Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill

I move that the—

💬 SPEAKER: No. You’re presenting a legislative statement.

Sorry, I present a legislative statement to the House on the Mana Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill.

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

I move, That the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time.

I would like to acknowledge that on the precincts of Parliament there are representatives of Mana Ahuriri who are here to mark this historic occasion. That is to say, the third reading of their bill. I know they are watching and I extend a very warm welcome to them. Many have travelled here today to be part of this occasion and to see and to witness for themselves this very important occasion. Ko aku mihi atu ki a koutou, ngā uri o Ahuriri Hapū, nau mai haere mai ki tēnei Whare.

[I greet you, the tribal descendants of the Ahuriri Hapū, welcome to this House.]

I, again, say welcome. This day marks the final stage in progressing the Mana Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill by giving effect to their Treaty settlement. In doing this, it begins a process of healing and building a new, positive, and enduring relationship between the Crown and Ahuriri Hapū. I acknowledge the patience and fortitude that Ahuriri Hapū have shown over the many years that they have waited for this settlement. The Ahuriri Hapū journey to settlement started in 1988, with their first claim filed with the Waitangi Tribunal. On 13 June 1995, the Waitangi Tribunal published its report on Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, recommending the Crown consider the return of the Landcorp farm, Roro o Kuri, and the Ahuriri Estuary. Negotiations began with the granting of mandate in February 2010. Six years of negotiations led to the Ahuriri Hapū deed of settlement being signed on 2 November 2016.

Following the deed of settlement signing, the Waitangi Tribunal heard an urgent claim regarding the mandate of Mana Ahuriri Incorporated. The tribunal recommended that full elections for all post settlement governance entity trustees be held prior to the legislation being passed. Following an agreement with the Mana Ahuriri Trust to hold trustee elections, this bill was introduced on 20 December 2019 and full elections were completed early this year. In addition to these challenges, since introduction the settlement legislation has also been delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak. Most recently, this third reading was scheduled for August this year, but was then delayed due to the country moving to alert level 4 lockdown in response to community transmission of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

It’s important to mention these challenges, if only to highlight the strength and persistence of Mana Ahuriri to reach this final milestone. It is finally time for the Crown to make redress to the people of Ahuriri for its breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I’m saddened that Ahuriri Hapū cannot be here physically in this session today, but it is nevertheless a great privilege and an honour to stand here today in this House to support enactment of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill as they watch from the banquet hall. I acknowledge the seven hapū of Ahuriri Hapū: Ngāti Hinepare, Ngāti Māhu, Ngāti Matepū, Ngāti Paarau, Ngāi Tāwhao, Ngāi Te Ruruku, and Ngāti Tū. I wish to acknowledge those who are not with us today to witness the outcome of years of hard work, courage, and commitment. We cannot and do not forget those who have suffered the grievances and those who initiated and carried the claims process for the seven hapū of Ahuriri. They are in our thoughts today. I particularly wish to acknowledge the leadership and work of Piri Prentice, Heitia Hiha, Barry Wilson, Joinella Maihi-Carroll, and Tania Eden, who have all completed a long and difficult task with a clear purpose and have done an excellent job for Ahuriri Hapū.

On the Crown side, this long overdue settlement has been the work of successive Governments and numerous officials, and, in particular, I acknowledge and thank the Hon Paul Swain for his role as chief Crown negotiator; Tā John Clarke for his role in assisting to bring Ahuriri Hapū closer together; my predecessors, the late Hon Dr Sir Michael Cullen and the Hon Christopher Finlayson, who both worked closely with the Ahuriri Hapū negotiation team; and officials from across agencies who have led and supported negotiations.

The Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill gives effect to the settlement package set out in the Ahuriri Hapū deed of settlement, and acknowledges all the historic Te Tiriti o Waitangi claims of Ahuriri Hapū. The bill, like the deed, acknowledges the Crown’s historic breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but also seeks to go some way in providing Ahuriri Hapū with a strong foundation for their future social, cultural, and economic development. The historical account records that Ahuriri Hapū sought to establish an ongoing and mutually beneficial relationship with the Crown after 1840. Ahuriri Hapū, as Treaty partners, have fulfilled their obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi, something that the Crown has not done.

Ahuriri Hapū have suffered severe and lasting prejudice as a result of the Crown’s breaches. The interests of Ahuriri Hapū were not protected by the Crown when it purchased land or by the native land laws when they provided for a small number of individuals to dispossess hapū and members of their lands. Not only have the hapū been left virtually landless, but environmental change and urban development in the rohe of Ahuriri Hapū, including Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, have been sources of great distress for the hapū. The socioeconomic consequences of the Crown’s breaches have been dire.

A particular grievance addressed through the settlement relates to the Crown’s 1866 attacks on Ōmarunui and Herepoho during the New Zealand Wars. The Crown resorted to force to settle a crisis that should have been resolved peacefully. Some members of the hapū were killed defending themselves against the Crown’s attacks, while others were captured by Crown forces and detained without trial in harsh conditions on the Chatham Islands. These events caused deep and long-lasting divisions amongst the hapū, some of whom exercised their rangatiratanga to fight at the Crown’s side. Some members of Ahuriri Hapū made claims in the Waitangi Tribunal regarding the historical redress and the Ahuriri Hapū deed of settlement, including in relation to Ōmarunui. To address those claims, the Crown agreed to record the perspectives of those claimants regarding the Battle of Ōmarunui. I’m pleased to note that this work is currently under way, and I hope those agreements can be completed as soon as possible.

No settlement package can ever truly fully compensate for the loss Ahuriri Hapū have suffered for generations. In spite of this, Ahuriri Hapū have graciously accepted a package of redress to acknowledge their connections to land and resources of significance. Due to the delay of years between signing the deed of settlement and today, it is appropriate to record for the Hansard some of that redress given effect to by this bill. A key piece of redress relates to Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, or the Ahuriri Estuary. The Crown acknowledges that Te Whanganui-a-Orotu and the islands in it are prized taonga and recognises the role of Ahuriri Hapū as kaitiaki. The settlement provides for the establishment of a permanent multiparty statutory committee to promote the protection and enhancement of the environmental, economic, social, spiritual, historical, and cultural values of Te Muriwai o Te Whanga for present and future generations of the entire Napier community. In addition, Ahuriri Hapū will receive cultural, commercial, and financial redress, including a kaitiaki fund to assist the work of the Estuary Management Committee; a right to purchase Ahuriri Station, as the tribunal recommended in 1995; a right to purchase the Crown’s shares in Hawke’s Bay Airport; the Crown’s gift to Ahuriri Hapū of Heipipi pā at the head Whanganui-ā-Orotu; the gift of Conservation House in Napier and land at Pakake; $19.5 million in financial redress; and shares in the Kaweka Gwavas Forestry Company.

While nothing can compensate Ahuriri Hapū for the harm the Crown caused them and their tipuna, through this settlement the Crown acknowledges and finally takes responsibility for the harm it has caused. It’s my hope that this Treaty settlement will provide a platform from which Ahuriri Hapū can design a new future for themselves and their mokopuna, in true Treaty partnership with the Crown. This is the time for reconciliation and for celebration for Ahuriri Hapū, and the important step of restoring the relationship between the Crown and Ahuriri Hapū. Nō reira, I commend this bill to the House.

Ko te pātai kia whakaaetia te mōtini.

[The question is that the motion be agreed to.]

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga, tēnei te pānuitanga tuatoru o Te Pire Whakataunga Kerēme o ngā Hapū o Ahuriri. Takitimu te waka. Ki ngā uri o ngā hapū o Mana Ahuriri, nau mai haere mai ki tēnei Pāremata, te wāhi Pāremata.

Ko Harete Hipango taku ingoa. Ko uri nō Whanganui ahau. Ko au he mema nō te Pāti Nahinara.

[To the authorities, to all the voices and all those involved, this is the third reading of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. Takitimu is the ancestral canoe. To all the descendants of the hapū of the Mana Ahuriri Trust, welcome to Parliament, to the seat of Government.

My name is Harete Hipango. I am a descendant of Whanganui. I am a member of the National Party.]

It’s my privilege to stand to address the House and also the people, the hapū of Mana Ahuriri, who have gathered in the precincts of Parliament and, regrettably, are not able to be in the House today. However, the message that we convey: we are also connected with our whakarua and our wairua wherever you are placed within the precinct. It’s a privilege always, but particularly today, to stand to address the people, the hapū, the uri of Ahuriri who have gathered here today for the passage of their bill into law.

The Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill is comprised of 140 clauses—soon to be sections—four parts, and five schedules. And the process, as is well known by the people who have gathered in the precinct—those of you who have travelled afar to be here today in Te Whanganui-a-Tara—is that this journey has progressed over a period of generations. Minister Little mentioned that the recent journey commenced with the Waitangi Tribunal claim filed in 1988. The report was issued by the tribunal on 13 June 1995, and it advanced to an agreement in principle on 19 December 2013, through to a deed of settlement, signed on 2 November 2016. The Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill was introduced to the House on 12 March 2020, and I was privileged, along with other members of the Māori Affairs Committee, to receive that at the committee, to receive and read 34 submissions, and to listen to nine of those oral submissions; to arrive at a determination, with a report filed and sent back to the House, dated 10 August 2020, with some minor amendments to the bill, to refine and fine-tune it, for it to advance to the second reading on 29 June of this year. And here I stand today, along with all of us in this precinct, on 14 December 2021, a historic moment for the people, the descendants, the hapū of Ahuriri with the passage of this bill soon into law.

The Minister has addressed the elements of the bill. And, in summary, clause 8, the historical account—and I always harken to the listeners, the members of the public, New Zealanders who do not know the story. Receiving the deeds of settlement, receiving these bills into this House of Representatives, is traversing a significant part of history, and it’s the history that comes from the mouths of our tūpuna, conveyed by their descendants, and it’s enshrined and scripted into law. The summary of the historical account is detailed in clause 8. Time does not permit me to give this due significance and relevance in my mention. I invite people to read the bill—the Act. It is captured there. Also, the sentiment of the history is the mamae that has been carried by generations.

Today, in moving forward, we don’t forget that mamae, we don’t forget the burdens and the grievance, but today is a day to whakanui—to celebrate—because it is moving forward. It is moving forward with the acknowledgment, which is detailed at clause 9. And, again, the Crown is acknowledging all the wrongdoings, the harm, the mamae, the grievances, and the damage, and then, at clause 10, the apology, moving forward to remedy and ensure that, in moving forward, addressing the wrongdoings and the grievances of the past, the hapū of Ahuriri move to a better place.

Clause 10: “The Crown makes this apology to Ahuriri Hapū, to their tipuna, and to their mokopuna”—our time in the present is a gift to move forward. “The Crown profoundly regrets its many failures … is deeply remorseful for the prejudice created … solemnly apologises for its policies, acts, and omissions that have left Ahuriri Hapū virtually landless … [and] Through this settlement and this apology the Crown seeks to atone”—to atone—“for its past wrongs and begin the process of healing.” And, with that, “The Crown looks forward to building a new, positive, and enduring relationship with Ahuriri Hapū that fulfils the expectations of their tipuna and mokopuna, a relationship”—relationship—“based on mutual trust, partnership, and respect for the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.” Moving forward, those relationships that have been fraught in the past, the mamae that is still carried—we live in hope, and these Treaty settlements are the opportunity, to remedy, to address, and to redress. Part 2 of the bill details the cultural redress, and Part 3 also looks into the implementation of how that cultural redress is effected. Part 4 is the commercial redress.

In summary, this is a bill that is dealing with and addressing those approximately 1,505 registered members of the Ahuriri Hapū, seven of which the Minister has detailed and outlined. The area of interest, as is well known by those who are from Ahuriri, but for the benefit of New Zealanders—and again I say these are history lessons, but these are lessons in the essence of our present and the presence. The area of interest is bounded by the sea, to the east; the Kaweka Ranges, to the west; the Ngaruroro River, to the south; and the Esk River, to the north. Ahuriri Hapū is one of six large natural groups which has negotiated this settlement and historic Treaty of Waitangi claims of Ngāti Kahungunu—Ngāti Kahungunu being the third-largest tribal group in New Zealand. The bill will record and encapsulate and also capture the history, but also the opportunity in moving forward. In the opportunity in moving forward, I reference the cultural redress. I move to Part 3, which is specific to Te Muriwai o Te Whanga and the importance of those relationships, with the establishment of the committee, the engagement and recognition that the Komiti Muriwai o Te Whanga is an authority representing the interests of the Ahuriri peoples and hapū. That is outlined in terms of the functions, at clause 85. And then Part 4 details the commercial redress.

The importance of these bills is so significant, and we each have the privilege and the opportunity to acknowledge and to address—it is recorded in the Hansard. But what is of most significance and importance is that the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill is celebrated by the uri, the descendants here today, on this occasion, to whakanui you all, but your tūpuna and the passage of this bill into law, going forward with the aspiration, the future, the hope to make a better difference in the world for your generations here and now and those to come. With privilege and in honour, I commend this bill to the House.

Tuatahi, e tika ana ki te mihi ki taku whanaunga a Neville. Nō reira, e te whanaunga, i maumahara tō mahi i te kōkiri i ngā kaupapa Māori mō tātou te iwi Māori i roto i Pōneke, i roto i Aotearoa, nō reira e te whanaunga moe mai, moe mai, moe mai e koe ki ngā ringaringa o ngā matua tūpuna kua riro ki te pō rā.

Ka nui tēnā. Ki a koutou, ngā hapū o Ahuriri, tēnei te mihi ki a koutou, kua tae tēnei mai nei i tēnei wā ki te tautoko, ki te whakanui i tēnei kaupapa. He Hōnore nui ki te tū, ki te tautoko te kaupapa ataahua i tēnei wā. Nō reira, ki a koutou e mātakitaki mai i tēnei wā, tēnā te mihi ki a koutou. Haramai, haramai, nau mai tēnā anō tātou katoa.

[Firstly, it is appropriate that I acknowledge my relative Neville. Therefore, to my relative, I remember your work championing Māori issues for us Māori in Wellington, in New Zealand. Therefore, my relative, may you rest in peace in the hands of the ancestors who have passed.

I move on. To you, to the hapū of Ahuriri, I greet you. You have come here today to support and celebrate this initiative. It is a great honour to stand and to support this beautiful initiative at this time. Therefore, to those of you watching now, that is my greeting to you. Welcome, welcome, welcome one and all.]

I just started off by giving a little mihi poroporoaki to one of our whanaunga who died a few weeks ago, known to everyone: Neville Baker, a person who advanced kaupapa like this all the time—controversial kaupapa—and as there for every Māori, and Pākehā, actually; one of the great bureaucrats of Aotearoa. He passed away a few weeks ago. I wanted to mention his name in the House because he’s a man who deserves to have his name mentioned in the House. He would have supported this kaupapa. I’m not sure which side. He was pretty controversial, Neville, with his Shelly Bay experiences, and his history, but much loved by people of all sides—Labour, National, and Māori Party supporters. I remember that whanaunga very well.

I want to welcome our people here today. It’s a shame they couldn’t be here in the gallery with us, coming all this way. You know, I give our apologies that they can’t be here in the House. A long way to come to be sitting watching this on screen—e mihi ana ki a koutou. I hope you enjoy this day and celebrate this day.

Can I support our Minister Andrew Little with his kōrero and congratulate Ahuriri Hapū, who have waited many years for this settlement. As you heard, their journey started in 1988 when they first filed with the Waitangi Tribunal. So it’s been a long, long road, and we’ve reached this time in terms of redress and compensation.

In terms of breaches of the Treaty, I have to be clear, as I always am with these types of settlements, that compensation can never ever justify the loss, the pain, and the injustices that our people endure. Yes, the Treaty settlement process can never properly compensate our people, but it’s an opportunity to acknowledge, to reflect, and to admit the sins of past Governments. It’s a process that I hope will provide opportunity for our people. I hope that Ahuriri people will be looking at this $19.5 million and thinking, “Well, what can we do with this?” It’s hardly going to make them rich or billionaires, but it could make some differences over the over the next decade or so. For example, who would have ever thought that Tainui and Ngāi Tahu would be worth $1.5 billion today after settling for $170 million in 1996? So the settlement can work, and if managed well, could do wonders for rangatahi and the people of Ahuriri.

So well done to the leadership. I want to thank those people for their mahi, as Minister Little did: Piri Prentice, Heitia Hiha, Barry Wilson, Joinella Maihi-Carroll, and my long-time friend Tania Eden, who has shown all her bureaucratic experience, I think, particularly over the last few months as she’s navigated her way through this settlement. It’s important also to acknowledge the Crown side, as the Hon Andrew Little did: the work done by the brilliant Sir Michael Cullen, the Hon Christopher Finlayson, chief negotiator Paul Swain, and mine and Meka Whaitiri and Rawiri Waititi’s whanaunga, Tā John Clarke.

It’s important to reiterate how this hapū has been left landless. The social and economic consequences have been catastrophic. It’s always important, I think, to make that observation. I want to acknowledge Ōmarunui, because that was mentioned also by the Minister today. When the Crown attacked Ōmarunui a crime was committed—a terrible crime. People were killed, and a number of our people were shipped off to the Chatham Islands. It’s caused huge division between members and hapū and whānau. So I think it’s important too, as, again, Minister Little did, to acknowledge the Wai 2573 claimants who are addressing outstanding historical claims with the Crown at Ōmarunui. I encourage officials to conclude this agreement as quickly and as sympathetically as possible.

I am pleased that along with the $19.5 million we have an agreement that the Ahuriri Hapū will be kaitiaki for Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu and the islands. They are prized taonga—an appropriate recognition. Also, Ahuriri Hapū will receive cultural, commercial, and financial redress, including a kaitiaki fund to assist the work of the estuary management committee, a right to purchase Ahuriri Station, a right to purchase the Crown shares in Hawke’s Bay Airport, the Crown’s gift to Ahuriri Hapū, the gift of Conservation House in Napier, and land at Pakake, and shares in the Kaweka Gwavas Forestry Company.

Of course, as I said earlier, this still cannot compensate for the loss, but it is a start, and it is a beginning. The real test, I suppose, is: can we pull together to forge an opportunity together? Like all settlements, there are people who have opposed this one, and we, as members, have been lobbied strongly by people who don’t want to settle, who don’t think that is the way to go. That is one of the things, I suppose, that happens in terms of the Treaty settlement process all the time. Whether it was Tainui, whether it was Ngāi Tahu, there were always people who said no. Eva Rickard was one of them in Tainui. Sandra Lee was one of them in terms of Ngāi Tahu. So these are the pressures that our negotiators have to work with.

In this case, we have my old mate and Minister Meka Whaitiri’s old mate Denis O’Reilly, who’s been lobbying us so strongly it’s not funny. Good on Denis, in terms of his mahi. He’s been a huge advocate against us, and his wife, Taape, and Hinewai Ormsby. We understand that there is some opposition to this, as there always is with settlements. But we can only work with the mandated group. That’s always the strategy that we have to follow. That’s always the way we have to go, and that has been the case with this particular settlement.

So I say to those people, the challenge will be to see if you can work with your whanaunga and find a way, navigate a way. It ain’t easy; we’ve seen that. We see that all the time. But this is the process that we’re in, unless we want to abandon the whole settlement process and start from scratch again. That’s not the case, I don’t think, so I’ll say to those people that I think they’re coming to terms with this. There were two or three—or might have only been one, was it? Was it only Dennis, I think, at the select committee? It doesn’t matter. I respect where they’re going, but I also respect where our negotiators went, and where our leadership went, led by the people who I talked about today, with Tania Eden now as the chair, and they have settled on a process. So I ask those people: can you work it out? Perhaps that is the biggest challenge. And I ask them: kia whakakotahi mō te kaupapa [come together for this initiative].

I’m sure you can all work it out. But it’s an honour here today to talk about this, to talk about the history, to talk about the background, to talk about the fight, and to talk about the challenges ahead. I mihi to all our whanaunga who’ve come here today. Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou. Tēnā koutou. Tēnā nō tātou katoa.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. E rau rangatira mā, kia ora mai tātou. It is a privilege to speak to a Treaty bill at any time, but particularly the third reading, which is indeed a momentous occasion. I want to acknowledge the hapū and all the hard work they’ve done over many, many years to bring us to this point today. I also want to acknowledge officials, including the Hon Chris Finlayson for his diligence and preservice. I’d also like to very much thank the Māori Affairs Committee for their commitment to this cause, for shepherding it along, for being thoughtful in what they do, that brings this to the third reading, the last time this comes before the House, before these enabling provisions are passed to Ahuriri Hapū.

In brief, the provisions by this bill include an historical account, which I’ll come back to in just a moment; acknowledgments and apology from the Crown; the settlement for historical claims, which, again, I’ll come back to; Ahuriri Hapū are acknowledged as tangata whenua for the rohe; and the Heipipi Pa is established as a historic reserve; and the conservation and management of the Ahuriri Estuary is also part of this bill. The settlement package, I will come back to.

For broadness and context—and certainly I was more knowledgeable once I had looked into this—Ahuriri Hapū comprised about 1,505 registered members. The seven Ahuriri Hapū are: Ngāti Hinepare, Ngāti Māhu, Ngāti Matepū, Ngāti Paarau, Ngāi Tāwhao, Ngāti Tū and Ngāi Te Ruruku. It is that hapū based around Napier and the Hawke’s Bay, as has been commented, bounded by the sea to the east, the Kaweka Ranges to the west, the Ngaruroro River to the south, and the Esk River to the north.

The historical account gives us some purpose to why we’re here and why we’re actually going through this settlement process, as has been commented by my whanaunga, as much as one can do, in modern terms, for redress of the past, acknowledging that it can never fully meet those claims and that mamae that has been done, but seeking, in modern terms, some redress as far as possible. The historical account talks about the late 1840s with the Ahuriri Hapū around Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu, and around the time they were considering how they might incorporate and promote and establish a relationship with Pākehā settlements. The Crown, in 1850, opened negotiations with Ahuriri Māori to purchase large blocks of land, and the Crown led them to believe that they’d derive considerable benefit from this relationship when they purchased the Ahuriri block for £1,500. It’s long been contested that Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu, a place of high spiritual and cultural significance, was not included in the Ahuriri purchase. This has been a point of contention. There have been other points of difficulty; most Treaty settlements actually have some divergence of views that eventually come to the middle and eventually get us to a third reading, like we are here today. There were discussions around the mandate and some changes that needed to be made, and officials from the Office of Treaty Settlements were eventually able to reach an accommodation that did establish that the mandate was valid.

I want to just very briefly describe the settlement package. It is the acknowledgment and apology by the Crown for the Crown’s acts and omissions. It is cultural redress of the historical account, including natural resources redress, $500,000 to engage with the natural resources, $15,000 for the funding of powhenua, and the gifting of three cultural redress properties; financial and commercial redress of $19.5 million, including the purchase of Kaweka and Gwavas Crown forest land with Heretaunga and Tamatea, and the right to purchase a number of Crown properties, plus interest accrued on the financial commitments.

A Treaty settlement like this is an enabler, and, as it’s been pointed out, it is not something that will immediately derive wealth for that particular hapū. But it does become an enabler for what it might become in the future. We’ve looked back collectively in the past and said, “We could do better, we need to do better.” This is our effort today, in today’s terms, to do exactly that, to enable, to capacity build that whānau, that iwi, that hapū so that they might be able to live and maximise their expectations of what a good life looks like.

So it’s always a privilege to be in the third reading of a bill. Again, I just acknowledge those who have got it to this point—many, many people; some named, some not. But this is a really important piece of work and I commend this bill to the House and thank everyone who’s brought it here today. Kia ora mai tātou.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I join in the rest of the House in acknowledging that this is the third reading of this bill. I acknowledge our whānau from Ahuriri, who have travelled a long way to be here today. It’s unfortunate that they couldn’t be here, but I know that they are listening to every word that we’re saying, and this is the end of a very long road. As they say, one door closes; another one opens, and I know that they are keen to get the show on the road and actually to be able to embark on the future that they want for their people. So to ngā hapū o Ahuriri, we acknowledge you at this time.

The select committees had a—and I say “select committees” because there wasn’t just one. This has been around for a wee while now and members have come and gone from the Māori Affairs Committee, and it’s landed with us to be able to deliver it over the line here today for the third reading. But the select committees and the select committee members that have been part of this have all sat there and understood the depth of this. This is not an easy Treaty settlement; it has not been a straightforward process. This has been, as many Treaty settlements are, sometimes a complicating and frustrating process on both sides, but can I acknowledge the patience and the tenacity of ngā hapū o Ahuriri for actually getting to this point today.

One of the main things that determines a Treaty settlement piece of legislation from any other bill is that it contains statutory acknowledgments, acknowledgments of the Crown for historical acts gone wrong, and it puts into ink and into the historical records of this House the way that the Crown treated Māori in days gone by. This is another settlement that will add some pages to that awful book of history where the Crown acted way outside of its remit, at a different place and time, but it sought to—it had very different policies in the past to the policies that we have now. So the statutory acknowledgments are one part of a Treaty settlement legislation.

But the other big thing is also the apology, and I know that many of the people that will be here listening to it from within the halls of Parliament, but also those whānau back home, will be hanging out to hear the apology. Not enough do I hear the apology said in this House. It often goes unsaid. It often is something that is documented in their bill and sometimes read on the marae back home, but never usually in this House. So I’m going to take my time today to be able to verbalise the apology that we the Crown give to the hapū of Ahuriri. I want them to hear this and I want them to feel the sentiment behind it, because it’s something that has been worked on from both sides. It’s a point where both sides have landed on what that apology should look like, should sound like. I know that they scrutinise every single word in those apologies too. So to the whānau and the hapū of Ahuriri, this apology is for you.

And I read: “The Crown makes this apology to Ahuriri Hapū, to their tipuna, and to their mokopuna. (a) For generations the relationship between the Crown and Ahuriri Hapū has not fulfilled Ahuriri Hapū expectations of a mutually beneficial partnership. Crown acts and omissions have hurt Ahuriri Hapū and caused long-held and deeply felt grievances. Ahuriri Hapū have pursued their claims for justice and redress from the Crown over many decades, but the Crown has failed, until now, to find an appropriate way to respond to them.

“(b) The Crown profoundly regrets its many failures to live up to its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi in its dealings with Ahuriri Hapū, and unreservedly apologises for the immense damage caused by its breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

“(c) The Crown is deeply remorseful for the prejudice it created by purchasing so much Ahuriri Hapū land in the 1850s, and for using divisive purchasing methods that involved Ahuriri Hapū in conflict. The Crown deeply regrets that many Ahuriri Hapū were dispossessed by the operation of the 10-owner rule. The Crown solemnly apologises for its policies, acts, and omissions that have left Ahuriri Hapū virtually landless, and for the severe impacts the loss of ancestral lands and resources has had on the capacity of Ahuriri Hapū for economic and social development, and physical, cultural, and spiritual well-being.

“(d) For too long, the Crown has failed to recognise the special relationship between Ahuriri Hapū and their taonga, Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu. The Crown profoundly regrets the distress and anguish [that] generations of Ahuriri Hapū have endured due to the Crown’s acts and omissions in relation to Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu.

“(e) Through this settlement and this apology the Crown seeks to atone for its past wrongs and begin the process of healing. The Crown looks forward to building a new, positive, and enduring relationship with Ahuriri Hapū that fulfils the expectations of their tipuna and mokopuna, a relationship based on mutual trust, [on] partnership, and [on] respect for the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.”

I was able to go to the small pō’hiri that we had for the Ahuriri Hapū just prior to coming into question time, and in that, from their paepae, the koroua got up and talked about the long road that it’s taken to get them here. Can I acknowledge their pae today. Can I acknowledge their people. Can I acknowledge the whānau back home that are looking forward to the next chapter in their journey. May the Crown for once be a partner with the Ahuriri Hapū and walk hand in hand with them and really showcase the partnership that was signed up to under Te Tiriti o Waitangi all of those years ago. I commend this bill to the House.

I rise as the Green Party’s Te Tiriti spokesperson to offer our support at this third reading of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. I speak on most but not all of the settlement bills for the Greens as our tangata Tiriti spokesperson, and this is because the Green Party acknowledges Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of our country and recognises that colonisation severed Māori from land and waters that sustained them—were them—and denied Māori tino rangatiratanga. This has brutalised whānau Māori and resulted in many lives lost, and, as part of this process, white supremacy has denied settlers and all too many Māori access to matauranga Māori that could have provided warm, dry homes, ecological balance, multilingual communities, models of women’s leadership, and shared parenting, to name just a few things.

Tangata Tiriti have lost through breaches of the Treaty the legitimacy of our place to stand on this land, and this means from our perspective that the work that needs to be done to de-imperialise our Government and society needs to be primarily done by non-Māori. So the Green Party encourages non-Māori to speak to these breaches and these bills and to be an active part of the work to repair these breaches, as we believe the model is needed for the country.

So that is the context that we bring to all settlement bills, and I want to acknowledge the Ahuriri Hapū today who are present and watching this settlement debate in the third reading: specifically, Ngāti Hinepare; Ngāti Māhu; Ngāti Matepū; Ngati Paarau, including Ngāi Tahu Ahi; Ngāi Tāwhao; Ngāti Tū; and Ngāi Te Ruruku.

I also add our acknowledgment, along with other speakers in the House today, around the long process to get here. It has been a struggle from the point of the Crown recognising the mandate in 2010, and then that being, in effect, sought again at a later date and there being intervention from the Waitangi Tribunal to call for further elections to ensure the integrity of the process for trustees to have that full confidence of the hapū. I’d like to acknowledge Minister Little for listening and working with hapū through this process and, of course, acknowledge all of the people of the Ahuriri Hapū, who have kept going and are holding things together for the future.

Eleven years on from the initial Crown mandate, 170 years - plus since breaches began—it’s a long time to be gaslit, abused, and wronged, and, more recently, a long time to be negotiating. So this settlement, which will be implemented following the passage of this legislation today, is significant.

Today is a big, big day. I want to acknowledge some of the specifics of this settlement on that note of looking forward and specifically point to, I think, and acknowledge some of the role of hapū that is reflected in the detail of the settlement, where the Crown acknowledges that Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu and the islands in it were prize taonga for Ahuriri Hapū, and now, in this settlement, it recognises the role of hapū as kaitiaki of Te Muriwai o Te Whanga, known by others in the area as the Ahuriri estuary and catchment.

I think it’s really important to acknowledge again—this comes up so often in settlements—that so often we’re dealing with restoring the role of hapū as kaitiaki that was removed, to the detriment of our environment and our people. If only that role of kaitiaki had been able to be maintained, we would not see the widespread degradation of our lands that we see around us now and that we are struggling desperately to be able to repair. This settlement establishes a permanent statutory committee, Te Komiti Muriwai o Te Whanga, to ensure the protection and the enhancement of the environmental, economic, social, cultural, spiritual, historical, and cultural values of the area.

Within the settlement, there’s also statutory acknowledgment for 11 specific areas and deeds of recognition for another 11 areas, and this is just about ensuring that hapū are alerted to resource consent applications in areas where they have that connection, or that the Crown are obligated to consult and have regard to their views and work on those areas. It seems to me that if we acknowledge kaitiaki, then to require us to alert hapū around resource consents seems a very small step towards actually acknowledging kaitiaki and the power and the meaning of that. I think, to be honest, if we are to truly acknowledge the power and the meaning of that, then more is required of us, but I acknowledge the achievement of getting these areas in the settlement.

There is the vesting or, as the Minister referred to it, the gifting—or, as the Greens might refer to it, the returning of stolen goods—of Pakake and Conservation House and Heipipi Pa Historic Reserve, and then there’s the enabling of the right of first refusal over several properties and areas. Again, for the Greens, we always acknowledge that it’s an achievement to get that into settlements, but it’s still sits deeply uncomfortably to steal somebody’s land and then say, “Oh, you can buy it back off us.” That’s not really my understanding of justice.

There’s the acknowledgment for name changes of six areas, and this is really important because, as we know, the power to name is the power over places. To change Bluff Hill, Hospital Hill, Napier Hill, and Scinde Island will now be, again, known as Mataruahou, there’s a very different story that is told with that returning of that name, and this applies to five other places.

Also within the bill is relationships—it’s actually an acknowledgment specifically in writing around the importance of a relationship between conservation, environment, and Te Papa Tongarewa, and Ahuriri Hapū. That should be inherent in Te Tiriti o Waitangi anyway, but it sets up formal processes to ensure what the Greens would argue is inherent in Te Tiriti o Waitangi anyway. Then there is the settlement of $19.5 million, which is just a token. But, for us, it’s not about property rights, but about that ongoing relationship between iwi and hapū, and the Government, and Te Tiriti cannot be settled—it is not something that can be done.

We really do want to acknowledge the sacrifice made by the hapū to get to this point and to gather their histories, and we acknowledge those who have worked to achieve this settlement but who have died before being able to see it completed. They contain powerful stories of our collective history. They are historical archives, but we must remember that history is never one story. We often learn history through stories that are told from one perspective, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The saying “History is written by victors” absolutely has a resonance in this country with the failure to teach in truth or detail our collective history, and this has perpetuated Crown hegemony and power and has fed a disconnect and distrust between Māori and the Crown.

We acknowledge that the settlement process and the forcing together of large natural groupings does not make sense, and, actually, I do want to acknowledge the Wai 2573 claimants on behalf of Ngāti Parau, who are addressing outstanding historical matters with the Crown concerning events at Ōmarunui—

Order! Order! The member’s time has expired.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT in support of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. It’s always a great source of amusement for me to follow Jan Logie from the Greens, who has just, on behalf of a party that wants to tax and regulate every aspect of your life—from what you learn at school to how you get around—been railing against Crown hegemony and excess State power. But that’s the Green Party for you.

ACT supports these Treaty settlements, because they are an icon of New Zealand exceptionalism. Every country can look to its past and see things that it would rather not have to see—it can see things that violated people’s right over their body, over their property, over their dignity—and a lot of countries get into a spiral of resentment and conflict that is impossible to prevent. Countries go through all sorts of truth and reconciliation commissions and all sorts of efforts to make good their past. I don’t think that any country has done it as sincerely or successfully as New Zealand with its Treaty settlement process.

It will never be perfect, because when you start with such grave imperfections, you can’t achieve perfection, but if you compare it with what other countries have done, I think we should be very proud. That’s not to take away from remaining grievances. That’s not to say that everything is right. But I think it is a point of pride for New Zealand, what we’ve achieved and are achieving with our Treaty settlement process, and that’s why the ACT Party always stands in favour of Treaty settlements—because we believe in the rule of law, we believe in property rights, and we believe in restraining the role of the State and the Crown.

So I say on behalf of Parliament, our House of Representatives—not the Crown, as some have said—to those people in the Ahuriri Hapū who have journeyed to Wellington today, who are unfortunately not able to be physically present in the gallery due to the COVID restrictions but have journeyed to be part of this historic moment for their people: welcome and I hope that this is a very special and pivotal point in the history of your people and your place.

I also want to say that this bill has a minor personal connection for me. While my own original, or oldest connections with New Zealand are from the Far North, Ngāpuhi; Ngāti Rereahu, to be precise, I do have a connection with Ahuriri—New Zealand being a very small place. One of my old flatmates from just down in Taranaki Street, when I was a slightly more wayward youth compared with now, here in the city of Wellington was actually a member of Ngāti Pārau, and Jan Logie was trying to read out a statement but got cut off because she’d left it to the very end of her speech, and it’s a pity she wasn’t able to finish. He asked that we read into the Hansard something that they had tried to have acknowledged through their official process with the Crown but couldn’t have acknowledged, and it was simply that it be acknowledged that the Wai 2573 claimants, those on behalf of Ngāti Pārau, that is, are still addressing outstanding historical matters with the Crown concerning those events at Ōmarunui. I encourage officials to conclude that agreement as quickly and sympathetically as possible.

Those hailing from Ngāti Pārau I think are being very magnanimous in this instance, because they were not entirely happy with everything that ended up in this bill. They still had some outstanding grievances; as I said, it’s not always perfect. But they said, “Look, we are not going to interrupt this special day for those others in this agreement, who after all are our wider whānau. We will not further contest this. We will not in any way be difficult. We will allow this to go ahead without protestation from us.” But they would just like the Hansard of the House of Representatives to have that statement, so that they are not unacknowledged in the passage of this bill. So I say to my old flatmate in this intimate country of ours, I hope I’ve done you well by having that read into Hansard, and for those of Ngāti Pārau, I hope that you do indeed get the closure that everybody has been seeking as rapidly as possible so that everybody can move on with enjoying what this settlement has delivered for the different peoples in the region.

With that, I commend this bill to the House and give my best wishes on behalf of ACT for the future for all of those in the Ahuriri Hapū who are touched by this settlement bill.

E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Otirā, tēnā tātou katoa i roto i tēnei Whare o tātou i te ahiahi nei, mihi kau ana ki a tātou. He Hōnore tēnei mōku te tū ki te kōrero e pā ana ki tēnei pire i tēnei rā. Engari, he āhua rerekē te āhua o te Whare i tēnei rā nā te mea kahore ngā hapū o Ahuriri i konei i roto i tēnei Whare ki te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero e pā ana ki a rātou, e pā ana ki ō rātou kerēme, me tēnei pire o rātou mahi i ngā tau maha kua pahure ake nei. E mōhio ana ahau kei konei rātou kei te Whare Pāremata engari kahore i roto i tēnei Whare. Nō reira, e mihi ana ki a koutou ngā hapū o Ahuriri e mātakitaki mai ana i runga i te pouaka whakaata, mātou e kōrero ana e pā ana ki tō pire, ki ō kerēme i tēnei ahiahi.

Ā, ka huri ahau ki Te Pire Whakataunga Kerēme a ngā Hapū o Ahuriri. Ko tēnei te pānuitanga tuatoru, me kī ko te pānuitanga tata mutunga o tēnei pire i roto i te Whare Pāremata, nō reira, muri mai i tēnei, ae, ko te whakataunga o ngā kerēme, ko te whakatinanatanga i tērā whakaaetanga e hia kē te roa o te hainatanga o tērā.

E hiahia ana ahau ki te whāki atu i roto i te Whare i tēnei ahiahi, me kī atu i te 180 tau te roanga o te hainatanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I muri tata mai i te hainatanga o Te Tiriti ka tīmata te puta mai ngā raruraru i waenganui i ngāi tātou te iwi Māori me Te Karauna. Engari, i a au e pānui ana i ngā kōrero e pā ana ki tēnei pire me te kaupapa mō ngā hapū o Ahuriri i kite ahau i tīmata tēnei whawhai mō te whakataunga o ngā kerēme i te tau 1988. I taua wā e ono noa iho ōku tau. E tū ana ahau i roto i tēnei Whare 33 tau mai i te tīmatanga o tērā tuku, tono atu i ngā kerēme i mua i te aroaro o Te Rōpū Whakamana i Te Tiriti o Waitangi, nō reira e mihi ana ki a koutou mō tō koutou mahi mō tō koutou manawaroa ki te whakatutuki i ēnei kerēme.

Kua kite ahau i tono atu te kerēme tuatahi ki roto i Te Rōpū Whakamana i Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Taraipiuna rā i taua tau, ā, i puta te ripoata Te Whanganui-ā-Orotū i te tau 1995, ka tīmata ngā kōrero kei waenganui i te rōpū o te hapū me te Karauna i te tau 2010. E ono tau pea te roa o ngā kōrero kātahi ka haina i te whakaaetanga whakataunga i ngā kerēme i taua tau. Engari, i uru mai te pire tuatahi ki roto i tēnei Whare Pāremata i te tau 2019. E mihi ana ahau ki ngā Minitā o taua wā, ki ngā kaimahi o taua wā e whakawhitiwhiti ana i ngā kōrero kia whakatau i ēnei kerēme. E mihi hoki ana ki te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori o taua nohoanga o te Whare Pāremata. Ko tētahi o ngā Māngai o Te Whare, ko Adrian tētahi o ngā mema, kātahi anō ia ka puta i tēnei Whare, engari e mihi ana ki a ia, ki ētahi atu o ngā mema hoki.

Ko tētahi o ngā take i whakaroa ake te ture i roto i tēnei Whare, ko te mate urutā. Koirā te take kāhore rātou i roto i te Whare i tēnei rā. Nō reira, e mihi ana anō ki a koutou mō tō koutou manawaroa kia kite i te whakatutukinga o tēnei pire, o tēnei ture, i roto i te Whare i tēnei ahiahi. Nō reira, he rā nui tēnei mō koutou, he nui taku aroha ki a koutou.

I mua i taku houtanga mai ki roto i tēnei Whare Pāremata ko wētahi o aku mahi ko ngā kerēme mō ōku hapū i roto i Ngāpuhi, nō reira, e mōhio ana ahau ki ō koutou mahi ki te mamae mō wēnei momo take, nō reira ko te hiahia ko tēnei e whakatau ana i ō koutou kerēme i mua i te Taraipiunara. Ko te hiahia ka pakari ō koutou hapū i te whiwhinga o tēnei, ka taea e koutou te anga whakamua kia pai ake tō mahi tahi me te Karauna. Koirā taku tino hiahia.

Nō, reira, i runga i tēnei, kahore ahau e hiahia ana kia roa ake taku kōrero nā te roa o tēnei kaupapa mō te hapū, i runga i tēnā, e tautoko ana ahau i tēnei pire. Pau te kaha.

[Madam Speaker, greetings to you and to all of you in this House of ours this afternoon, greetings one and all. It is a great honour for me to stand and speak to this bill today. But the House looks slightly different today because the hapū of Ahuriri are not in the House to listen to the speeches about them, about their claims, and their work on this bill in the many preceding years. I know that they are in the Parliament buildings, but they are not in this Chamber. Therefore I greet you, the hapū of Ahuriri who are watching this on the television while we discuss your bill and your claims this afternoon.

So, I turn to the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. This is the third reading, that is to say the reading which is almost the final stage of this bill in the House of Parliament, therefore, after this, yes, that is the settlement of the claims, the embodiment of that agreement which was signed many years ago. I wish to state clearly in the House this afternoon that it is 180 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Soon after the signing of the Treaty, problems began between us, the Māori iwi, and the Crown. But as I was reading the stories relating to this bill and the issue for the hapū of Ahuriri, I saw that this battle for the settlement of the claims began in 1988. At that time I was only six years old. I stand in this House 33 years since the sending, the submission, of those claims to the Waitangi Tribunal, therefore I acknowledge you for your work and your perseverance to carry these claims to completion.

I found that the first submission on this claim was sent to the Waitangi Tribunal in that year and that the report on Te Whanganui-ā-Orotū was published in 1995, then began the discussions between the hapū grouping and the Crown in 2010. These discussions continued over about six years and the deed of settlement was signed in that year. But the first bill entered Parliament in 2019. I acknowledge the Ministers of that time, to the workers at that time, whose negotiations led to the settlement of these claims. I also want to acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee of that sitting of Parliament. One of the Speakers of the House, Adrian, was one of the members, when he first appeared in this House, but I acknowledge him and some other members as well.

One of the reasons that slows down the making of laws in this House has been the pandemic. That is the reason why they are not in the House today. Therefore, I acknowledge you for your perseverance to see the completion of this bill, of this law, in the House this afternoon. Therefore, this is a great day for you, and I sincerely empathise with you.

Before I entered Parliament some of my work was claim-related for my hapū in Ngāpuhi, therefore I understand your work and the pain involved in these sorts of issues, therefore I hope that this will settle your claims in front of the Tribunal. I hope that your hapū will be strengthened by this achievement, and you can find a way forwards to improve your collaboration with the Crown. That is my sincere hope.

Therefore, on that basis, I don’t want to make my speech any longer because this process has been long enough for the hapū, and so I state that I resolutely support this bill.]

I call Chris Penk, five-minute call.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It’s a privilege to be able to stand in this House and join others across the House to speak to the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. Other speakers have said much more eloquently, I’m sure, than I’ll be able to—including in te reo Māori most recently by Willow-Jean Prime, in very eloquent fashion—some of the issues surrounding the passage of this legislation; of course, the historical context, but not merely a description of that which has been in the past but also a road map into the future for the hapū and, of course, the Crown, being partners on this journey.

So I do want to start by acknowledging those who have spoken, more particularly, of course, to those who are here in this building today, notwithstanding that you’re not seated in the usual place that would be available to you for COVID-19 related reasons. But please know that we do feel your presence in this place and know that you are very welcome here in this, your House of Representatives.

The legislation is interesting, I think, because it sets out a number of different associations that the hapū have had with the land, the resources that were denied them, and, obviously, some of these are of different kinds of natures and therefore the types of redress that are offered and agreed and encapsulated in the settlement bill reflect those different kinds of associations.

So we see, for example, the apology redress, the cultural redress, and the financial and commercial redress. The dollar figures, it always seems to me, in these cases, as other contributors to the debate have noted, are relatively small compared with that which was confiscated oftentimes in these scenarios, but nevertheless has been formulated in a way that does finally and comprehensively—to use the expression in the bill—deal with these matters as between the hapū and the Crown.

The different associations give rise to a number of different forms of redress. One of those is the vesting of properties. So there are three different sites that we see—a couple to be vested in what lawyers would know as fee simple and the other as a reserve. But to me, more interesting, perhaps, is the relationship protocol. This indicates that not only is there a record of where the parties have been historically, but sets out the way ahead not merely to state an intention or a desire, but actually to require, in the legal sense, an ongoing relationship. We move from the transactional to the relational by having these things in a settlement bill. And so I hope that all involved will view that as a matter of some importance and significance for the future of the people.

Some of the detail of that is in relation to the Minister of Conservation and director-general to issue deeds of recognition. I think there are a number of different things going on. So we’ve got regard having to be paid to the statutory acknowledgment—that’s the acknowledgment in this bill. So the Environment Court, relevant consent authorities—presumably of a local government nature—and Heritage New Zealand must have such regard. And then there’s also sort of going back the other way, so to speak, the right of the hapū to be informed of resource consent applications, or notices of applications to be provided to them, so that they have the ongoing ability to understand that which is being contemplated for their land. Obviously, somewhat of a change from the historical context in which, you know, so little regard was paid to the property rights of hapū originally. So there’s some effort to make right what was wrong in that regard as well. Also, simply making a record of the association of Ahuriri Hapū with the statutory area. So that’s putting in black and white in this law the fact of the historical record, that acknowledgment, and, of course, the apology that goes with that being so important, as others have already recognised.

So with that, my time draws to an end. But suffice to say that I hope all others will join me in recognising the journey not only to this place and back to the land of these people but also the journey in time to this place and beyond. And so we commend this bill to the House.

Rawiri Waititi—five-minute call.

Tēnā tātou. Tēnā koe e te Pīka, tēnā tātou i te Whare. Kāti ake. Tuatahi ko te wehi ki a Ihowa rā ngā mano mōna e manaakitia nei i a tātou.

Kua hoki te āhuatanga o te tīmatanga o ēnei kōrero nō te mea heipū mai tērā tūāhuatanga i roto i a Kahungunu hei te wā i a Te Toiarikiriki, nāna i kī atu kia haramai atu ahau. Ko tōna ingoa ko Te Tama-i-roro-pūtea, nō reira tika tonu kia whai korōria ki tōna ingoa tapu.

Ngāti Hinepare, Ngāti Māhu, Ngāti Matepū, Ngāti Paarau, Ngāi Tahu Ahi, Ngāi Tāwhao, Ngāti Tū, Ngāi Te Ruruku, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kahungunu mātangi rau, tēnei te mihi, tēnei te tangi. Tēnei te tangi i runga i te āhuatanga o ō tātou mate. Ngā mate putuputu o te wā, ngā pakeke nā rātou anō hoki tēnei ara i para mō koutou kia tutuki pai ai i ngā mahi i tēnei rā. Nō reira, tika tonu kia tangihia kia mihia kia poroporoakitia rātou ki a rātou. Nō reira, e ngā mate o te wā, ngā mate i roto i ngā tau maha, rātou i pupuri i te mana me te mauri o tēnei o ngā kerēme mō Ahuriri, tēnei te tangi. Haere, haere, whoatu rā koutou. Whoatu rā koutou i runga i te ara kōrero kua parangaia e tino me te mano. Koutou kua haere ki tua o Reitū ki tua o Reiao e te pae, ki te huinga o te kahurangi ki te kāhui Matariki, e ngā mate, haere, haere, whakangaro atu rā.

Tērā anō ki a tātou, Ahuriri. Anei rā ngā te mokopuna a Kahukura Mihiata, ngā here, ngā tautakawaenga ki waenganui i a Te Whānau ā Apanui i a Ngāti Kahungunu. Ā, me ngā kōrero a te Ngāpuhi nei, Ngāti Rēhia nāna i kīia nei, ā, tika tonu ana korero i haramai a Kahungunu ki Te Tai Tokerau, Ngāti Kahu. Nō reira, tika tonu ngā tautakawaenga, ngā whakapaparanga kua kōrerohia hei roto i tēnei Whare o tātou i tēnei rā.

E, kāti ake. Ko tāku i tēnei wā, tika tonu a Willow-Jean. Ko ngā kaupapa pēnei me kōrero Māori tātou kia whakanui ake i ngā kerēme kia rongo ai i ō tātou reo, te whawhai nui i ō tātou pakeke kia ora ai tātou, kia ora ai tātou i roto i ngā mahi o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, kia ora ai tātou i roto i tēnei Whare e tū nei, kia warowaro tō tātou reo i ngā pakitara o tēnei Whare. Nō reira, Ahuriri, tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou i a koutou tutuki pai ai i tēnei o ngā kerēme i tēnei rā. Ahakoa te roa, ahakoa te taumaha, ahakoa ngā piki me ngā heke o tēnei ara huarahi, kua tutuki i tēnei rā. Kua tutuki i tēnei rā ahakoa kāore koutou e taea te haramai ā-tinana ki roto i tēnei Whare kei konei koutou e whakarongo mai nā ki tēnei tūāhuatanga ā-tutukitanga. Nō reira, ā, tika tonu.

E ai ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi i whakaaetia te whakatūngia i te Kāwanatanga. Anei te Kāwanatanga me ōna hē me ōna hāmene katoa. Anā, kua kōrerohia i tēnei rā, kua whakahoki atu i te 1 paihēneti noa iho i tangohia i a koutou. Ā, inā te kōrero o te Atikara Tuarua ka pupuri tonu ngā rangatira i tō rātou mana motuhake me te rangatiranga. E kore tērā e mimiti i roto i a tātou ngā iwi puta noa i te motu. Ā, ko te Atikara Tuatoru kia mana ōrite tātou katoa. Kāore anō tērā kia whakatutuki. Nō reira kei te aroha tonu atu tātou ki ō tātou iwi. Ahakoa kua tutuki pai ai tēnei tūāhuatanga i roto i te 1 paihēneti me waiho ake mā ō tātou tamariki mokopuna, te 99 paihēneti e toe ana. Mā rātou anō hoki e whawhai mō taua tūāhuatanga i roto i ngā kerēme tiriti puta noa.

Kotahi noa te mea o taku kōrero. Kia kauaka rawa e tukuna kia full and final, waiho mō ā tātou tamariki mokopuna me makaia ko te kōpaki pūtea me tangohia te āhuatanga o te mahi tāke i ō tātou pūtea. Konei tētahi mea hei whakaarotanga mā tātou, e hika mā. Ā, me mea hoki me waiho ake mā ngā iwi anō hoki tō rātou mana motuhake me tō rātou tino rangatiratanga e whai.

Nō reira, kua pau te taima ki a au, e rima miniti noa te wā ki a au. Ā, tēnei rā te mihi atu ki a tātou i tēnei rā, ki a Ahuriri, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.

[Greetings, everyone. Greetings to you, Madam Speaker, greetings to one and all in the House. Enough. To begin with, my respects to the Lord and the blessings bestowed upon us all.

I have gone back to the beginning of this kōrero because that situation occurred in Kahungunu in Toiarikiriki’s time. It was he who told me to come. His name was Tama-i-roro-pūtea, so we should honour his name.

Ngāti Hinepare, Ngāti Māhu, Ngāti Matepū, Ngāti Paarau, Ngāi Tahu Ahi, Ngāi Tāwhao, Ngāti Tū, Ngāi Te Ruruku, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kahungunu of the many winds, this is my greeting, this is my lament. This is my lament to our dead, to the frequent deaths of this time, to the old people who have cleared the way for you to bring this work to completion today. Therefore, it is right to lament, to acknowledge and to farewell them. Therefore, to the dead of this time, to those who have died in the many years that have before, to those who have held the authority and the life force of this Ahuriri claim, this is my lament. Go, go, go forth. Go forth upon the storied pathway forged by the many before you. Farewell to beyond Reitū, beyond Reiao on the horizon, to where the multitudes are gathered, to Pleiades; to you all who now rest in peace, farewell, farewell, farewell.

Returning to ourselves, Ahuriri. There we have the grandchildren of Kahukura Mihiata, the connections and the links between Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and Kahungunu. And, those stories of this one from Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Rēhia who said, and they are right, that Kahungunu went to Northland, to Ngāti Kahu. Therefore, what has been said about these go-betweens and generations in this House today is correct.

Moving on. I would like to say now, Willow-Jean was spot on. For issues such as this we should all speak Māori to celebrate the claims, to hear our language, the great battle of our old people, so that we could survive, so that we can participate in the work relating to the Treaty of Waitangi, so that we can stand in this House and so that our language can be heard in the walls of this House. Therefore, Ahuriri, I acknowledge you. I acknowledge you on the completion of this claim today. Despite the length, despite the burdens, despite the ups and downs of this process, it will be completed today. It will be completed today despite the fact that you can’t be here in person in this House, but you are here listening to this final stage of completion. Therefore, yes, it is appropriate.

According to the Treaty of Waitangi, agreement was given to set up the Government. Here is the Government, warts and all. Look, it has been talked about today that only 1 percent of what was stolen by you has been returned. And, according to article 1 the chiefs would hold on to their independence and their chieftainship. That concept has not been extinguished amongst the Māori tribes all around this country. And, according to article 3, we should all be equal. That has not yet been achieved. Therefore, we should all feel sorry for our iwi. Despite the successful resolution of the return of 1 percent, we must leave the other 99 percent for our children and grandchildren to deal with. They would also have to fight for that in all Treaty claims.

My speech has one point. If we do not achieve full and final settlement it will be for our children and grandchildren to drop the fiscal envelope and to recoup our money by way of tax. That is something we all really need to think about. And, I also have to say we must also leave the tribes to pursue their own independence and chieftainship.

So, I have run out of time—there were only five minutes allotted for me. I acknowledge you all today, to Ahuriri, greetings, greetings, be well everyone.]

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Otirā, tēnā tātou e ngā mema Hōnore o te Whare Pāremata. Tēnā koutou i tēnei rā nui whakahirahira. E ngā hapū maha o Ahuriri, nau mai, nau mai whakatau mai, nau mai whakatau mai ki te Whare Pāremata, ki te ana o te raiona. Mō koutou tēnei rā nui whakahirahira. Tēnā koutou ngā hapū maha, ae, ko Ngāti Hinepare, Ngāti Māhu, Ngāti Matepū, Ngāti Paarau, Ngāi Tāwhao, Ngāi Te Ruruku me Ngāti Tū, ae. Nau mai, nau mai whakatau mai.

Nau mai, whakatau mai ki te whakatutuki i ngā wawatā o rātou mā, ka huri tū me mihi atu ki ngā tini aituā kua whetūrangitia, haere, haere koutou.

Hoki mai ki a tātou te kanohi ora e pae nei, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.

[Greetings, Madam Speaker. I also greet the honourable members of the House of Parliament. Greetings to you all on this highly significant day. To the many hapū of Ahuriri, welcome, welcome, welcome to Parliament, to the lion’s den. This highly significant day is about you. Greetings to all the many hapū, indeed, to Ngāti Hinepare, Ngāti Māhu, Ngāti Matepū, Ngāti Paarau, Ngāi Tāwhao, Ngāi Te Ruruku and Ngāti Tū. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Welcome to the fulfilment the dreams of those who have passed, and I turn to acknowledge the many who have become stars in the heavens; may you rest in peace.

Returning to ourselves the living, sitting here, greetings, greetings, greetings one and all.]

I’m delighted to speak at the final reading of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill—the penultimate region of the great Ngāti Kahungunu—that we are now passing into law. I want to acknowledge all the hapū of Ahuriri ngā hapū katoa, which I have just welcomed and joined with everyone to welcome with their welcomes to this House. I acknowledge their long journey, which started way back in the 1980s, through Waitangi Tribunal claims, all the way through to today where finally—we’ve had a few intervening legal processes that have also come up over the years—here we are. Here we are to celebrate the passage of this legislation.

I want to acknowledge all those that have travelled that cannot be in this House today who I know are tuning in. As an uri of Ngāti Pāhauwera, I’m very proud to mihi to all my tini whanaungas of Ngāti Kahungunu and, in particular, Ahuriri, who are here to celebrate today. We all celebrate because this is a very historic and significant occasion. I’m delighted that I was able to play a small part in the last Parliament as chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. We heard the submissions on this bill, travelled up to Napier, and it’s always a great privilege to be able to visit the beautiful areas from where Ahuriri Hapū originate and represent. It was not without some degree of discord at times, but I’m pleased that all of the issues that were raised have managed to be resolved, in particular the issue around the mandate. There was a desire—a directive, I guess—to ensure that there were elections held to renew the mandate for Ahuriri. That has since occurred, and there is a reconstituted body of representatives for Ahuriri. So I want to acknowledge them for going through all of those various processes to ensure that the Minister and this Parliament can proudly and confidently pass this legislation, knowing that all those intervening steps have been met, and I acknowledge them all for that.

As I recall, they were colourful hearings that we conducted at times. I vividly remember our Deputy Speaker, who was a member on the committee at the time—never one to back down— engaged with one submitter and it got a bit testy. So much so that he was propositioned outside to settle it out there. Ha, ha! Never the one to back down, our Deputy Speaker stood his ground in true Te Tai Hauāuru fashion. But, fortunately, the good chair of the committee was able to bring kia tau te rangimarie, we were able to sort it out at that point, although our dear member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti was at the ready with her Māori wardens just in case things flared up. But such is the spirit of collegialness and whanaungatanga that we share as members of the Māori Affairs Committee that we were able to resolve those issues in a rangimarie way. And here we are with this historic bill.

I want to just acknowledge features of this bill, which I think are significant. We talked about the issue of Māori rights and interests to fresh water. And this was raised by my colleague Louisa Wall just now. I do want to acknowledge the statutory acknowledgment and deeds of recognition contained in this deed of settlement which is put into force fully through this legislation. They are over the sacred rivers of Ahuriri hapū, from Esk River and its tributaries, all the way through to Ngaruroro River, Tūtaekurī River—those famous rivers that we hear in those beautiful Kahungunu waiata. Ahuriri Hapū have deeds of recognition recognising their historical and spiritual and traditional relationships as the tangata whenua status over those water bodies. So I do commend those instruments being recognised in this settlement and through this legislation.

There is a long history which Ahuriri have had to endure, whether it’s landlessness, the dispossession of lands, the conflicts that arose through no fault of Ahuriri actually, but they were just caught up in these conflicts—Ōmarunui in particular, and the other Crown attacks in Herepoho during the New Zealand Wars. It was a dark period in our nation’s history and Mana Ahuriri certainly felt the brunt of the aftermath of those conflicts, only being left with a mere wee fraction of land, but virtually completely landless and with all of the resulting hardships that a dispossessed people has faced. And not only over the lands but over their tribal domain of their water bodies and, in particular, the estuary of Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu. It’s right that we instil a new level of relationship and authority for Mana Ahuriri over their ancestral landscapes and their water bodies and traditional lands.

So there is so much that we can talk about, and I want to acknowledge all the contributions from around the House which are all in support of this bill. The next step from here is that new era of a relationship which every Treaty settlement is really the basis for. I want to acknowledge Minister Little for his work and all the Ministers and officials and negotiators and everyone that’s been involved over the many years to ensure that we have gotten to this point. So I don’t want to prolong this any longer than it has to be, only to just add my tautoko. I also want to acknowledge my colleague, tuahine, the Hon Meka Whaitiri for her staunch advocacy as a member of Mana Ahuriri herself, and as one who has played such an active role in ensuring that she has provided that tautoko for all of her whānau to ensure that we get to the successful passage of this legislation. With that, I wish Mana Ahuriri all the very best and I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora, tātou.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s a privilege to speak on the third reading of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. It’s always a pleasure to follow Rino Tirikatene when he speaks because you know that whatever I say, they’ll believe him and they won’t believe me. I always quite like that, because he’s a man of his word and I always enjoy listening to him because he has great stories to tell.

It is a privilege to be part of the Treaty settlement process in this House, and I accept that we’ll never get any briefing to the point of being perfect. We can’t, because we’re trying to redress or address the challenges of the past, and that’s always been a bit of a challenge. But it’s been a privilege for me. This is the third time I’ve spoken on this bill. So I’ve spoken on all three readings of it. I’ve never had the privilege of sitting on the Māori Affairs Committee, interestingly, so I’ve never been part of the deliberation of these bills. I know that throughout this afternoon a lot of the fact of the bill’s been talked about, so I won’t talk about a lot of that because it’s not really my place to do so. But I do think that it’s a privilege to be part of something where we’re acknowledging the challenges of the past, apologising for those challenges of the past as best we can, and, I guess, trying to put right what’s happened before. And often when you look at the progress of the Treaty settlements in New Zealand, and where they’ve been successful, they’ve been hugely successful, and I congratulate all those recipients of those settlements for the way in which they’ve managed them and the work they’ve done to get them to, I guess, the point they get to, at any one time.

You might wonder what an old bloke of Scottish descent is doing speaking on a bill like this in the House, but the Ahuriri area actually goes right into the Rangitīkei. So when you drive over to the Kāwekas and go into Hawke’s Bay, you’re basically looking at this whole area, from my part of the world where I go across there. And I’m fortunate enough to have a mother, a daughter, and two grandsons, all who live right in Ahuriri itself. So I spend a bit of time there. On the weekend, I was walking around the estuary, actually, looking for National Party voters—and they’re pretty slim there. There was no more National Party voters there than there was snapper in the estuary. But it is a beautiful part of Hawke’s Bay, and I accept the fact that nature dramatically changed the nature of that in 1931. But it is an interesting part of Hawke’s Bay.

There’s one or two other things I think are worth commenting on, with respect to what’s going on in this area at the moment. You’ve got to think about—we’ll put these things in perspective, and if you look at Conservation House, it’s a beautiful old building in the middle of Napier, and it very much reminds me, actually, of the Government buildings across the road here. You just have to hope that those sort of things are preserved for future generations because they are pretty special.

The other thing I think is really interesting about this part of the country is that Scinde Island, which is part of the settlement of this, is, of course, the home of the grave of Sir Donald McLean. If you go back in history, he was the cause, or could be well blamed for, a lot of the problems that have arisen in the process that’s led to this settlement. So it’s a very interesting history some of these settlements have too.

But I do think that it’s important that we put these in perspective and that we do our very best, at least, I guess, to honour the challenges of the past. I find it extremely difficult to think that we’re trying to rectify something that started occurring 160 or 170 years ago and continued for probably nearly 100 years, and then from that time on, really nothing happened until the settlement process started, I guess, in this case, nearly some 35 or 40 years ago. But having got to this point, I just want to wish all those recipients of the settlement, the Ahuriri Hapū and all associated with it, all the best for the future. I think it’s really important that we get this through the House. I wish them a safe journey home, and I think it’s really important that we acknowledge that this House has done its very best to get this bill to a point that at least is acceptable and deals with some of the challenges of the past.

Just before I stop, Harete Hipango asked me to apologise—she had Christmas coming a week early during the course of her speech, and she was very worried. She mentioned the date of the 14th of the 12th, when in fact it was the 7th. So she was in a hurry to get home. But she wanted me to apologise on her behalf for that mistake she made during the course of her speech.

I wish the Ahuriri Hapū and all associated with it all the best going forward, and I congratulate them on getting this thing finally to a fractious, I suppose, at times, agreement. But, none the less, they’ve got it to an agreement, got it to a point of an agreement, and the apology I hope will be accepted and I hope that progress is made in the future. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Some say that she,

is just a fantasy

But I can swear,

that she is there.

So come along with me…

When the night is still,

and the moon is clear

You can see Pania,

of the reef appear

Kua tae mai a Pānia, kua tae mai a Karitoki, kua tae mai a Morimori.

Nō reira, e ngā hapū o Ahuriri kua huihui mai i runga i kauapa whakanui, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

[Pania has arrived, Karitoki has arrived, Morimori has arrived.

Therefore, to the hapū of Ahuriri who have gathered here in the spirit of celebration, greetings, greetings, greetings one and all.]

To those that have travelled all the way from Ahuriri but can’t be here in the debating chamber, but I know they’re on precinct, can I extend my warm welcome to them all. It is an absolute pleasure to be the final speech on this third reading of the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill. Can I acknowledge those that may be watching at home. I’m probably going to get a text from my mother that says, “Stick to your day job.”, but, you know, I know she would want to be here, but I want to acknowledge all the hapū of Ahuriri that have come along. It is unfortunate we cannot have them here in the debating chamber, because it gives that sense of grandeur that Treaty bills absolutely deserve, particularly on the third and final reading.

Can I too acknowledge those that are not here today. I want to particularly mention Uncle Heitia and Margaret Hīha, Ron Toatoa, Fred Reti.

These were the whānau whose whakaahuas came to the pō’hiri today. So those that are no longer with us, I want to mihi to them.

I want to also acknowledge all those involved in the settlement: obviously, the Hon Chris Finlayson; obviously, our colleague the Hon Michael Cullen; and, of course, the current Minister of Treaty settlements, the Hon Andrew Little. The Ahuriri negotiators: I want to particularly acknowledge Piriniha Prentice, Barry Wilson, Joinella Maihi-Carroll, and, of course, the Te Arawhiti officials and all those—our Māori Affairs Committee colleagues, everyone that’s made today possible. It has been a long journey, and it’s not been without its challenges, but today is a day of acknowledging the harm and the hurt of the past but also of celebrating, and with great expectation, what is to come before us.

There are two parts particularly that I want to draw attention to in my contribution this afternoon, and it is around underscoring Māori land legislation yet again, as it appears in this particular settlement, and how generous the hapū of Ahuriri were in 1840 when they settled Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu, which is the greater Ahuriri-Napier area. In 1851, they allowed the Crown to purchase the Ahuriri Block for £1,500. In the mid-1850s, tension was created. Māori were killed, with the Crown obstinately obsessed with getting more land. In 1865, you had more legislation passed by this House. It introduced the 10-owners rule that led to greater alienation in this particular settlement when in 1870, 51,000 acres of 54,000 acres were alienated under the 10-owner rule. I want to underscore that, because I’ve stood in this House many times to look after the very little Māori whenua we have in Māori hands, and here’s a classic example, in acknowledging this third reading, that another iwi not only had their land taken off them but, actually, their legislation that enabled the guarantees that weren’t promised and upheld. That’s what we are acknowledging here today.

In 1874, more land was gifted to the Napier Harbour Board. In the settlement, the Minister talked about shares in the Napier airport. I’m hoping that the Port of Napier will also learn the history of how they came to be and how the Crown enabled them with whenua from the local hapū of Ahuriri.

So I want to acknowledge those particular histories of this claim, but I’m under no illusion that both the apology and the cultural redress and the financial redress in this settlement of something to the tune of $19.5 million will aid and abet the opportunities that these hapū so well deserve. The gifting and losing of so much land in a key strategic city of the Kahungunu estate—Ahuriri is the gateway into Ngāti Kahungunu. It is the gateway because it’s the airport site and it has a port and it also has a railway. This is why it is regarded as strategically in a very important area of the Kahungunu estate. Therefore, my message to those in Napier, in Ahuriri, our business sector, our councils: please work alongside these people, because they’re not going anywhere, and now they’ve got $19.5 million, not to mention the statutory acknowledgments over many of our strategic waterways. It makes sense that the people of Napier work alongside them, and I’m pleased that the member that just took his seat prior to me getting up, Ian McKelvie, said that he found no National supporters walking around the estuary of Te Whanganui-ā-Orotu—probably he was looking in the wrong place, because there’s no whare around there. Maybe he should go up the Bluff Hill—maybe there’s plenty up there.

But the point being that these people have actually sacrificed—I shouldn’t say “these people”, because they’re my people, our people. Our tīpuna have sacrificed significantly to the growth and development of Ahuriri-Napier, and it is important in the passing of this bill, in its third and final reading, that we look forward to the opportunities. At today’s 1 p.m. pō’hiri, our speaker from our side acknowledged ngā mokopuna o ngā moemoea, and I want to leave in my contribution the opportunity for ngā mokopuna of ngā hapū o Ahuriri, because this settlement gives the opportunity for the settlement trust, in its responsibility to those mokopuna—to share the story of all mokopuna across Ahuriri-Napier, of all mokopuna throughout the Ngāti Kahungunu estate, to share this important story of what transpired for the people and the hapū of Ahuriri. It is an important part of our history that we must acknowledge and we must share throughout our kura, of Hawke’s Bay, of Ahuriri.

So there are opportunities here for all people, and I have no doubt that under the new leadership of this trust—I want to acknowledge Tania Eden. I also want to acknowledge the newly appointed chief executive, Liz Munroe. I want to congratulate these wāhine toa for the positions that they have taken up, but more importantly, to lead our people into those opportunities that are quite clearly around and within the Ahuriri area. It is my pleasure and my honour to commend the Ahuriri Hapū Claims Settlement Bill to the House. Mauri ora ki a koutou.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.