Davis Kelvin: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
Davis Kelvin: Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:670;Page:17112] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 I stand on behalf of all descendants of Hoturoa the chief of the  
Tainui  
waka to address the travesty of justice that is being perpetuated in the Hamilton City Council (Parana Park) Land Vesting Bill by it calling this park Parana Park. We do not know where that name came from. We descendants of the  
Tainui 
 waka know that this sacred tupuna ancestral land has been known for mai rano since time immemorial as Putikitiki not Parana Park. We do not know where the name Parana Park came from. Someone named it that back in 1920-something when old George Parr passed away. Although I was born and bred in Ngapuhi and am from way up north I also draw on my Tainui links and I stand here on behalf of Tainui and say that I think Tainui should have had a say in the name of this park. This bill will vest this piece of land otherwise known as “David Bennett’s Farm” in the Hamilton City Council and it will be known as Parana Park. It is a travesty of justice that we do not recognise its ancestral name of Putikitiki. 
I heard Tau Henare opposite my whanaunga with his northern dialect say that he thought the name was “Putikotiko”. Well I tell you what that means something totally different so I want to make clear that the proper pronunciation is “Putikitiki”. Parana Park can be pronounced Parana Park or Parana Park. I was a bit scared they might call it “Panana Park” which means “Banana Park”. If we can call it just anything such as Parana Park why do we not call it “Panana Park” “Pa Park” “Bennett Park” the “Bennett Farm” or the “Bennett Homestead”? After all it is a memorial to David Bennett. As has already been mentioned in the Chamber tonight this bill is his greatest achievement in 5 years. He is even reputed to say that this beats his passing School Certificate back in 1982. 
We need to address this issue. Putikitiki is the ancestral name of Parana Park but because of this bill it will be known as Parana Park. I think it is right that we acknowledge the ancestral name the true name of that piece of land. The bill has probably progressed too far now to change that but let us at least acknowledge it. We did kick up a big stink over the whole Whanganui/Wanganui debate and how we as Maori were really particular about the “h” in the name. Our whanaunga opposite Tau Henare says who cares that it is not named Putikitiki and that it will be known instead as Parana Park. That is a bit of a laugh because we went to all those lengths to make sure Whanganui had the “h” put into it and was not spelt Wanganui. I remember the debate about Michael Laws when he got stuck into those kids from Otaki School who dared to challenge him on the whole adding the “h” thing. We stood up and defended those kids and their belief that their ancestral names and the correct names should be used. Here we have Tau Henare my whanaunga from up north saying who cares about Putikitiki—let us call it Parana. We know that Tau Henare wants to get home tonight and he wants this debate to end. He is tired; he is jaded. We have been sitting for a good day and a half this week and he is feeling a bit jaded from all the work. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: He’s trying to bulldoze the House. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: My colleague Steve Chadwick is right. But I have to admit that we in Labour do enjoy his interjections because they makes us feel lively and really want to keep going. They make us really want to get into this debate and to continue on. There are four more clauses to this bill that we are happy to debate. 
I think it is important that we recognise that Parana Park does have a Maori name a name from way back and it is Putikitiki not Putekoteko not Parana or Panana or anything else. The name Putikitiki is the name that the ancestors of the Tainui people bestowed upon this piece of land. I will not carry on too much longer. I just wanted that point to be well and truly made. Kia ora.