Tirikatene Rino: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 10 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15452. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Te Whānau o Mokomoko tēnā koutou tēnā koutou. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Paremata e takatū nei. Tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Greetings to you the family of Mokomoko salutations. Welcome to Parliament standing here in readiness welcome. Greetings and salutations to us all.]It is a great pleasure to speak at the third reading of this bill the Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill. We have heard a lot about the background that has brought about the passage of this legislation. The enactment of this bill and the apology given by this House to Mokomoko as I mentioned in my second reading speech is proof of why it is important that we get things right and get things right the first time.The apology offered to the whānau of Mokomoko back in the 1990s was inadequate and his family felt that the mana of their tupuna had not been fully redeemed. That is why this House has had to go back and relegislate so as to restore the mana of Mokomoko. We now know how this great chief was wrongly accused and sent to prison. We know that he faced his accusers without fear believing that the Pākehā law would find him an innocent man. When he was found guilty he faced his impending death on the gallows with courage and a song in his heart.To our ancestors of olden times mana was an important aspect of everyday life and a key to maintaining social order. To impugn that by saying that Mokomoko was the killer of Völkner was a serious accusation. He was transported to jail in Auckland and there he was found guilty. He was hanged in an Auckland jail and buried there. In the second reading of this bill I quoted Abraham Lincoln who had this to say about mana: “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” His pepeha is to remind people that having character is a true blessing and that reputation is only what someone else thinks. The chief Mokomoko was hanged for a crime he did not commit. Is there anything more rotten in life than that? Where was the justice for this man who was carted away in chains because of a false accusation that the rope used to hang Rev. Völkner belonged to Mokomoko?It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. It is as true today as it was back in the 1860s as New Zealand faced its own internal conflicts. The truth in this case was that Mokomoko was an innocent man wrongly accused tried and hanged for the murder of Rev. Völkner and with his hanging his whānau faced the shame the whakamā of their tupuna being called a murderer. For 147 years Mokomoko’s descendents shared their tupuna’s shame. They faced accusation and ostracism. They felt the burden and shame that their tupuna had. Mokomoko’s descendants lost their mana. They lost their good character and reputation.But this is not the first time a bill has been enacted to restore the reputation of Mokomoko. There was one in the 1990s but it was flawed because it related to two of his confederates in Ngāti Awa. An apology was later delivered in the free pardon but it failed to wholly redeem Mokomoko. Instead it made much of his two co-defendants who were in fact as I mentioned from another tribe—Ngāti Awa. So the family felt that their ancestor was not fully cleared and so came back to this House in what has been a very long journey to rectify what they saw as a continuing injustice.This House is only as good as the research it is provided with and back in the 1990s consultation did not take place. The process that took place made poor law and when the apology was first issued to the family of Mokomoko it was inadequate. So this time around we have made sure we have got it right. It has to be right or the whānauMokomoko will never believe that the mahi we do in this House is important work on behalf of all New Zealanders.The third reading of the Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill as has been mentioned by many speakers today comes in the wake of the passing of freedom fighter activist protestor and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela. I draw no comparison—they are men from different times and with different political motives. They do however share in having been poorly treated by the justice systems of their times. At the end of the day to be treated fairly and justly without being judged by one’s skin colour or race is what all human beings hope for. It is after all a basic human right.The whānau Mokomoko will finally receive the justice they have sought and fought so long for and it comes to them borne on the cold winds and chilly rains of mourning that have encircled the world these past few days. In the way that is unique to our culture the whānau Mokomoko will be able to bookmark the passing of this bill with the historical significance of Mandela’s passing.So I for one extend my good wishes to the whānau Mokomoko. In doing so I also include my own direct connections to the whānau Mokomoko through my grand-uncle Uncle Joe Bull whose proper name was Teone Aperira Mokomoko and his father was Makarini Mokomoko. So there is a connection for me in there. There are many Mokomoko whānau in the south. So I extend my good wishes to all the whānau Mokomoko and say thank you for sticking to your kaupapa and for making sure that this House and the MPs within it are held accountable and that we get the job done properly. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.