Hide Rodney: Obituaries — Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu 
Hide Rodney: Obituaries — Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu 
[Volume:633;Page:4744] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 It is a great privilege to rise on behalf of the ACT party and endorse the Prime Minister’s statement and the sentiments of this House. 
We have lost a great lady a lady so great that as my colleague Mr Peter Dunne has just noted she was known throughout New Zealand as The Lady and everyone in this country knew to whom that title referred. It is hard to add anything to what has already been said but perhaps I can make a personal reflection because I think it is hard for people who did not know Dame Te Ata to understand the outpouring and the feelings people have had for that lady. Sure there is respect for the position but there is also huge respect for The Lady. 
I remember—and maybe this explains a little bit other people’s responses—my first meeting with Dame Te Ata and it went like this. We had a very new and fledgling political party called ACT in 1994 and someone suggested—I am not sure who—that we should perhaps go and see the Maori Queen. I did not know why the Maori Queen would want to see us and I did not think anything would happen so I undertook to approach the Maori Queen and arrange a meeting. Somewhat to my surprise—and I have to say my consternation—it was readily agreed that we could go and pay a visit. 
I think that that is the first thing that could be said about Dame Te Ata—she always had time. She had time for people she actually did not know—a political party that had no representation and possibly no prospects—and she took the time to meet with us. It was with considerable trepidation that I travelled down to meet with the Maori Queen wondering quite what was in store for us. Then I learnt something else about that wonderful lady; it was the total graciousness with which she met people and handled herself. One could not meet a better hostess or be more welcomed anywhere ever than in what Dame Te Ata did for us. The generosity with which she gave of her time to us and the generosity she gave of her people to us that night is etched on my mind forever. I realise that that generosity was repeated hundreds—thousands—of times because she always had time for people. 
I remember the mana with which that lady moved amongst her people. We knew that that was something more than a title; it was the way she carried the title and went about her tasks. I remember too the intelligence with which she listened to our ideas—to our ideas for New Zealand to discussion of MMP—all the while listening so intently but never passing an opinion which again was something she was so very very good at. Yet we knew that nothing was being missed. 
I remember the warmth of her eyes. This wonderful woman had such beautiful warm eyes and such a beautiful warm smile. I think to meet her just once—and I was lucky enough to meet her several times—is to understand the outpouring we have seen in New Zealand and to understand the great loss we all face with her passing. Against all her achievements—as great as they are—she remained a humble warm person with time for everyone great and small. She was truly a wonderful wonderful woman. May she rest in peace.