AARON GILMORE (National) : I rise to talk on Part 1. I think we have had some interesting speakers, and I would like to touch firstly on the contribution from my colleague Hekia Parata. I have not met a Ngāti Porou woman who thought she was wrong.
Hon Member: There aren’t any!
AARON GILMORE: That is right. It might be a really good policy initiative to consider bringing in more Ngāti Porou women to be involved in claims negotiations.
Anyway, I want to touch on just a couple of aspects. I spoke on the second reading of this bill last night, and I want to touch on a couple of things that I experienced with the earlier claim, particularly with the Wellington Tenths Trust. It approached me about 12 years ago when I was a lowly policy analyst working in the bowels of—
Grant Robertson: You would have been sacked by now by this Government.
AARON GILMORE: I know. I was working in the bowels of what is known as Treasury these days. I vividly recall the things that came across my desk from a guy called Dr Love. When I first met Dr Love I thought he was something other than what he turned out to be. He turned out to be a man who represented a bunch of people who were wronged a long, long time ago. I think that today is another step in the direction of resolving those wrongs, and it is a good thing.
When we look at what we have here in Part 1, and at some of the issues here, we see that it moves on in terms of what I knew as the Wellington Tenths Trust. I did not know who or what the trust was at that time, but I am pleased to be here now talking on this bill. I think it is interesting, and we all agree that it is a wonderful step in the right direction. It is a step towards self-sufficiency economically and culturally, which is a great thing, as well.
One interesting aspect of Part 1 that no one else has mentioned is the excluded areas. I did not realise or appreciate what were the excluded areas. Clause 9(3) sets out which are the excluded areas, and it includes the South Island. I did not realise that the South Island was considered in any way part of the original claims. It also excludes the Chatham Islands, the Taranaki area, and the Kapiti Coast. Obviously, I am very pleased that it excludes the South Island, being a South Island - based MP from Christchurch, because I think it would cause more problems than people imagine. It is a good example of some of the great work that has been done during the claim negotiation by many people in this process, culminating in the signing of the deed of settlement in August last year.
One of the great aspects of this bill, which has already been touched on, has been the setting up of various iwi groups for the future, to enable their economic position to be not equalised to where they may have been but to be a start for their people to go forward in the future. There has been a recognition by all parties that that is what this bill represents: a full settlement and final claim. The claimants will now be in a position whereby everybody can move on and look forward to the future. That is much more important than looking backwards.
Another interesting aspect that arises from this bill is that a number of parts of it talk about particular areas of Wellington. I lived in Wellington for about 8 or 9 years, and when the Wellington Tenths Trust first wrote to the Minister and some of the documents came across my desk, I did not know where these places were. I did not know where Point Dorset was, or where Pipitea Marae was, or where some of the other sites were. So I made an effort to go and see them. I was a mad mountain biker, and I would go and check and look. I was quite lucky, because I ended up ringing one of the members of the Wellington Tenths Trust and asking him to show me what these places were and what they meant to him. I must admit that I enjoyed that, and I heard some good stories. It built on some of the good history that exists in this bill, and I look forward to the settlement of these claims. There are many other people who are eminently better qualified than I am and who went through the select committee process on this bill. They can talk at length more meaningfully on some of the good and bad aspects and how we got here.
The best thing is that this is a bill that I think everyone in this House supports. I have not seen many bills of that type in my short time in the House. I think it is really good and healthy to see a few bills like this; bills everyone agrees with because of the good work of the select committee and the good work of the current Government and the previous Government. Maybe my colleague Hekia Parata would say that it is because a Ngāti Porou woman has been involved with it again! But it is a good aspect, and I would like to see more of that sort of action across the House. I would like to see more bills like this one, where the work is done in the select committee and the bill comes from the select committee to the House, and we are all in agreement.