Fenton Darien: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 27 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5786. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 Well I do not think I need the 10 minutes. Thank you for that opportunity. I raced down to the House because I was really keen to take a call on the third reading of the National War Memorial Park (Pukeahu) Empowering Bill. I have seen this along with other members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee through the process and very hasty it was too. But it was a very constructive process I have to say. It is one of those rare moments in the House when you feel good about something that we actually are voting on. It has not happened very often recently. So I am really pleased that Labour is supporting this bill and that we are going to have as a result of it a wonderful National War Memorial Park which will be built in time for the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli in 2015. 
I have heard other members talking about their experiences of visiting Gallipoli. Well I have not done that; I hope one day that I get over that way. But what I have done and I mentioned it in my second reading speech is I have visited Flanders and I have visited the sites of many of the famous battles in World War I—of Passchendaele Ypres and Messines. When we were in Messines quite recently we were told that the remains of a First World War soldier had been found—someone from the Battle of Messines. It had just happened accidentally. Contractors had been digging a ditch and they came across the remains of a soldier. That was incredible—95 years after that battle they are still finding the remains of people who fought. It has now been confirmed since I was there that it was a New Zealand First World War soldier who fought in the battle who has been discovered. The remains were found alongside two New Zealand infantry soldier badges in Messines as I have said where New Zealand troops were involved in intense fighting in World War I. 
It is really poignant to think that 95 years later we are still finding the remains of soldiers who fought in those dreadful battles of World War I. I could not help thinking now I see that it has been confirmed that he was around 25 years old how unbelievable it must have been for the mother being the mother of a son myself to say goodbye to her young son and to never hear from him again—never to hear from him again. Of course that family is no longer there and they cannot confirm the identity. The only good news about that is that he will be reburied. He will be buried alongside his comrades from the First World War in an appropriate Commonwealth war grave. So I think that when we get to the celebration and commemoration in 2015 I will be thinking about that 25-year-old. You know I feel close to him because I was there when they found his remains and his body. As I said the other day hundreds and hundreds of people lost their lives—New Zealand boys young boys—in that battle. This New Zealand soldier will be buried with a concrete plaque that will say “Known only to God”. That is just unbelievably sad is it not? And there are many like that—from the First World War in particular. 
So commemorating Gallipoli Messines Ypres Verdun and all of the battles that our troops were involved in in the First World War is incredibly important because there are family histories and there are family connections whether or not you agree with war—and I certainly do not. I think it is a reminder for us all to pay respects to the memory of people who went to war believing that they were going to make a difference and that it was about democracy and fighting injustice. I certainly will look forward to the memorial park celebration in April 2015. This is a wonderful park which we have agreed among ourselves in this Parliament apart from the concerns of the Greens should be built. It is a place where we can contemplate the lives of people like the 25-year-old in Messines—the lives lost—but also think about peace and talk about peace. I came away from Messines and those places feeling more strongly than ever that that was an awful war and it should never happen again. 
If nothing else this National War Memorial Park will be about our determination as a nation to fight and make sure that there is never again a war of that magnitude. It was a futile war where our sons were sent away lost to their mothers not named and buried in foreign graves. In many ways this memorial park will pay tribute to those who have given their lives but who have also become a part of our history a part of our blood and a part of who we are as a nation. So I am really pleased to be able to support this bill in the third reading. I think as I said it is good. It is one of the good days in Parliament when you can celebrate or agree on something that is worthwhile and something that we all believe in. This is something that we all believe we need to do for the memory of those who have gone before. Thanks.