Fox MaramaMARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Ā tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. E tika rawa ngā kōrero kua whārikihia i roto i Te Whare i tēnei rangi; te ātaahua hoki o ngā kōrero o tērā o ngā mema a Grant Robertson rāua ko Annette me ō rāua whakaaro ki te hītori o tēnei Whare.[And so thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. The contributions that were spread out in the House today were absolutely fitting; the contribution by that member Grant Robertson and by Annette plus their thoughts about the history of this House were also beautiful.]Today is absolutely a historic day and should be recognised. You can just tell some days. You can just tell when you come into the House some days that it is special—that we are doing something good and right and just and I feel like that today. However like Annette King said it feels a little bit ironic that while outside we were receiving a petition and letters from thousands who were sexually abused in State care and we were refusing to apologise or hold an inquiry yet we do this today. But it is still right to do so let us celebrate. I want to acknowledge the collegiality of our Justice and Electoral Committee. When we received Wiremu Demchick's petition we worked really hard. There was not one dissenting voice at any time—at any time. It was never an issue that we were going to get there; we just needed to find the way. So we took it very seriously as we do most of the things in our committee because they are serious issues. We heard from submitters about the abhorrent treatment—torture isolation beatings—that was carried out by our officials after they were arrested. The stigma and the shame then continued to hurt the lives of these men on and on and on and on. No matter what we think—it shocked me today to find out because I did not understand that we made homophobia illegal only in the 1960s.Earlier in the term I got to travel to Gisborne and see a group of young people who had received some suicide prevention money. They called themselves Qmunity. They are a group of mainly Māori young people who are struggling with their own sexuality and the depression that that causes and their fight to overcome their suicidal thoughts and tendencies while they struggle to understand their sexuality and to find a place and have someone listen. They made a documentary. They made a documentary on the history of homosexual law reform in this country. They documented Fran Wilde's fight the protests the arrests and the marriage equality bill. They said This is what this country's overcome and now we're young and we want to find our place and be accepted." and they told their own stories. It was so healing for them to do that. I have felt like a bit of a proud mum having fought for that putea that allowed them to do it. No matter what your personal feelings are with this—and I understand that people might have religious ideals that differ—arresting somebody for simply loving whom they love is not right. I am so proud to be part of this Government which has agreed to expunge these records and to apologise. When we alleviate the stigma then we alleviate the harm and the hurt and the pain and people can start to heal. We cannot make up for the years that have been wasted coming to this point—we cannot—but we can help to lift the burden and we can help to send a message to our young people of today that actually you do not have to be ashamed. You can stand proud and you can find support. You do not have to hide and you do not have to worry about being arrested. So the Māori Party absolutely supports this bill and we look forward to it coming to the Justice and Electoral Committee so that we can ensure that the passage of it is well defined and the process by which these convictions can be expunged can be done as simply as possible. We understand it is going to be an effort but we are willing to give it a go. Kia ora."