Harawira Hone: Obituaries — Hon Parekura HoromiaText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHarawira Hone: Obituaries — Hon Parekura Horomia[Sitting date: 07 May 2013. Volume:689;Page:9597. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]HONE HARAWIRA (Leader—Mana): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Ā tēnā tātou katoa e te Whare. Tēnā koutou e te whānau i haere tawhiti mai kia rongohia ngā poroporoaki mō tō tātou nei tangata a Parekura.[Thank you Mr Speaker. And greetings to us all across the House. Salutations to the family that came from afar to hear the farewell speeches for this man of ours Parekura.]I feel a bit funny standing up in front of him with him at my back but he always said he had my back so he is still there. I was thinking of some of the kōrero up at the tangi—some wonderful kōrero particularly during the service from David Ruru and Wira Gardiner. There was some wonderful kōrero. I noted that Wira made mention of the fact that although Hekia is a Minister in the National Government she voted every 3 years for Parekura. But to make the Prime Minister not feel so bad I think David Shearer already knows that Shane Jones has been voting for me ever since I got into Parliament as well. I was also listening to somebody talking about how Parekura used to get Hekia to write speeches for him and then never used to read them. So just before I came to the House I ran across to Hekia’s office and said: “Look can you send me across a few notes that I could use in my kōrero today?”. She sent me a few—and this thick bundle is kind of why Parekura never bothered to use any of it because this is the kind of stuff that Hekia sends across.Out on the road which is where most of us knew him—not in here; out on the road—Parekura was a wonderful speaker. Not your true orator in the Māori sense. We had wonderful orators at the tangi. We had some of the best from all around the country and Parekura was not like any of those guys. He was a natural chap he was a funny guy and all of his stories were real stories. I think more than anything that is what most of us are going to miss about Parekura. When you saw Parekura you just saw a mate. He did not get overly fussed about the politics. He was for a while there when Tariana came marching up on to Parliament here with 50000 people to oppose the foreshore and seabed legislation but apart from that he was easy to get on with. So I am going to miss seeing him waddle around the House here. I am not going to miss him telling me what to do though. I used to say to him: “Parekura you’re not even in the same party as me. You can’t tell me what to do.” He would say “Oh I know that.” and then he would still tell me what to do. I am going to miss all of that and I think a lot of us are. Yes he was a good man.So to all of you to Hauiti and to all of Ngati Porou on behalf of all of us I just want to say thank you very much for how well you looked after us when we came up to the mate. The singing was superb—absolutely superb. The speeches of welcome were fabulous—just the warmth was excellent. The kai—I was telling my wife about it when we had gone home because she loves her kai moana. I said that the tables were so full that they actually had to stack the kai moana on top of each other. So me mihi atu ki a koutou katoa. I mean with most of us as most of you will know we do not often remember the things that are said but we certainly remember what we had for kai. So you know an honour to Hauiti—that you took so much good care of all of us is something that I do not think any of us will ever forget. It was a wonderful occasion.Just all of the nice things that have been said about Parekura—one of the kuia just outside here actually asked me whether I could get up and say the same kōrero here that I said at the tangi. I had to apologise and say: “No I don’t think you’re allowed to swear in Parliament.” But those of you who knew Parekura knew that he could swear like a trooper eh—he was terrible. When he could bail us up in a room when there were not too many other people listening he used to say some things to us that probably cannot be repeated in here. But right afterwards he would take us for a kai—and unlike what Pete said he would make us pay.Me mihi atu ki tō tātou hoa tō tātou rangatira a Parekura kua ngaro atu i a tātou i tēnei wā i roto i tēnei Whare i roto i ō koutou ake whare kei roto o Hauiti. I tēnei wā me mihi anō hoki au ki tētahi ō ōku kuia kātahi anō ka mate. I nehu atu i te rā o Parekura. Kei roto i a mātou i Te Kao a Kui Mātiu. He tino kuia i roto i a mātou 96 ōna tau. I tēnei wā kua ngaro anō hoki.[I pay a tribute to our colleague and leader Parekura who is lost from us at this point in time and from your own homes in Hauiti. I acknowledge one of my elderly women who passed away recently too and was buried on the same day as Parekura. The elderly lady Kui Mātiu lived among us at Te Kao. She was a prominent aged woman of ours and was 96 years old.]I was just thinking about some of the old people who have died up home in just the last couple of weeks: Kui Mātiu Cinderella Hūria Subritzky Rata Harrison and of course Parekura. So I am quite sure that he will catch up with them on the journey and share a few stories about his life his life amongst us in the North and how proud he was—I have to say this—that his mokopuna was a Ngāpuhi. Hoi anō ka nui tērā māku me mihi atu ki a koutou.[So that is enough from me and I acknowledge you collectively.]Oh and one final thing—one final thing: when Shane Jones gets up to speak afterwards none of what he has to say will be true. Kia ora tātou katoa.