The Te Pāti Māori co-founder was an MP for 18 years.
PM and senior ministers visited Whangaehu Marae to pay respects on Monday.
I met Tariana Turia soon after I was elected to Parliament in 2005. I was expecting to meet a firebrand, given her dramatic resignation from Parliament a year or two earlier and the subsequent formation of the Māori Party. Instead, I was confronted bya kind and gentle person, one who never yelled and screamed, but was quiet and dignified.
Her classy approach was particularly evident in the House between 2005 and 2008 where she had the misfortune to be seated next to Rodney Hide, the Act MP, who was always scrapping with the then-Speaker Margaret Wilson.
After National formed a Government in 2008, I was made Attorney-General and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. My first task was to work with Tariana on a review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. A decision of the Court of Appeal in a case called Ngati Apa v Attorney-General had resulted in the urgent enactment of the Foreshore and Seabed Act. It was that legislation that precipitated Tariana’s resignation from the Labour Party and the formation of the Māori Party under the leadership of both Tariana and Pita Sharples.
The first thing we did was appoint a review committee chaired by Sir Edward Durie, the other members being Hana O’Regan and Professor Richard Boast. Their recommendation was to repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act and replace it with legislation that recognised customary title and gave Māori the opportunity to go to court to prove their entitlement to customary title.
Tariana and I worked very closely over the next 18 months to craft legislation that would be an enduring solution for what had become a vexed problem. (I note in passing that I received a great deal of assistance from Dr Michael Cullen, former Labour deputy leader. His suggestions were constructive and very helpful and I largely followed what he had suggested.
It is also noteworthy the Labour Party, while opposing the new legislation, was constructive and professional, something they had not had the benefit of from the Opposition when the Foreshore and Seabed legislation was passed.) The legislation restored all uninvestigated customary title and restored the right of Māori to go to court.
Drafting the legislation had not been easy. Tariana thought, for example, that the test for proving customary title was too tough but she recognised that there needed to be compromise. We agreed public access was non-negotiable.
Dame Turia Tariana with Former Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson. Photo / Bevan Conley
The Marine and Coastal Act has resulted in a significant number of applications by iwi and hapū for recognition of their customary title to the foreshore and seabed.
Of course, in recent months, the issue has come to the forefront yet again because of another decision of the Court of Appeal called Edwards, which relaxed the test for customary title. That decision was clearly wrong and has now been rectified by the decision of the Supreme Court released late last year.
I hope that, out of respect for the memory of Tariana, the politicians will leave the Marine and Coastal Act 2011 alone and let the cases take their course.
Nothing is to be gained by interfering with the legislation now that the law has been clarified. Any attempt to progress the legislation, which was introduced in haste in response to the Court of Appeal decision, would be counterproductive and subvert the very clear agreement reached by National and the Māori Party in 2010.
In my portfolio of Treaty Negotiations, I also received great support from Tariana. She and I attended quite a number of Treaty settlement ceremonies. I always recall saying to her in Tairāwhiti (Gisborne) that I had found the experience of reading out the apology to Ngai Tumanuhiri to be a very odd one. The atmosphere was very subdued, almost eerie. She commented it was because those in the audience had been weeping.
Dame Tariana Turia died on Friday.
She was pivotal in the Government securing a settlement with Ngāi Tūhoe. I had looked to her for advice on how to achieve a just and durable settlement with that great iwi. She also played a significant role in the Taranaki and Whanganui settlements.
After she left Parliament, Tariana worked closely with Jim Bolger and me on the Parihaka apology and she was the first Crown representative for the Whanganui River after it was accorded the status of a legal person in 2016.
In all my dealings with Tariana Turia, I found her to be principled, courageous, courteous and cooperative. That is why I regard her as the finest politician with whom I worked in my nine years as a minister.
When I heard Tariana had died, I naturally was very saddened. But I also rejoiced that I had known such a fine woman and that together we had achieved a great deal in the Treaty negotiations area.
So much was achieved in those years and I just hope her legacy is not undone by short-term political considerations such as those we are experiencing at the present time with the odious Treaty Principles Bill.
May she rest in peace.
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