Whaitiri Meka: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 10 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15453. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Ngā uri o Mokomoko kua tae mai nau mai nau mai haere mai. Haere mai ki tō Whare i te wā whakahirahira. Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou mō ō koutou kaha mō ō koutou tautoko mō te pire nei. Nō reira e te iwi tēnā koutou tēnā koutou ā tēnā tātou katoa.[Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. To the descendants of Mokomoko who have arrived here welcome welcome come hither. Welcome to your House on this auspicious occasion. This is my acknowledgement to you all for your great efforts and support for this bill. Therefore to you the people greetings salutations and congratulations to you collectively and acknowledgements to us all.]As the member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti I am pleased to stand with my Labour Party colleagues to support the Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill in its third reading. Mokomoko a rangatira from Te Whakatōhea was tried and executed in 1866 for the murder of Carl Sylvius Völkner. Mokomoko maintained his innocence throughout the trial. He was originally buried at the Auckland jail and courthouse but was reinterred at Waiaua Marae at Ōpōtiki in October 1989. Mokomoko was granted a free pardon in 1992 by the Governor-General who at that time was Catherine Tizard I believe.However this pardon was granted without consultation with the whānau of Mokomoko and it differed from the pardon granted to two men of Ngāti Awa for the same event. The whānau of Mokomoko were concerned that the terms of the 1992 pardon for Mokomoko did not expressly restore his character his mana and his reputation or that of his descendants who join us here in the House today.In September 2011 the whānau of Mokomoko and the Crown signed an agreement regarding the introduction of legislation to give statutory recognition to the Mokomoko pardon and to further the Crown’s objective of building healthy relationships with the whānau of Mokomoko and we do have a long way to go in that regard.There have been far more eloquent speakers who have talked before me about the pain and struggle of the whānau. I too want to acknowledge their patience and theircommitment in getting us here today. As a former Treaty negotiator with my own iwi I can say that we had a tipuna Te Kooti Arikirangi. By no means can I compare the two but I want to acknowledge the whānau’s work in terms of the patience and the commitment in getting us here today. It is not an easy road and I am not one to tell you of your own journey to be present here to pass this bill. It is a struggle not only to get agreement amongst whānau around how much we want but also to get agreement on what is the end outcome so I want to acknowledge you all here.I want to acknowledge the compromises that you have made for us to see this bill through. It is a very challenging role to negotiate the restoration of one’s tipuna one’s rangatira to the state he once was in and should always have been in. So I stand here in all humbleness to acknowledge you all for the work that you have done for your tipuna and particularly as I look and see the mokopuna who are up in the gallery it is important for them to realise that and acknowledge the mana that their tipuna had.Like I have said it is not an easy journey to get us here but I do want to acknowledge the work of the Māori Affairs Committee. I want to congratulate the committee and particularly the chair Mr Tau Henare. Sometimes I wonder as a new member of that committee whether he is on the right side of the legislation in terms of when we debate issues at that committee but I do want to commend Tau and the members of that committee. I particularly want to acknowledge the Te Reo initiative that you have brought through with this bill. Like the Hon Nanaia Mahuta acknowledged in 16 years of her time here she has never seen this happen so I want to congratulate the committee members on the kaha and I guess the tenacity with which you are bringing in this bill and the manner in which you are bringing it in with both the Reo and the English versions together.I have not much more to add but I would stand in absolute commitment and acknowledgment for this important bill. It is timely; it is probably well overdue. But I want to acknowledge all members of the House particularly members on the Māori Affairs Committee and the whānau for bringing this bill to the House. I commend the bill to the House. Thank you.