Legislation enacting Ngati Apa's Treaty settlement passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday.
Iwi members filled the public galleries in the debating chamber as the bill was given a unanimous first reading and referred to the Maori affairs select committee.
The settlement, finalised last year, gives Ngati Apa commercial and
financial redress totalling $16 million and the right to purchase 6500ha of Crown forest land and other Crown-owned properties and assets.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia introduced the Ngati Apa (North Island) Claims Settlement Bill on behalf of Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson.
In an emotional speech, she told fellow MPs that Ngati Apa's plight went back to the Crown's purchase in 1849 of 260,000 acres (105,000ha) of the Rangitikei-Turakina Block and the subsequent failure to protect about 35,000 acres of reserve land set aside from the transaction.
Mrs Turia said that as a child she heard stories about the occupation of the land.
"I knew the pain associated with the loss of names of our hapu, the sadness as our marae fell into disrepair and we lacked the resources to restore them," she said. "Such was our loss that almost all of our generation today no longer speak te reo."
Mrs Turia said the bill was a direct response to the operation and impact of the native land laws.
"These laws contributed to the erosion of traditional tribal structures and resulted in the gradual alienation of nearly all our remaining lands."
Mrs Turia said Nga Wairiki/Ngati Apa became virtually landless, owning less than 1 per cent of their traditional rohe (tribal territory).
- NZPA
