Pugh Maureen; Henare PeeniASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Members the interrupted debate on the Address in Reply is resumed.Hon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Tuatahi ka kōrero au i te reo Māori. [First I will speak Māori.] Just to advise the House I'll speak in Māori at first if you choose to listen or otherwise.Tuatahi māku e mihi atu ana ki a tātou katoa.Ki roto i ōku tūnga katoa i tēnei Whare ko tāku mahi tuatahi kia mihi poroporoaki atu ki te hunga mate kua riro atu ki te pō. Anā ki roto i ngā rangi tata kua pahure ake nei ko Tūroa Royal ko tōku pāpā a Moka Puru ā i te rangi nei ko tōku matua a Waitai Tūoho.Nō reira rātau ki a rātau. Ka whakahokia mai ngā rārangi kōrero ki a tātou e ōku rangatira. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[First I'd like to acknowledge us all. In all of my speeches in the House the first thing I do is acknowledge those who have recently passed.In the very recent days that have passed they include Tūroa Royal my elder Moka Puru and today my uncle Waitai Tūoho.May you rest peacefully.I would now like to return the relevant topics of conversation my esteemed colleagues. I thank you all greatly.]Kia ora and greetings to the House. I've become accustomed just as I do on the marae in my chance to contribute to the House I always start to acknowledge those who have passed on and I can see everybody in this House who just acknowledges how special that is. When we consider our time in this House we think that we do walk in those people's footsteps so it's important to acknowledge them. Madam Speaker I want to acknowledge you and of course your colleagues who preside over our House. It is indeed a huge honour that's been put upon you all to make sure that the House certainly lives up to the expectations that many have already spoken about today calling and describing this place as an august institute. So it's important that we acknowledge you all and wish you all the best through this sitting term. I also want to acknowledge all of the new members who have come into the House in particular our own on this side. I do want to acknowledge my new colleagues Cushla Tangaere-Manuel who comes in from the mighty East Coast winning the seat of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. I also want to acknowledge our very good friend down in the south Reuben—Hon Grant Roberston: Davidson.Hon PEENI HENARE: Davidson that's right yes. I keep confusing him with Kelvin Davis but Reuben Davidson yes who's a lot better looking than my former form 2 teacher Kelvin Davis and I want to acknowledge them both because coming into as I did in 2014 as a small number into an Opposition—the Labour Party—it was a difficult time but also a very exciting time. So I want to acknowledge them and of course new members right across the House. I want to acknowledge also my colleagues from the Māori Party. Why? Because sadly I didn't hold on to my seat but I want to acknowledge them who have received the mandate from Tāmaki Makaurau and a number of the other Māori seats and I acknowledge them. I also want to acknowledge my two beautiful tuāhine here my relatives from the far north: Hūhana Lyndon and Darleen Tana. We come from the same whakapapa. In fact if colleagues in the House are interested and you looked at Te Tiriti o Waitangi you'll look at the first name right at the top; it's Kawiti. The three of us are descendants of Kawiti. So it's really special to have my tuāhine my relatives here in the House joining me and walking in the illustrious footsteps of our ancestors. Tēnā koutou. Kia ora tātou. If I can offer any advice to the new members it is: it's always true the only time you get to say what you want is on your maiden speech so good luck and the only other time is in your valedictory speech. I say this as an Opposition member: I hope that for you that comes a bit sooner than later. But I do want to acknowledge all of the new members and I also want to take this opportunity to apologise. What I witnessed earlier in the House isn't the House that I think represents our people. Bringing a bit of decorum to our debate and making sure that we actually are here to debate what matters to our people. It's far better than a slanging match. I apologise for the new members because we don't want you to see that as the example for you to follow into the future. Let the debate be robust. Let the debate be about the facts and the matters that are important to our people. But let's always keep it correct. Let's always keep good decorum in our house. Tēnā koutou welcome. I want to start my contribution after all of the thanks and all of the praises across the House by reading something very brief if you'll indulge me. The Māori people are opposed to any sort of referendum or process in this our House of democracy for the obvious reason that we are numerically inferior to our other treaty partner. If taken the result is a foregone conclusion. The choice for the Government is quite clear: to honour or dishonour between treachery and good faith and that we have at last reached the dividing line which makes or tarnishes a nation worthy of the name. Now I wish those eloquent words were mine but they were indeed the words of my grandfather the late Sir James Hēnare who in September of 1988—in Parliament House here—addressed the members of Parliament and used those words 35 years ago. Here we are today debating the very same thing. After years and years of progress between the Treaty partners progress for Māori and our communities our country moving forward into a bicultural and a multicultural society—and sadly here we are 35 years later. It would appear that my grandfather's words continue to ring in the halls of Parliament. My hope is that they continue to ring in the ears and the hearts of the members of this House in order for us to make sure we have a debate moving forward on the issues that matter and that we do not take our country back into the past. That is the premise and the basis for the rest of my contribution here today and that is to say that the Government has made very clear their agenda for the nation. However blunt that might be to some of the ears in particular my colleagues on this side it has become very clear to me that a very regressive Māori policy agenda is going to beset this nation and I want to make sure that we are here for the fight. I want to make sure as many members across the House have already said we look towards scientific proof we look towards the facts we look towards good research in order to make good decisions.I was but one of the former Ministers from this side of the House who was part of the architecture of Te Ata Whai Ora the Māori Health Authority. The reason we did that was based on sound research over many many decades. In fact the person who I'd like to call the godfather of Māori health Sir Mason Durie was the leader of that particular kaupapa and initiative—not me not the Minister of Health in the day but actually Sir Mason Durie. In fact we went to his house and as you do when you go into a home you take goods so I took some muttonbird and some pāua just to grease the old man up a little bit but more importantly to make sure a man who has dedicated his life to ensuring Māori health in this country was able to work with us and lead this particular initiative.It makes me sad to think that Te Aka Whai Ora has not been given a chance; that Te Aka Whai Ora is not just about the delivery of equitable services in our community but more importantly—and we'll approach this when we come to the debate—it is about holding the Pākehā system or the actual health system in this country to account making sure that that system can continue to deliver better services for our people. Because what became abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic was that it didn't serve our people. The data wasn't there in order for us to reach Māori communities. It wasn't there in order for us to reach rural communities not just Māori communities. We called it the postcode lottery of health" and that is very clear when we look into how we on this side—the Labour Party in power—actually made significant changes to the health system. Of course we want a health system that delivers for all. My plea for this House and we'll come into this matter when we debate Te Aka Whai Ora is that we do give it a chance; we make sure that it does meet the well-worked-through intentions of Sir Mason Durie and many others before him to give something equitable for Māori healthcare in this country. The other one is of course smoking and I heard today in the House many people say "It's just smoke and mirrors." Well from where I'm sitting in a Māori community it's more smoke and less mirror and it's really sad to hear that. You know I grew up in a household that smoked and it was just one of those intergenerational things. I don't smoke and I'm proud of that and my tamariki don't smoke my nephews and nieces they don't smoke—simply because of the changes that a brave Government in their day made many years ago. It would be a real shame to see that reversed. But we're here on this side of the House to hold the Government to account and I'm fortunate to sit amongst many great members of this House many who have served as cabinet Ministers many who have worked really hard in their communities and it will be our job as the Opposition to make sure we continue to hold the Government to account. And they can bet that we will do that. We will do that by discussing the facts; we will do that by discussing of course the sentiments and the feelings amongst our communities that we bring and represent here in this House.Finally from me I am looking forward to this term of Government—this is my fourth term here in this House—continuing to serve Māori continuing to serve our country and may we all look towards making sure that this country does move forward together and certainly doesn't leave anybody behind. Thank you."