Leavasa Dr Anae NeruDr ANAE NERU LEAVASA (Labour—Takanini): Fa'afetai lava lau afioga le fofoga fetalai. Thank you Mr Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to round up this debate and be the last speaker in this Dawn Raids apology discussion. I also want to acknowledge our generation's experience that the Minister Aupito William Sio has mentioned as I come from that generation as well. I also acknowledge up in the gallery Josiah Tualamali'i and Benji Timu who are also part of that generation's experience and the initiative they took to bring that petition in that over 7000 people have signed—so thank you to them both. I acknowledge all the speakers today and they've said some wonderful things. I thank the previous member the Hon Todd McClay speaking about the contribution that our Pacific community has given to Aotearoa New Zealand.When I look at the Dawn Raids in the 1970s I often hear the words of my community saying that it was painful it was an emotional time period a lot of distrust and feelings of betrayal. Sometimes I hear silence because many did not want to talk about it.My family came in the 1980s post the Dawn Raids but my extended family were already here—my grandmother Galumalemana Laloata Taiatu had come here in the late 1960s and settled in Grey Lynn Ponsonby. She went through the Dawn Raids period but never spoke about it. I often heard it from other church members because when she signalled to us in Samoa to come we came in the 1980s and she had already given us a place to stay in Grey Lynn. I went to and grew up in Ekalesia Fa'apotopotoga Kerisiano Samoa (EFKS) Grey Lynn where I acknowledge Toesulu Brown and her words on the night really made me feel really emotional because that's the community I grew up in as a young child as well. Many of the EFKS members again did not mention it as much but I heard glimpses of it throughout my childhood. That is where the generation's experience I think had the opportunity to learn and where this Government has given the investment so that our younger children our youth and our kura and schools will be able to learn about the Dawn Raids.When I look at the ceremony that has taken place it was such an emotional time for myself and my family for our caucus and for everyone of Māori and Pacific heritage because—remember—if you were brown you were a target. As we were getting welcomed by Ngāti Whātua when walking down the aisle and being welcomed by the Niuean and Cook Island communities with their drums and then we stopped at the front of the town hall and we heard that soundtrack: the soundscape where it was eerily silent. Then we heard the sounds of the night. We heard the knocking on the door the dogs starting to bark the feet and the footsteps within the house. It was so—I tried to hold it in but I couldn't and I could see that many of the community that were sitting there in the town hall all had teary eyes because that was just a glimpse of what had happened in that time period. Then the mat that was laid over our Prime Minister—how humble it was for myself and our community. To see a Prime Minister come underneath that mat was huge for us. Then to have the community of those people who were affected in that time period—and I also acknowledge my auntie Taimalieutu Kiwi Tamasese who was part of the lifting of the mat and symbolising the forgiveness.I am so proud that this Government and our Prime Minister were able to show humility for something that we had not done. But I acknowledge the policy from both sides of the House—both parties—that was implemented in that time period. I acknowledge that my extended family who were already here before we had come from Samoa had joined the Polynesian Panthers. I acknowledge my uncle and auntie Reverend Alec Toleafoa and Lupematasila Melanie Anae.To round up the debate I am thankful that we had come to this place that we be able to give the apology and I thank everyone involved. Fa'afetai lava.Motion agreed to.