can I welcome all our friends from Rangitane to the gallery this
morning. This bill gives
Rangitane to the gallery this morning. This bill gives effect to
a deed of settlement between the
Crown and Rangitane Wairarapa and Tamaki
almost a year ago. The deed of settlement settles all
almost a year ago. The deed of settlement settles all the historic
claims relating to the Rangitane in
the Wairarapa and Tamaki
regions. The settlement comprises historical redress, which
records the breaches and the past
injustices caused by failure of the
Crown, cultural redress reconnecting
the people of Rangitane with a
cultural redress reconnecting the people of Rangitane with a number of
their most culturally significant
sites, and financial and
commercial redress, providing Rangitane with a
strong economic
strong economic base for them to grow. Can I acknowledge the work of
the negotiators, my ministerial
colleagues, local government and other
to the development of this legislation.
to the development of this
legislation. And I also thank the chair
chair and members of the Maori Affairs
again done an excellentjob in progressing
progressing this bill as quickly as possible. The bill was referred to
the committee on 22 September 2016.
12 written submissions
were received from
from interested groups and individuals,
individuals, and the committee heard six of these at
a hearing in Masterton on 14 December 2016. The
committee reported the bill back to the House on 20
March this year and recommended that it be passed
without amendment. This is a
testament to the
hard work and the careful
careful consideration that went into the
the negotiation of the settlement package and the drafting of the
bill. Some of the
submissions related to
that have been raised manytimes before,
before, including in the Waitangi Tribunal.
Tribunal. And I wanted to take a moment to address them. Mandate and
representation are recurring issues in treaty settlements.
Committee members
members and Crown officials before them took the submissions of
the Tahika Papahuma, the
Wai 420 claimants, and the
Tahika Papahuma, the Wai 420 claimants, and the Wai 1950
claimants, very seriously indeed.
Both claimant groups asserted a
distinct identity from Rangitane and sought either to
be represented as a separate
negotiate comprehensive settlements covering
covering all the historical claims of a large natural group of
of a large natural group of tribal interests,
interests, this does not mean the distinct
distinct identity of iwi, hapu and any other groups that
form part of the larger group disappears or
is subsumed within the wider group.
All members
members of Papahuma, in so far as their claims
their claims relate to Rangitane, will benefit
will benefit from the settlement. Of the
the settlement of Rangitane historical
historical treaty claims will not preclude
preclude this group from asserting mana
mana and their identity within their rohe.
that needs to be stressed. The Crown does not and
in matters of machina whenua or tribal
in matters of machina whenua or
for iwi and hapu to decide. What we're
we're trying to do here is address the
the wrongs of the past and provide the
the means for members of Rangitane to move fonivard.
the means for members of Rangitane to move fonNard. Our approach
toll settling the claims of Te
hicka opapahuma within the large groups
of Tamaki
opapahuma within the large groups of
by the tribunal. As part of the committee's consideration, it
at whether Papahuma could be referred to
referred to in the historical account.
an index to the deed of settlement which
are mentioned in the deed of settlement.
settlement. The Tahika mandated iwi authority said that would
not satisfy them. Therefore,
the Rangitane Tu Mai Trust said it was
not to have an
index to the deed, as it was not
requested either by the Crown
Crown or by Rangitane. The committee concluded
concluded that it didn't think it appropriate
appropriate to remove the Wai 1950 claimants
claimants from the bill because they are a hapu of Rangitane and
their claims should be
Rangitane's final settlement. Mr Speaker, this second reading brings
us closer to the concluding stages
of settling the historical claims of
Rangitane Wairarapa and Orangutanay
like to do is talk in more detail at the third reading,
fully. Until then, Mr Speaker, I commend the bill to the House.
The question
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