Henare Peeni: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Peeni: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 22 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:140. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau):E te Māngai o tēnei Whare tēnā koe otirā tēnā tātau katoa. Me mihi au ki aku mātua o Te Āti Awa me Ngāti Toa nā rātau nei te mihi i āhei ai mātou ki te noho mai ki roto i tēnei Whare ki runga hoki i tēnei papa. E te Māngai o te Whare e tautoko ana tēnei ihu hūpe i ngā mihi rangatira i ūhia ki runga i a koe i a koutou ko te kāhui whakahaere i tēnei Whare ō koutou whānau hoki e ngā toki o Te Whare i te rā tuatahi i noho ai Te Whare i te Mane nei e mihi ana ki aku huānga ki ngā iwi tangata whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau ko Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei ko Te Waiōhua ko Marutūahu ērā ā me Tainui whānui ē ko Te Kīngi Māori ē! Kāti ake ki a koe e te pāpā e Koro kua kotahi nei tāua ki raro i te maru o tō tāua Kīngi tēnā koe tēnā koe tēnā koe.Ka kauria mai au i te moana kānapanapa o Te Wai o Te Matā kia tū mai ki runga o Pukekawa i reira nei a Te Wherowhero e noho ana. Ka rere arorangi taku titiro ki Ōhinerau arā ko Te Kōpuke kia tau au ki te pūtake o Maungawhau. Ka piki ki runga kia titiro iho au ki Te Ipu o Mataoho. Ka huri atu taku rae ki Riukiuta ā ko Wairaka kei te uru. Kō tata mai ko Te Ahikā o Rākataura. Ka hoki whakarunga ko Puketāpapa ko Waitakere—ē! Kātahi atu rā ki te maunga rongonui ko Maungakiekie kai tōna pūtake ko Rarotonga. Mai i Rarotonga ki Mutukāroa ko Ōtahuhu arā ko te tāhuhutanga o te waka o Tainui tapotu ki te moana ko Te Mānukanuka o Hoturoa. Kai uta ko Te Pane o Mataoho arā ko Te Ara Pueru. Tū tata tonu mai ko Maungataketake ko Mātukutūruru ko Mātukutūreia. Ka hoki mai mā Ōhuiārangi mā Taurere kia tau mai ki Maungarei Te Awa o Tāmaki i hoea rā e te waka o Tainui kia tau taku wairua ki Waiōuru e tau taku wairua ka tau ē! Ki te mātatorutanga o te iwi Māori kei Tāmaki Makaurau e noho ana. Anei te tū whakamōwai atu i tēnei tinana koretake ki te mihi whakamanawa atu ki a koutou. Hēoi anō tāku ki a koutou kei te kōtihitihi o waku whakaaro koutou e noho ana i ngā wā katoa. He nui tonu ngā maunga hai piki. He nui anō hoki ngā māunga a ngā moana hai kau ēngari i ngā wā katoa me anga atu te titiro ki ngā taumata o te moana.E te pāpā Tākuta Te Hōnore Pita Sharples kua kawea ake te hoe ūringi o te waka kua mahue mai nei e koe. Ka hāngai tonu te tauihu o te waka ki uta mā runga i te reo o te tītītai o te tūruki kia kotahi te hīpapa o ngā hoea—tōkihi tōkihi! Ki aku pāpā e rua ki a Hōne Harawira rāua ko Te Hōnore Shane Jones e aku kākākura e aku ika āwhiro mokemoke ana te Whare i tō korua ngarotanga atu. Tērā te kōrero a ngā tupuna: “He mate noa iho ki uta ko wai ka hua ko wai ka tohu.” Ka ara mai te rā i a Ngāti Manu e te uri o Pōmare e tū![Thank you Mr Speaker of this House and greetings indeed to all of us collectively. I must extend my gratitude to my elders of Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa for allowing us to remain here in this House and upon this courtyard. Mr Speaker of the House this inexperienced new member humbly endorses the revered accolades bestowed upon you and your cluster of assistant Speakers who run the House and upon your families. In regards to the first sitting day of the House last Monday I acknowledge my relations and local tribes of the metropolis of Auckland namely Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei Te Waiōhua Marutūahu and Tainui at large. Behold it is the Māori King indeed! Enough about you my uncle Koro and me in terms of being united under the mantle of our King. Greetings salutations and accolades to you.I have been borne here from the gleaming waters ofTe Wai o Te Matā(Waitematā) to stand on Pukekawa the place where Te Wherowhero resided. I cast my eyes upwards to Ōhinerau and there is Te Kōpuke. I alight at the base of Maungawhau and ascend it then look downwards upon Te Ipu o Mataoho. My forehead turns to Riukiuta and behold there isWairakato the west. Close by isTe Ahikā o Rākataura. I go upwards and behold—it isPuketāpapaandWaitakere!And so onwards I go and finally arrive at the famous mountain Maungakiekie and at the base of it isRarotonga.FromRarotongaI traverse toMutukāroaand onto Ōtahuhu at the place where theTainuicanoe was carried overland and brought down to the sea at the place where Hoturoa became apprehensiveTe Mānukanuka o Hoturoa and shorewards to Te Pane o Mataoh—in other words Te Ara Pueru—and very close by Maungataketake Mātukutūruruand Mātukutūreia. I come back by way of Ōhuirangi and Taurere to eventually land at Maungarei at the river of Tāmaki where the Tainui canoe paddled and in so doing permits my spirit to alight at Waiōuru. Alight my spirit and so it indeed lands amidst the thickly populated Māoridom living in Auckland. Here then is where this inept body stands desolate before you extending this honourable tribute to you collectively. Mine to you furthermore is that you collectively are uppermost in my thoughts at all times. There are still many more mountains to climb. There are many more mountainous waves to swim through as well but the focus must be fixed at all times on the summits of the ocean.To you uncle the Hon Dr Pita Sharples I have taken up the paddle of the vessel that you left behind. The prow of the canoe is still fixed firmly shore wards on the call of the coastal sooty shearwater and the strength of the ritual chant for the paddles to move in unison—dart along dart along! And so to my two uncles Hōne Harawira and the Hon Shane Jones my leaders my slain warriors how lonely the House is without you two. The old people had that saying: “A simple death ashore and who knows who might benefit or be spared.” The sun rises from the direction of Ngāti Manu so to the descendant of Pōmare stand to attention.]Let me preface my maiden speech with the words of Sir James Carroll in his valedictory made at the funeral of Sir William Herries Minister of Native Affairs from 1912 to 1921: “As I survey this wondrous gathering my mind is as a honeycomb to which home a thousand honeyed memories.” For it is 100 years ago almost to the month that my great-grandfather Taurekareka Hēnare entered this House upon the resignation of Sir Peter Buck who enlisted to serve as a medical officer for the New Zealand Battalion more commonly known as the Pioneer Battalion. E te Māngai o te Whare tēnā koe. Sir Peter Buck served with distinction at Gallipoli and at this point can I acknowledge the centenary of the Great War—lest we forget.History records that Taurekareka Hēnare entered this House to a hung Parliament and in return for his support of the Reform party at that time led by “farmer” Bill Massey the confiscated lands of Te Kapotai and Te Patukeha were returned to them and the Government began discussions with Te Arawa leading to the formation of the Te Arawa Māori Trust Board in 1924. Taurekareka Hēnare stayed on in Parliament for 24 years somewhat longer and arguably more distinguished than his great-grandson of the same name who retired from this House recently—of which I am sure Mr Assistant Speaker Mallard you are well aware. He was defeated eventually by Paraire Karaka Paikea in 1938.I move on to my late grandfather Sir James Hēnare who after returning from the Second World War stood for the National Party three times in the Northern Maori electorate. The last time he stood was in the by-election of 1963 when he was defeated by his nephew the Hon Matiu Rata who won the Northern Maori seat with a majority of 412 votes which I am sure you are aware of Mr Assistant Speaker. This was the closest that the National Party ever came to winning a Māori seat and long may that tradition continue.It comes to mind that my uncles the Rt Hon Winston Peters and Pita Paraone MP much—loved nephews and mentees of my grandfather will remember him well for his speeches on the failure of the Government at that time to recognise the issue of Māori education. This would be ignored to New Zealand’s detriment in years to come. While on that issue I wish to recognise my auntie the Hon Hekia Parata Minister of Education upon whose shoulders currently rest the dreams and aspirations of thousands of Māori and Pacific Island children in my electorate of Tāmaki Makaurau.History now goes on to tell us that the Māori nation was very lucky that he did not enter Parliament. As an elder statesman he went on to achieve many more things for our nation that he would not have been able to achieve had he become a member of this august institution.Can I say with some candour that this was an issue that weighed heavily on my mind when early on in life I considered a future in politics but I am driven by the strong-held belief of my grandfather that the future vision of this nation is built upon a strong bicultural foundation—a foundation that was sanctified when my many ancestors put their sacred ngū to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.Clearly whānau political ideology is not a compatible bedfellow with the precepts of free-thinking as encouraged in me by my grandfather because as irony would have it today I sit across the floor with the very party that was the nemesis of William Massey at the time of my great-grandfather.I am most humbled that the people of Tāmaki Makaurau have elected me to be their representative in Parliament. I pledge to them to work to the utmost of my abilities to advocate for their needs and to pursue a bipartisan approach in order to generate solutions for their issues. Please allow me to briefly share with other members of this House what some of those issues are and postulate possible pathways forward.The A Company based in Whangarei is a concept that should be implemented widely throughout the Māori and Pacific communities in Tāmaki Makaurau. It has at its heart the education the business and the community sectors giving learners the chance to gain exposure to other specialist skills that are not available to them within the sector at the moment. They are currently linking up with the local independent training providers to increase the scope of learning available to their learners. Its major funding source is the ASB Community Trust. This concept is very much about supporting all learners from the womb to the tomb. They are beginning to expand into Tāmaki Makaurau and I believe this will prove to be a positive move.Growing up my generation had the right to a backyard which gave us the opportunity to not only test our rugby skills but also our mothers’ patience. This right I fear could be lost for the generations to come. Housing is no longer about people but about profit. The backyard playground is now reserved only for land developers and property speculators. This I believe is to the detriment of the communities in Tāmaki Makaurau. Although poverty it is said is relative it has to be accepted that it is endemic amongst many Māori and Pacific Island families in Tāmaki Makaurau. Its causes are many and varied and there is no one fix. Some say if you provide employment good housing good health and educational opportunity the issue will simply go away so I look forward to a bipartisan approach based not on political ideology—or for that matter more money—but on a pragmatic approach that sees instruments of the all-powerful State engaging with these communities.Te Reo Māori is my first language. As one of the first children of kōhanga reo I am for ever grateful for the hard work of many to ensure that the native language of this land is not lost. The people of Tāmaki Makaurau deserve the right to learn Te Reo Māori and experience its richness. I believe my grandfather was right when he said the language is the life essence of Māori mana. We must free Te Reo Māori from the shackles of institutional racism and a lack of vision. Ā kāti! E te Whare ka tahuri atu ahau ki taku whānau. Ki a koutou ka waiho nā atu ēnei kupu. E toru ngā tāonga hei waiho nā atu. Ko te whakaiti ko te tino whakaiti nā e whakaiti nei tēnā koutou tēnā tātou.[Enough! To you the House I turn now to my family. To you the family I leave these words with you. There are three priceless ones: humility self-effacement and absolute humility. And so here I am standing humbly before you. Acknowledgments to you collectively and to us all.]Waiata