Moriori Claims Settlement Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. I move that the Moriori claims—

💬 SPEAKER: No—that legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the parliamentary website.

I move, That the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill be now read a second time.

E ngā mana, e ngā rē, rau ieriki ieriki mā. Tena kotou, tena kotou, tena kotou katoa.

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

I have the honour this afternoon of supporting the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill through its second reading. This crosses yet another very important threshold, as we all know, in the passage of these important pieces of legislation. I begin by acknowledging the work of the Moriori imi, their negotiators, and the Moriori claims settlement trust for their energy, their tenacity, and their drive that has brought us where we are today. I’d also like to thank key members of the Crown team: chief Crown negotiator Dame Fran Wilde, my ministerial colleagues, and the Crown entities who have been involved in this work for many years now.

This bill gives effect to the deed of settlement between the Crown and Moriori that was signed on 14 February 2020 on Wharekauri island. The deed of settlement acknowledges all the historical Treaty of Waitangi claims relating to Moriori—so it comprises historical redress, which records the Crown’s breaches and past injustices; the Crown apology for historical Crown actions or omissions that breached the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles, and, of course, the resulting harm that that caused to Moriori; cultural redress that acknowledges the connections to land and resources of significance to Moriori; relationship redress, which builds new connections with the Crown, local authorities, and other groups; and, finally, financial and commercial redress, which provides a strong economic base for the future.

In February 2021, after its first reading, this bill was referred to the Māori Affairs Committee, and I want to thank the committee for their very fine work on the bill. The committee called for submissions between March and April 2021 and received 55 written submissions. Of these, 43 were in support of the bill, six were in opposition, and six did not take a position. The committee also heard 13 oral submissions at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu, and in Wellington, over April and May 2021. I acknowledge all those who made oral submissions for their efforts and for sharing their kōrero with the Māori Affairs Committee. I particularly would like to acknowledge Hokotehi Moriori Trust for their generosity in welcoming the submitters, officials, and the committee to Kōpinga Marae for the hearings. I say to the members of that trust, thank you for the manawa reka you extended during this integral part of the legislative process.

Again, I acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee for its very robust consideration of the bill and the comments that it made on key issues raised in submissions. The committee reported back to the House on 19 August this year and recommended that the bill be passed. The committee has recommended a small number of technical amendments, as well as amendments to ensure the fair operation of matters relating to customary fisheries in line with what is in the deed of settlement with Moriori. The committee also engaged with submissions on the bill’s historical account summary, noting the connection between the historical account, the Crown acknowledgments and apology, forming part of the Moriori settlement.

The committee’s commentary also focused on key issues raised through submissions, primarily the recognition of ta rē Moriori and the protection of sites of significance. I acknowledge the committee’s position encouraging ongoing collaboration between the relevant Crown entities, Moriori, and the wider Chatham Island community to progress these important matters, and it’s my hope to see this work progress into the future.

By way of conclusion, today marks another step closer to renewing the relationship between Moriori and the Crown. I thank the members of Moriori for their continued patience and commitment to the settlement, noting that this second reading has been delayed due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. I will, of course, speak in more detail in the third reading, which is always an occasion of great celebration for the relevant iwi or imi, in whose interests the legislation is being passed. At that point, we will be able to join together with Moriori to fully celebrate the settlement. But until then, I commend this bill to House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

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

[To those in power, to all the voices, and to all the chiefly peoples, greetings one and all. To the people of Rēkohu, greetings to you all.]

It’s an honour to speak on a bill which will hold a special place in history—finally putting the many wrongs the Moriori have suffered for many generations to right. I acknowledge that it won’t fix everything, but it is a very significant step. It is also special for me personally as the Moriori bill was the very first time I spoke in this House. Due to the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, I spoke on this before I made my maiden speech. That was a special moment for me, as the story of Moriori is something that has been of special interest to me since I was a child. As a child growing up partially in the Hawke’s Bay there was always a close connection between the Hawke’s Bay and the Chatham Islands, and it was something I was very aware of. Learning about Tommy Solomon and the history of Moriori and their unique history of peace—Nununku’s statement on peace, which Moriori abided by, was something of special significance. So it’s very special for me, personally, as well to be able to be here today.

However, I note that the pandemic is ongoing and the public health measures currently in place mean that we’re unable to be in the House for the second reading. But I certainly hope that when we get to the third reading, we’ll be able to join together to celebrate this momentous occasion for Moriori. I wish to acknowledge all of those who are watching from afar who are able to tune in today and see this. It was a great privilege for me, with the other members of the Māori Affairs Committee, to travel to the Chatham Islands, following the first reading, and to spend time with the imi Moriori, to visit and to learn more about tchakat henu—a Moriori phrase meaning tangata whenua—and to spend time with the waina pono, the original inhabitants of Rēkohu.

In particular, it was, I think, a special moment for all of us to have the hearings at Kōpinga Marae, to listen to the people. There were some contests in the terms of the historical accounts and other matters, but to have a respectful hearing on those issues and to learn more about the Chatham Islands and to spend time while we stayed on the islands, talking to various people with various perspectives. It was very interesting listening to the people there, there is some discussion between the interests of Moriori and Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri of the overlapping claims, but I note that many on the islands have lineage that goes back to both Moriori, Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri, and te Pākehā. It was also special for us to spend some time on the islands, actually having a look around and learning more about the dendroglyphs, the carvings in the bark of karaka, or kōpi trees, and to spend time in the kōpi forests—those orchards for Moriori which were introduced by Moriori to the Chatham Islands and tended by them as forest, which they cultivated in groves.

We also spent some time visiting Te Ana a Nunuku, known to Moriori as Nunuku’s cave. Nunuku was a man of great significance for the people of Moriori. He outlawed fighting amongst inhabitants on the island and is responsible for introducing Kawenata Rongo o Nunuku Whenua, the Covenant of Peace of Nunuku Whenua—a significant aspect of tikanga Moriori. I think it impressed all of us, looking at the significant limestone etchings at the entrance to that cave and reflecting on the history of the island.

Credit to the many people, starting with the Moriori, who started this process back a number of decades ago. It has gone through a number of changes of Government, but there has been a commitment by numerous Governments now to progress this and I’m very pleased to be here today to make my small contribution to this. I want to give credit to Minister Little, who spoke before and is helping guide this through its final phases, and give credit also to his predecessor, Christopher Finlayson, who guided the process for a period of time before the change of Government.

Moriori’s main grievances: the Crown’s phase in the enslavement of Moriori; the failure to protect Moriori from becoming virtually landless following the 1870 Native Land Court decision to award less than 3 percent of the land of the Rēkohu to Moriori; failure to protect ta rē Moriori, that’s the language of Moriori; the role in the collection and trade of kōimi karāpuna, Moriori ancestral bones or remains; and the role in promoting myths that stigmatise Moriori as racially inferior people who became extinct. I’m proud to say that we saw there’s a real renaissance happening, both in the language of ta rē Moriori, a renaissance in the pride of the people of Moriori and their history and who they are and who they will be, going into the future. And I look forward to seeing this progress further, to its third and final reading, and to a celebration with the people of Moriori.

I’ll note, just finally, that there is more work to be done on the Chatham Islands. There are overlapping interests with the remaining Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri, and I look forward, hopefully, to being part of a further visit to the island to complete that process, when the time is right, to ensure that there is an integrated—we’ll keep that spirit of Chatham Islands, or Rēkohu, or Wharekauri among the people of the Chatham Islands so they can have a shared, prosperous, and united future. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Tēnā koutou katoa te whakakanohi mai i ngā hunga kua riro ki te pō kua riro ki te kāpunipunitanga o te wairua. Mā koutou anō rā te wawata e ora, e tipu, e rea mō ngā whakatupuranga e heke mai nei. Nō reira koutou e whāki nei i tēnei kaupapa nō Rēkohu, tēnei te mihi ana ki a koutou katoa.

[To you all, who represent those who have passed beyond the veil, those who have been taken to the gathering place of the spirits, greetings. By your efforts, the dreams of the future generations will be held safe to develop and grow. To you who have shared the details of the initiative regarding the Chatham Islands, I acknowledge and thank you all.]

I rise to make a contribution in the second reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill, and I do so with the understanding that, historically, to delve into the history of the people of Rēkohu and the history would be to gain a bit of an insight into much of the misinformation that has been portrayed in relation to the Moriori people. But I want to take this time to focus on the historical Moriori Treaty claims with the Crown. I should acknowledge those who are on the Māori Affairs Committee—Tāmati Coffey, the chairperson; Arena Williams; Paul Eagle; Shanan Halbert; Joseph Mooney; Todd Muller; Teanau Tuiono; and Rawiri Waititi—because you had the opportunity to visit the people, listen to the stories, and listen to the many challenges of working through a Treaty settlement process.

This bill, as was said by the Minister for Treaty settlements, is another step in completing a commitment to the Moriori. This settlement package will finally and comprehensively settle all historical Treaty of Waitangi claims relating to Moriori. It includes a Crown apology and redress, cultural redress, and financial and commercial redress to the total of $18 million.

Moriori karāpuna, or ancestors, were the waina-pono, the original inhabitants or tangata whenua, of Rēkohu, Rangihaute, Hokorereoro—South East Island—and other nearby islands making up the Chathams. Moriori arrived some time between 1000 and 1400 CE, and all Moriori hokopapa are descended from the founding ancestor Rongomaiwhenua. Māori accounts put the number of Moriori killed in 1835-36 at around 300, or about one-sixth of the population. Those Moriori who survived the invasion were enslaved and forced to do manual labour.

In 1842, Rēkohu and the surrounding islands were annexed to New Zealand as the Chatham Islands. The Crown took no action before the late 1850s to alleviate the conditions of Moriori enslavement. Moriori sent letters and petitions to the Crown detailing their plight, including the names of those killed in the invasion and those who had subsequently died of despair. The court awarded more than 97 percent of the land to the recently arrived Māori and less than 3 percent to Moriori. This has always been a subject of historical contention.

By 1901, the Moriori population on Rēkohu had collapsed to only 31 out of a total Chatham Islands population of 418, comprising Moriori, Māori, and Europeans. At the turn of the century, several prominent Moriori elders died. Intergenerational transmission of knowledge and customs—tikane Moriori—was severely compromised.

In 1867, the Crown extended political representation to all Māori men who lived within four electoral districts. The Chatham Islands were outside all electoral districts, meaning Moriori and other Chatham Islands residents could not vote or have political representation. It wasn’t until 1922 that legislation was enacted to correct this.

This deed is the final settlement of all historical Treaty of Waitangi claims of Moriori resulting from acts or omissions by the Crown prior to 21 September 1992 and it is made up of a package that includes the range of redress that I’ve already mentioned.

What I want to share is that—notwithstanding a very complex history that has often been used to challenge tangata whenua Māori interests and perhaps their right to be called tangata whenua here in Aotearoa because of a lack of an understanding about how colonial history impacted on New Zealand—I want to, I think, draw the attention of the House to comments made by our lead negotiator, who, during his young years, was given a very huge level of responsibility to pursue the aspirations of Moriori, and that is Māui Solomon.

In an article that I found in relation to the pursuit of justice, he said these things: “There cannot be peace without justice, and justice must not only be seen to be done but must, in fact, be done. Even if it takes another 200 years to accomplish. Such was the commitment of my Moriori karāpuna to living in peace and sharing the resources of their islands, that they refused as a people to ever fight to the death again. They had developed, here on their home island, a greater respect for the sanctity of human life, and had agreed to observe the law of peace, literally through life and death. In doing so, they suffered greatly, and many died. But they did not die in vain. Their legacy of peace and hope lives on through the thousands of descendants living today—many of whom are just learning the truth. For, when all the wars and battles that have been fought, what then? Humans must learn to live in peace with one another and with their environment if we are to survive and thrive as a species. That’s the bottom line.”—and he makes his final quote—“To quote Gandhi: ‘Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.’ ”

When you read the detail of the settlement and the aspirations, and the way in which language revitalisation enables those Moriori descendants to connect to who they are and their history and their place and their sense of place going forward into the future, you know that there is great aspiration that sits behind this particular settlement.

The other thing that I’d like to add—and I’d like to commend the committee because they spent some time looking into something that was important to the Moriori but couldn’t be addressed—is in relation to Te Ana-a-Nunuku, the cave that was mentioned by Joseph Mooney, which, I understand, members of the committee visited. No Treaty settlement provides any opportunity for private land interests to be impacted on. However, I do appreciate the fact that the committee did offer some serious consideration about ways in which that site could be protected, albeit on private land, and in a way so that its national heritage can be recognised through other fora. I do hope sincerely, as this settlement goes into its final reading, that those who have the ability in so far as historical protection—the way in which the council might consider the significance of this site to the people of Rēkohu—draw on the committee’s insights as to the importance of Te Ana-a-Nunuku as another step towards rectifying our history but also restoring justice back to the Moriori people. Kia ora.

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā rē, rau ieriki ieriki mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Exalted figures and voices of authority, and multitudes of leaders; acknowledgments to you and all gathered here.]

This is the second reading and, as members of the House well know, the second reading is after the bill has been scrutinised and examined by the select committee. I’m always cognisant of members of the public and the people from the Chatham Islands who may be listening in to this debate this afternoon. The purpose of a second reading is for the bill to, as I say, be examined, for it to be brought back to the House for the members to consider the principles of the bill and any changes that have been recommended.

The Māori Affairs Committee, which was comprised of those members that the Hon Nanaia Mahuta has named, presided after the bill had been referred to them on 23 February 2021—this year. That was the first reading. There were 55 submissions that had been provided from interested parties. Oral evidence was heard from 12 of those submitters.

I stand here, understanding that the members of the select committee, and my colleague Joseph Mooney as a mainlander, had the distinct privilege, with our colleague Rino Tirikatene, to travel through to Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands. Oh, kāo? So Rino didn’t. We shared the privilege of travelling to other rohe within Aotearoa at the time. We spoke and we were aware that the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill was coming before us. I didn’t have the privilege of sitting on the committee at the time. However, I have read with some considerable interest—because these debates are traversing back into the history, and it’s a history that many New Zealanders are not privy to. Our childhood education didn’t talk about the history. The facts, as are presented through to the Waitangi Tribunal, come through these negotiation settlements, and here we are today presenting those facts for the record to be corrected.

The report back to the Māori Affairs Committee is dated 19 August 2021. I said there were 55 submissions, with 12 oral submissions that have been heard. This bill is about the Moriori imi, and it has been commented by Minister Mahuta that the reo of Moriori people is something that not only the people have struggled to survive themselves but have fought for the revival and the sustenance of their reo. That is something that had been addressed by the select committee, and in the select committee inquiries into that, it was revealed that, despite the plea of the Moriori people to recognise ta rē Moriori as an official language, the select committee did not have the power or the scope to be able to do that. That would require a legislative change. However, the committee had been advised or told that Te Taura Whiri has provided funding for the development of ta rē Moriori and that, through the Te Mātāwai strategy, there is provision for the sustenance of the reo. I mention that because, like the Moriori people, our language is a living being also.

Talking about a living being and on that thread of the language, I reflect that on Māori TV there’s some wonderful documentaries that come about. More recently there is one called the Chatham Islanders that screens on Māori TV on a Monday evening at 8 p.m., and episode five, I believe, screened last night. That is really just portraying to our people what life is like for Chatham Islanders, Moriori—the struggles and the hardships.

The bill itself, having been examined—there were proposed amendments from the select committee, on hearing from submissions, and that’s been outlined in the report. So the Moriori language was one of those amendments not able to make legislative change but process change, and through those relationships and blending.

The other request that has been made by one of the submitters was to amend the historical account, the summary. I’ve mentioned that these matters being spoken before the House are correcting the record and the history. The process of negotiations toward settlement and also the evidence heard before the Waitangi Tribunal is about ensuring that the historical account and the record is accurate and correct. There’s a submission that had been received from Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri raising concerns about the accuracy of the account. Undoubtedly, my colleagues who sat as members on the select committee would have given their due regard. However, they reached the decision that the account, as has been recorded in the deed of settlement through to the bill, is an accurate summary of the agreed facts between Moriori and the Crown, and therefore the committee does not recommend any changes to that.

Detailed in the committee’s report are the other amendments that have been proposed, and one of those was the, again, mention of a visit to the Chatham Islands, to Nunuku’s cave. Nunuku’s cave is of considerable heritage significance to the people, and Moriori and Chatham Islanders know that, live it, and feel it. As visitors, and I’m moving to the tourism aspect of it, I happen to have here a brochure of the Chatham Islands, and in this brochure—which again is really important because it’s how people are people of a place, and when we visit, it’s important to know the history. The accuracy of the facts have been captured in the bill, but in this brochure promoting the Chatham Islands, it talks about something I didn’t know and many New Zealanders don’t. Moriori made a conscious decision to set aside warfare and killing and to live in peace after the invasions, and this is known as Nunuku’s Law, named after the spiritual leader, or the rangatira, Nunuku Whenua, who laid down the covenant of peace over 600 years ago. That covenant remains unbroken by Moriori, despite the fact that Rēkohu, Chatham Islands, which means—Rēkohu—misty skies, having been invaded by two tribal peoples flowing from Taranaki.

Today, I reflect, it’s 9 November. On 5 November, Parihaka commemorated 140 years since the resistance and the invasion, their peaceful resistance of the invasion by colonial soldiers and their lands. So the correlation? Nunuku’s Law about peace—Nunuku’s cave had been asked by the people to be protected as a heritage site. So the select committee navigated course-ways through the different authorities as to how that could best be done, and it was decided that as important as the site is for Māori, and it’s considered an important site for all New Zealanders, it deserves to be protected and preserved. The committee seriously navigated how best for that to be done, to the point, I understand, that when committee members visited Nunuku’s cave, there was consideration about those relationships built with local authorities for that best to be done.

The second reading of this bill is about its passage through to the third reading and finally into law. The very special dynamics and relationship of the Māori Affairs Committee is that we come together, we look for solutions, ways to improve these negotiated settlements being passed into law, and that’s something very unique about the Māori Affairs Committee. The political differences are put aside to address what’s in the interest of our people who come before us. And, on that note, as a member of the National Party, this bill is commended to the House.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Can I just echo the sentiments of the previous speaker, Harete Hipango, in that when we consider Treaty settlement bills, actually, there’s been a lot of work that has gone into them prior to them actually showing up at the select committee stage. The signing of the deed of settlement actually gives us a very clear mandate about what’s been agreed to—as you well know, having previously sat on the Māori Affairs Committee, Mr Speaker.

However, tuatahi ake

Ko Rangitokona i tohe rangi

Ko Rangitokona tokona i tohe ātā

Ka tū ta pou ki ru pakira o tā rangi

Ki ru pehore o tā rangi

Ka tū ta mēmēa-a-nuku

Ka tū ta mēmēa-a-rangi

Ka tū ta kahi-a-nuku

Ka tū ta kahi-a-rangi

Ka tū ta pou

Ta pou, ka tū ta pou ta pourangi

Me rongo.

Rangitokona holds up the sky

Rangitokona props up the dawn

The pou stands against the baldness of the sky

It stands against the bareness of the sky

It stands; a thought against the earth

It stands; a thought against the sky

It stands; a wedge against the earth

It stands; a wedge against the sky

The pou stands

The pou stands - the pou of the sky

Me rongo.

It’s been an educational experience, being part of the consideration of this Treaty settlement bill, trying to wrap your head around the struggles that the Moriori imi have been through over the past hundred-or-so years has been significant. I hope that the passing of this bill, when we get to that point, helps to correct some of the historical wrongs that have been done, but also the historical record. I think that it is absolutely coincidental and perfect that next year, as we start teaching our own Aotearoa New Zealand history in our schools that this become part of that experience as well. Many of the children of New Zealand need to have that record put straight, because when I was in primary school I too heard of the Moriori becoming extinct, of them being wiped out, and, as I saw with my own eyes when we went over there as a select committee, it is absolutely not the case.

One thing that I was aware of, though, is that with the taking of the land, with the dispersement of the people, the Moriori imi aren’t actually all located on the Chatham Islands like you might expect; yes, there are some, but many have made the migration and they are now living in Christchurch or they’re living in the Hawke’s Bay or they’re living in the Wairarapa or they’re living in other parts of Aotearoa because of what happened there in that incredibly historic event, which is going to, hopefully, be taught in our schools as of next year.

Can I acknowledge the pleasure that it was to travel to te Kōpinga marae, and to the imi that welcomed us, to the Hokotehi Moriori Trust for looking after us, to Maui, to Susan, to Grace, to Thomas Lanauze, and to everybody that welcomed us with open arms, I thank you for that. I also just acknowledge the spirit in which the hearings were conducted on the marae.

I want to talk about the incredible complexity involved in this particular settlement, and it is complex because of the overlapping interests on the Chathams; arā ko Rēkohu, arā ko Wharekauri. The Moriori imi and the Ngāti Mutunga ki Wharekauri iwi have an identical area of interests which overlap 100 percent, completely encompassing the entirety of the islands. So, because of that, the Crown has sought to develop a couple of pieces of legislation and also to develop a third one to settle all the settlement interests on the Chatham Islands. The Crown has also entered into an agreement with Moriori and Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri for shared redress, which is also going to be important and we should see that in a third piece of legislation. It was hoped that this legislation would actually be introduced into the House at the same time; unfortunately, that hasn’t been able to happen like that. But we hope that one day very soon, Ngāti Mutunga ki Wharekauri will also have their settlement under way here in the House, and we’ll be processing that at the same time through our Māori Affairs Committee.

Previous speakers have talked about the visit to Te Ana a Nunuku, which if anybody in this country ever gets the chance—and now is a good time—head over to the Chatham Islands; they would love to host you and look after you. And if you are privileged like we were when we went over, we got a guided tour to Te Ana a Nunuku. It is a cave with limestone carvings etched all around its entrance. They were done back in the days, they are traditional, they are historic, but, unfortunately, they have been degraded, and there has also been some graffiti as part of that.

One of the submissions that we heard through this process was a call for us to protect it as much as we could through this process. Unfortunately, it falls outside of the remit of this bill, but we did do some due diligence before we came to that conclusion. That being, we got made aware that a council’s district plan could include heritage orders to protect the heritage qualities of a particular place or structure. We sought information from the Chatham Islands Council to find out if that had been considered as a means to protecting the cave. We understand that the council’s resource management document does not protect the cave. The council said that as part of its district plan review, extensive consultation was carried out and the cave’s protection was not raised. We also understand that the council does not intend to make changes to the district plan to protect the cave.

So we sought another option out. We contacted Pouhere Taonga—Heritage New Zealand—and we asked them what they might be able to do. They told us that the cave could and should be added to the New Zealand Heritage List, and, if it was, then if it would gain a higher level of protection. So what happened there was Pouhere Taonga went off and spoke with Moriori, spoke with Ngāti Mutunga when they visited last year, and we understand that they are currently waiting for an application to have the site added to that Rārangi Kōrero—or the Heritage List. One of the things that complicates that is that there is not necessarily support from the majority landowner of the site where Te Ana a Nunuku currently sits, and for any kind of progress to be made in that area there has to be support from landowners, from imi, and from iwi. We heard through some of our submitters that, actually—I mean, one submitter talked about how it wasn’t even the right cave. That submitter talked about the fact that there was another cave there, and she believed that the other cave was Te Ana a Nunuku. So there are still issues to be cleared up there. But what we do know is that the committee saw with our own eyes the tradition, we saw with our own eyes the graffiti and the degradation, and we implore the relevant Government departments that can help in that area to be able to do so.

Speaking of help, we also spoke with some submitters who said, “You need to acknowledge ta rē Moriori.” So we went to the Māori Language Commission and we had a conversation with them. We said to them, “What do you think?” We were informed that both ta rē Moriori and te reo Māori are derived from the same proto Polynesian language. However, ta rē Moriori and its variations developed independently from te reo Māori, due to the isolation of Moriori on the Chatham Islands. We understood that it would take an Act of Parliament to make it an official language, just as te reo Māori was made an official language under the Māori Language Act 1987. We spoke with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori—the Māori Language Commission—about what exactly they could give in terms of support to be able to revitalise ta rē Moriori, and they indicated to us that that funding would be made available to te imi Moriori if they chose to pursue it to be able to revitalise their language the way that they see fit.

During our visit, we heard the language being spoken by submitters, and we recognised the passion that Moriori have for the recognition and revitalisation of their language. We believe that it is not for our committee to determine, as part of this process, whether or not it should be reflected through the legislation, but we do agree. We agreed across the House that it should absolutely be supported, and, again, we encourage the relevant partners to work with Moriori to ensure that it is.

It has been an experience, and it’s not over yet. So to all of the submitters that came to the committee—those 13 that made oral submissions, the many more that made written submissions without being heard orally—we thank you for the time that you gave to the committee. To the Hokotehi Moriori Trust, we thank you for your manaakitanga to us as a committee, when we went over there. Also, a shout-out for the food. You can’t go off this conversation without talking about the hospitality via the kai. There was plenty of crayfish. There was plenty of paua. It was a very plentiful occasion. But, actually, what it showed was that the future looks bright for our imi Moriori. For that reason, I commend this bill to the House.

E te Pīka, me rongo.

Ko Rangitokona i tohe rangi

Ko Rangitokona tokona i tohe ātā

Ka tū ta pou ki ru pakira o tā rangi

Ki ru pehore o tā rangi

Ka to ta mēmēa-a-nuku

Ka tū ta mēmēa-a-rangi

Ka tū ta kahi-a-nuku

Ka tū ta kahi-a-rangi

Ka tū ta pou

Ta pou, ka tū ta pou ta pourangi

Nōku te whiwhi te tū ki te tautoko ngā kōrero i horahia i te Whare i tēnei wā, mā runga i te whakaae ki ngā kaikōrero katoa. Tērā te āhua o te komiti i haere ngātahi ki Rēkohu. Heoi, me mihi au ki te hau kāinga ki a rātou nei karāpuna, ko rātou anō ngā waina pono o te Rēkohu. He maha ngā mea i ākona e au i a au i tae ā-tinana ki tērā moutere o rātou. I rongo au i te wairua, i rongo au i te mauri.

I tētahi wā e noho ana mātou ki tētahi ngahere me te kī atu ētahi o mātou, mātou ko Rawiri Waititi me te mea atu “Ehara tēnei i Aotearoa; ehara tēnei i Niu Tīreni. He wairua anō tēnei takiwā, he reo anō tēnei takiwā.” Nā te taiao i whai āhua o tātou nei reo katoa. He reo anō nō te moana, he reo anō nō ngā maunga, he reo anō nō ngā awa, he reo anō nō te kohu. Tērā te mea tuatahi i ākona e au i te wā i tae atu au. Ko te Rēkohu te reo o te kohu. I a tātou i tae atu ki raro, i heke iho ki roto i te kohu i mōhio kē mātou kei wāhi kē atu mātou.

Nō reira, me mihi atu ki ngā imi. Tautoko ana ngā mihi ki te Ohu o Hokotehi nā rātou i karangahia ki a mātou ki te haere ki tō rātou nei marae, te Kōpinga, ki te noho ki runga i te ngākau māhaki, te ngākau humarie ki te whakarongo ki ā rātou nei pūrākau.

Ko tētahi o ngā pūrākau i tau ki a au, ki taku ngākau ko ō rātou nei karāpuna i tae mai ki Rēkohu i hipa atu i Te Wai Pounamu, i hipa atu i Te Ika a Māui i tae tōtika mai i Poronēhia. Nā runga i tērā, tērā te take i rerekē tō rātou nei rē i a tātou e noho tangata whenua nei ki Aotearoa nei. I a au e whakaaro ki tērā o ngā āhua i harikoa au i te mea ko tērā o ngā pito o te tapawhā o te Poronēhia kāore anō kia tae atu au. Me te mōhio ko tētahi ki te nōta o tātou nei whānau ko te kanaka Maoli ki te raki, o tātou whānau anō ki Rapa Nui ki te rāwhiti, anā anō o tātou nei whānau e noho taketake ana ki ō rātou nei moutere ki Rēkohu. Nā runga i tērā, nā taku nei tae atu ki ērā atu o ngā moutere, ehara i te mea he tauhou te wairua, he tauhou te mauri, heoi anō i rongo au i te mauri i te mea i rongo au i tērā mauri ki ētahi atu o ngā moutere i tae ā-tinana au ki roto o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Nō reira kei te mihi atu ki ērā pūrākau i ahu mai i ō rātou nei karapuna, i ahu mai ki ō rātou nei whakatupuranga ki tēnei wā.

Ki a rātou mā i tae mai ki te Kōpinga marae, otirā ki te tukanga katoa o tēnei whiringa pire—i tae rima tekau mā rima ngā tono: whā tekau mā toru i tautoko; ono kāore i te tautoko; ono kāore i te tautoko rānei, kāore i te whakaae rānei, i te whakahē rānei. Heoi anō i a au e whakarongo ana ki ngā kōrero ki te Kōpinga marae, ahakoa i tae mai ngā kupu ki te taringa, arā anō te māramatanga i tae anō ki te ngākau, e tae anō ki te manawa. Ki tāku nei e pērā ana ki ō tātou ngā mema katoa o tō mātou nei komiti i tae ā-tinana atu ki reira. Me mihi atu au ki ngā mema i haere ki Rēkohu, ā, i harikoa ana te mana whenua, i harikoa ana te hunau o Rēkohu ki te kite ki tō rātou nei mema Pāremata, a Paul Eagle. I a mātou i te pōwhiri i mea atu tētahi, “Arā anō, kua tau te īkara.”—“The eagle has landed.” Nō reira me mihi atu ki tērā mema.

Tautoko katoa i mahi tahi ana mātou ki roto i ngā tukanga katoa i tērā komiti, heoi anō kotahi anō te raru i puta i te komiti i a tātou i taua wā. I tētahi pō i taupatupatu te Waikato Chiefs me te Canterbury Crusaders te āhua nei, heoi i te otinga atu tērā whakataukī i rangona rongonui i a Nui Tīreni whānui: “Rugby was the winner at the end of the day.”

He nui ngā kaupapa noa ki roto i te rahinga o tēnei pire. I whakapau kaha mātou ki te tirohia me pēhea ka aro ērā āhuatanga ki roto i ngā waeture o ngā kaunihera, ki roto i ngā kaupapa here o te tae atu ki ngā tari Kāwanatanga, me pēhea rānei ki te kuhu tērā āhuatanga ki roto i tēnei pire.

Te tuatahi ko te reo, te rē, te rē kaharea, te reo o te kohu, te reo o te Moriori, me pēhea ka ora ai tērā āhuatanga nā rātou. Ko ētahi mea atu he mita, ko ētahi mea atu he reo. Heoi mēnā ka kōrero koe ki te rē, te reo ki te ngākau o te tangata ki roto i te arero o te tipuna, kei tērā tangata, ā, he reo tūturu anō tērā. Nō reira, me mihi atu au ki a Kiwa Hammond. I a ia i haere mai ki tō mātou nei taha ki Rēkohu me te whāngaihia ngā kōrero mō tōna taha Moriori hei ako i a mātou hei ākona tātou katoa ki tērā ō ngā āhuatanga.

Ko tētahi atu āhuatanga anō me whakanunui ki roto i ngā pūnaha mātauranga. Te tūmanako ka tutuki tērā āhuatanga ki roto i te marau hītori ka puta ake nei ki roto i ngā tau tata nei, kia tika ngā kōrero mō ō tātou nei whānau imi Moriori i te mea i whakaako i ērā kōrero i roto i ngā hītori nā runga i te hē, nā runga i te tūkino o te ngākau o ērā iwi taketake, te imi o Moriori.

Tētahi atu anō kia mōhio tēnei mea te hokopapa, arā me te whakapapa nā runga i te mea ko te hokopapa te whakapapa anō tērā te pūtake o tō tātou nei ao Māori, otirā ko tēnei te pūtake o tō tātou nei ao Poronēhia. Tērā te whanaungatanga i waenga i a tātou katoa ahakoa he hokopapa atu ki te nōta ki te kanaka Maoli, otirā ki te rāwhiti ki te Rapa Nui, te pū o Poronēhia o ō tātou nei whānau ki Tahiti, otirā ki ngā imi Moriori. Nō reira, he nui ngā kōrero i puta i tō mātou nei haerenga, i tō mātou nei taenga atu ki Rēkohu.

Heoi anō me whai ara anō kia pakari ai o tō rātou nei ara rē, tō rātou nei ara whakarite o tō rātou nei kōrero tuku iho i ō rātou nei karāpuna ki a rātou anō. He aha ai? Kia pakari ai rātou i roto i tēnei ao hurihuri e noho nei tātou i tēnei wā. Nā runga i tēnā, nā runga i te kotahitanga o tō mātou nei komiti i haere tahi ai ki Rēkohu kei te whakaae mātou nā te Pāti Kākāriki ki tēnei rauna o tēnei pire.

[To the Speaker, in peace.

Rangitokona holds up the sky

Rangitokona props up the dawn

The pou stands against the baldness of the sky

It stands against the bareness of the sky

It stands; a thought against the Earth

It stands; a thought against the Sky

It stands; a wedge against the Earth

It stands; a wedge against the sky

The pou, the pou stands, the pou of the sky

I am fortunate to stand here to support the speeches made around this house at this time, and to be in agreement with all the speakers. That was the feeling of the committee that went together to the Chatham Islands. Accordingly, I have to acknowledge our hosts and their ancestors. They themselves are their original inhabitants of the Chatham Islands. I learnt many things by going in person to their islands. I felt the spirit and I felt the life force.

At one time we were sitting in a forest and Rawiri Waititi said to me, “This isn’t Aotearoa; this isn’t New Zealand. This place has its own spirit and it has its own language”. All of our languages take their characteristics from the environment. There is a language of the sea, there is another language from the mountains, a language of the rivers, and there is another language from the mist. That was the first thing I learnt when I went there. Rēkohu is the language of the mist. When we went down, when we descended into the mist we knew then that we were in a different place.

Therefore, I must acknowledge the tribes. I support the acknowledgments to the Hokotehi Moriori Trust who invited us to their marae, te Kōpinga, to sit with a humble and peaceful heart to listen to their stories.

One of the stories that spoke to my heart was about their ancestors, that they bypassed the South Island and the North Island of New Zealand and went directly to Rēkohu from Polynesia. This is the reason why their language is different from ours, the people of the land in Aotearoa. As I was thinking about that, I was pleased, because it was one of the four corners of Polynesia that I hadn’t visited. With the knowledge that not only are the Hawaiian people from the north part of our family, along with those of Rapa Nui in the East, but also those who are indigenous to the Chatham Islands. Because of that, when I arrived at those islands, it wasn’t as if I was a stranger to the spirit or to the life-force, because I had felt that before in some of the islands I had visited in the Pacific. Therefore, I acknowledge those stories that have been carried down from the ancestors to today’s generation.

To all those who came to te Kōpinga marae, and also to all the processes involved in this select committee—we had 55 submissions: 43 were in support; six were against; six were neither for nor against. However, as I was listening to the stories at te Kōpinga marae, the words not only reached my ears but an insight and enlightenment touched my heart. I think this was the same experience for all of the members who went there in person. I would like to acknowledge the members who went to Rēkohu. The local tribes were pleased and the brothers and sisters in the Chatham Islands were also pleased to see their member of Parliament, Paul Eagle. While we were at the pōwhiri somebody said “Look over there. The eagle has landed.” Therefore, I greet that member.

Everyone supported our collaborative work and all the processes of that committee. However, there was one disturbance that affected the committee while we were there. One night, the Waikato Chiefs were playing the Canterbury Crusaders it seemed, and at the end we heard that proverb which is famously heard throughout New Zealand: “Rugby was the winner at the end of the day”.

There are many common issues throughout this bill. We spent a lot of time trying to see how we could get those issues embedded in council bylaws, and in the policies of Government departments and how to embed them in this bill.

First is the language of the Moriori and its survival. Some say it’s a dialect and some say it is a language. However, when you speak to someone’s heart in the language, in the tongue of their ancestors, to that person, yes, it’s a real language. So I must acknowledge Kiwa Hammond, who came to Rēkohu to sit with us and tell us about his Moriori side to educate us about those aspects.

Another aspect needs to be commemorated by the education system. Hopefully, that will be achieved in the new history curriculum due to appear in the next year or so, so that the histories of our family of Moriori tribes can be corrected, because their stories have been taught incorrectly in the past with negative consequences for those indigenous people, the Moriori.

Another thing is to understand that genealogy is the foundation of our Māori world and beyond that. It is the foundation of the world of Polynesia. These are the relationships between us all, whether we link back to Hawaii in the north, to Rapa Nui in the east, to the centre of Polynesia in Tahiti, or to the Moriori. Therefore, there were many stories that emerged during our visit to Rēkohu.

Accordingly, we must find ways for them to strengthen their language, to collate their oral histories, passed down from the ancestors. Why? To strengthen them in this changing world where we all now live. On that basis and in the spirit of the unity of our committee who went together to Rēkohu, we of the Green Party support this reading of this bill.]

Well, thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in support of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. ACT has long supported the Treaty settlement process. It comes from a belief in property rights, justice, and the rule of law, that where it can be established, through a fairly lengthy process—and it is a very thorough process that the Waitangi Tribunal goes through with claimants, and the Office of Treaty Settlements goes through in trying to propose redress for claims, and then Parliament and select committees debate a bill; a very lengthy process—it’s right and proper for any country to put right wrongs that have happened in its past.

This particular bill, the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill, I think is one that, actually, a lot of people might find interesting, because there has been such a popular—although completely incorrect—mythology around who the Moriori people are and what role they’ve played in the history of New Zealand. I myself was somebody who grew up and went to a primary school and was subjected to edition after edition of the School Journal in our primary school library, all neatly packed into their boxes, year after year, and the School Journal—I have to say, somewhat earlier than the times I was at school—has been responsible for all sorts of mythology carried through New Zealand culture over the last century or so. It told a story that I suspect many New Zealanders probably still believe to be true, which goes something like this: that the Moriori were the original inhabitants of New Zealand before Māori and were, effectively, pushed out of New Zealand, or at least the main North and South Island part of New Zealand, to reside in the Chatham Islands. That has been used for various purposes and had many various arguments based upon it over a long period of time.

But as clause 8 of this bill recounts, this actual story was somewhat different, and I think it’s very helpful that Parliament is passing a very short and abridged version of the history but nonetheless a factual one, that during the select committee process has been challenged by others, and the select committee has decided that, actually, they are going to maintain the historical account that they themselves had received. It goes something like: the Moriori arrived in the Chathams around about 1000 to 1400 AD. They lived for about 400 to 800 years in what is said to be a peaceful and harmonious way—although it is a pretty exposed sort of a part of the world out there, but nevertheless set about a sustainable society. It wasn’t until the late 1800s, with the arrival of English ships, that they made contact again with what you might call the outside world. It wasn’t until 1835 that they were again made contact with by the Māori people, or at least representatives of two iwi, who, effectively, colonised the Chatham Islands, some would argue—and certainly in this account—taking advantage of historic Moriori pacifism.

The overall results of this were devastating, and it’s a very sad story that occurred in the years to come. The Māori Land Court, established by the Crown, actually decided to award about 97 percent of all land in the Chathams not to Moriori but to those who had more recently arrived and done considerable violence against them. Now, it’s not the first or the last people to be upset about a court case outcome, but this was particularly egregious, I think most people would say. There were any number of injustices. When the Electoral Act said that there was a franchise with four Māori seats, the country was divided into four districts, but for some time the Chatham Islands were actually excluded—literally geographically excluded—from the franchise. The Chatham Islands were outside any electorate, and this wasn’t resolved, I think, until around about 1922, it says here. So, again, one injustice after another.

The result of this is that by the turn of the century, a population of around 2,000 Moriori who had lived pre-1835 had been reduced to only 31, and at about that time a lot of elders passed on. It seemed that the Moriori culture might be erased from the surface of the Earth by this series of events. It’s a great tribute to those survivors who have gone on to rebuild the culture and to re-establish its identity, to fight back against the myths of the School Journal, and to actually establish identity and some rights, and this legislation, which acknowledges that history, issues an apology from the Crown, is a big part of that.

It’s particularly ironic, some of the violations of rights—you know, those people who were enslaved by the arrival of Māori iwi in the mid to late 1830s, this happened at a time when the British Crown in England had just famously, under the leadership of William Wilberforce, outlawed the slave trade. It was a time when the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840, said that people would have their rights and duties secured, their taonga—and surely that means self-ownership of their own bodies—protected by the Crown, and the Crown really failed to uphold people’s basic rights in their law and order within New Zealand, allowing one group of people to be subjugated by another group of citizens. So, given that that was what the British Crown was standing for at the time and what actually happened, I think the apology in this legislation is very appropriate.

Of course, it goes on: where possible, and with the confines of Treaty settlements, given that Treaty settlements do not award privately held property to other people, it goes on to give back what is possible, to give some claims over customary fishing rights and restore something like what those people in the Chathams might’ve had, had it not been for that failure, but also acknowledging that much has happened in that time. Of course, there won’t be, ever, a full cultural or commercial redress of these rights.

So that is the story of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. I think it’s a very worthwhile milestone. It’s a very important story in New Zealand history. It’s one that has been subject to so much mythology by so many New Zealanders over such a long period of time. I think the pursuit of truth, universal human rights, justice, and property rights that this legislation exists in is a very worthy thing that the ACT Party is very happy to support. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I call Paul Little.

💬 Paul Eagle: Tēnā koe—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Oh, beg your pardon—beg your pardon. Apologies; I call Paul Eagle.

I didn’t hear what you said, so there we are—we’re even-stevens. But kia ora, Madam Speaker. It’s my pleasure to speak on the second reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill.

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

[Exalted figures and voices of authority, and multitudes of leaders. Acknowledgments to each and every one of you. To the people of Rēkohu, you are acknowledged.]

It is a pleasure to be here as the member for the Chatham Islands / Rēkohu / Wharekauri with my colleague Rino Tirikatene as the Māori electorate MP. Together, with all of you in this House, we represent the Chatham Islanders and do our best, and this has been quite a process. I say this because we are progressing it through the House, and I know that the Moriori people would like it done faster, but I offer the apology in terms of the timing because of COVID-19.

I want to just say that I had the honour of being on the Chatham Islands in February last year. We were at Kōpinga Marae and signing the deed of settlement, and I remember it well. It’s a very fine whare for those who have been there, and in front of the two pou that had the names of many of those who had perished in the 19th century from those islands. It was a privilege to be with the Hon Andrew Little, the Treaty negotiations Ministers; other Ministers; other members of Parliament; and to be representing the Government and embraced by their manawarekatanga. It is with pleasure that we are now at the second reading.

I’m part of the Māori Affairs Committee, and we’ve heard today that the select committee travelled to the Chathams to undertake the submissions, and that in itself each time—and we’ve heard how members described their journeys of understanding and their knowledge of the imi and how it fits in terms of the context of Māori, tauiwi, Pākehā, and others, who come now to form what is the Chatham Island people.

But I want to just refer directly to some of the submissions, and one of those is from Maui Solomon, the chief negotiator for the settlement. He has put in a tireless amount of work, and that’s reflected in his submission. He reminds us that “The original claim petition for justice for Moriori was filed by Hirawanu Tapu and 30 rangata matua with the Governor, Sir George Grey, in June 1862. No response to that petition has survived, but eight years later in 1870, the Native Land Court was established on Rēkohu and Moriori were robbed”—using his words—“of 98 percent of all their land, including highly valued outlying Islands. And some 126 years later the modern day claim was filed. Hearings took place in 1994-95 and the Waitangi Tribunal report ‘Rēkohu’ was released in 2001. This report largely vindicated and upheld all the claims that Moriori had made. The main finding was that [to quote] ‘the main relief by far is due to the Moriori people’. Negotiations commenced [way back] in 2004”—and I can understand some of Maui Solomon’s stress at waiting—“and were halted again in 2008 [as] … the Crown reprioritised its claims settlement agenda. Negotiations recommenced in 2016 and a Deed of Settlement”—as I said at the start—“was signed in February 2020.” And can I acknowledge, again, Maui Solomon for really his life’s work to seek justice for Moriori and to honour his karapuna by telling their story and returning to Moriori their place in the world.

I want to just acknowledge the negotiating team: Tom Lanauze, Paul Solomon, Grace LeGros, and claims manager Susan Thorpe for their efforts—and on the Crown side, the Hon Dame Fran Wilde, who had some task in bringing this together, but if she was here today, and the people of Moriori, they would certainly celebrate this long, long journey. And so can I also acknowledge other Ministers in addition to Minister Little: the Hon Christopher Finlayson and the Hon Eugenie Sage as the conservation Minister, who over some time helped pull together the redress. And this is just one part of three settlements that will happen on island. We’ve heard references to Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri. There is a third and that is the shared redress, where Moriori and Mutunga will work together with the Crown and the detail of how things are put together will come forward into what’s known as a shared redress. There were a number of ministries involved, Crown agencies represented, and they remain active today, working on making sure that the deed is delivered.

I want to just pick up on a couple of other submissions that were made. We’ve heard strong references to the place of the Moriori reo, the language, ta rē Moriori, and the desire to have that recognised as an official language. One submission came from Erin King, who is of Moriori descent, an employee of the Ministry of Education, and she spoke vividly about her children’s desire to reclaim their heritage and understand at least some Moriori language so they, being Canterbury-, Christchurch-based, could learn and not wait. I don’t think she gave her age, but I was assessing—like myself, it took many, many years for the education system to truly integrate te reo Māori into the system. Her hope was that there would be the same acknowledgment to Moriori, and that account was accurate. So there are some similarities there. I felt for her, and it was good to hear those concerns being put at the feet of her children as part of her journey of discovery.

And that’s the great thing about the claims settlement process. I know other iwi have said, when these Treaty settlements proceed, they go through, they act as a process that allows those who may not have connected to their iwi for a million reasons, but these are the vehicle or the mechanism that allow a stronger connection.

Less so as part of this is we did get a submission from the New Zealand Rock Lobster Industry Council and the Paua Industry Council. Fisheries is a big economic and tourism driver for the island. They put through a submission and said, “Look, we have looked at the provisions of the bill.”, and, in terms of the primary industries protocol and the rāhui areas and the new customary fishing regulations in respect of clauses, they had something to say on that. They were endorsed, much to their surprise, I must say, but my workings with them on island—and I know that my colleague Rino Tirikatene also agrees—means that they reflect the reality and ensure that Moriori and all Chatham Islanders will benefit.

There is a whole lot more that could be said around this process. We are at the second reading. I’m really looking forward to the third reading and the imi Moriori sitting in this House—

💬 Hon Simon Bridges: And those rock lobsters.

And just maybe we’ll have some crayfish, and the member for Tauranga and I can celebrate. Kia ora. Me rongo.

The member’s time has expired. I call Nicola Willis—five minutes.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. National supports this bill, as it gives effect to the deed of settlement that settles the historic claims of Moriori, and it records the acknowledgments and an apology by the Crown to Moriori. In this contribution, I want to acknowledge the history behind this settlement and those who have contributed to us being at the second reading.

I acknowledge Paul Eagle, the member in this House with perhaps the most familiarity with the Chatham Islands. Madam Speaker, you referred to him as “Paul Little” accidentally, and I’d say that that’s because he’s put such great efforts into his health of late. But I would also like to acknowledge the Crown negotiator, the Rt Hon Dame Fran Wilde, and the preceding National Party efforts to get this negotiation going: Minister Chris Finlayson, who in 2016 kicked this off again after an unsuccessful period of negotiation from 2004 to 2008; former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Sir John Key, who in 2017 signed the agreement in principle; and today the Hon Andrew Little, who has brought this bill to the House. I make those acknowledgments noting that these sorts of agreements, I think, carry particular weight in this House due to the fact that parties across the House have contributed to them and stand by them.

In this particular case, there is a long history. We could look to 1988 when the Moriori claims were first formally filed, but I think Moriori would rightfully say that we need to go back to 1862, which was when Moriori representatives first wrote to Governor George Grey seeking release from enslavement and return of their lands. So it has been a long time getting here today—more than 158 years. The redress which the Crown offers today and which National stands in support of is an apology. It does include cultural and commercial redress of lands, of money, but, I think, perhaps most importantly, it’s an agreement of a corrected historical account of the history of the Moriori and the historic breaches that they have been subjugated to.

Other speakers have mentioned the School Journal history, which so wrongly articulated the history of the Moriori people, and, I think, for myself it wasn’t until I read Michael King’s history of New Zealand that I saw just how wrong and harmful that myth that Moriori were somehow an inferior race of people that had been driven out of New Zealand and away on to the Chatham Islands was. In fact, Moriori had lived in Rēkohu, the Chatham Islands, undisturbed for centuries until Pākehā came in 1791, and it was in 1835 that they were displaced by Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama, who came not in peace but in war and who enslaved large numbers of Moriori and wiped out about a sixth of the population. At that time, the Moriori stood strong in their culture, which was one of peace. They adhered to what they called Nunuku’s Law, and they didn’t fight back. While there is honour in that, obviously much damage was done, and in 1870 that wrong was compounded by the Native Land Court handing recognition of all of those lands away from the Moriori.

So National supports this bill—for the apologies it contains, for the correcting of the historic record, for the acknowledgment of Moriori as tangata whenua in the Chatham Islands, and for redress for those grievances. And, finally, we acknowledge the efforts of all who’ve helped bring this agreement into being and all those leaders who have fought for this moment. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I call Willow-Jean Prime—five-minute call.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. He Hōnore tēnei mōku te tū i tēnei ahiahi ki te whakakī i te wā o Te Paati Māori kāhore i konei i tēnei ahiahi.

Engari e tū ana ahau ki te tautoko i tēnei kaupapa. E tautoko ana te Rōpū Reipa i tēnei pire. Kua noho au ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero o ngā kaikōrero katoa i roto i tēnei Whare i tēnei ahiahi. E mihi ki a koutou katoa ngā kaikōrero.

Tino pai te rongo i ngā kōrero e pā ana ki tēnei pire nā te mea ehara ahau i te mema i runga i te Komiti Māori, ahakoa ētahi tāima he kairīwhi ahau mō ētahi o ngā mema o te Komiti Māori. Kāhore ahau i noho i roto i te komiti i te wā e kōrero ana e pā ki tēnei pire, i te wā hoki i haere rātou ki Rēkohu, nō reira e mihi ana ki a koutou. Engari ko te mihi nui ki te imi o Rēkohu, nā rātou i whakapau kaha kia tae mai ki tēnei wā, arā ki te pānuitanga tuarua o tēnei pire i roto i te Whare.

E mihi ana ki te Minita, arā ko Anaru Iti, ki te Heamana o te Komiti Māori, arā ko Tāmati Coffey ki ngā mema o te takiwā o Rēkohu, arā ko taku whanaunga a Rino Tirikatene, te mema Māori mō tērā motu me te hoa a Paul Eagle anō hoki. Nō reira, e mihi ana ki ngā mema o te komiti o tēnei taha o tērā taha hoki. I mau mai te kaupapa ki roto i te Whare i tēnei ahiahi. E mihi ana mō tō ripoata.

Tino harikoa ana ahau kua tae mai ki tēnei wā o te pānuitanga tuarua o tēnei pire. Engari, ko te mea nui, ko te mea tuatoru. Nō reira, i runga i tēnā ka waiho aku kōrero i konei. Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare.

[Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is a great honour for me to stand and fill in for Te Paati Māori who couldn’t be here today.

I stand in support of this initiative. The Labour Party supports this bill. I have sat and listened to the words of all the speakers in the House this afternoon, and wish to thank all of them.

It was good to hear the speeches about this bill, because I am not a member of the Māori Affairs Committee, although at times I have deputised for various members. I wasn’t sitting on the committee when this bill was discussed or at the time that they went to Rēkohu, but I wish to thank you all. However, the biggest acknowledgment must go to the people of the Chatham Islands who have worked tirelessly to get to this point, that is, the second reading of this bill in the House.

I want to acknowledge the Minister, Andrew Little; the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, Tāmati Coffey; and the members of Parliament for the Chatham Islands—over there, my relation Rino Tirikatene, the Māori member for that island, and here, my friend Paul Eagle. So I acknowledge the members of the committee from both sides of the House. This initiative has been brought to the House this afternoon. I thank you for your report.

I’m very pleased that we have got to this point of the second reading of this bill, but the main thing is the third reading. Therefore, on the basis of that I will leave my speech there. Thank you, Madam Speaker.]

E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Ki a koutou katoa i roto i tēnei Whare, ka mihi atu rā ki a koutou. Pai ki te kite i a koutou i tēnei wā ā-kanohi, arā ka mihi atu ki a koutou anō. Arā ka mihi au ki ngā tāngata o Tāmaki-makau-rau i tēnei wā, ngā kaiārahi o tēnei mate, arā ka mihi atu ki a koutou. Ka hoki au ki ngā tāngata Moriori o tēnei kaupapa. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Madam Speaker, greetings. To everyone in this House, greetings to you all. It is good to see you in person so I can greet you once again. I also want to acknowledge the leaders in Auckland during these troubled times. I now return to the subject under discussion, the Moriori people. Greetings one and all.]

Madam Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak this afternoon. On reflection, over this year I’ve had the opportunity to follow my own whānau, in the Mōkai Pātea claim. It’s not until you come so close to home and a claim and you follow it through and you become informed and more informed about your own history that you understand the nawe—the hurt—of the past, but particularly the sadness of loss of your story, your reo, and your culture, and the hurt that that’s created amongst your people.

I want to acknowledge, this afternoon, Maui Solomon. I remember very vividly the whānau when they sat up here in the first reading. I remember vividly the pōwhiri when our Minister Andrew Little welcomed the whānau. They shared their stories and they validated their existence and corrected the past. Maui said, “Moriori are not Māori. We have similarities to Māori, but we’re the indigenous people of Rēkohu with our own language, our own customs, our own traditions, and, most importantly, we have a 600-year history of peacemaking, peacekeeping, that is probably unparalleled anywhere in the world.” That speaks largely to the Moriori people.

Today is an acknowledgment of them, and I acknowledge them at home and watching, hopefully, on Parliament TV, a very, very special day, and, no doubt, they would otherwise be here with us. Today does validate their existence, and it’s a very important day to acknowledge them as the indigenous people of the Chathams and the waina pono.

I speak out loud this afternoon on their behalf to acknowledge their grievance. Their main grievance is here with our Crown. The failure to intervene to end the enslavement of Moriori—failure to protect Moriori from becoming virtually landless, following an 1870 Native Land Court decision to award less than 3 percent of the land on Rēkohu to the Moriori. Failure to protect their language—ta rē Moriori—the grievance and the role in the collection and trade of kōimi karāpuna, the Moriori ancestral bones or remains, that were completely ignored. The role in promoting myth that stigmatised Moriori as racially inferior people that became extinct. I, like others, and as we acknowledge here in the House, grew up to understand that the Moriori people did not exist, and that’s a sad, sad outcome for the culture and identity of particularly the young people, the tamariki, the rangatahi, that grow up wanting to know their identity.

Can I acknowledge our Minister Andrew Little for the work that him and his team have done on this particular bill, the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. It’s been my privilege, actually, to sit alongside my Māori Affairs Committee—Joseph Mooney across the House, Todd Muller, Teanau Tuiono, and my own colleagues, the chair of our committee, Tāmati Coffey. Can I also acknowledge our tuahine, who has been part of this journey to reviewing this bill, Arena Williams, who is still with our whānau in Tāmaki-makau-rau.

I wasn’t able to join our select committee to head over to the Chathams when they visited to hear these particular submissions. That was disappointing, because they all spoke highly of the hospitality and manaakitanga of these particular people. They all came back with a couple of notches on their belts to make way for the beautiful kai that they had over on the islands at that particular time. But I also understand that they got to get their steps up as they went and saw the historic sites, the meaningful sites, to the Moriori people over on the Chathams.

It was remiss of me to not acknowledge our MP for Rongotai. It’s a little bit of a hoot this afternoon that we called him “Paul Little”. He’s no little man, but he’s got a big heart for our Chathams and the people over there. He’s been instrumental in helping us as a select committee to both understand the needs of the Moriori people but also the stories of Ngāti Mutunga and the debate that has happened over there. Indeed, it’s important to resolve those particular issues.

But today is an opportunity for us to resolve the grievance that is Moriori, the Moriori people alone. I look back to one of the submissions that I did hear online, a well-known old boy of a good Māori Catholic boarding school in the Northcote area, named Patrick Nicholas, a very good man who resides in Tauranga Moana, but has whakapapa, I understand, over to the Moriori people. He too shared his stories and the importance of this particular claim, going through, that we recognised both the history, the language, the culture, but also enabled Moriori to rebuild themselves for a very prosperous future.

He asked us to consider in particular, and recommended, that the Government initiatives on wider education of the Moriori history and culture is recognised, invested in, and that we continue to work hard to give them the best hand up to revitalise their language and culture for them. I too acknowledge the work that we have done with the curriculum development of New Zealand histories being taught in our school. But I also acknowledge that there’s a lot more work to do to ensure that Moriori stories are encompassed in the curriculum that our young people learn. They are part of our history and we want to ensure that we include that. Patrick also recommended that we support cultural revitalisations, and we acknowledge the very taonga in the historic cave that is very important to the Moriori people. And there’s plenty of work to do that.

Of course, our Labour Party, in our manifesto, acknowledges that we would like to settle historical Treaty claims with the Crown. We’re committed to that piece of work, and it’s been my honour, as part of the Māori Affairs Committee, to hear both this bill but also some of the others, like Ngāti Rangitihi. It’s an interesting story, and, as we look to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this particular bill, we acknowledge the grievance, the hurt, but, more importantly, in the second reading, that we take another step forward to enhancing the future for the Moriori people, for their mokopuna, and, most of all, for the future of their stories, their language, and their culture. Nō reira, e mihi ana ki a koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Therefore, greetings to you. Greetings, one and all.]

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Other members in this House have, in their contributions, acknowledged the local member of Parliament for the Chatham Islands, Mr Paul Eagle. I was very recently at a gentleman’s club in Wellington for dinner, and the waiter came up to me and said, “It’s so good to have you back, Mr Eagle.” I think that’s a reflection on the fact that I’ve grown and he’s shrunk, and it’s an insult to both of us, frankly. But that’s the way it goes.

It’s very good to speak on this bill, the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill, as a lawyer. I say that, because, I suppose, not just lawyers but certainly as lawyers—and I say a lawyer; I no longer have a practicing certificate, but once upon a time I did for several years—we perceive ourselves as righting wrongs and fighting against injustice. This bill is very much in that category; it rights wrongs and—it’s not too much to say—gross historical injustices, in this instance, in relation to the Moriori people. It does that in three ways: it acknowledges the injustice with an apology, and with apology redress it does that; in cultural redress, and I’m not going to go through all of that as it’s in the bill and indeed in the explanatory note in the bill; and it does that through commercial and financial redress of $18 million. As, I think I, basically, always say when I speak on Treaty settlement bills, we can and do acknowledge that that $18 million is a very small—I suppose, in a sense—token of the injustice. And that’s how it has to be, because, in truth, in modern society today, we can’t fully recompense for the harms done; in fact, if we did, we’d create other injustices in the process of doing that by taking back lands and doing all manner of those sorts of things, which wouldn’t be practical either. But, nevertheless, there is redress of a sort, even if it is not anywhere near full in a real sense of that.

Today is a part of the story, and an important part of the story, in the history of the Moriori people. We learnt, and I agree with, I think, the member Shanan Halbert made the point that the stigma and the myths that there have been around the Moriori people, we learnt wrong. I can’t actually remember exactly what I thought as a young kid growing up, but I know we had these stories about Moriori people. I think one of them was, as has been said, that Moriori people were extinct, and, nevertheless, I think one thing we did learn which is positive—and which is true as set out in the notes to this bill—is that the Moriori have always been, for many hundreds of years on the Chatham Islands, a peaceable people and an egalitarian people without class distinctions, the way that both Western society has had, and, frankly, that much of Māori culture has also had. If we cast forward from the 100 years of Moriori in the Chathams, in the 1830s, many were slaughtered and enslaved by iwi. In light of that history of peace—pacifism of a sort—little resistance, tragically, I suppose, in a sense, was given.

The Crown, in response to that then, in the decades that followed, certainly into the 1860s, possibly a bit beyond that, I think I’m right to say, did nothing to free those enslaved people. That was despite the Crown having—I suppose to use the fancy legal words, maybe not quite right in this context—a fiduciary duty, because the Chathams was part of the Realm of New Zealand held by the Crown. As other speakers have said, what’s also true is the Native Land Court added insult to injury by holding in judgment that nearly all of that land was iwi’s, 97 percent—not Moriori land, which was wrong and which was, as the result of, as I say, the enslavement of Moriori people. The number the notes tell us—amazing to think, probably the same number of members of Parliament in this House at this current time—of Moriori people fell to 31 people. That’s not to mention the other injustices; I’ve talked about the teaching we learnt, the wrong teaching of the inferiority of Moriori people. It’s a tragic tale, and a shame, actually, for New Zealand. Albeit today, the good news is that this House, through this bill, as it makes its way through the process that we have in this House, rights those wrongs, deals with those injustices, and, of course, National, as has been made clear, supports this bill.

I want to say a couple of other things. Firstly, National has always, consistently, over time, supported and, indeed, started, really, under the Bolger years, the Treaty process of righting historical grievances. So we support this unequivocally. We have, as I say, a proud history on the historical grievances, and I would say—and I don’t want to be overly political today in this debate—to the Minister Andrew Little and to his colleagues, actually their record some four years in of progressing Treaty settlements isn’t that fast, isn’t that flash, and I say to them, actually, they should be not only motivated but outcomes-oriented when it comes to historical Treaty settlements. Chris Finlayson, Doug Graham, and other Treaty and Māori ministers in National certainly have been.

It’s a different position when it comes to some of the contemporary work we see from this Government, where, actually, Ministers seem to be very motivated, and I’m not going to go into the various details around things that are happening, but we worry in the National Party that some of the things that are happening from this Government in a contemporary sense are not right and we will look back and see them as divisive in this country of ours, New Zealand. We want to see policies—when it comes to Māori, Moriori, New Zealanders—that are sustainable, that are unified, that are commensurate with a multicultural liberal democracy, which is absolutely what we are.

I’m, like other members—I don’t know exactly what will happen—looking forward to the celebrations at the third reading. I hope that Andrew Little, or, if it’s not him, Rino Tirikatene, or, if it’s not him, Paul Eagle, will make sure there is some of that fabulous kai moana from the Chathams. I’ve been on the Māori Affairs Committee for a term. I’m not going to lie and say I miss it massively, but I do miss travelling around our country, ending up on marae, experiencing and enjoying local delicacies, and I know from my colleague Todd Muller what a wonderful time it was on the Chathams, actually, as members heard submissions on this bill; I’m sure heartfelt submissions and I’m sure, as I’ve said, tragic submissions, but, in amongst that, meeting with the people, experiencing what is a wonderful part of this country.

So let’s hope this bill progresses smoothly, swiftly, that the injustices are put to bed—as it were—through this bill, and that the celebration is fitting to, in a sense, meet and be commensurate with the injustices that have occurred over the years.

Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. E te imi Moriori, tēnā koutou e mātakitaki mai nei, ngā uri o ngā tūpuna rongonui, o Rongomaiwhenua me Rongomaitere, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa. E tū ake au ki te tautoko i tēnei pire, te Pire Whakatau Kerēme a Te Imi Moriori i tēnei pānuitanga tuarua. Nō reira, huri rauna i tō tātou Whare, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Thank you, Madam Speaker. Greetings to all in the House. To the Moriori people who are watching, the descendants of their famous ancestors, Rongomaiwhenua and Rongomaitere, greetings to you all. I stand today to support this bill, the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill second reading. Therefore, to all corners of this House, greetings, greetings, greetings one and all.]

I’m delighted to speak as the last speaker in this second reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. Just at the outset, I just want to state that I’m very pleased that I have never been mistaken for either Simon Bridges or Paul Eagle. I have pretty distinct Ngāi Tahu southern features—I don’t tend to be mistaken. But I am delighted to add my tautoko and endorsement to the further passage of this bill. As we have with every Treaty settlement, it’s a very significant piece of legislation in healing, in a way, the injustices of the past, acknowledging those, and also an opportunity for the Crown to make amends and to start a new relationship. And that’s what is embodied in all the Treaty settlements, with a hope for the future.

I’m pleased that I was a former member of Māori Affairs Committee, too—former chair in the last Parliament. I do want to apologise to Harete Hipango. She was correct. We were on the Chatham Islands, her and I and colleagues, for the actual signing of the deed, which took place in February 2020.

💬 Harete Hipango: I wasn’t.

Oh, you weren’t there?

💬 Harete Hipango: I’d like to have been.

Ha, ha! But anyway, I was there that day, but I wasn’t there, obviously, when the committee went down to hear submissions. But this is an historic occasion for a people that is now being recognised—further recognised, I guess—through this legislation. As we know, there have been tragic circumstances with the history, and I don’t want to, really, traverse that, because I know it’s been well covered in the contributions thus far.

But I do want to acknowledge the work of the Moriori whānau, in particular under the leadership of Maui Solomon, who I first met, it would have been around, over 35 years ago now, in the mid-1980s, when he was really starting his crusade to fight for recognition for the Moriori people. I was a young lad, but I was fortunate to be able to actually have a very full appreciation of the beauty of the Chatham Islands and also the wonderful Moriori people. The unveiling by the late Rt Hon Prime Minister David Lange of the statue of Maui’s grandfather, the late Tommy Solomon, who was the last full-blooded Moriori, which is there up in Manukau in the Chatham Islands. I think that really is like a pou which really signalled the start of the great deal of work that Maui and all of the Moriori whānau have been doing over those 35-plus years, to get to this point.

It hasn’t just come to a completion here; there have been numerous landmark achievements along the way, whether it’s in the Māori fisheries settlement and the recognition of the Moriori and the iwi of the Chatham Islands in the Māori fisheries settlements, all the way through now to addressing the historical treaty settlements, in particular with Moriori. So there’s been a lot of work that has gone on, and I’m so pleased that we’ve come to this stage of the bill whereby we are just rounding the corner and we’re about to enter into the home straight.

I want to acknowledge the great work of the Māori Affairs Committee under the chairmanship of my colleague Tāmati Coffey. Just reading the report of the committee, it’s wonderful to see that the committee didn’t just look at the actual black and white letters of the bill but they actually listened to the submissions and they took on board the issues that were raised, which were beyond the scope of the bill, but they inquired and they’ve made necessary investigations into things such as revitalisation of ta rē Moriori and also a protection of historical sacred areas like Te Ana a Nunuku. So I want to acknowledge the committee for going above and beyond in their examination of this bill, and I’m sure that has been appreciated not only by this House but by the whānau of te imi Moriori as well.

I, coming from the South—and I do want to acknowledge my colleague Paul Eagle; great member for Rongotai and the Chatham Islands. So much so that he pretty much carries the load for me over there most of the time. I’ve got a very vast area that goes beyond that, not least of which is the great Te Wai Pounamu, Rakiura, and also Te Upoko o Te Ika, as well. But I want to just talk to the fisheries-related amendments that were made in this bill. I work closely and support, as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, and I want to acknowledge the committee for the amendments that have been made on the basis of the submissions that were made—not all, obviously, but there were some very helpful submissions made on behalf of the lobster and pāua industry associations, in particular around adding a consultation requirement on the creation of a rāhui. I think it’s very important these days that consultation takes place, and so to have that prescribed in the legislation, I think, is the right thing to do and I commend that. Likewise, just the alignment of this bill with the Secondary Legislation Act, which is very important too, in terms of the treatment of by-laws and the review of such in this House. So I want to acknowledge the amendments that have been made to do that, because, as we know, the Chatham Islands are renowned for their kaimoana, I guess—the bounty of the sea and the land.

I was just looking at the stats—yeah, 135 jobs or a third of the employment on the islands is generated by the fishing industry. That generates, roughly, 40 percent of the total GDP, which is around $18.5 million dollars—and that that was from a few years ago, so I’m pretty sure that, given the prices that have now been ever-increasing for those luxury items like lobster and pāua, those numbers are going even higher. So that is a major contributor, but what I take heart from is that Moriori and Ngāti Mutunga are major quota owners on the island as well, owning about 16 percent of pāua and 11 percent of rock lobster. And, if you throw in the ownership that Māori have by virtue of Moana, which looks after the settlement on behalf of all Māori, that is a significant Māori-owned industry and very much locally supported and locally owned there on the Chathams as well.

I know my colleague Joseph Mooney will be talking about the hākari that was presented to the select committee when they were hearing submissions. All I can say is that, yes, the kaimoana is abundant and is very large in size on the Chatham Islands, but it’s probably about on par to the turtle-sized pāuas and lobsters that Paul Mooney and I have down in Ruapuke and in Fiordland as well—and equally contributing to our GDP as a nation. So this is a wonderful bill. I do acknowledge, again, te imi Moriori. This is a significant step forward and I’m really looking forward to the remaining stages, and, hopefully, we could usher those through before the end of the calendar year, or very soon. I support this bill. Kia ora tātou.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a second time.