledgment of the pain and suffering, and the recompense and apology that is in the legislation.

I think the contributions have been powerful. I do have to say to my parliamentary colleague Shanan Halbert that there is a time for reflection with respect to the elements that he covered that are better suited for general debates than they are when we have the people of Ngāti Rangitihi in the room and we are reflecting on their story. I felt that his contribution had veered to a disappointing level which, in my time, I have not seen happen when having a settlement bill reading.

The bill itself is in three major parts, and the first part is the reflection of the historical injustices that were perpetrated on Ngāti Rangitihi. I’m an historian. I did an English and history degree at the University of Waikato, and, actually, I think these elements of the Treaty settlement legislation—which honestly, harrowingly outline the experiences of tangata whenua and, in this case, Ngāti Rangitihi—are an absolutely critical part of lifting not only my understanding but my community’s understanding and the wider country’s understanding around the realities of our history. We should not ever seek to walk back from that, however uncomfortable it is.

But I do hope that in telling the history and the stories not only here in this House but as that occurs across the country and in school rooms and families, the patience, the willingness to look forward, the willingness to rebuild again an enduring relationship with the Crown, and the energy and the essence and the strength of essence that that requires for people to do that when they have been so negatively impacted in the past—I hope that gets captured in our ongoing conversations as a country.

It is critical to acknowledge the history, but I think it is also really important to acknowledge how peoples such as Ngāti Rangitihi have the courage and the will and the patience to be able to look beyond that past and rebuild again with the Crown. I think that should be acknowledged, because that should give us all hope in this House that you bring the best of yourself to this partnership and it behoves us to do the same.

Part 2 of the bill reflects, specifically, the cultural redress, and Part 3 the commercial redress. This is all in the legislation. We will look forward to hearing that in your own voices and stories and perspectives at the select committee.

I do want to support Tāmati Coffey, the chair. I sit also in the Māori Affairs Committee, on behalf of the National Party, along with Joseph Mooney, and I’m sure that we would be very supportive of his suggestion that we hear this on marae. We did have that experience on the Chatham Islands, and it was very well negotiated and immensely powerful. I think it’s all part of us as a committee understanding at a more deeper level, beyond the words on a page, beyond the voices that sit in front of us—actually, to be in your space, as well, I think adds an element to the depth of joint commitment to this, which is powerful and enduring.

A lot has already been said today. I just want to conclude with an acknowledgment, again, from the National Party of the importance of this process, the integrity of the process, the patience that you have brought to it, and a commitment that we, all of us in this House, will follow that with integrity through to the third reading. Kia ora tātou.

E te iwi Ngāti Rangitihi, nau mai, haere mai, kia ora. It gives me great pleasure to be able to speak on this, the first reading of this bill in the House. I’m the last speaker for this and it gives me a sense of sadness to actually listen to all the speeches from across the House today which reflect the history of this iwi and its dealings with the Crown.

I want to start by acknowledging the Minister, the Hon Andrew Little, and his predecessor, the Hon Christopher Finlayson, for their work; Te Arawhiti; but also—and of course—Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust for your negotiation; and Leith and your team up there and your whānau: kia ora, nau mai, haere mai, and welcome. Lots has been said already today, but I want to acknowledge your work, because this process, this settlement is the result of much hard work, and particularly for the tireless work done by members to achieve the very best settlement you could for your people and the iwi.

It’s interesting, I haven’t had lots of experience with Treaty claims, but recently, as has been said, in Wharekauri, Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands—and I’m responsible, I’m the member for the Chathams, and so that was my first experience, the first of three settlements which will happen for the people of the Chatham Islands. But it’s interesting, when you read a summary of the historical background to the claim, it’s quite a confronting read, I often think: “Is it this, the same Aotearoa New Zealand that we live in today?” Because you have every right to be sad and be upset, to say the very least. I’ve heard today that the negotiations with the Crown began in 2015, but when I read the historical background, it actually extends back to around the 1820s, when there had been minimal contact with Pākehā. But things got pretty rough after that. And you’ll see in the detail there that despite having a good relationship with the Crown, that still did not benefit Ngāti Rangitihi.

Many members of your iwi have submitted through the Waitangi Tribunal claims and are no longer with us, and I want to acknowledge them, and for all the people who have gone before and paid tribute to them. This settlement includes an apology from the Crown and, as has been said, recognises the many wrongs that have been committed against the iwi. But, more importantly, this settlement provides commercial and financial redress to you to ensure the people of Ngāti Rangitihi have a solid economic and cultural foundation for your people’s future.

In reflecting on some of this information, I think this is long overdue. It has taken many, many years, but when I look at some of the grievances suffered, there was certainly a failure by the Crown to act in good faith when leasing and purchasing land blocks. There are many examples there, as I said, even in the summary. I’m miffed at the way that the process went about in terms of, eventually, the forced sale of the land. There was also excessive confiscation of land under the Public Works Act. Not surprising, but surprising at how it went about, considering, as I said, the good relationship that you had with the Crown. But, worst of all, I feel that there was just a complete failure to provide or to lease sufficient land to support yourselves, particularly in the aftermath of the Tarawera eruption. These, in summary, have resulted in a real loss and displacement of the people of Ngāti Rangitihi.

It was interesting to read, and I don’t know the area well, but I have many friends and colleagues who hail from this area—but something I do know is the emotional and cultural connections with, of course, the site, the once world-famous pink and white terrace. Even going back to look at some images of that I thought “Wow!” It certainly was one of the wonders of the world, but the devastation of the eruption in 1886 made us lose one of our most iconic sites. The pleasing thing, though, is that the site where the Terraces once stood will be transferred back to the iwi, along with 18 other sites with deep significance to the iwi, including what I found here, what’s termed the so-called beating heart of Ngāti Rangitihi rohe, Te Tapahoro Bay. Kia ora for the return of that.

But returning these properties in the rohe will hopefully ensure that the people will be able to reconnect with their cultural and traditional roots. However, in saying that, I don’t believe it will ever erase the mamae for the people of Ngāti Rangitihi. But in saying that—I said at the start it will provide a strong commercial, and hopefully a cultural, future for the young people, the rangatahi of the iwi.

We’ve heard today that the redress will be valued at over $11 million—$4 million in financial redress, and $7 million through the Central North Island Forests Collective settlement, which Ngāti Rangitihi were party to back in 2008. I was surprised to hear today—but also read, initially—that the Crown, back in the 1950s, allowed the discharging of waste from the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill, and others have spoken about that. As I said right at the start, things that we would never do today in this Aotearoa New Zealand that we now live in. But that was the time, and this is the time to put the wrongs right. I’m pleased, however, that there will be the establishment of the Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group, which will oversee the restoration of the mauri of the Tarawera River catchment.

At this point, I’d like to acknowledge the work undertaken by the negotiators, to the chief negotiator, the team, and to Te Arawhiti, the Office for Crown Māori Relations. And we’ve heard, I think, the approval rate was nearly 92 percent of iwi members, that’s impressive, and that gives you a real mandate to move forward with confidence.

To conclude, I’d just like to reinforce a couple of points: this will never erase the mamae your ancestors suffered. It is an important step, however, towards healing and strengthening the relationship not only with your iwi members, but between Crown and iwi. I hope that we don’t let down the people of Ngāti Rangitihi like we did in the 1800s. We led them to believe that we were a partner, that we were in a relationship—they were conned. And today we put that right. The settlement also gives the people the opportunity to reconnect and re-establish their cultural and traditional roots, and to provide, as I’ve said, that strong economic foundation for the rangatahi, young people, of Ngāti Rangitihi, the people of Te Arawa, and future generations.

I’m looking forward to working with our chair and the good team that make up the Māori Affairs Committee lead by Tāmati Coffey. I believe that we’re experienced in working together collaboratively on such settlements, we do a good job for the Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and I believe we’ll do a good job with this. I commend this bill to the House.

Ko te Pātai, Kia whakaaetia te mōtini. Koutou e whakaae, kī mai Āe, ki te kore, Kāo. Kua Āetia.

[The question is, That the motion be agreed to. Those of the opinion will say Aye; to the contrary, No. The Ayes have it.]

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

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

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.

Permission has been granted for a waiata.

Waiata