SpeechHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Nā Kīngi Tāwhiao tēnei tongi kura tērā atu o ōku hoa kei ngā tōpito o te ao heke iho ki tōna mokopuna te Arikinui Te Ātairangi Kāhu te raukura māhaki o te ao katoa nōna Te Ao Māori i toha atu ki te ao nōna te ao i haria mai ki te Iwi Māori nōna te ringa i tono atu ki a Kuīni Irihāpeti. E ōku huia kaimanawa koutou i para te huarahi tika mō mātou te whai. Ōku tuhi mareikura rere atu ki tua o tawhiti ki tua o tāwauwau ki tua o Paerau. E rongo au i te tai marangai te tai o mahara ki ōku tūpuna ki ōku mātua ki ōku kati taramea pērā ki a Kuīni Irihāpeti. Ko ngā tāngata hautū he haumi te whakatere o ngā waka he toka tū moana ākina ā-tai ākina a-hau ākina ā-ngaru tūātea takoto e moe okioki. [This prophetic saying comes from King Tāwhiao another of my companions from around the world passing down to his descendant Queen Te Ātairangi Kāhu the mildest-esteemed one of the whole world she who shared the Māori World with the world she who brought the world to the Māori people she who also reached out her hand to Queen Elizabeth. To my treasured ones you who have cleared the correct path for us to follow. To my esteemed friends fly far away to beyond distant places to beyond the meeting place of the dead. I hear the storm tide the tide of memories of my ancestors of my forefathers my calabashes of sweetest scent those such as Queen Elizabeth. The work of leaders is the uniting of the directions of peoples to be steadfast in the face of changing tides the buffeting of the wind and the crashing of breaking waves lie and sleep. Rest in peace.]We gather to mourn the loss of Queen Elizabeth II the longest-reigning monarch of Britain the Commonwealth and Aotearoa New Zealand. The Queen represented the embodiment of the Crown as partner reflected in Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi. On Sunday we acknowledged the seamless transition of the Crown to King Charles III in the proclamation ceremony an event many may not witness ever again. For Aotearoa the rauru or thread that binds Queen to King mother to son also extends back to 1840. It binds Māori to the Crown in perpetuity and despite the fraught history the intent of the Treaty marked the journey of our shared sense of nationhood. We are on that journey. The te reo text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi mattered to rangatira then as it does now. The words also came to increasingly matter to Queen Elizabeth and her heirs. When Kīngi Tāwhiao travelled to London in 1884 to deliver a petition to Queen Victoria seeking to uphold the Treaty he could not gain an audience. Tāwhiao was followed by his grandson King Te Rata who petitioned King George V on the Treaty and the confiscated lands that had occurred in Waikato and Taranaki. He received an audience but was told his solution would be with the New Zealand Government. Fast-forward to Waitangi Day 1990 when Queen Elizabeth spoke at the Treaty grounds where she said—and many of the members in the House have already quoted this—I am the descendent of one party to the Treaty of Waitangi and many who are here today are descendants of the original Māori signatories your tūpuna." She said and went on to state "Today we are strong enough and honest enough to learn the lesson of the last 150 years and to admit that the Treaty has been imperfectly observed. I look upon it as a legacy of a promise." Queen Elizabeth made repeated commitments honouring the Treaty. Her leadership has been particularly highly valued by the Kīngitanga from the moment she and the Duke of Edinburgh walked on to Tūrangawaewae Marae in 1953 where she was welcomed by King Korokī and Princess Piki later Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Queen Elizabeth personally presided at a ceremony to create Dame Te Ata as the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire the very first Māori woman to be so honoured. The original Wai 30 claim was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal by my father and in November 1995 in a powerful act of symbolism of restoration of mana to both Treaty partners the two queens came together again to complete our largest Treaty settlement. Queen Elizabeth II gave Royal assent to the Waikato Raupatu settlement legislation the only time that this has happened in our history. Her personal signature sealed the formal acknowledgment and apology for the wrongful confiscation of 1.2 million acres of Waikato land. This is a memory etched in my generation. The signing ceremony completed the journey of King Tāwhiao all those decades before and now we look to the future and King Charles III. Just three months ago I had the privilege of representing this country at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda. Prince Charles showed in his speech his commitment to modernise the Commonwealth. He noted that to unlock the power of our common future we must also acknowledge the wrongs which have shaped our past. He spoke of colonialism he spoke of slavery and he understood the challenge in front of him. It was a message of righting wrongs through ongoing reconciliation. Aotearoa knows too well the hurtful damage that historical wrongs can cause. It is the way we overcome them that has defined us and it can lead the way for the future. During the 70 years of the Queen's reign we have come a very long way. We can go further to build the sense of nationhood that our ancestors hoped for and that she was committed to. In a week which reflects the determination to protect our indigenous language to leave the world in a better place than we found it we renew our partnership with the Crown under King Charles III. As he embarks on his journey may he have the enduring strength and wisdom of his mother. E tae koe e te Kuīni ki ngā riri o ngā rangi ki te tauranga o tō tātou Mātua i te rangi i reira tō hoa rangatira e tatari ana ki a koe. Nā te mate kōrua kua wehe nā te mate anō kōrua ka hono. Haere haere whakangaro atu rā. Tū mai Kīngi Tiare III. Tihei mauri ora.[Oh Queen you have reached the meeting ground in the heavens where our Father in heaven resides and where your husband waits for you. You had been separated by death and death again has united you. Go go go to the unseen realm. Long live King Charles III. Behold the force of life.]"