Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Madam Assistant Speaker. A te maunga Taranaki ka tārehua e mihi ana ki te rangi e mihi ana ki te whenua e mihi ana ki ngā tāngata. Tū winiwini tū wanawana kia puta ki te whaiao ki te ao mārama. Tēnā koutou aku rangatira. Tēnā koutou ngā mātāwaka i te pānui tuatahi pānuitanga tuatahi o tēnei Pire mō Parihaka. Nō reira me pēnei taku kōrero. Hoki wairua mai hoki wairua mai hoki wairua mai ki ngā mātua ki ngā tūpuna nō Parihaka. E Whiti e Tohu takoto. Rapua te mea ngaro. Hoki ake nei ahau i te rū o Waikato he roimata toku kai i te ao i te pō. E ai ki tā Rāwiri me whakapakari ki te hua o te rengarenga me whakapakari ki te hua o te kawariki. Nō reira āpiti hono tātai hono te hunga mate ki te hunga mate. Āpiti hono tātai hono te hunga ora ki te hunga ora tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Mount Taranaki which is concealed greetings to the sky greetings to the land greetings to the people. Stand trembling stand quivering to emerge to the world of light to the world of life and light. Greetings my chiefs. Greetings to the many tribal groups at the first read the first reading of this bill for Parihaka. Therefore I should articulate this. Return in spirit return in spirit return in spirit the parents and the ancestors of Parihaka. Whiti Tohu rest. Seek the unseen. I will return from the Waikato basin and cry prolifically day and night. As David says strengthen the people with the fruit of the rengarenga strengthen them with the fruits of the kawariki. Therefore the lines are joined the dead to the dead. The lines are joined the living to the living greetings greetings greeting to us all.]I am very privileged and proud to be able to speak to actually round off the speakers at the first reading of this very special bill. At this very moment right now there are great speeches and there has been great oratory and welcome in recognition of a world leader. No ma'am I'm not talking about the welcome for former President Obama; I'm talking about the world leaders the whānau from Parihaka who are here in this House today because the people of Parihaka and their descendants are world leaders. They're world leaders in terms of the legacy that has been laid down by their tūpuna and the great prophets as we say of Te Whiti o Rongomai and—Te Whiti and Tohu. Sorry—apologies ma'am.I want to acknowledge the greatness of those two great leaders and also where we have come to today with the passage of the first reading of this bill. I am very proud as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee that we'll be able to examine and hear submissions on this very special piece of legislation and I do hope that we will be able to venture up to Parihaka whereby we can hear further kōrero on this bill.It is important because we've heard so much about the history the hurt the mamae and also the great works that have been carried out by the leaders of the descendants and the whānau of Parihaka to get to this point and too the great works that have been carried out by—can I acknowledge—the Hon Christopher Finlayson and all those who've been involved in this bill and the deed of reconciliation. Because that's what this bill is all about. The deed has been put in place and we are implementing those key aspects of that deed through the passage of this legislation.We've heard a lot this afternoon about the history of Parihaka. One only needs to look into the books of legislation the historical legislation on the bookshelves of this Parliament and the Hansard and no doubt other records of Crown actions that have created such a huge injustice to the people of Parihaka. I also think of the great august member of this House Sir Māui Pōmare whose picture adorns the special room of Matangireia in this House who as a five-year-old lost his toe to the advancing constabulary at Parihaka as he was offering bread to the advancing menacing troops. So there has been a wonderful—well there is a dark history but also we are wanting to put things right and that's what this legislation is doing. It's a mechanism now which has the agreement and the support and has been led by the people of Parihaka so that we can recognise the hurt of the past but also acknowledge that through the Crown apology. And also reconcile so that we can move forward for the people of Parihaka into the future.I too—when one travels to Parihaka one can imagine the thriving town that it was the thriving community. That's another aspect of how the people of Parihaka are world leaders in that it was one of the largest Māori settlements in the country at that time. They built roads homes infrastructure and it literally would have been the envy of any Pākehā neighbours I guess. It was a thriving community and it had people from all over the motu—all iwi. I guess that the pioneering kaupapa and messages of non-violent resistance—that is truly a great legacy and that's the world leadership that I referred to in terms of what we can learn from Parihaka.So I'm very proud to be able to sit—it is a very important mahi that we do as the Māori Affairs Committee and I do acknowledge all of the members that will be part of that process including the Hon Christopher Finlayson a new addition to the team. We are most certainly looking forward to our task of giving thorough examination to the bill but also listening to submitters and to all those who wish to take part in that process.Just to conclude I did want to just emphasise how we are through this legislation formalising the work that has already gone on through Te Kawenata ō Rongo. So this is where the deed has been signed and this is an important part of formalising that process so I'm looking forward to doing that. I'm looking forward to hopefully engaging with many of the whānau of Parihaka and all those other interested partners Māori and Pākehā so that we can expeditiously complete our part in the process and then report the bill back so we can advance it through its further stages.So without further ado I do want to acknowledge all of the manuhiri that have travelled from afar to witness this great occasion. I can only stand here humbly and say I tautoko this bill and I commend it to the House. Kia ora tātou.Bill read a first time. Bill referred to the Māori Affairs Committee.KarakiaWaiata