Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare huri noa ki ōku hoa kaimahi o tēnei Whare Pāremata tēnā tātau katoa. He mihi anō ki a koutou ngā manuhiri ki Aotearoa mai i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora tātau katoa. Ko Marama Davidson tōku ingoa he māngai ahau mō Te Pāti Kākāriki.[Greetings to you Mr Deputy Speaker and to you my fellow work colleagues throughout this House of Parliament. I acknowledge you collectively as well the visitors to New Zealand from the Great Ocean of Kiwa salutations and greeting to you and to us all. My name is Marama Davidson and I am a spokesperson for the Green Party.]It is my absolute deep honour to be able to speak on behalf of the Green Party today as our spokesperson on Pacific peoples and Pacific issues. Kia ora koutou katoa. I still have the sand in my shoes from Mission Bay in Auckland this morning when I stood with deep pride alongside our Pacific sisters as we released a karanga—a call—to the moana to unite our Pacific and tangata whenua voices for peace in the Pacific region and around the world and to acknowledge the voices of Pacific and tangata whenua women against war and against all forms of oppression. I am shaking the sand off from that event and have come straight here to Wellington to speak in Parliament because we need to support the community voices and the community projects that are organising against the militarisation of the Pacific and that are best suited to be able to provide our own Pacific solutions to the threats of violence and war and oppression in the Pacific region. It was also an action that highlighted our connection to our whanaunga of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa because together we are mokopuna of Tangaroa—together we are mokopuna of the Pacific Ocean. So it is my absolute pleasure to bring the sands from Mission Bay from the rohe of Ngāti Whātua here to this House of Representatives in Aotearoa to speak on behalf of the Green Party. I want to also raise—in keeping with the theme of standing in solidarity against war and oppression—the need for Pacific nations and Aotearoa to stand in solidarity with West Papua. We have been inspired by Pacific youth in particular and I want to acknowledge Oceania Interrupted a leadership group again of amazing young Pacific women who have been standing alongside tangata whenua wahine to raise our voices in support of the freedom and independence of West Papua. The Green Party of Aotearoa wishes to acknowledge the inspiring leadership of Pacific nations that are supporting the independence self-determination and human rights of West Papua. We absolutely acknowledge the effort in the Pacific to urge the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum to give it full member status and we thank those Pacific leaders who have advocated so long and so strong for it at the United Nations—Papua merdeka. We want to understand—and as my colleagues of the House have stipulated we cannot state strongly enough that we are a Pacific nation. As for my own ancestors as a daughter of Ngāpuhi Ngati Porou and Te Rarawa and as an indigenous woman of Aotearoa I acknowledge my tūpuna and their voyages their journeys through the Pacific and our whanaungatanga bond which meets the shores and the waters of the moana on this land to maintain the blood connections to our Pacific nations of your lands. The Pacific communities are a massive vibrant part of Aotearoa and my home community of Manurewa in South Auckland where I live. The South Auckland region—Manukau City—has the largest Pacific community in the world. It is a community to which I have belonged for 20 years and of which I am incredibly proud. I want to quickly mention in my other portfolios and in my work in South Auckland the focus on homelessness and housing issues. I absolutely must acknowledge that Pacific families often carry the biggest burden of any housing issues facing our country and that we again must provide the local community solutions and support the community groups in the Pacific communities which are best placed to come up with the solutions if they are well supported as we saw with the work of Te Puea Marae in Māngere and also Manurewa Marae. We know that our people have the solutions; they just need the support. The New Zealand leadership role in the Pacific is incredibly essential to building the collective Pacific voice on climate action and I look forward to hearing from my colleague Gareth Hughes who will expand more on the Green Party's long and strong advocacy for addressing climate change seriously. Our cross-Government parliamentary and community action is how we must address climate action social development peace and justice. The investment from Government and NGOs has to be guided by the local people of each of our communities and of each of our nations and be coordinated in partnership with them. We have already seen the enormous potential for positive outcomes when our Government and the NGOs working in the Pacific are open to broad discussions about things such as community building and enabling women's participation in politics child protection and social well-being as well as the much-needed solar panels and water pumps. As I bring my contribution to an end I want to mention that economic development has been a priority for a while now but there cannot be economic development without sustainable economic development which requires families to be healthy to be in a state of well-being and to be well-educated. We need to lower our incidences of family violence improve the accessibility and quality of water improve sanitation and develop more reliable energy sources. That is going to provide a home in the future for coming Pacific mokopuna. Nō reira ki a koutou aku hoa kaimahi ki a koutou ngā manuhiri o te whanaunga nui o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. [And so to you my fellow work colleagues and to you the visitors of the vast kindred group of the Great Ocean of Kiwa.] The Green Party is committed to working with parliamentarians and grassroots communities across the Pacific on developing relationships and I acknowledge the delegation's time here with us. You were welcomed to Aotearoa on your visit to Ōrākei Marae which is directly above the Mission Bay part of the Auckland Harbour where I spent this morning with our Pacific sisters. I hope your time here is productive and of use to you. We look forward to building on and strengthening and continuing to have the discussions that will see us working together as Pacific nations in the Pacific region. Tēnā koutou katoa.