Hon Christopher Finlayson

Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) : Ngāti Apa rohe, Ngāti Apa tangata, te iwi o te maunga tupuna i a Parae Karetu, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

[To the region and people of Ngā Apa, the people of the ancestral mountain Parae Karetu, greetings to you, greetings to you, and greetings to you all.]

I acknowledge the contribution of both previous speakers. I consider I am one of the lucky ones in Parliament in that my opposite number, Maryan Street, is such a sensible person; it does not always apply when one is dealing with Opposition MPs.

The Ngāti Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill recognises and addresses the historical grievance of North Island Ngāti Apa. Those grievances are longstanding. They relate primarily to the Crown’s purchase in 1849 of the Rangitīkei-Turakina Block, and the subsequent failure to protect reserves set aside from this transaction. As the other speakers have said, from 1848 the Crown purchased many hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in which Ngāti Apa held interests. Through these transactions Ngāti Apa endeavoured to establish a relationship with the Crown, and they sought to strengthen this relationship by expressing loyalty to the Crown. But the Crown failed to ensure that the arrangements in the 1849 deed were given effect, and the Crown also failed to take steps to protect collective tribal and hapū custodianship of the land.

North Island Ngāti Apa have worked over many years to have their claims addressed by the Crown. The Crown recognised the mandate of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Apa in November 2004. The negotiation reached a significant milestone when an agreement in principle was signed on 12 July 2007, followed by an initialled deed of settlement in September 2008. The settlement is well supported by North Island Ngāti Apa. In September last year 35 percent of the registered adult members of Ngāti Apa voted on the deed of settlement and proposed governance arrangements. Of these, 97 percent voted in favour of accepting both the deed of settlement and the proposed arrangements. The Crown and North Island Ngāti Apa subsequently signed a deed of settlement on 8 October 2008. I acknowledge the work of my predecessor, Dr Cullen. On 25 August 2009 the Ngāti Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill was introduced to Parliament.

I agree with the other speakers when they say that settling this claim is an important further step in this country’s progress towards settling all historical Treaty grievances. The settlement redress provided by the bill recognises the history of North Island Ngāti Apa’s interaction with the Crown. It includes Crown acknowledgments and an apology for historical breaches of the Treaty. Ngāti Apa have significant aspirations for the development of their iwi. The redress included in this bill will help them make progress towards those aspirations in the future. The commercial and financial redress totals $16 million, including a right to purchase approximately 6,500 hectares of Crown forest licensed land and certain other Crown-owned properties. The redress includes innovative cultural revitalisation elements, including the gifting of five papakāinga properties, provision of funding to develop and implement a strategy for revitalising North Island Ngāti Apa customs, and funding to assist in compiling a comprehensive historical record. Although it is not possible to fully compensate Ngāti Apa, nor any claimant group, for the loss their people have suffered, the cultural redress in this bill seeks to recognise Ngāti Apa’s longstanding cultural and spiritual association in the region.

The bill was referred to the Māori Affairs Committee on 17 November last year. The committee reported back to the House on 17 March 2010, and I thank the committee for its excellent work on this bill and for considering it in such a timely manner. The committee received and considered 34 submissions on the bill. Submissions in support of the bill were received on behalf of each of the hapū collectives of Ngāti Apa. The committee heard oral submissions on the bill in Marton on 17 February at the Turakina Māori Girls College. The committee has examined the bill, it has proposed no major amendments, and it unanimously supports it. The committee has recommended that it be passed with a number of technical amendments. Ten properties listed in schedule 2 have been surveyed since the bill’s introduction. The technical amendments recommended by the committee reflect the updated legal description of these properties.

I acknowledge the North Island Ngāti Apa people who suffered from the breaches of the Treaty and who carried the grievances. I particularly acknowledge those who are no longer with us. I also acknowledge Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Apa, including the members of the negotiating team; their dedication and determination have been vital in the path towards settlement. I thank other Ministers and departments involved in this process. A wide variety of people from across the political spectrum have made really important contributions to this settlement over the years.

The second reading is part of the last stage of the settlement process that seeks to recognise what is important to the people of Ngāti Apa, and to provide redress for historical breaches of the Treaty. It is one of the many settlements that this Government is progressing toward a goal of settling historical Treaty of Waitangi claims by 2014.