Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Rua KēnanaTūhoe prophet from the UreweraOh Rua Rua Kēnana. Āe e tika te mihi ki a koe e Te Māngai Te Whare: tēnā koe. E ngā mema katoa i tērā taha i tēnei taha tēnā tātou katoa. Anei ngā mihi mihi pōwhiri i ngā uri o Rua Kēnana me ngā uri o Maunga Pōhatu me ngā uri o te Hāhi Iharaira. Nō reira nau mai nau mai haramai.[Yes it is only right to acknowledge you Mr Speaker: greetings. To the members on that side this side greetings to you all. Here are the acknowledgments the welcome acknowledgments to the descendants of Rua Kēnana and the descendants of Maunga Pōhatu and the descendants of the Church of Iharaira. Therefore welcome welcome welcome.]I'm proud to take a call in support of the first reading of this very important bill. As the member of Te Rohe Pōtae Ikaroa-Rāwhiti he uri o Te Tai Rāwhiti Ngāti Kahungunu hoki I stand in support of this bill. I want to acknowledge what we are doing here in pardoning a prophet a visionary leader of the Tūhoe people at the hands of the Crown's omissions and acts in breaching the Treaty that saw Rua Kēnana wrongfully arrested—who served an imprisonment term wrongfully. So this bill absolutely tries and corrects a wrong and I want to acknowledge the mamae that his uri have carried for many decades and the small part that the Crown should be addressing to get the relationship back on the road and the reconciliation between his people and the Government back on a positive note. I want to acknowledge the Minister for Māori Development who has introduced the bill. I also want to acknowledge the former Minister for Māori Development the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell for his work in the signing of this agreement between the people and the Crown. When we are contributing to important pieces of legislation such as this we do—it's a Māori custom—try and draw some linkages or some hononga between where you come from and the kaupapa that we are addressing here today. I want to acknowledge as an uri of Te Kooti Rikirangi of Ngāti Maru of Rongowhakaata even though we are acknowledging Rua Kēnana the similarities in parts between Te Kooti also unfairly and unlawfully imprisoned in the Chathams but also when he returned—similar to the small research I've done on Rua Kēnana—back from Gisborne in his 20s as a labourer he had a vision very similar to Te Kooti when he returned from Wharekauri. Then we see the absolute commitment to their faith. Te Kooti obviously Ringatū and we've got Rua Kēnana with the Iharaira faith. I wanted to acknowledge the similarities between our tipuna our visionary and the Rua Kēnana prophet himself around looking after their people particularly in the hāhi. I also want to acknowledge that Te Ureweras—in my small research—was under enormous siege of people trying to mine it and mill it which is why Rua set up Maungapōhatu to protect the whenua for their people. So again we will see in this House when we come to acknowledging the wrongs of the past similarities of our tīpuna our visionary leaders like Rua was in protecting what whenua we had. So I'm really pleased to take this small call and of course this is the first reading of three. I look forward as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee said in travelling—at the invitation of the haukāinga—to have the hearings up there. I just want to finish with acknowledging Professor Taiarahia Black's kōrero this morning when he shared—and of course Jo Hayes talked about the mekameka. I want to proudly say that my name is actually not Meka; it's actually Mekameka. I wanted to share when I heard the story this morning again that hononga between your tipuna and a small part of myself in that my actual name is Mekameka Whaitiri. Nō reira I'm pleased to stand and support this bill. It is a very honourable time—it's a special occasion for this House. I commend it to the House.