Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill.

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

I move, That the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill be now read a third time.

Tākiri mai a na te ata, ki runga o ngākau mārohirohi. Korihi ana te manu kaupapa, ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea. Tihei mauriora.

Taranaki maunga, Taranaki whenua, Taranaki tangata. Ngāti Maru iwi, nau mai, haere mai. E mihi ana ki te hunga mate, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Ki a tātou te hunga ora, tēnā tātou.

He uri Pākehā au i tupu i te aroha o Taranaki maunga, o Taranaki whenua. Tēnei au, otirā mātou Te Kāwanatanga e mihi nei ki te kaupapa o te wā, nō reira rau rangatira mā tēnei taku mihi atu ki a koutou tēnā koutou, huri noa tēnā tātou katoa.

[Dawn breaks, a new morning and a dauntless heart. The voice of this issue now sings. A new dawn leads to the full light of day. I now begin.

Taranaki mountain, Taranaki land, Taranaki people. Ngāti Maru, welcome, welcome. I acknowledge those who have passed. May you rest in peace. And to us who remain, welcome one and all.

I am a Pākehā who grew up under the embrace of Taranaki mountain and Taranaki land, surrounded by the love of Taranaki people. I stand here, we the Government stands here acknowledging the issue of the time. Therefore to the many chiefs, this is my greeting to you all. Greetings, greetings one and all.]

I begin by acknowledging the people of Ngāti Maru today. E te iwi Ngāti Maru, tēnā koutou. It’s a great privilege and an honour for me to open this third reading debate as today marks this final stage in the progression of Ngāti Maru’s Treaty settlement bill. It is testament to the years of hard work of their people, of their leaders, and the dedication towards negotiating te herenga takitaki and the long-awaited day of celebration. Although many are still having to watch this bill reading remotely, I’m pleased that Ngāti Maru representatives are in the House today to watch this reading in person. I explained to Ngāti Maru folks who are here in te Whare Pāremata that for many of the Treaty settlement bills that we’ve had to progress in the last couple of years, many iwi representatives have had to do so from outside the Chamber, and it’s great to have members back in the gallery.

This is a special day for Ngāti Maru, and I’m glad that they are here to be able to witness this in person. I thank Ngāti Maru for their fortitude and patience in reaching this significant milestone. It is, as I said before, a great pleasure for me to stand here today to support the bill’s enactment.

I pay tribute to Ngāti Maru tūpuna on this occasion, for the grievances that they have suffered and for the legacy of peace, which serves as a basis for the identity of Ngāti Maru to this very day. I also pay tribute to those who initiated this Treaty settlement process who cannot be here today to celebrate this milestone. Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā.

I acknowledge and thank the Ngāti Maru lead negotiator, Anaru Marshall, for his work advocating for justice for Ngāti Maru and for his wisdom and leadership throughout the settlement process. I also acknowledge the wider Ngāti Maru negotiation team: Holden Hohaia, Nathan Peri, Jamie Tuuta, Karl Burrows, Tomairangi Mareikura, Emma Gardiner, and Paretutaki Hayward-Howie for seeing this settlement through.

On the Crown’s side, I acknowledge David Tapsell for his guidance and able leadership as chief Crown negotiator. I thank my ministerial colleagues for their work and support. Thank you also to the officials who worked to develop and finalise a redress package with Ngāti Maru.

The Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill gives effect to te herenga takitaki, the deed of settlement, between Ngāti Maru and the Crown, signed on 27 February 2021, and settles all the historical te Tiriti o Waitangi claims of Ngāti Maru. The bill, like the deed of settlement, acknowledges the Crown’s historic breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It also provides Ngāti Maru with a cultural and economic base to support future revitalisation.

Today, it is right to reflect on that history, a shared and troublesome history, and to record it in this House. For generations, Ngāti Maru cultivated the fertile land on the Waitara River flats and utilised resources from the forests, rivers, and wetlands. Because of their inland location, Ngāti Maru had limited contact with Europeans in the 1840s and 1850s, and were not involved in the Crown’s land dealings which led to the outbreak of war in Taranaki in 1860. Nor were they involved in the subsequent fighting. Their involvement was limited to providing refuge to Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke, in accordance with the requirements of whanaungatanga.

However, when the Crown confiscated huge tracts of Taranaki land to punish the so-called rebels in 1865, approximately half of the traditional lands of Ngāti Maru were included. To repeat: half of the lands were confiscated. Many of their kāinga, urupā, and wāhi tapu were taken, and some have never been returned.

Following the confiscation, Ngāti Maru continued to live on their lands. In the early 1870s, the Crown attempted to promote European settlement on confiscated land by paying some Ngāti Maru compensation for the rights that the confiscation had extinguished. These deeds of session, covering about 60,000 acres, created significant divisions within the iwi, compounding the damage already caused by the Crown’s confiscation. Much of the remaining Ngāti Maru land was then put through the Native Land Court. Ngāti Maru had no other option but to use that court if they wanted a title that could be legally recognised and protected from other claims. A legal title was also necessary if Ngāti Maru wanted to lease or sell land. However, the individualisation of customary title made the land more susceptible to alienation and further damaged tribal cohesion. Ultimately, Ngāti Maru did not retain any of the land awarded to them by the Native Land Court.

In the early 1890s, some Ngāti Maru were virtually landless and appealed to the Crown for help. The Crown’s response was slow and ineffective. Legislation was not enacted until 1907, and the land provided was significantly smaller in size and not adequate to sustain the needs of Ngāti Maru. An agreement to consolidate individual awards into more economically viable family holdings was never carried out, and landless Ngāti Maru people who were not named in the 1907 Acts did not receive any land.

Despite further petitions from Ngāti Maru, in 1946, the Crown finally declined to provide them any further land. Much of the tribe’s remaining land later came under public trustee administration and were subject to perpetual leases that invariably benefited Pākehā farmers rather than the Ngāti Maru owners. The extensive loss of Ngāti Maru lands has eroded tribal structures; created severe poverty; and damaged the physical, cultural, and spiritual health of generations of Ngāti Maru people. The intense sense of loss and disconnection is expressed in the following Ngāti Maru lament: Maru hāhā, hāhā te whenua, hāhā te tangata. Maru of extreme loss and breathlessness, the land is deserted. The people are gone and gasping for breath.

I recognise that the Ngāti Maru settlement package does not fully compensate for the magnitude of loss they have suffered across generations. It’s testament to the extraordinary honour and dedication of Ngāti Maru that they have agreed to accept the current package and move towards reconciliation with the Crown. I thank you for your generosity of spirit and I am hopeful for what our shared future holds. Today is a day for reflecting on our shared history of the relationship between Ngāti Maru and the Crown, for acknowledging our troubled past and for recognising that the burden of history is one that Ngāti Maru will continue to bear.

The events I’ve described today may have occurred in the past, but for the people of Ngāti Maru, the legacy of loss, of deprivation, and of justified anger is ever present. It is my sincerest hope that this settlement will help Ngāti Maru build a more prosperous future.

Ngāti Maru are already doing work in their rohe to revitalise the iwi and teach rangatahi what it means to be Ngāti Maru. When enacted, this bill will further empower those efforts and will mark a new beginning in the relationship between the Crown and Ngāti Maru, based on mutual trust, cooperation, and true partnership. I look forward to meeting Ngāti Maru in their rohe sometime in the near future to deliver the Crown’s apology. It wasn’t possible during the time of COVID and the progress of these negotiations and of this bill to deliver the Crown apology prior to the legislation coming to this House, but I am determined that we will find a time, and I would be honoured, on behalf of the Crown, to deliver the much deserved apology to Ngāti Maru. On that note, I commend this bill to the House. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

It is a pleasure to rise as the member of Parliament for Southland, and the National Party spokesperson for Treaty negotiations, in support of this legislation at its final reading. Ngāti Maru iwi, he rā tino nui tēnei mō koutou, koutou te kaha me te manawanui. Nō reira e rau rangatira mā, tēnei taku mihi atu ki a koutou. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[To the Ngāti Maru tribe, this is a very important day for you, you of strength and patience. Therefore, to the many chiefs, this is my greeting to you. Greetings, greetings to you all. Greetings to one and all.]

It was a true privilege to meet a number of you this afternoon, and to the elders, leaders, and members of Ngāti Maru who are witnessing this auspicious moment, either here within Parliament or from their homes or wherever in the world they may be, I extend a very warm welcome this afternoon.

As we near the final stages of this bill’s journey through this House, I acknowledge that the signing of Ngāti Maru’s settlement, which took place in February, has been a long time coming for iwi who have been in negotiations since the late 1980s. This bill completes the settlement process, which began under former Treaty negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson during the last National-led Government, and I wish to acknowledge Minister Andrew Little, who has laid the settlement to its final conclusion here in the House today. I also extend my gratitude to the settlement negotiators for the Crown and for Ngāti Maru who worked tirelessly to shape an agreement that we all hope heralds a brighter future for present and future generations of Ngāti Maru.

As I noted at the first reading of this legislation: with every Treaty settlement bill, we as the House of Representatives turn our gazes in three directions. We look to the past reflecting on traumatic histories and legacies that are very much a part of our story as a nation and need to be acknowledged. We reflect on the present moment acknowledging those injustices and through redress we seek to make right the wrongs of the past. Finally, we look to the future trusting that a re-forged relationship between the Crown and tangata whenua lays the foundation for our best days which lie ahead.

The historical account contained in this bill catalogues the extensive loss of Ngāti Maru lands, reduced access to mahinga kai and other natural resources, and the erosion of tribal structures and cohesion during the 19th and 20th centuries, which negatively impacted on all aspects of Ngāti Maru life and severely limited the ability of the tribe to participate in the development of the Taranaki region. Ngāti Maru have continued to suffer from the effects of poverty, unemployment, poor housing, and diminished physical and spiritual health as a result. Ngāti Maru calculate that by 1920, more than half of their people had no surviving children. Many Ngāti Maru were forced to leave the district in search of employment, resulting in further damage to their community. This intense sense of loss and disconnection within Ngāti Maru whenua, and whakapapa is hauntingly expressed in the lament “Maru hāhā, hāhā te whenua, hāhā te tangata.” Maru of extreme loss and breathlessness. The land is deserted.

In this bill, the Crown acknowledges and apologises to Ngāti Maru for its acts and omissions which breach the Crown’s obligations in the Treaty of Waitangi and for the damage that those actions caused to Ngāti Maru. These include acknowledgments relating to the wars in Taranaki in the 1860s, the Crown’s confiscation of approximately half of Ngāti Maru rohe, its imprisonment of Ngāti Maru men without trial following their participation in protests initiated at Parihaka regarding the confiscation of Taranaki lands and its subsequent invasion and destruction. The legislation also includes an acknowledgment that the Crown failed to ensure that Ngāti Maru retain sufficient land for their present and future needs, and that it failed to protect their rangatiratanga. Ngāti Maru will receive financial and commercial redress valued at $30 million. Cultural redress includes the vesting of 16 sites of cultural significance, including the Purangi Domain and Tarata Domain.

No redress can ever fully compensate for the wrongs of the past. However, we hope that this settlement will allow Ngāti Maru to realise their aspirations for a vibrant, economic, and cultural future, and restore a relationship between Ngāti Maru and the Crown based on mutual trust, respect, and cooperation.

In closing, I would like to share words which are very appropriate for today’s proceedings. Tēnei au e te motu, ko te kī mai a te ao nei kia hoatu ōna hara ki te rangi hao tina haere mai te taonga. It means “Here I am. The world instructs us to release the burdens of the past to the cleansing winds. Bring forth the blessings and opportunities of the future.” Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa. I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe e te Pika, koutou mā o Taranaki maunga, ngā whanaunga, ōku whanaunga o Ngāti Maru. He mihi ki a koutou katoa ahakoa kei hea i Aotearoa nei.

[Greetings to the Speaker and to you of Taranaki mountain, to the relations, my relations from Ngāti Maru. This a greeting to you all, wherever in New Zealand you may be.]

Kia ora, Ngāti Maru. Today is your day. It was a while ago now that we stood in the House and we acknowledged you on the first reading of your bill. We’ve been through the submissions process, through the committee, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge all of those people that came forward from Ngāti Maru to put their whakaaro down on paper and to present to our committee. I am also regretful that we were unable to make it for the hearings, and I want to put this back out to you guys that are listening: if you want to invite us at a time in the future when all is safe and well and we’ve passed this COVID pandemic, then I know that on behalf of the Māori Affairs Committee, we would love to be able to come to your marae to tie up a loose end, actually, to do what’s right, which is to acknowledge you on your whenua and hopefully—as our Minister indicated earlier—when he comes, he will be able to read that apology as well and we’ll be able to stand by his side and feel the wairua and feel those tears as well that I know that I talked about in my first reading speech in the House.

In my first reading speech, I commented on an article that had been written by Stuff, and I wanted to acknowledge Tamzyn Pue, who has been one of the leading lights of this Treaty negotiation. One of her comments summed it up really well. She said that “This deed”—this bill; this settlement—“contains the tears of my ancestors, the truths of the history that left Ngāti Maru landless, with no reo, no tikanga, and no identity.” I really do hope that this is going to help put Ngāti Maru back on its own journey, as it should have been all those years ago.

I want to just acknowledge that the work that’s been done to get to this point has been a collaboration of many people, many hours, many documents. I want to acknowledge everybody that put effort into getting us to the point where we’re at today: our Crown officials, Crown negotiator, but also I thank the people of Ngāti Maru, for whom this means the most.

Ngāti Maru is the final of our Taranaki settlements, and rightly so. This was the final piece of the puzzle that needed to happen before we could say that Taranaki Maunga have settled their historical grievances with the Crown. But let me remind you: Taranaki whānui, the journey’s not over. We are currently in a space where we’re talking about co-governance, and in our media, all around the country, there are people that are pushing a political narrative that co-governance is a very bad thing and co-management is a bad thing as well, and I’m going to need your help on this one, Ngāti Maru, to be able to fight back on that kōrero. I need you and many of our iwi to be able to stand up and acknowledge that the historical wrongs and the Treaty settlement process will never truly account for everything that has been lost.

So what we’ve got to look for—and I’ve said this in other Treaty settlements and I’ll say it again in your one—what we need, is for the Crown to constantly remember the hurt and the pain that’s been caused through Treaty settlements and also through the historical injustices that have happened, and look for every opportunity to allow our iwi to be able to gain rangatiratanga for themselves. Ngāti Maru, today we recognise your rangatiratanga over your whenua, and we hope that in the future, with our support, we can continue to support you into arrangements—whether it’s co-management opportunities, co-governance opportunities, but ultimately to be able to allow you to have a seat around that decision-making table; those decision-making tables, because there are many, as you well know.

I look forward to travelling to your rohe. I know that we will do it, and I know that finally we’ll be able to see the final process of these settlements, be able to heal the past wrongs by hearing that apology, which I’m going to save for our Minister to be able to deliver, because it is a very important moment to be able to have the Crown—to be able to have representatives of the Crown—stand there on your whenua and acknowledge the hara, the mamae, and the aroha your people that have passed and that stand here and that will be creating generations of Ngāti Maru for generations to come. I acknowledge you all today, we see you, we hear you, we stand by you, and we look to support you in your future endeavours. Nei rā te mihi ki a koutou aku whanaunga o Taranaki maunga. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, mauri ora ki a tātou katoa.

[This is my acknowledgment to my relations from Taranaki maunga. Greetings, greetings, and life to one and all.]

I commend this bill to the House.

Taranaki maunga, Taranaki whenua, Taranaki tangata. Ngāti Maru i roto i tēnei Whare, tēnā koutou.

[Taranaki mountain, Taranaki land, Taranaki people. Ngāti Maru inside this House, greetings to you all.]

It is indeed a privilege to stand to take a call at the third reading of this, the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill, about to pass into law, as uri of Whanganui but uri of Whanganui connected also through whakawhanaungatanga and whenua to Ngāti Maru. Tēnā tātou katoa.

I share with the House and also New Zealanders, I hope, who have tuned in to listen to the kōrero today in this House, because this is a significant piece of New Zealand history, of Māori history, of Taranaki Ngāti Maru history.

“Maru Hāhā. Hāhā te whenua. Hāhā te tangata. Maru of extreme loss and breathlessness. The land is deserted. The people are gone and gasping.” I reference that as a lament that had been expressed at the signing of the deed of settlement at Tarata Marae on 27 February 2021.

A brief chronology for the benefit of New Zealanders, who I hope learn from the mamae, from the grievances, from the hurt, in moving forward to shape and make better our nation of Aotearoa New Zealand. But this bill is specific to shaping and making better, moving from the past into the future, the uri of Ngāti Maru. The agreement in principle was signed on 20 December 2017; the deed of settlement, as I’ve said, at Tarata Marae on 27 February 2021. The first reading of this bill before the House was on 6 January 2021; the second reading 1 March 2022. Here I stand alongside my colleagues in this House, alongside, in support of Ngāti Maru, on 29 March 2022, for the third reading and the passage of this bill into law.

As a member of the Māori Affairs Committee sitting alongside members of all political parties in this House, we prefer to put politics aside and to make right and to address, to redress, the grievances of the past, to make things right and just. As members of the Māori Affairs Committee, we hear and we feel the mamae of those who represent their people—your people, Ngāti Maru—who have gone before in speaking to this bill and making submissions to the Māori Affairs Committee for us to turn our minds and for us to turn also our hearts and our heads and our hands to making sure that the shaping of this legislation is correct and is just.

The select committee prepared a report for the benefit of Parliament, and in that report, after listening to the submissions from people of Ngāti Maru, shaped, in efforts to make better, this bill. The proposed amendments are outlined in the report, which is made available. One of the amendments that I do particularly recollect is in terms of the relationships that we of Whanganui, through Te Awa Tupua, the Whanganui River, have with Ngāti Maru—the life source and force that blends us together, not just our waters, not just our whenua, but our whakawhanaungatanga, our relationships that transcend through generations from the past into the future. I recollect the importance of ensuring that the relationship we have in Whanganui with Ngāti Maru blends in harmony, flows in unison.

In Whanganui, when the Te Awa Tupua bill was before this House, we had the human face and factor, the representation of the awa, our Te Pou Tupua [those that act and speak on behalf of the Whanganui River]. It was important that members of the select committee but also members of Parliament appreciate the importance that this legislation is an embodiment of life forces of our whenua, of our wai, of our awa, and of our people. So that’s encapsulated now by amending the relevant part within the bill.

I look, and time in the House is flowing very quickly, but I’m mindful also that the time for our tūpuna—this transcends, this transpires over generations, over lifetimes. It’s taken lifetimes and generations for this bill to come before the House. What’s generated from this is to look forward with hope and positivity, because there is so much that has transpired with the mamae, and today is a time to move forward, looking with hope, looking with possibilities, with probabilities, to make a better future.

I also recollect before the Māori Affairs Committee the kōrero about the Minister tendering an apology on behalf of the Crown. Aroha mai—my apology for not being able to be present at the mihi whakatau. My colleague Joseph Mooney, who is spokesperson for Treaty settlements, was able to be there. The apology is so important, and the usual procedure is that the apology to the aggrieved, the afflicted people of Ngāti Maru ought to have occurred before the passage of this bill into law. We’ve not been living in usual times, with the disruption of COVID and the impact of that in our lives. What I am aware is that Minister Little conveyed to Ngāti Maru that he will tender that apology in person, appropriately, back at the whenua, possibly—I’m not sure—where the deed of settlement was signed at Tarata Marae. I would hope that the invitation would be extended also to other members of the Crown. I’m in that rather privileged but dubious position as being uri of our people, with relationships to those of our people who have been aggrieved and afflicted, and being now representative of the Crown.

The apology: clause 10 is a significant part of this bill that is about to be inscribed and enshrined into law. That apology, appropriately, is to be tended in person by Minister Little on behalf of the Crown, to Ngāti Maru.

There are three key parts to this bill, as is well known by Ngāti Maru: Maru Mua, the historical account, the acknowledgment—some 16 of them—and, importantly, the apology; Maru Pae, the redress. The commercial redress of $30 million—a minuscule amount when one reflects on the passage of time and the losses that have occurred. The redress—Maru Pae. The third part is Maru Muri, the commercial and financial redress—looking forward to being able to utilise and to make the best out of what has been tendered by way of an apology, to realise and to potentialise opportunities, possibilities, for prosperity moving forward into the future.

In closing, I share these words, these words that were my first words spoken at the first reading, these words that were, again, part of the deed of settlement signing at Tarata Marae: He ata ki runga, he ata ki raro, he ata ki te whakatūtū, he ata ki te whakaritorito, he ata whiwhia, he ata rāwea, he ata tānga—the dawn light appears above and below, the dawn light is happening and the dawn sprouts, morning is here, the morning wraps around, the morning has struck. It is a privilege to commend this bill to the House. Tēnā tātou katoa.

Mai i ngā tīpuna o Maruwharanui, mai i ngā waka o Tokomaru, Aotea, Takitimu. Mai i ngā awa o Whanganui, Waitara, Taramoukou, Manganui, Pātea, Tangahoe, Tāngarākau, Heao. Mai i ngā maunga o Taranaki Maunga, Te Ahurangi, ki a koutou te iwi o Ngāti Maru, tēnei te mihi ki a koutou.

Tahi tuatahi he maimai aroha tēnei ki ngā pou o Ngāti Maru kua ngaro ki te pō, ko Josephine Nona Woods rāua ko Hazel Pareteuira Ngātaierua Peri, otirā ki ētahi pou o te iwi Māori, ki te Tā Wira Gardiner, otirā ko te māreikura ko June Jackson. Kei te heke ngā roimata mā rātou. Hoea rā tō waka ki tō mātou tīpuna ki a Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, Hawaiki pāmaomao. Moe mai rā ngā rangatira, moe mai rā.

Otirā, kei te huri a mātou ki a koutou te hunga ora. Ngāti Maru kua tae mai nei ki te whakatinana, ki te whakakapi tēnei pānui tuatoru o tō koutou pire, Ngāti Maru Taranaki Claims Settlement Bill.

Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou kua tae mai, otirā ka whiua ōku nei whakaaro ki a Ngāti Maru e kāore e haramai ki tēnei Whare i raro i te kapua o te taumahatanga o te mate urutā e noho haumaru i te kāinga engari me mātaki i runga i te TV. Kei a rātou, kei te mihi.

[From the ancestors of Maruwharanui, from Tokomaru, Aotea, and Takitimu canoes. From the rivers of Whanganui, Waitara, Taramoukou, Manganui, Pātea, Tangahoe, Tāngarākau, and Heao. From the mountains of Taranaki, from Te Ahurangi, to you the iwi of Ngāti Maru, this is my greeting to you.

Firstly, this is my expression of affection for the stalwarts of Ngāti Maru who have passed on, Josephine Nona Woods and Hazel Pareteuira Ngātaierua Peri, as well as stalwarts in the wider Māori world, to Sir Wira Gardiner and to the esteemed June Jackson. Our tears fall for them. Paddle your canoe to our ancestors, to great Hawaiki, to long Hawaiki, to distant Hawaiki. Rest in peace you noble ones.

I now turn to you, to the living. To Ngāti Maru, you have come here to realise and to finalise this third reading of your bill, the Ngāti Maru Claims Settlement Bill.

Greetings to those of you who have arrived here, but my thoughts are also with those who were unable to attend due to the dark cloud of the pandemic and are sitting safely at home to watch on the TV. To them, greetings.]

Oh, I got a bit choked up there, thinking about our dame who’s just passed this morning. So my thoughts are just with my colleague Willie Jackson and for the whānau, kua mate ana tana māmā i te ata nei, heoi anō ka mihi aroha ki a rātou [and the family, his mother died this morning, therefore my compassionate greetings go to them].

Ngāti Maru, I’ve been thinking over the last couple of days about what this means for you all as the last of Taranaki iwi to settle, and what settlement means for a people who have lost their whenua through actions of the Crown. We acknowledge that period of time just in recent times that you’ve had to battle, again, the Crown, and we hear that karanga, whakahokia mai te whenua ki a mātou, a te mana whenua [call, return the land to us, to those with traditional authority over the land].

In these third readings, some parts are celebratory and some parts pōuri, because we know that it marks the end of one part of a journey, but it commences a whole ’nother, as now, on behalf of the Crown, we have to whakatinana the agreement that has been made through this part of the taupatupatu that you’ve made today, and we must now turn to acknowledge and make sure we don’t break yet again promises made to ngā hapū, ngā iwi Māori—kia koutou Ngāti Maru—and that’s not a smooth journey I have seen in my short tenure that I’ve been a Minister of the Crown. Minister Little will, in turn, make apologies on behalf of the Crown for the historical grievances at your marae in Taranaki, but I too want to acknowledge that the journey ahead, we must all bear in mind, is an untreaded path for Ngāti Maru and the Crown, that place. On my behalf, for the agencies that I have authority to, and, I know, my colleagues here, it’s now our duty to make sure that we do in every decision that we make whakatinana, whakamana tēnei kawenata mai i te Karauna ki a koutou a Ngāti Maru [implement and validate this covenant between the Crown and you, Ngāti Maru].

I also want to acknowledge those that have been the face of Ngāti Maru, who have engaged with the Crown since 2016 to land this agreement. Anaru, tēnā koe. Nathan, tēnā koe. The kāhui that have supported those: Holden Hohaia, Paretutaki—Pare—Hayward-Howie, Jamie Tuuta—otirā, koutou katoa.

Settlement processes are hard, eh, you know, and we have to go through a lot at home—you have to go through a lot at home. There are consequences of your decision making for those that are in the position of having to navigate at each turn. They are hard decisions to make, and I can only but commend you for the trials and the tribulations that you would have been through over the past few years to get to this point. I thank you for your patience, and I thank you for the way that you have engaged with your people so that we may commence this new journey today.

I stand here today in my capacity as the Minister of Conservation, and it’s those elements that I want to turn to in particular. Others have addressed the whakapapa and the history of the relationship with the Crown, but I want to acknowledge the Ngāti Maru rohe, centred on the inland of Waitara Valley, east to the Whanganui River and its tributaries, and west to Taranaki maunga. Whakahokia mai te whenua.

[Return the land to us.]

That is a karanga we hear from our people and it is one that we do not take lightly. Today, as we mark off this particular third reading of this bill, today marks the day when the lands of Ngāti Maru will be returned home. It is the start of a journey; it is not the end.

So these sites today that return back home include pā sites, battle sites, mahinga kai, historical and traditional pathways, and wāhi tapu. It is the aspiration that this particular redress of the whenua will provide Ngāti Maru with a renewed, visible footprint within their rohe, as well as the ownership of lands that have for too long been in the hands of the Crown.

Ngāti Maru are seen in part as being conservation warriors. So ko aku mihi ki a koutou, mō tō manaaki ki tō tātou nei taiao.

[So I acknowledge you all, for you care of our environment.]

I often think: what are we as mana whenua if we do not exercise mana over the whenua and if we do not exercise our rangatiratanga over the whenua ki te manaaki i a ia a Papatuanuku [our authority over the land to care for her, Papatuanuku].

This conservation redress in part: 16 sites are returning home, totalling 218 hectares. We have, in particular, the Purangi Domain, the former Tarata School and the schoolhouse, and property at Tarawai. Some lands are transferring back in reserve status, including Purangi Scenic Reserve, Waitara River No 3 Historic Reserve, and Tāngarākau River Historic Reserve.

Important among these sites is the transfer of over 100 hectares of the Tarata conservation area, which is situated just 500 metres from Te Upoko o te Whenua, Ngāti Maru’s sole marae, and my colleague the Hon Anaru Paku has committed to reading the Crown apology, and less than a kilometre from your former pā site, Te Kerikēringa.

Tarata conservation area is covered with incredible indigenous flora and fauna. Pukatea, rimu, nīkau, and tawa are representative of a forest that once stood there at the lower stretches of the Waitara River. It’s a place of, I understand, reflection and significance to Ngāti Maru, and it’s hot that this transfer, particularly in light of—I’ll just throw it in there—Matariki, the new pounga, another time to commemorate. Maybe this will be an appropriate time to rekindle that unbroken relationship that Ngāti Maru have had with the taiao mahi that has continued in those areas to improve the mauri of the ngahere hei korā.

There are a range of deeds in recognition of statutory acknowledgments, including from where you’ve drawn from your eponymous tupuna, Maru Wharenui, and drawn from the sustenance of the Waitara River. I know that these have been expressed in the course of this settlement bill. With time concluding, may I just say, may this be the beginning of a healthy relationship between the Crown, Te Papa Atawhai and Ngāti Maru, nō reira kei te mihi ki a koutou [the Department of Conservation and Ngāti Maru, and so I greet you].

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. E mihi ana ki a koutou Ngāti Maru. It is a beautiful sight to see some of you in the gallery today. It has been far too long where we’ve been without people affected by these bills being able to observe this process, and I want to acknowledge the importance of this day and all of the work that has gone into getting to this point. I stand as the Green Party spokesperson for Te Tiriti to recognise the significance of this third reading for Ngāti Maru. This is a huge milestone in their journey towards the restoration of Maru ora that has been so attacked and undermined by the perfidy of the Crown over many generations.

I want to, along with everybody else in the House, acknowledge the negotiators, who have done the front of the work, and all of the leaders behind, and the people behind the scenes and in the kitchen who manage to hold tight to the vision of Tihei a Maru Ora [behold the vitality of Maru] that has brought us to this day, and our wish, I’m sure, is a collective wish for that to take Ngāti Maru forward in strength. We remember too on this day, the many who have died along the way but remain present in this work and this day.

For those listening who don’t know—and, sadly, there will be many because our mainstream education system has mainly taught us only colonial districts and cities and town names, and not the nation States of hapū and iwi—the iwi rohe of Ngāti Maru stretches from the eastern side of Mount Taranaki to the source of the Waitara River, across the Heao Stream and down to the Whanganui River, and back across the Matemateaonga Ranges to Stratford. This is the nation of Ngāti Maru.

It is worth noting that Ngāti Maru is the final iwi of Taranaki to complete the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process at this point. I want to draw attention to that, because that is actually significant, and note that in the general manager’s report in the Ngāti Maru annual report during the settlement negotiations, they pointed to the conflict that had arisen with whanaunga over the last few years because of the settlement process, and how they had started work to re-establish links and connections based on whakapapa and a shared interest to see each iwi benefit and succeed.

But I want to quote from that, because I think it’s really important for us to reflect on as we take responsibility for our part in this process, where they spoke about using the term “re-establishing” to describe what they’re trying to achieve, because these relationships did exist at one time and have fallen out of existence over the last few decades. This is a consequence of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process, where iwi are required to differentiate themselves from their neighbours by claiming specific rohe and mapping these, which, in turn, excludes others. This is an antagonistic practice that creates division and breaks down relationships.

I want to acknowledge Ngāti Maru for their work to re-establish those links and those connections, and to state again that the Green Party still holds to the possibility of a settlement process that is tikanga based—that, actually, is not full and final; does not force people into large, unnatural groupings; and is led from the ground, not from the Crown’s self-interest, which is still, we recognise, a large part of this process. The generosity—that has been acknowledged in this House—of Ngāti Maru, in accepting this very hard-fought for settlement, cannot be restated often enough.

I do hope, though, that, in this process, something has been regained for Ngāti Maru, from the process of uncovering your shared stories and having some of the wrongs acknowledged. I hope that this may help your moko to feel proud of being Ngāti Maru. My hope too is that tangata Tiriti will read this historical account, and those of other settlements, and understand how much our current way of life, for good and bad, may be a result of the failures of the Crown to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I think, more often, the value for us as a country, for the future, would be if we would learn those lessons as Pākehā. But today I thank you for the reliving of those stories and the collecting of those stories in the hope that we can have a better shared future together.

In 1865, Ngāti Maru had 220,000 hectares of land. The vast majority of this was illegally confiscated by the Crown or sold through dubious deals done without the permission of iwi members. Large tracts of this ended up in the conservation department holdings. We’ve heard the discussion, and I will repeat it again because I don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t evoke that incredibly powerful saying of Ngāti Maru’s that comes out of such grief and loss, but feels as if needs to be said to be able to have a sense in this House of what happened, of “Maru Hāhā. Hāhā te whenua. Hāhā te tangata.” The English language doesn’t seem, to me, to be able to compete with the sense of truth within that.

I also want to point to a couple of other small parts of the apology from the Crown, acknowledging, as well as the confiscation of the land, the imprisonment of Ngāti Maru men without trial following their participation in protests initiated at Parihaka, which now, with the benefit of hindsight, we would say that, as a country, we should have been so proud of those people involved in those protests, providing a vision for the world of peaceful resistance and community building. To see them imprisoned for that without trial is, again, the injustice of all of this—and then the subsequent invasion and destruction of Parihaka; also—and this has been outlined by the Minister—the failure to ensure that Ngāti Maru had, and retains, sufficient land for the present and future, and the massive impact that has had on the entire Ngāti Maru society.

I also want to point to what has been spoken about by others—that, in many ways, the power of the settlements is that they are hard-fought for but it is about the shifting in relationships for the future, and providing even that small bit of an economic base to help people rebuild. But, in this instance, it is, as the lead negotiator noted, significantly about the return of land, where Ngāti Maru started with 220,000 hectares; that, over the years, was whittled down to less than 900. So the land-return aspects of this are profoundly important. The Greens would still say that this shouldn’t be full and final, and that there should be an opening for more, but this is significant, and that’s not meant to undermine the negotiators by any means. It has been a great result.

But I also just, finally, want to point to the settlement trust’s vision and values of Maru Ora, Maru Pae, Maru Rota, Maru Taha, Maru Muri, and Maru Tiketike, and that summing up of what’s wanted for the future, and the attention on rebuilding society that comes now, at this point of the process. From the Greens, we wish you all the best, and we will do everything we can to get the Crown out of your way so you are able to rebuild your connections. Kia ora.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The ACT Party supports the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill and we look forward to seeing Ngāti Maru receive the benefits which they are due as a result of breaches of contractual obligations by the Crown.

It’s important that this includes an apology, because, when we are prepared to admit that we’re wrong, that is often the first and perhaps the most important part of healing differences from the past. It’s also important to acknowledge that this settlement relates primarily to land and to rights in water. So where the bill provides for cultural redress, such as vesting 16 sites—specified in Schedule 2—in Ngāti Maru as cultural redress properties, that seven sites are vested in fee simple, in other words Ngāti Maru can choose to do what they want with the land when they want, but nine sites to be vested as reserves. So that acknowledges that, in fact, there are limits in the interests in this land and recognises that, in fact, there are rights of other New Zealanders in this reserve land which is held for the benefit of the entire community, and so that is one of the dilemmas that we face when looking at whether these settlements, in fact, address in the most efficient way, in the most enduring way, the breaches of contractual rights that the settlement is trying to remedy, because it does require a balancing of property rights between the individual and collective ownership that Ngāti Maru will have over this land, and the public interest, for example, in conservation or reserve land which has been allocated to Ngāti Maru as part of a vesting of properties as part of the cultural redress.

So ACT supports the remedies, largely, set out in this settlement bill but we do have some concerns about certain aspects, because we think, actually, they can be improved on. So when we looked at the statutory acknowledgments, that relevant consent authorities record the statutory acknowledgment, that Ngāti Maru has a particular interest in relevant resource management—resource consent applications, I would assume that’s because there are certain matters around land use or water rights, use of water or discharges to water, which Ngāti Maru has an interest in. So when others are making applications for resource consents, then they would be regarded as an affected party, and it’s important, where in the past regulatory agencies like regional councils or district councils haven’t known who has an interest in particular land and water, that that is recorded formally so that people who wish to make a submission should be able to, where they have an interest, where they have standing. But one of the concerns that the ACT Party has with the Resource Management Act—and while it’s not addressed in this bill—is that too many people have standing and get to have a say about how private property owners use their land. So while it’s not addressed in this bill, it’s important to recognise that there must be limits to who has standing. But in this case, the bill provides for Ngāti Maru to have its standing formally acknowledged.

Then we come to the deed of recognition, where the Crown is obliged to consult with Ngāti Maru on specific matters and have regards to their views on special associations that they have with certain areas. So, look, that’s an appropriate thing for a settlement bill to address. Then we come to the natural resources redress. That is where the settlement process potentially could be improved on, because while this bill attempts to address the problems that have arisen through a breach of contract by the Crown, the alienation of Ngāti Maru from their lands and natural resources, the way that this bill attempts to do it and that others attempt to do it may not in fact be as effective and enduring as they could be.

When we look at a joint management agreement, which provides for Taranaki Regional Council and Ngāti Maru to exercise any of the local authority’s functions, powers, or duties relating to a natural or physical resource jointly, there are problems with that, because rather than actually giving the property rights redress that Ngāti Maru deserve as part of a settlement, this gives another form of right to make decisions over other people’s property through the resource consent process. So it becomes problematic when we think, “Well, how is it that addressing the breach of contract by the Crown with Ngāti Maru then leads to giving Ngāti Maru decision making, potentially, over other people’s consent applications?” So decision makers in consent applications have derived their powers from democratically elected councils. Yet in this case, the bill appears to confer those rights of decision making to Ngāti Maru as part of a settlement, and that is not through the normal process through electing regional and district councils.

Then we look at the role of iwi in monitoring the river—that is important. It’s important that we develop a better understanding of the natural environment and the effects of human activities on the natural environment. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has pointed out repeatedly that there are huge gaps in our understanding of the natural environment, and only by more comprehensive monitoring, recording the data, and observing discharges to the natural environment, how water take and how land use affects biodiversity and affects the natural resources, will we actually be able to come up with better management plans. So I think it’s very important and worthwhile that Ngāti Maru have a role in environmental monitoring of the river.

So on balance, ACT will support this bill, but it is important at this time that we actually question whether giving co-governance or joint management responsibilities and roles to Ngāti Maru—just as an example—is as effective as actually addressing the breach of property rights. Would be it be more effective, rather than giving joint management, to say, “Well, actually, there’s some property rights”, whether it’s rights and interest in water, and that, potentially, in the future giving property rights in water would be more effective than management and decision making over how other people use the water.

So the ACT Party continues to explore what is best for New Zealand, what is enduring, and what is efficient. In this case we will support this bill—it’s progressed a long way through the House, it has the support of all parties, and it goes a long way to addressing the breaches of the Crown in the past. On that note, ACT commends this bill to the House.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. Te Kāhui Maru, te iwi o Ngāti Maruwharanui, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, hurinoa i te Whare, tēnā koutou katoa.

[To the cluster of Ngāti Maru iwi, to the people of Ngāti Maruwharanui, greetings, greetings to you all, and greetings to all sides of the House.]

I rise this afternoon and feel the need to apologise. Yes, it has been 200 years, but, even today, as you’ve sat in this House, as you arrived in this House and as you’ve sat here this afternoon, there have been things and words and phrases that I know trigger and challenge, and I apologise for that. Even though we are here in the third reading, even though we’ve come to this place of settlement with you, we still get our language wrong. In many times and in many places, many of us have our thinking wrong, I believe, but I’ll save that for another time.

You’re welcome here, and I thank you for the friendships that I see, both in the gallery and those who aren’t here today. Those fierce friendships that have crafted and honed who I am, and I hope will continue to craft the person I am, not only in this place but as a member of our society and as a member of our Taranaki community.

We’re here today to reflect on the legacies, the losses, and the oppression that, as I said, is ever-present even today, and I know it’s been a long hīkoi: 200 years. I know, and I talked about it in the first reading and it’s been mentioned today, that the first time that grievances were brought to this House was 1891. It went on and it went on and it went on, and here we are today, and I will go on with our challenges in trying to forge our partnership together, but I hope it moves forward in a place of friendship, of togetherness.

This afternoon, I want to acknowledge those that have gone before us. To your ancestors, to those who began this journey many years ago who aren’t with us but also those of Ngāti Maru, who have forged a path for you to be here today and for us to be at our third reading.

Now we reflect, I guess, that today is very much around the future, but as I sat up in the Banquet Hall when we welcomed you, I asked the person next to me, “Did you come down this morning from Taranaki?”, and the answer was “No, no, no. Actually, I live elsewhere.” It’s interesting that when land loss and oppression and loss of culture happens, there’s a dispersion that goes on, and so I understand that for many of your people, they are dispersed because of what went on as a result of decisions made by Governments past. But today is very much around our future. We always need to hold on to what has gone before us, but it’s looking to what is possible, and I hope what is possible—and I commit myself to this today—is that shared future. That partnership gets thrown around, but that partnership, like I said, is actually friendship. It is actually walking together in friendship, which is equal.

Today is around the restoration of mana. There is a financial space to this which I know is only a small part of what was lost, but, hopefully, this financial future sets you up for what can be a future for your people, a future for our region. As you are the eighth iwi to settle in Taranaki, I look forward as I get around our region—watch out—the iwi, the Māori economy, is the one to watch as we move forward as we are all settled. So watch this space. I will walk alongside you with that as well, and, of course, I know you’re part of the future of Maunga Taranaki, working with the other seven iwi around your tūpuna and what that future looks like. Very much, again—as Pākehā I’m stating the obvious, but you knew it already—it’s just bringing us to the party yet again, bringing us to that place of understanding.

So, as a post-settlement region, I look forward to our future as friends. As I look in the gallery, and I saw it today, I love the fact that there are a number of rangatahi here. There are a number of rangatahi and there are a number of tamariki who are here to witness this, and, hopefully, there’ll be children and young people of the future. The fight will continue, I know, in many ways, but that fight, hopefully, will be a different one—one with some resource, one with a clearer path that you can forge your future—and people like me can be friends and walk alongside but also get out of the way when we need to, because that’s probably quite helpful as well, right?

What I’m glad about in listening today and hearing the stories of land that was lost, of resources that were taken, and of your dispersion, is that as we begin to teach New Zealand history in our schools, our tamariki and our rangatahi will understand your stories, understand your loss, and understand the mamae and why that exists in order to learn, to grow. Again, I don’t feel like I’m speaking to Ngāti Maru here; I’m speaking to myself and to my people.

I’m really encouraged to see what you’re already doing as iwi, whether it be in the conservation space, working with young people—I know the conversation with Feats and what that future looks like—and it’s exciting to see, again, you’re grasping the future and taking it and running with it. I look forward to heading back out to Tarata and accompanying the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Hon Andrew Little, for that official apology. Another excuse to hang out there but also, this time, when we can come together and your people can be in that space, we can listen to words that need to be said so that we can ensure that we move forward together into the future.

For me, as tangata Tiriti, and as the MP for New Plymouth, which isn’t technically your lands, but we all share—we all mix and mingle and move around, right? Yeah. My commitment today is to be a friend in that partnership sense. It’s to be a friend in terms of saying, when we aren’t getting it right, that my door is open—I would share my cellphone number here, but maybe it’s too public a space—and to come and see me and challenge me and to encourage me but also to push for what is needed in terms of not just signing a settlement, not just making this third reading today and saying, “We’re moving on. Sweet—we’re done.”, but, actually, this is partnership, this is friendship. So I commit myself, as I do to the other iwi of Taranaki, to saying that my door is open because I want to be a true friend—not how it’s been, but how it can be—and to learn from that.

So today is another step in 200-plus years of struggle but, hopefully, it’s a step in optimism and possibility in what can be, and so that Ngāti Maru—your people, our iwi in Taranaki—will lead our journey forward to what is an exciting future. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

I call Penny Simmonds for a five-minute call.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It’s a privilege to give a short but heartfelt speech in support of the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill in this, its third reading, and although I can’t see you up there, I want to acknowledge and welcome Ngāti Maru iwi representatives who are here today. I also want to acknowledge and thank members of the wider iwi who have shown such tremendous perseverance, resilience, and fortitude over what has been almost 40 years securing this settlement. Can I particularly acknowledge your hard-working negotiators.

Physically, Ngāti Maru will receive financial and commercial redress valued at $30 million, but, as my colleague has said, that is a drop in the ocean. Cultural redress includes the vesting of 16 sites of cultural significance, including Purangi Domain and Tarata Domain. The legislation records the acknowledgment and apology given by the Crown to Ngāti Maru in the deed of settlement, which was signed just over a year ago on 27 February 2021, and the legislation gives effect to provisions of the deed of settlement that settles the historic claim of Ngāti Maru.

I want to acknowledge the beautiful lands, the rohe centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its tributaries, and west to Mount Taranaki. We know that for generations, this land was where Ngāti Maru cultivated fertile soils and got resources from the area’s forests, rivers, and wetlands. We also know that Ngāti Maru were not involved in the land dealings which led to the war in Taranaki in 1860 and were not directly involved in the subsequent fighting. Despite this, when the Crown confiscated huge tracts of Taranaki land to punish so-called rebels, approximately half of the traditional lands of Ngāti Maru were included. Many of your sacred cultural sites were taken and some have never been returned. The extensive loss of Ngāti Maru lands impacted so significantly, eroding tribal structures, creating severe poverty, and damaging the physical, cultural, and spiritual health of so many generations of Ngāti Maru people.

This settlement recognises the wrongs of the past and seeks to strengthen partnerships between Crown and iwi. We hope that this settlement will help iwi to unlock the economic potential that we know is there to provide employment opportunities and to boost regional and provincial areas. While no redress will ever fully compensate for the destructive and demoralising effects of the Crown, we must have hope that this settlement will allow Ngāti Maru to realise their aspirations for that vibrant economic, and cultural future, restoring the relationship with the Crown. While the previous speaker spoke of restoring their mana, I acknowledge that their mana has always been held intact. This gives a future going forward. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Making a remote contribution, I call Debbie Ngarewa-Packer—five minutes.

Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Te Upoko o Te Whenua ka riro ngā ia o Te Awaroa whakaaria nei e kore e mimiti. Koropupū ake i Waitaraiti. Koia rā te waka o te atua kei Pūrangi. Tū ki te Arero te whare karakia. Maru pūmanawa. Kei whea ōku tumu makaurangi rā hei herenga mō taku waka. Upoko o Te Whenua te marae. Ko Ngārongo te whare. Kohia ngā maramara katoa o Maruwharanui. Tēnā koutou te Kāhui o Ngāti Maru. Tēnā koutou e ngā whanaunga.

[Te Upoko o Te Whenua that receives the currents of the Waitara River never runs dry. Its source is from the hill of Waitaraiti. This is the vessel of God at Pūrangi. Tū ki te Arero was the church and the heart of Maru. Where are my spiral carved posts to which to tie my canoe? Upoko o Te Whenua is the marae. Ngārongo is the meeting house. Gather all the descendants of Maruwharanui. Greetings to the cluster of Ngāti Maru. Greetings to my kin.]

I stand for Te Paati Māori to mihi to my whanaunga, whānau that are there in Pāremata, to our whānau that are at Tarata Pā watching, to our whānau across the motu, to our whānau across the ao watching this reading and supporting. I stand for Te Paati Māori in support of this third and final reading. I mihi to you all for your generosity to the motu, acknowledging the unrecoverable hours; the tears, the heartache; the advancing, retreating, advancing; and the many hui and the hui before the hui, to those we have lost and to those who today carry this kaupapa, the burden of the legacy. I mihi to your humility and acknowledge all that you have done to get to this point, working with the Government, trying to get the best settlement within fiscal envelope restraints.

I want to use my five minutes to help the world understand what goes on behind the scenes to get you here today, to share the extent of your commitment to developing a peaceful, future-focused Aotearoa. I want to help the world understand that after years of Government systemic failures; legislation that worked against you, nearly wiping out your history, your stories, your language; being educated in education systems that don’t recognise you; your native language, having to learn again; and local government that forgot your roles as kaitiaki, Government that forgot your roles as mana whenua, and us as whanaunga forgetting how we lived together, here you are. To the songs and karakia you’ve had to relearn, the wānanga you recreated to learn about our tūpuna, the pain you endured, and the huge hours outside of your normal jobs, the time away from whānau, the travelling, and all you did to remember ourselves. The research you spent hours and hours finding to unravel the many stories, the agreements, agreeing to disagree, walking away when you couldn’t agree, the need to reset and try again—all of that, and it’s all still related. Nowhere else in the legal system is the perpetrator allowed to determine the process, yet here we are, whānau mā.

We are very clear: justice is not served by this House today. Do not kid ourselves otherwise. It is the pure love for our nation that sees Ngāti Maru accepting this settlement, as many iwi before it, and as long as our mokopuna thrive, this will never be full and final, just as relativity will never be off the table.

Before you is a people—Ngāti Maru—who while negotiating with the Crown has focused on its post-settlement governance entity, an entity to launch their rangatahi kaupapa, Te Kōpae Whanake o Maru. How perfect to show the love of Ngāti Maru aspirations for their future reo and kaupapa.

Before you is a people who focus on the Maru Taiao plan to reassert the kaitiakitanga that was never lost, nor were their rights or interests ceded. Many improvements could have included the return of private land, water and mineral rights, or asserting tino rangatira, as Te Tiriti states, equally on everything, even governing ourselves—imagine ACT’s reaction to that.

Elections will come, and this will be a hard but an exciting era for Ngāti Maru, because you will see before yourselves each other’s strengths, your mokopuna’s strengths—those you have grown in spite of all odds. Hopefully, there will be some that will be able to consider, for Ngāti Maru, local government and maybe Te Paati Māori. As you grow, so too will your economy, and to grow also is your political advocacy to fight for those who don’t believe in your tino rangatiratanga co-governance and want to rewrite Te Tiriti.

To Matua Pono, Polly Kopu, Tainui Tukatoa, Poi Pue, Ray Peri, Hazel Peri, Rata Pue, Kauika whānau, Puata and Patu whānau, Anaru Marshall, Karl Burrows, Holden Hohaia, all my whanaunga, Jamie Tuuta, Tamzyn, and, most of all, to your tamariki. To all your tamariki and your whānau, your partners, thank you for all you did to share your mātua with Ngāti Maru to do everything they did for us. To all of our tamariki, our rangatahi—Aroha, Rākaiao Nuri—all our rangatahi, our mokopuna, that’s in Te Upoko o Te Whenua watching this at the moment, the sacrifices that your whānau have done will always be remembered and recorded in Hansard.

Ko Maru tuatinitini. It speaks to the many Maru on earth. You are here, Ngāti Maru, you have arrived. Tihei a Maru ora! Kia ora koutou.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. I’d just would like to start by acknowledging all of the 50 of you who are in the House. For those of us who are still in Taranaki, it is hard not to be there. I want to acknowledge everyone who is watching from Te Upoko o Te Whenua Marae, down the road from here. It is a beautiful day in Taranaki for such a moment.

For those of you who haven’t been down to that beautiful valley, it sits nestled on the banks of the Waitara River in the heart of the territory that from the outside may look isolated and rugged, but traditionally was criss-crossed with important tracks and trade routes. We have heard much over the three readings of the history and we have heard your lament. We have heard the lament for the loss and the degradation of the forests, the rivers and wetlands, and the maunga, and the deforestation, the pollution, and the run-off has had such a significant impact on the Waitara. The Waitara, obviously, we’ve heard today, isn’t the only river that is connected to you, but it was one that has had such an impact on this traditional source of transport and sustenance and inhabitation.

So what I want to do, though, is take some time to take inspiration from Ngāti Maru and look at their horizons and their new opportunities that they are taking, and speak a little bit about the real impact that their leadership and their mahi and their vision has already impacted on our local community. They haven’t sat around—that is for sure. They’re so modest. They say that they are starting small, but they have big dreams, and it’s been fabulous to see that they are focusing on the growing and the education of their rangatahi and the restoration of their whenua.

So I just want to take a moment to recognise Tupu ā nuku, which is, broadly speaking, a workforce development programme, including a forestry and conservation course, and I think it’s a really good example of how they look at how to sustain and thrive in the future. Ngāti Maru realised that the forestry jobs connected to the local land were taken by contractors from other regions, so they saw the opportunity to train their local rangitahi for the forestry season, not just in forestry, health and safety, and those really particular skills and everything that’s needed to work the forests, but to make sure that tikanga and Te Ao Māori were incorporated to make sure that the forestry service that they are developing for themselves is a sustainable one. They’ve worked on riparian plantings and are developing their young people to restore their whenua.

These courses are so broad, they include financial literacy and, like I said, tikanga and health and safety. They’re looking at pastoral care and support to really ensure that there is a pathway to a sustainable future and sustainable employment.

I need to shout out to the partnerships—the real partnerships—that they’ve had with people like Dave Hare and his team of mentors at Tree Machine Services, and the impact that is having on our young people and the future of this community. They’ve brought in rangatahi from New Plymouth, from Waitara, from down in Pātea, and, of course, from Stratford and Hāwera, and it’s a really important piece of work that they are doing. They’re just getting on with it. It’s fabulous to see.

They have a really broad vision for their youth. It is ambitious. They are maturing the relationship with local secondary schools such as Stratford High School, and helping to strengthen their alternative education and make sure that our young people are accessing higher education and are successful lifelong learners. It’s really exciting to watch the very real work that they’re doing. They’re working at developing leadership, not just as iwi with other governance bodies such as the regional council and the Department of Conservation but, like I said, with schools and with the Ministry of Social Development about helping to build really strong pathways to support our young people with not just entry-level qualifications but further along into tertiary qualifications, and it’s broadly done. Pastoral care is important, and these young people are going into jobs. They’ve been going for nearly three years and they’ve had more than 30 young people come through these programmes.

So it’s wonderful to see the focus on conservation. Alongside these programmes, they’re strengthening the relationships with other iwi. Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga are helping to build those relationships with environmental organisations such as the East Taranaki Environment Trust, and they’re helping to restore some precious little pockets of paradise like Pūrangi to really help this part of the world to heal. A really great example of that is they’ve had young people come through their programmes, they’ve now got an apprentice ranger working with Pūrangi, and you hear these young people talk about how passionate they’ve become about conservation, particularly for their iwi’s rohe. They are going to go on and be leaders in our community to help all of us in what we need to do to restore our whenua and to nurture the growth of our young people.

I just want to finish off by reflecting on something I was told this morning by someone from Ngāti Maru about their big dreams. I’ve just reflected on some of the mahi that they’ve done over the last few years and that they will continue to build on, but I was told that there will come a time when they will tell their own story. Until now, this story has mainly been told by those outside of the iwi—commentators and historians—and now they can take the time to, in their own voice, tell their own story. That is really important for the rest of us because we’re going to be better off for hearing that, and we will be able to be better Treaty partners. For those of us who live as neighbours to Ngāti Maru who are involved in education and who are involved in conservation, it will help us to be better in walking beside them and doing what we need to do for them to realise their dreams as we work together to restore and realise the potential of all of our people and of our land.

It’s really humbling to be here today to be a witness to the decades of work that has gone in. I look forward to the day, and I think we heard from a Minister earlier that there might be a really good Matariki celebration to be had a little later in the year down the road at Tarata. So at this point, I will commend the bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and welcome, Ngāti Maru. Apologies that I couldn’t be with you at lunchtime. I had a prior engagement, so I wasn’t able to join you then. But I am very pleased that for this third reading, you are able to be in Parliament with us, because it’s been a very lonely journey, standing here and speaking to the past readings of the bill and feeling like we’re speaking to an empty House. But that is just the time and the place that we live in due to COVID-19. But it is excellent that at least a small number of you are able to attend today.

As I think about many of the atrocities that are happening in the world today, it really makes us feel very humble about the atrocities that happened in our own country all of those years ago and those that did happen to Ngāti Maru. It was very sad to know that Ngāti Maru were not involved in the land dealings which led to the war in Taranaki in 1860 and were not directly involved in the subsequent fighting. Involvement was limited to providing refuge to Wīremu Kīngi Te Rangitake in accordance with the requirements of whanaungatanga, but then it all changed and the Crown came along and confiscated huge tracts of Taranaki to punish the so-called rebels.

In 1865, approximately half of the traditional lands of Ngāti Maru were included. As I mentioned before, Ngāti Maru were not involved in the land dealings and not involved in the subsequent fighting, and yet the Crown actually had the gall at the time to call Ngāti Maru rebels and go ahead and confiscate the majority of their land. The main kāinga, urupā, and wāhi tapu were taken, and some of those have never been returned.

So, following the confiscation, Ngāti Maru continued to live on their lands that they still managed to have left, and in the early 1870s, the Crown attempted to promote European settlement on that confiscated land by paying some Ngāti Maru compensation for the rights that the confiscation had extinguished. These deeds of cession, covering about 60,000 acres, created significant divisions within the iwi, compounding the damage already caused by the loss of the land. But it seems a lot of the promises and a lot of the conversations that were held in the early days never really came to fruition.

So, in the early 1890s, some Ngāti Maru were virtually landless and they appealed to the Crown for help. The Crown’s response was slow and ineffective, and if it was slow and ineffective in the early 1890s, we have already now had the 1990s and we stand here in this House today, in 2022, talking to fix that. The response from the Crown was slow and ineffective and it’s been a long time coming, this agreement that’s been reached by Ngāti Maru.

I acknowledge everyone who’s played a part in this, because it is never, in my view, a complete settlement. It is, in my view, an agreement between two parties to in some part make up for the things that happened a very long time ago, and I would commend the generosity, as I often do, of the iwi in coming to this place and accepting this settlement.

All the way back then, an agreement to consolidate individual awards into more economical, viable family holdings was never carried out. Landless Ngāti Maru people not named in the 1907 Acts didn’t receive any land, and despite further petitions, in 1946, the Crown finally declined to provide any further land for Ngāti Maru. Much of the tribe’s remaining land came later under the Public Trustee administration and it was subject to perpetual leases that invariably benefited Pākehā farmers rather than the Ngāti Maru owners. The extensive loss of the Ngāti Maru lands has eroded tribal structures, created severe poverty, and damaged the physical, cultural, and spiritual health of generations of Ngāti Maru people.

I only hope that in coming to this place to reach a settlement, you have the opportunity to rebuild as much of your structure, your culture, and the spiritual health of the generations. You know, it’s many generations. There’s a lot of generations that have gone before that won’t be around to see what’s going to happen in the future, but I guess as you move forward—and today you will move forward—these people will be in your mind, and you will know who they are much better than I will because they will be your parents and your grandparents and your great-grandparents and probably your great-great-grandparents, who went through the worst of these atrocities.

The intense sense of loss and disconnection is expressed in the following Ngāti Maru lament:

Maru Hāhā

Hāhā te whenua

Hāhā te tangata.

Maru of extreme loss and breathlessness

The land is deserted

The people are gone and gasping for breath.

So post today and following today, I really have high hopes that that breathlessness in some part—that the breath will be returned to your iwi.

I really look forward to some of the exciting moments that are going to happen in the future. I was out at the signing of the memorandum, which was going to be a massive event at the time of about 600 or more people. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 at the time, that wasn’t able to be a full attendance, and it was attended by about 40 or 50 of us. At that time, Minister Little, because the apology was not able to be made to everybody, committed to come back and to personally pass on the Crown’s apology to the other members of your iwi who weren’t able to attend on that day.

So I look forward to that day. I look forward to that day in Taranaki, where Minister Little can come back on behalf of all of us and make that apology. Also, coming back, I know you’ve got a new marae in the making, and it is probably at this time largely completed, we hope: a new home for your people to gather at. I think it’s just an excellent time for you to move forward, and, hopefully, this will redress at least in part some of the wrongs of the past.

I heard Angela Roberts speaking before me about the whenua, the land, the conservation, and the maunga, and when I look at Part 2 of the bill and the areas that are subject to the acknowledgment in the deed of recognition, there are some fantastic conservation areas in here. I know they’re in good hands—they’re already in good hands—and together we can help improve our land in Taranaki with our working together and making sure that we look after our lakes, our rivers, and our biodiversity. I know that you will put every effort into the conservation projects that are in front of you because that’s where your heart is and that’s where our heart is, so congratulations on reaching this point. We’re almost at the end of the reading, and I encourage you to celebrate. Thank you.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. E tika ana kia tuku te reo mihi atu ki a rātou katoa kua hinga mai nā puta noa i ngā moutere tae atu ki te kuia e takoto ana ki Ngā Whare Wātea nō reira e te kuia Dame June Jackson. Hoki wairua atu ki a rātou mā. E oki, e moe, e moe, ā, kāti noa tēnā.

Ki a tātou ngā kanohi ora, tuatahi ki a koutou o Ngāti Maru, anei i ahau e tuku te reo mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. E ngā whānau me ngā hapū katoa o Ngāti Maruwharanui, Ngāriki, Ngāti Hinemōkai, Ngāti Kōpū, Ngāti Kui, Ngāti Tamatāpui, Ngāti Tamakehu me Ngāti Te Ika, tēnei te mihi ake ki a koutou katoa, tēnā rā tātou katoa.

[It is appropriate that I acknowledge all those who have passed in all parts of the country, including the female elder who now lies at Ngā Whare Wātea, which is Dame June Jackson. Return in spirit to your ancestors. May you rest in peace.

To us all, the living, firstly to Ngāti Maru, I stand and acknowledge you all. To the families and all the subtribes of Ngāti Maruwharanui, Ngāriki, Ngāti Hinemōkai, Ngāti Kōpū, Ngāti Kui, Ngāti Tamatāpui, Ngāti Tamakehu me Ngāti Te Ika, I acknowledge you all. Greetings one and all.]

I join together with colleagues around the Chamber today. It is a great honour and privilege to be the last speaker in the third reading of the debate on the Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Bill. I just want to reiterate a number of things that we’ve heard from all across the House, and, in particular, to say that I agree that this is not the end of a process. This is the beginning of a new legacy, one that has seen the representatives of Ngāti Maru traverse the process of settlement and they have done it with tenacity and with inspiration and, I’m sure, with a view of making a better life for the rangatahi, the tamariki mokopuna of Ngāti Maru. So it’s good to hear that there are rangatahi witnessing this debate today in the Chamber. I apologise for not being there with you today, but I’m thankful for being able to speak to this third reading, even though it’s virtually.

I want to just highlight a couple of things. One thing that I really wanted to talk about was cultural revitalisation, and I was pleased to see that this is a mechanism that’s been used within this settlement. I think the cultural revitalisation aspect of the settlement will provide a real opportunity for Ngāti Maru to do exactly what the mechanism says—to revitalise its culture—and we’ve heard from a number of members around the House speaking about how that might be approached. So I want to add my kōrero to those hopes and aspirations that you will have for your people moving into the future.

It’s also an opportunity to use the pūtea that comes along with the cultural revitalisation to tell your own story in your own words in the way that you want to. I think I said in the first reading that the historical account is a negotiated, agreed historical account, where no doubt your negotiators would have had to argue with the Crown over exactly how things were expressed within that account. I look forward to reading your own stories that you write yourself, which is not negotiated with the Crown, and I’m sure it will bring to light a number of different aspects about your experiences as you’ve gone through not only the history but also this process. I know how challenging this process can be, and I just want to acknowledge the leadership of Ngāti Maru and the negotiators for having the tenacity to get through this whole process unscathed and united. It is an incredibly important process not only to navigate but to settle.

We often hear in these debates what’s wrong with this process, and I have to agree that this process is by no means perfect. I guess it forces every negotiating team and every iwi to ask itself, “If it’s not perfect and yet we still go through this process, why would we do that?” Having gone through it myself, the answer that I came up with, along with my whanaunga, was we decided that it was the best way forward to use the settlement assets to improve the lives of our iwi. So even though it’s an imperfect process, there is some perfection in knowing that we are in control of our own destiny by taking these assets and using them to better the lives of our people.

I’m not going to prolong the vote on this bill. I think Ngāti Maru has waited long enough, so I’m going to cut short my contribution with these words. Ki a koutou o Ngāti Maru, ko te tūmanako kia uhia mai e te Runga Rawa ōna manaakitanga ki runga ki a koutou mō ngā wā katoa. Tēnā rā tātou katoa.

[To you of Ngāti Maru, my hope is that the Almighty above places his protection upon you for all time. Greetings one and all.]

Bill read a third time.

Members, I understand that permission has been granted for a waiata.

Waiata

If members would just pause for a moment to allow iwi to make their way from the Chamber, and we bid them farewell.