Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai kei te tū au ināianei i tēnei wā tino taumaha mō a mātou ngā iwi o te waka o Mātaatua mai i te tino te i tēnei wā he tino taumaha te āhua i runga i a mātou.Ā ka huri aku whakaaro ki ngā tāngata kua wehe atu. Kua huri aku whakaaro ki te motu o Whakaari ki ngā iwi o Ngāti Awa mai i te maunga tapu o Pūtauaki mai i te awa o Te Rangitāiki mō ngā tāngata kei reira mō ngā tāngata kua mate i tēnei wiki i ēnei rā ā mō ngā tāngata kei reira e tū ana ngā tāngata ora. Ka huri aku whakaaro ki a rātou ngā tino pukukaimahi e tū ana ki te awhia i a rātou. [Greetings Mr Speaker I am standing now at this troubled time for us the tribes of the Mātaatua canoe because at this time there is a real heaviness upon us.And my thoughts turn to the people who have passed. My thoughts go to Whakaari / White Island to the tribes of Ngāti Awa from the sacred mountain of Pūtauaki and the Rangitāiki River for the people there for the people who have died this week in these days and for the people who are standing there the living. My thoughts turn to those who are working so hard and standing up to help them.] Whilst I'm here ā-tinana in person my thoughts my heart and my mind are all at home with the people in Whakatāne. The events that occurred on Monday for our community—we are a small community in Whakatāne. As the mayor described we're big enough to kind of get things done but we're small enough to know everybody. Right now my thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones but they're also with every single person on that Monday. We all know many many of those who literally dropped their tools—whether they be builders teachers lawyers. It didn't matter who people were; when they got that siren and that alarm went they dropped tools and they ran to those organisations that many of our community are a part of—that they are volunteers of—whether that be the fire services whether that be the coastguard St John. The response from those first responders on that day just a couple of days ago now I cannot but take my hat off and acknowledge every single person and those families that supported those individuals to go out and participate in the tragic events that occurred in our home town on Monday. I cannot but say thank you—thank you once twice and thrice—and our community is so proud of the way that those individuals responded.I've just gotten off the phone literally only a few minutes ago to one of the gentlemen who of his own volition—he's a pilot for one of our local carriers. Of his own volition and the volition of him and his friends—they know Whakaari well. They like everybody got the news that she was blowing. They and all their mates jumped into their helicopters and they rushed over to that island and they did what they did what only heroes can do which those locals will do and have done. Basically they lifted and carried and pulled and risked their own lives to ensure that the lives of many others were saved that day and we as a community know that many lives were saved because of their heroic actions.In particular I want to acknowledge that those first responders—particularly some of these guys that just jumped into the helicopters and went over—they were mates with a lot of the tourist guides and the operators that were in a spot of bother who were also doing all they could do to save lives that day. In particular I'm thinking of Mark who was really good mates with another guy called Mark. Mark saw his mate Mark and saw that he wasn't in a good way. He pulled him into a better place so that he might have a better chance of survival. Now we don't know where Mark Inman is at the moment but we do know that his mate Mark did all he could to put him in the best chance of survival. But my thoughts right now are with Hayden and with all of his family and his brother Mark. They are an incredibly strong local family and I know that our whole town is grieving for them as we are for Tīpene and the boys up the coast.The other component to this tragedy has been the number of people that have been affected from different places from other countries—a lot from Australia Great Britain Canada Malaysia and China. I want to put on record just our gratitude to the operators of Royal Caribbean International from that ship for the work that they have done to work alongside us to ensure that those victims from that day were looked after. So I just wanted to say thank you to our town for everything they did for the Whakaari recovery.