Collins JudithHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition): Thank you Mr Speaker. I support the motion and on behalf of the National Party and as Leader of the Opposition I express our profound sadness at the passing of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and extend our condolences and sympathy to Her Majesty the Queen and all the royal family. We honour and thank him for a lifetime of public service to his country the Commonwealth and of course his wife of 73 years Her Majesty the Queen. He has shown her extraordinary dedication and support as the longest serving consort of our longest reigning monarch.But we also honour and celebrate his life in his own right: his support for numerous charities his support and encouragement of young people his sporting and intellectual accomplishments his championing of science and technology his military service—a World War II veteran—and his support of the armed forces. He leaves an outstanding legacy to the United Kingdom the Commonwealth and indeed the world. He was involved in many charities in his lifetime being associated with more than 800 charitable organisations. He was in amongst all of that a champion of the environment a champion of wildlife a champion for youth. And as we've heard the Duke of Edinburgh award is an amazing award scheme that helps many young people find their way through to a better life.One of the tributes to the Duke over the weekend which was one that stood out for me was from a young Englishman called Jon Watts who at age 18 was in prison and was given the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh awards. For his skills section he worked in the prison kitchen. That ultimately led him to working in one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants. While in prison Jon Watts earned his bronze silver and gold Duke of Edinburgh awards and was awarded his gold by the Duke himself. He is now a chef in his own restaurant and credits the Duke of Edinburgh as saving his life by unlocking his potential and giving him the confidence and the tools to succeed. Here in New Zealand as we have heard the Duke of Edinburgh awards system and scheme has been instrumental in changing young peoples' lives.We must also honour the Duke of Edinburgh's military service and a lifetime of championing the armed forces in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. He served with distinction in the Second World War in both the Mediterranean and the Pacific with his bravery in the Battle of Cape Matapan in Greece noted in dispatches. He was also present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945. In all he saw 14 years of active service.But it is actually as a human being that I really want to address the issue of Prince Philip because he was born into remarkable rank—remarkable rank and connections—but he was simply a human being. And his world fell apart when from exile in France his father exited with a mistress to Monte Carlo and his mother who had been born profoundly deaf was institutionalised in a mental asylum in Switzerland being diagnosed at the time as schizophrenic—a diagnosis that she always disputed. He was without the benefit of parents for around six years with no contact whatsoever from his parents in that time in the formative time of teenage years. When his mother Princess Alice escaped from the asylum she made her way back to Athens and it was there that she spent her time helping others and eventually founded an order of nuns in the Greek Orthodox Church. Prince Philip had no contact during those six formative years. And in a television interview which I watched recently again when questioned as to how he coped with it his reaction was pretty typical of him—he said he just got on with it.Prince Philip added to the world he added to Britain and he added to the Commonwealth. In conclusion I will use his own words which he said in Israel when his mother Princess Alice of Battenberg was being honoured as Righteous Among the Nations. He said We did not know and as far as we know she never mentioned to anyone that she had given refuge to the Cohen family at a time when all Jews in Athens were in great danger of being arrested and transported to the concentration camps."—we did not know—"In retrospect this reticence may seem strange but I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She would have considered it to be a perfectly natural human reaction to fellow beings in distress. You must also bear in mind that she has been well aware of the Nazi persecution of the Jews for many years.Even I at the age of 12 in the 1930s had firsthand experience of the anti-Semitic frenzy that was gripping the members of the National Socialist party in Germany in those days. I had just moved from a private school in England to attend the boarding school at Salem in the south of Germany belonging to one of my brothers-in-law. The founder of the school Kurt Hann had already been driven out of Germany by Nazi persecution and this was well known throughout the school. It was the custom of the school to appoint a senior boy to look after new arrivals. I was unaware of it at the time but it so happened that our 'helper' as he was called was of Jewish origin. One night he was overpowered in his bed and had all his hair cut off. You can imagine what effect that had on us junior boys. Nothing could have given us a clearer indication of the meaning of persecution. It so happened that I had played cricket for my school in England and I still had my cricket cap with me. I offered it to our helper and I was pleased to see that he wore it. It is a small and insignificant incident but it taught me a very important lesson about man's capacity for inhumanity and I have never forgotten it. We may dislike individual people we may disagree with their politics and opinions but we should never allow us to condemn their whole community simply because of the race or religion of its members."In conclusion it is a privilege to stand here today and recognise and give thanks for the life of His Royal Highness Prince Philip. I thank him for his service I thank him for his courage I thank him for being outspoken and I thank him for his wit. Rest in peace."