Members of Ngāti Ranginui outside Parliament after their settlement bill passes its second and third readings. Photo: Pokere Paewai
The Government has apologised to Tauranga iwi Ngāti Ranginui for inflicting confiscation and a scorched earth campaign that left the iwi without sufficient land to sustain themselves.
The Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui Claims Settlement Bill passed its second and third readings in Parliament on Thursday.
The Bill included financial and commercial redress of $38 million and the vesting 15 sites of significance with iwi, with two other sites to be jointly managed with other Tauranga iwi.
The Crown apologised to the hapū of Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Te Wai, Pirirākau, Ngāti Taka, the Wairoa hapū of Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Pango, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hangarau, Ngāi Tamarāwaho, Ngāi Te Ahi and Ngāti Ruahine.
Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui Settlement trust chairperson Te Pio Kawe felt 'absolutely ecstatic' once the Bill passed, but tinged with some sadness.
"It's both of those emotions - the ecstasy that we've finally got to this point, the sadness that there are multiple hapū representatives our kuia koroua [elders] who never made it this far to see the day, who gave and contributed so much to the effort."
He said this was an intergenerational cause, and the next generation of tamariki (children) and mokopuna (grandchildren) would carry on from the platform set for them.
Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui Settlement trust chairperson Te Pio Kawe. Photo: Pokere Paewai
Ngāti Ranginui's historical Treaty of Waitangi claims related to war and raupatu (confiscation) in Tauranga in the 1860s, but the iwi were also heavily affected by Crown purchasing of certain land, the operation and effects of native land laws, and Māori land legislation and public works taking in the 20th century.
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Paul Goldsmith told MPs that, during the New Zealand Wars in Tauranga and the subsequent bush campaign, the Crown inflicted a scorched earth campaign that devastated the hapū of Ngāti Ranginui.
"Of course, no amount of settlement can ever fully compensate for the losses suffered, but it does represent a commitment to establish a partnership that begins to restore the Crown relationship with Ngāti Ranginui, and starts a new journey towards reconciliation and prosperity."
The campaign, combined with confiscation and the purchase of other Māori land blocks, left Ngāti Ranginui "without sufficient land for their present and future needs", he said.
"As we gather here today for this important day, we also look back on the past and recognise that the Crown severely wronged Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui in the years following the settlement," he said. "The Crown acknowledges its historic breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, including that it was ultimately responsible for the outbreak of war in Tauranga in 1864, in which Crown troops killed members of the hapū, and wounded others in the battle of Pukehinahina and Te Ranga."
Kawe said, while the $38 million figure that iwi will receive in commercial redress sounds nice on paper, it does come with a caveat.
"We don't actually get $38 million dollars cash, we give it straight back, because we have to buy the properties, so they talk about 15 properties that are coming to us, ae pai (that's great), but we have to pay $38 million dollars to get the bloody things back."
With the right people bringing their skills to the table, he was confident the iwi could make good use of it.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui chairperson Charlie Rahiri said legislation wasn't the end. Photo: Pokere Paewai
"We can look at what does prosperity look like, what does economic development look like for Ngā Hapū o Ngāti Ranginui, what role does our marae play, what role does our hapū play, but that's part of the vision that we need to create."
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui chairperson Charlie Rahiri echoed those sentiments, saying the legislation wasn't the end, but just the beginning of a stronger platform for the iwi in Tauranga.
"The irony though [is] that legislation brought us here in terms of what was stripped from us and it has to be legislation that brings it back."
The iwi felt the effects of the war in Tauranga and the scorched earth campaign all these years later, he said.
"The bush campaign, the scorched earth, te weranga is one [battle] that is not well known. Pukehinahina was a battle, Te Ranga was murder, so when we tell those stories, we want to tell it our way, because what we know of our history has been the dominant people's attempts to excuse their actions."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
