Kerikeri National Trust Bill

JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) Link to this

I move, That the Kerikeri National Trust Bill be now read a second time. I guess there are two issues that are a bit ironic. The first is that at the end of this speech I will be asking everybody to vote against the bill, for the very reason that it should be discharged—and I will explain why. But I think it is also ironic that we have just had a debate on the issue of Waitangi Day, which is something that is obviously very historic and very dear to most New Zealanders’ hearts. We are now talking about another issue that is just as historic, and that is the issue of the Kerikeri Basin.

Let me explain the purpose of the bill and why it should be discharged, because I am sure a number of people in the House will not know the history of it. In about 1995 there was a move by a number of people, in Kerikeri particularly but in Northland generally, to bring together under one umbrella all of the people who have a direct interest in the Kerikeri Basin. In the same way as we have the Waitangi National Trust Board it was envisaged that we would set up a trust called the Kerikeri National Trust that would administer the basin and the surrounds of the basin on behalf of all New Zealanders. The reason for that is that the area of the basin is hugely unique, not just in New Zealand but in the world. It is the only place that I, or anyone I know of who has searched, can find where a modern-day settlement that met with the indigenous people, and where the two peoples came together and started a nation, is not now covered with high-rise buildings, being land-claimed, and being made to disappear.

The area is still unique; it still has the history there in one piece. The whole purpose of the bill was to ensure that the basin remained in its unique state. The area contains Hone Heke’s pā. There was a move by a developer, I think in about 1975, to buy the pā, to level it, to do away with all the history of Hone Heke’s pā, and to build houses. Fortunately, the good people of Kerikeri fought against this and preserved the pā. This is also the area where Ngāti Rēhia had their village. I should say that it is also the place where the Kerikeri Stone Store is. This is our most famous stone building and was New Zealand - built in 1835. Kemp House, built in the early 1800s, is also there. There is actually a building in Kerikeri that is the oldest wooden building in New Zealand. It is a little wee garage that most people do not notice, but it is the oldest building that is still standing in New Zealand. The area has other history; it is where the first European garden was established, for example.

So the area has the pā, it has the possibility of a replica of the pā being established, and it has the possibility of the village being re-established, which the local iwi are very keen to be involved in seeing happen. The Kerikeri Stone Store, of course, is still preserved, as is Kemp House. In respect of the restaurant that is there, there is the view that we will build a blacksmith shop and an old bakehouse in replica form, so we will have the history of the nation as it was first seen when first European settlements started. We would then move up the hill to where there is a building that was built in the 1920s, then, moving through the history of the nation, go to the top of the basin and see where there is the modern-day technology. So basically we have, in a valley—in Kerikeri Basin—the start of our modern-day nation, linking us to Māori history, which goes back, of course, several centuries right up to modern day. So the area is hugely historic.

The reason the bill was put on the Table was that back in 1995 and earlier, parts of the basin were administered by the Department of Conservation, parts were administered by the Historic Places Trust, part of it was privately owned, and part of it was owned by the Church. So it was a real mishmash of ownership and people trying to do their own things. The community of Kerikeri came together with a view to bringing all of the area together under one umbrella and to preserve it for all of us, not just for our nation but also so that visitors from overseas could see it in its original state and enjoy it, and see part of our history, be part of our history, learn part of our history, and actually be active in it.

So that was the reason why this bill was put on the Table. In fact, there is a little bit of a history to it. When I first brought this bill into the House, Jonathan Hunt was the senior Opposition whip and I was the senior Government whip. I was due to go overseas on the Tui to protest against the French tests on Mururoa Island, and because the bill was there Jonathan and I, one evening on a member’s day, did a deal. Instead of the bill having to go to the ballot, we just quietly moved that it be put in to have its first reading and be sent to the select committee. So the bill is unique in that regard, as well.

It is also unique because in those 12 years a lot has happened. Parties that were not talking or coming together to try to retain the Kerikeri Basin and develop the basin have come together. There has been a lot of discussion with local iwi, a lot of discussion with the Department of Conservation and the Historic Places Trust, and a lot of discussion with local landowners and the Church. So all the interested parties are now coming together with a view to saying that it is unique, that they understand its uniqueness, and that they want to retain it as it is. Therefore, the development is moving ahead, as was envisaged back in 1995 and earlier.

So the need for this bill has now gone. It was originally kept on the Table just in case. As the people involved came together and decided they needed to have legislation to support their endeavours, the bill could have been expanded or changed and used as a means of this Parliament supporting those activities and endeavours. But, of course, things have now moved on. The bill has been sitting before select committees for 12 years. I have had to explain, from time to time, to new members of those select committees and new members of Parliament, why the bill was sitting there doing nothing. I have even had to defend it to members of the public up in Kerikeri, who from time to time have thought: “What is behind this bill? Why is it hanging on? What secret deal is John Carter doing with this Kerikeri bill? Is he going to take over the Kerikeri Basin himself and run it?”. It was none of that. The bill was always there for the good purposes of just trying to make sure that our history was preserved.

MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) Link to this

First of all, I commend the previous speaker, John Carter, for being a very long-serving member representing the far north. I am also aware that my very good colleague Shane Jones will take a call, and I accept he will be far, far more authoritative than me in terms of his deep and profound understanding and appreciation of the unique and iconic area of the Kerikeri Basin. I acknowledge also Hone Harawira in that context.

I speak primarily as a member of the Local Government and Environment Committee. Unfortunately, Steve Chadwick, the chair, cannot be here tonight. She would very much like to have made a contribution with regard to consideration of this bill and to state very clearly for the record the fact that although at the end of the debate this bill is likely to be voted down, that in no way detracts from its purpose. What it does say is that as we understand it in the select committee and in terms of the advice we have received, history essentially has moved on.

For the benefit of those who are listening to this debate, I would certainly make the point that this bill has been a member’s bill that has survived several Parliaments. It is in the name of John Carter, the previous speaker, who is the local member for the general seat in that area. As I have already acknowledged, Hone Harawira is the other member of Parliament for that locality. The bill’s purpose is to consolidate the heritage and scenic assets of the Kerikeri Basin, and to establish a Kerikeri National Trust to manage and promote the area. Obviously, the consolidation and preservation of the heritage and scenic assets of the Kerikeri Basin remain crucially important to us as a nation, but that preservation process is going down a different path from that provided for in the bill.

The bill was introduced in the forty-fourth Parliament, way back in 1995, and was referred to the then Internal Affairs and Local Government Committee, which received and heard submissions on it. The Department of Conservation, among others, provided advice to the committee. It considered that although there was general support for the bill’s intention to provide for integrated planning and the coordinated management of the heritage values of the Kerikeri Basin, the provisions relating to the establishment of the Kerikeri National Trust were, at the time, somewhat controversial. The department believed that the bill would need to be substantially redrafted to achieve its intent. That was obviously all before people such as me came on to the select committee. Unlike the previous speaker and other members of the House who will make a contribution on this bill, I certainly do not have a close and intimate understanding of the unique history behind this bill.

I note that in 2001 this Labour-led Government agreed to fund a planning process to ensure a more sustainable future for the Kororipo - Kerikeri Basin. Its objective was to produce a long-term plan to protect the cultural heritage, environment, and resources of the basin, and to serve as a guide for its future well-being, enhancement, and prosperity. I also note that the purpose and content of the resulting plan have much in common with the intention of the bill, which was retained by the committee at the time as a possible legislative vehicle in support of the plan. I understand that the sustainable development plan is in the process of publication, and is subject to consultations with iwi. The potential for the bill to offer legal support for the plan has consequently diminished. That was our understanding on the committee, and that is contained in our report. Indeed, amending the bill for that purpose would require substantial redrafting.

As I pointed out before, the bill has been before select committees for more than 11 years. In the light of that, the committee has recommended that the bill not proceed. But let me state very clearly on the public record that the issue of the preservation of the Kerikeri Basin is of critical and crucial national importance. John Carter made reference to what were some appalling development plans. Indeed, I remember way, way back, as a young person, seeing a hideous proposal that the Stone Store would be surrounded by imitation colonial houses—a sort of housing development. That was but one of them at the time. I am very thankful and grateful that those plans, which were motivated purely by money and private interests, never, thank goodness, came to pass. There are other parts of New Zealand that, sadly, have not been as fortunate as the Kerikeri Basin has been. We are very lucky, actually, that over many years the community of the far north—and I say this as a New Zealander who is domiciled in the Waikato—has had a collective vision and has collectively understood, absolutely, the iconic historic heritage that exists in the Bay of Islands - far north area, of which the Kerikeri Basin is a very, very important component.

On a very personal note, I say that I am typical of many Kiwis of my age. In 1958, when I was 6 years old, mum and dad took me camping in the Bay of Islands area. One of my first abiding memories of Kerikeri was visiting the amazing Stone Store, as we knew it then. I do remember it; it flashes up in my memory as something I experienced as a 6-year-old. It is one of my memories because it was a very important, unique, and significant building. That was imparted to me as a 6-year-old. As I said, that was back in 1958, during the term of the great second Labour Government, under the great leadership and premiership of Sir Walter Nash. If there is any sense of a degree of privilege and pride, it is that I as a 55-year-old now stand in Parliament and talk about this amazingly iconic building in an amazingly iconic area.

In acknowledging John Carter as the member in charge of this bill, we also acknowledge the international significance of this part of the world in terms of visitors. So not only do we want to preserve the Kerikeri Basin for us as New Zealanders; we also wish to make sure that we preserve it for the benefit of international visitors. It is, in my view, a world heritage area, both in terms of our Māori history—it was settled by Māori hundreds and hundreds of years ago—and our more recent European settlement. In the spirit of non-partisanship, I want to acknowledge John Carter again and to commend him for his work. As I understand it, this is a good example of a good local member, over many years, supporting a bill in consultation with local people.

I do not come from the far north, so I do not have an intimate understanding of the communities in that area. I am from the Waikato, so of course I do not have the intimate understanding of the far north that other members of Parliament may have. But my observation, looking on from afar in another region, is that a whole lot of people are working together in a very, very constructive way. I just make the point that the outcome of that constructive process of working together will be of huge benefit, not just to this generation—and I know I am stating the obvious, but I think it is important to do so—but to future mokopuna, grandchildren, great-grandchild, etc. This basin is one of the jewels in the crown of Aotearoa New Zealand. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.

SHANE JONES (Labour) Link to this

Kia ora nō tātou. I say to all of our New Zealand whānau listening up in Tai Tokerau, in the event that they include the three or four people in New Zealand who know about the Kerikeri National Trust Bill, that this evening this legislation is being consigned to history. The bill was one that flowed from the efforts of my colleague from the far north John Carter to try to coordinate a planning and resource allocation effort around a particularly important site in respect of Aotearoa’s history—a site of great beauty to those of us in the far north. The site I refer to is in the township of Kerikeri, the name of which means “to dig”. It is a term that reminds us that prior to European settlement Kerikeri was already known as a place highly admired for gardening. It was a horticultural paradise. Unfortunately for some of our Māori whānau, gardening traits do exist in our mokopuna, but they grow something else somewhere else. There will be more on that at a later date, or people can take their inquiries to the Māori Party.

The name Kerikeri was laid upon that particular locality through Te Hōtete, the father of the great and fearless Ngāpuhi warrior chief and tupuna to my whanaunga here, Hone Harawira: Hongi Hika. Hongi Hika had his pā at a small hill known as Kororipo, which is just to the south-east of the current location of the bridge. I say “current”, because that bridge is soon to go, despite the best efforts of a small group of active but ill-informed voters in the Kerikeri region. That group has yet to realise that there has been a massive injection of both interest and capital towards the upkeep of the environment around Kororipo and Kerikeri through the Prime Minister taking an interest in the Kerikeri Stone Store, Kemp House, and the general tone and qualities of the basin.

Let me just traverse—not for too long, Mr Deputy Speaker—more of the history that no doubt informed Mr Carter to ensure that the House endeavoured to do something to aid the efforts of maintaining this site. Te Hōtete moved from an area inland, currently known as Waimate North but which we in the north call Tauhara. He had a pā there called Whakataha—Mr Hodgson spoke about his missionary tūpunas getting married there. There is a great deal of history and heritage around this area. The Ngāti Rēhia people, along with their tēina from Ngāti Torohina have taken an active interest in it. Indeed, in earlier decades, an actual marae was planned. That was in the time when our kaumātua Tū Kemp, who has long since gone, was a young man.

I must in this speech acknowledge Rēmāria Kapa, who recently passed away—I say to Mr Carter—and who was a great supporter of goodwill between the Kerikeri community and the Ngāti Rēhia people.

Ngāti Rēhia and Ngāti Torohina have maintained an active interest in the area. Local families, local ratepayers, and local residents joined together to preserve part of the local nature heritage and created Rewa’s Village. Of course, Rewa, along with Tāreha, is one of the Ngāti Rēhia tūpuna. So this is an area where the people descend from some of the original tūpuna who accepted, embraced, and cared for original pioneers and missionaries. After Samuel Marsden came to Aotearoa he was first out at Ōihi, the site where our first missionary kauhau was offered. Then, when he fell under the korowai of Hongi Hika, he came into Kerikeri.

So this site actually deserves the level of attention that it is getting. It certainly will benefit from the leadership shown by Helen Clark in improving its priority in the Budget list of items for the Ministry for Arts, Culture and Heritage. Although the bill we look at tonight is consigned, it has been overtaken by another exercise that may turn into legislation. As I have reflected to Mr Carter, if the current group of advisers and people working with Mr Mike Simm do not get it right, then I look forward to possibly another bill coming to the House to make sure they damn well do get it right.

It is essential that the final kaupapa, planning, framework, and resource allocation strategy put together for this site involves the tangata whenua. It does not involve people who may come from my tribe further north, but it involves the people who actually know the names and the history—the urupās and the wāhi tapus—and are able to give some life and colour to that particular area. Although others of us in the north do have a connection, our connection is nowhere near as intimate as that of the people of Ngāti Rēhia, and no doubt we will hear more about that in the future.

The bill reflects the fact that, despite the best efforts of Don Brash, there was someone in the National Party who was interested in heritage and biculturalism, and who respects the fact that in order for these sites in our part of Aotearoa to be suitably protected and enjoy good stewardship, it has to be done by both peoples. I commend him for having made the effort. I share a little bit of his confidence that the work that is under way at the moment will actually deliver a tauira—an example of how these sites can be guarded, shared, and developed by both the tangata whenua and representatives of the Crown.

The people of Kerikeri must all understand that they live in an area that contains some of the oldest colonial sites. As time goes on, these sites will be seen as an iconic reflection of the early times when the races met, co-mingled, and occasionally fought. Right in front of the Kerikeri Stone Store lie many sites of history that take us back to the battles between the various Māori tribes, the encounters between the missionaries and the chiefs, and the attempts of the granddaughters and grandsons of the chiefs to embrace English language, education, etc. I think that as time goes on we in this House should encourage not only the bureaucrats and ourselves but also all New Zealand families to respect, cherish, and own all these sites as a part of our distinctive history in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Aotearoa. Kia ora tātou.

Hon BRIAN DONNELLY (NZ First) Link to this

We in New Zealand First applaud John Carter, the member for Northland, and we applaud the intention behind the Kerikeri National Trust Bill. I speak here as someone who selected to be a Northlander, after having grown up in Auckland.

That whole area, and not just Kerikeri, is really the cradle of our nation’s history. I say that very judiciously, because I am talking about our nation. Obviously, things went on in New Zealand that were important long before that, and I think that people need to realise that the concept of history is more than something that began only when we had written records. We in the South Pacific particularly need to resist that particular concept and reject it because history is carried in whakapapa and it is carried in mōteatea and tauparapara and a whole pile of other things. So we need to expand that academic definition. But as a nation, this is the area in which our history is cradled.

Earlier on we were talking about Waitangi and its importance and why we should have Waitangi Day. It was at Waitangi that the document was signed upon which our nation—our nation—was founded. Whenever I visit Waitangi one of the things I am left with is the fact that if our ancestors had gone the length and breadth of this country, they could not have found a more majestic place to create such an important piece of our history. This whole area is important, and I think it is often neglected.

I have to say one little thing to Mr Carter. Shane Jones is right: Hone Heke had his pā at Kerikeri. He had it at Te Ahuahu, where he was shot after Despard got his butt kicked in at Ōhaeāwai. Therefore, he was a bit late for Ruapekapeka. I am very, very sad to see the number of cars that go up and down that highway and do not stop to see Ruapekapeka, because that is a piece of living history. We can actually see not only part of our history and the courage and ingenuity of people like Kāwiti and the people who were with him but also the grit of the British, who brought those guns all the way up from Kawakawa to be able to drop the shells down onto the Māori.

The important thing is that what Kāwiti did there with some of the fortifications actually had an impact upon the World War I fortifications. The earlier fortifications went into the establishment of those later fortifications. We have a World Heritage Site there, and most New Zealanders just go up and down the highway and do not even realise it is there. It is a magical place, and I would just put in a plug for people to stop there a little more often. The intention of this bill is terrific, and we can understand the outcomes. The House is saying tonight that it will be scrutinising the activities of the people up in this area closely, and I think that we all agree that if, for example, they go mad, then we will put through legislation like this.

I will just tell a story because I think that Pete Hodgson told a wonderful story before. Back in 2004 the parliamentary rugby team decided that it would go to the Cook Islands and, because I had played rugby for the Cook Islands, I thought that I had better go. Unbeknown to me, I found out that they were to have a practice game at Miramar. I was caught up in a ruck and had my leg broken in two places. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. So when a reporter came to me and asked how it happened, I said that it was John Carter’s fault, because he was supposed to be supporting me and he was not there. So the reporter went to John Carter, who said that my leg could not be broken at all. He said that it could not be broken, because I was moving too slowly to break my leg.

I look at this bill, and I think it proves my case, because John Carter put in the bill in 1995. How slow is that? It has only just got to its second reading! So I rest my case that in fact the real problem was that John Carter was too slow to catch up to me on the paddock that day—not the other way around. New Zealand First will be supporting the call made by the member John Carter for this bill to be discharged, but we also congratulate the member on the endeavours he has made in this particular case.

HONE HARAWIRA (Māori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) Link to this

Tēnā koe. I am lucky that I am Māori and a member of the Māori Party because, as Parekura Horomia well knows, being Māori means one learns to wait and wait for years before anything gets done. But waiting for 12 years for John Carter to write a speech to get rid of this bill is pushing it a bit—12 long years! That is about as long as it will take my relation from Waimaru, kia tae atu ki te taumata o tōna pāti. [ to reach the standard of his party.] Nō reira, tēnā koe, Shane.

But I am glad that this bill came up during the time of the Māori Party. It gives me a chance to add a bit more Māori spin to it, because Kerikeri holds a very important place in all our history. It also gives me a chance to pronounce a lot of these names properly. Judith Binney, a professor of history at the University of Auckland, said that the Kerikeri basin is the most significant visual testimony that we have to the meeting of two worlds in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Writings of the time record radical change between Māori and Pākehā, including some of the major players of the time—Hongi Hika, Hone Heke, Rewa, Tītore, Waikato, Samuel Marsden, Governor George Grey, the Williams family, and Thomas Kendall. Our oral histories tell us of a thriving Kororipo Pā before the arrival of European settlers, and Kororipo would later become an important gathering place, not just for people but also for the distribution of resources and also as a gathering place, often, for other raids. Our waiata, our haka, and our histories speak of a pā at Whakataha, the people of Ngāti Rēhia and Tākou Bay, home of the Mātaatua canoe, and heaps and heaps of kai moana. We know of Hongi’s journeys up the Waitangi River and on to Waimate. They speak of the protection given by Te Paihi to the local people from the attacks of lawless whalers, and of the cultivations of kūmara at Te Puna and Rangihoua and of the massive forests of tōtara and tawa.

We know too of the lives and of the stories of rangatira from the area, from the local hapū, and of the resting place of Te Hōtete. Indeed, the whole area is packed with historical references to Māori who lived and died there for many, many generations. Ruatara Pā, on the other hand, also gives us an opportunity to witness the forging of a remarkable relationship between a chap by the name of Ruatara, an entrepreneurial kind of a guy, and the missionary Samuel Marsden. Ruatara knew Marsden wanted to bring in Christianity, so he talked him into teaching him some new agricultural techniques because of the area. In return, he helped him to introduce the gospel in 1814 and to start his mission.

St James Church is also a sign of earlier times when the mission station was established in 1819, and indeed the memorials in the windows, and the Butler and Kemp tablets, pay tribute to the original whare karakia. The Stone Store itself was built in 1832, originally as a storehouse, and later on as a trading post for the burgeoning kauri gum trade in the late 1800s. In fact the store was once owned by John Black, who was also responsible for the first school at Kerikeri. Of course, we all know that 110 years later the school was reopened after major renovation work and under Historic Places Trust designation. Also associated with the mission was Kemp House, the oldest surviving European building in the country. It was built in 1819, on land granted to Marsden by Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika and used as a mission house and a home for lay missionary James Kemp, whose descendants lived there until 1974, when it was finally gifted to the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

Such, then, is a taste of the meeting of the two worlds. This was the original purpose of the bill—to recognise the important place of the Kerikeri Basin in the history of Aotearoa, and to preserve, protect, administer, and promote its historical, cultural, and natural heritage. There is nothing wrong with any of that. Members of the Māori Party have been kind of surprised at some of the reactions in this House when we seek to do just that—preserve, protect, and promote the historical, cultural, and natural heritage of the tangata whenua of this land, and of this land itself.

The Māori Party supports the notion of safeguarding heritage and scenic assets in Kerikeri and other places. We welcome the opportunity for the debate and discussion that that provides, because it is the tension and the battles of history that help to define and shape us as a people. I saw something that Olympic multi-gold medallist and black athlete, Jesse Owens, once said. He said: “The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself—the invisible, inevitable battles inside of all of us—that’s where it’s at.” Indeed, that is exactly where it is at, when we look back at Kerikeri.

We look back with pride at the generations of settlement prior to the coming of the European. We look back in anger at the unnecessary fighting and killings that were part of the joining of the races. We look back with wonder at the enthusiasm and entrepreneurship of Māori and early settlers. We look back in awe at Hongi Hika, allowing himself to be feted in courtly England, so that he could come home with the muskets and powder that he was really after. Those are the struggles that we must face and that we must understand if we are to be truly part of our history.

The Māori Party has considered all of the challenges that come with this bill. We support the unanimous view of the select committee that the bill should not proceed, but we do so with two very important riders. We are convinced of the remarkable heritage value of the whole Kerikeri Basin, and indeed the greater Bay of Islands itself. The second point is that we would not have been able to support this bill anyway, unless we were truly satisfied that tangata whenua had been involved in a real and meaningful way. That was not the case in the bill we saw before us tonight.

I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity to speak. I would also like to thank Pete Hodgson for letting us know that his tipuna signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Was that at Waitangi, I ask Mr Jones? It was signed up there. I also thank Brian Donnelly for his own little history lesson, and John Carter as well for sticking with this bill all the way to its end. Tēnā koutou. Kia ora tātou katoa.