SpeechHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage): Tēnā koe e te Tiamana tēnā koe e te tuakana mai i te rohe o Whanganui otirā ki a koe e Simon Court mō tō pātai hoki otirā ka huri ki e whā ngā kaupapa kua tono mai koutou. Me whakautu anō ki tēnei kaupapa o ngā utu. Ko te kaupapa o ngā whakautu ki ngā pakihi ko tēnei he tono mai i ngā pakihi maha ngā pakihi tāpoi ki te āwhina ki a rātou me tono mai me maha ngā tono mai i ngā rohe o Rotorua Waiariki. Harikoa rātou mō tēnei wīkene roa. Rerekē te whakaaro o te tangata mai a Simon Court o te Pāti ACT.Ki a rātou o te rohe o Waiariki o Rotorua āe. Ka huri ngā tāngata mai i Tāmakimakaurau i te waenganui o te tau o te tīmata o te tau Māori heoi i te waenganui o te Gregorian tau. Kua haramai maha ngā tāngata i waenganui i te tau ki te haramai mai i Tāmaki Makaurau ki ngā rohe o Rotorua Waiariki ki taku rohe o Te Tai Rāwhiti ki te rohe o Whanganui pea o te pito o te ao o Tūwharetoa ko Ruapehu. Maha ngā tāngata kua wehe atu ā koinā ki a rātou ngā pakihi tāpoi e pai ana te tono ki te āwhina i a rātou. Heoi me whakahoki anō te whakautu anō ki tērā atu pātai.Ka huri ki te tono mai a taku tuakana mai i Whanganui āe e tika tāu e te tuakana kua haramai e rua rau tekau mā whā ngā tono mai i ngā tāngata katoa kua whiu ki te komiti āe tika tau. E rua ngā tono anake e kāre e pai te utu o tēnei pire i runga i a rātou kāre e kore e rua anake ngā tono mai i ngā tāngata kua whiua atu ki te komiti mai i te katoa o te rua rau tekau mā whā.Ka huri ki te pātai mō taku hoa a Simon Court anō. He aha ngā whakaaro o te hāngai o ētahi ngā rā? Tuatahi ko te matauranga Māori e āwhina i a mātou mai i Te Kāwana mō ētahi ngā rā mō ngā tau e toru tekau ka haere. Heoi ōrite pea ki te wīkene o Ahurei [Aranga] nā wai e tono mai ngā rā mō te Ahurei [Aranga]? Ko te Vatican ko te Vatican e whiu ana ngā rā. Kei a rātou te mana kei a rātou te tikanga e piki ana ngā rā mō tērā atu hararei ko te Ahurei [Aranga] heoi mō tēnei pire mō tēnei wā o te wā o Matariki ka tahuri ki tō tātou nei tohunga.Ka tahuri ki tō tātou nei tohunga he maha te mātauranga kei roto ki tērā atu kāhui e āwhina ki a mātou te Karauna mō te hai i mua mō ētahi ngā rā. Kei te huri a rātou ngā tohunga ki te mātauranga o ā rātou ngā hapū o iwi. Kei te whai a rātou tīpuna mai i ngā whetū mai i ngā whetū o te Matariki mai i ngā whetū o te Puanga mai i ngā whetū o te Poutūterangi mai i ngā whetū o te Rehua i ngā wā o mua.He tino mātauranga tērā he science he tino science tērā ā kei te pupuri a rātou ngā tohunga o te Kāhui o te Matariki kei te pupuri a rātou ngā hua o ētahi mātauranga ā kei te puta mai a rātau mai i maha ngā wānanga i tērā atu tau ka huri ki te pupuri ngā mātauranga kei roto i te pire nei. Kāore ko te Vatican kāore ko ētahi rā i ētahi tāngata. Ko ngā tohunga e pupuri ana tētahi mātauranga ā koinā te tino tikanga mō ngā rā kei roto i tēnei pire mō ngā tau e toru tekau e haere ake. Koina ngā pātai katoa.[Thank you Mr Chair. Thank you to my sister from the Whanganui electorate and also to you Simon Court for your question. I now turn to the four issues you have raised. I will return to the issue of cost. As to the issue of costs to the businesses this was a request from the many tourist businesses for help there were a large number of submissions from the Rotorua and Waiariki districts. They were very happy about this long weekend. Simon Court of the ACT Party thinks differently.According to those from the Waiariki and Rotorua districts yes people will travel from Auckland in the middle of the year at the beginning of the Māori year well in the middle of the Gregorian year. Many people will travel in the middle of the year from Auckland to the districts of Rotorua and Waiariki to my district of the East Coast perhaps to the Whanganui district to the centre of the world for Tūwharetoa to Ruapehu. Many people have left their region and that according to the tourism businesses made it appropriate to ask for help.However I should get back to answering the other question. I now turn to the request from my sister from Whanganui. Yes you are right 214 submissions were received from all the people who presented to the committee—yes you are right. There were only two submitters who were not happy with the costs imposed on them for this bill—only two—from all the people who presented to the committee out of the total of 214.I now turn again to the question from my friend Simon Court. What was the thinking behind the appropriateness of the dates? Firstly Māori knowledge helped us of the Government to set the dates for the next 30 years. However perhaps it is similar to the weekend of Easter who sets the dates for Easter? The Vatican—it is the Vatican that sets those dates. They have the authority they have the procedures to pick those dates for that holiday at Easter. However for this bill for this time of Matariki we turn to our own experts.We turn to our experts—there is much Māori knowledge held within that group to help us the Crown regarding the selection of the dates. The experts turned to the Māori knowledge of their own tribes and subtribes. Their ancestors followed the stars of Matariki Rigel Altair and Antares in times past.That is real knowledge it is science real science and the experts on the Matariki cluster have held on to this knowledge and they have talked about it in the many conferences held in the last year so that this knowledge is retained in this bill. Not by the Vatican nor were the dates chosen by certain people. The experts held firmly to Māori knowledge and that is the real reason for dates included in this bill for the 30 years ahead. That's all the questions.]