Parata Hekia: Obituaries — Hon Parekura HoromiaText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParata Hekia: Obituaries — Hon Parekura Horomia[Sitting date: 07 May 2013. Volume:689;Page:9614. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon HEKIA PARATA (National): Ko Hikurangi me Aoraki aku maunga ko Waiapū me Waitaki ngā awa ko Ngati Porou me Ngāi Tahu ngā iwi koinei tāua. Haere atu rā e te Minita haere atu rā e te mema Pāremata haere atu rā e te whanaunga hoa haere atu rā e te kaimahi haere atu rā e te tūngane. Hoki mai ki a tātou nā hunga ora ngā kanohi o rātou kua mene atu ki te pō. Tēnā koutou e whakawhāiti nei i roto i tēnei Whare o tātou o Aotearoa nei. Tēnā koutou Tūrei koutou ko ō kōkā o pāpā o tīpuna ote whānau pani i hara mai i tēnei rā i te taha o Ngati Porou o Kahungunu o ngā ropu katoa e tautoko ana koutou i tēnei ahiahi tēnā koutou.Hauiti koutou kei te kāinga e mātakitaki mai nei e whakarongo ana tēnā koutou. Nā koutou i waha te tangihanga te poroporoaki mō ta tātou tangata i takatu ki muri i takatu ki roto ā i kōrero ki mua. Tēnā koutou. Kia koutou kia tātou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora tātou katoa.[My mountains are Hikurangi and Aoraki. The rivers are Waiapū and Waitaki. Ngati Porou and Ngāi Tahu are the tribes. This is us two. Farewell to the Minister the member of Parliament my fellow relative worker and brother. Let us come back to us the ones who are alive and the faces of those who have assembled in the abode of the dead. Well done to you crammed into this House of ours here in New Zealand. Hello there Tūrei to you and your aunties uncles and grandparents of the bereaved family who came today with Ngati Porou Ngāti Kahungunu and all the other groups. You are playing a supportive role this afternoon. Good stuff.To you Hauiti back there at home watching and listening congratulations. You took care of the funeral and eulogies for our man and you did the preparations at the back inside and up the front in terms of the speeches and calls of welcome; it was wonderful. I acknowledge and congratulate us all collectively.]We have been farewelling Parekura Horomia for the past 10 days I think and all of those at home and those here and many many more from all around the country have been a part of that process and it has been fitting. As all of the speakers previous to me have noted he reached out and touched so many people so many lives so many hearts. It has been totally fitting. Over the time that Parekura was laid at first Hinemaurea and then at Hauiti people came from all over. I think that he would have been happy with his tangi. I think that ensuring that all who came were manaaki they felt the generosity of the hau kāinga of Hauiti bolstered and supported by Ngati Porou whānui ngā iwi o Turanganui-a-Kiwa o Kahungunu o ngā iwi katoa [the tribe of Porou at large the ones of Gisborne Kahungunu and all the tribes]. Ngāi Tahu came up fromTe Wai Pounamutērā taha tōna[that side of his]. Everyone came from all parts of Aotearoa to pay their respects to make their tributes to tell their jokes and to repeat their anecdotes and to colonise them as their own and repeat them on other occasions. It was truly a mourning of his passing but a celebration of his life as well and that is as it should have been and should be. Parekura and I kua oti kē taku kōrero ā-whanau i te pō whakamutunga nē rā nā reira i tēnei wā kei te kōrero au mōna i roto i a Tūranga i a Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara me ngā mahi i mahia e ia.[I already covered the stories about him and the family at that night of final accolades did I not? So this time I am going to talk about him in Wellington and what he achieved here.]Parekura and I came from the same little marae out at the mouth of theWaiapū. As do many of us we have many sides to us. We come from different parts of our rohe and we sharewhakapapa. But the first time we worked together officially was in 1985—was that when the Hui Taumata was I ask the official historian sitting up in the gallery—when both he and I spoke at the Hui Taumata which had been organised by the Hon Koro Wētere. It drew together in a very historic—and as it happens appropriately herstoric—way men and women young and old throughout the country to talk together about what the challenges were that faced us as Māori and that faced us as New Zealanders and as participants in contributors to and shapers of our own destinies and in so doing contributing to the strength of our country Aotearoa New Zealand.I went on to work with Parekura as a public servant—he in the Department of Labour I in a range of Government departments. We did not always disclose ouraffiliation or whanaungatanga as we worked different sides of the kaupapa. In many instances in that time we set about trying to design Māori affairs policies that would deliver better than those we had experienced or seen ourselves. I worked for him as Minister of Māori Affairs—again working on how we could better develop policy that would support Māori to be successful.It has been mentioned already that Parekura was a true public servant. He served many publics and he came from a tribe and a community that honoured public service and commitment to community. One of the things that I think I will always remember him for and honour him for—well actually a collection of things—is that all of his work was based on belief understanding respect and the wish to showcase what was right about being Māori not what was wrong; what was powerful and positive about being Māori not what was a problem and deficit; what was normal and wonderful and beautiful about being Māori not what it was to fix it up to make it look better. He started truly using policy analysis terms for a proficiency analysis. He believed in what was possible what the potential was here and how it might be realised.He may not have expressed it that way. Many have commented on his “mikirapu-ness” to use a Ngati Porou term on how he used words. At home people just called that “Para-phrasing” because of course as all of you who came to the coast will know although Parekura was known as Parekura here or Parry or Pare at home he was always known as Para or Uncle Para. So yes it was just a question that he was “Para-phrasing” and he would always return to “Para-dise”. That is what he has done in Hauiti.He was truly a member of the House of Representatives which all of us who sit in today worked so hard to get to and participate in. He brought the diversity and the richness and the authenticity that is so important to a true representative democracy. He did spend a lot of time on the road up and down the communities of this country reaching out and touching people. There are stories that are told about him all the time about him pulling up to houses. Shane Jones has already mentioned that in terms of a by-election he was a part of—in terms of a by-election I was a part of. I know how much campaigning my cousin did against me—this much. I know where the election pamphlets to oppose me went to—certainly into an opening but not a letterbox.I know that Parekura was loved and respected in little communities and big communities and in small organisations and big organisations. I worked with Parekura and for Parekura and I saw him operate successfully and effectively no matter which Government was in power because he went with authenticity for what he was trying to achieve. I think that he was very effective and I think it is important that in a democracy like ours and in a House of Representatives like this we always welcome and value that rich diversity that he personified not only in what he did but in the way he did it and the way that he was warm and generous.It has already been said that he was a big man with a big heart—he absolutely was. He worked extremely hard. I totally agree with Annette King I think it was who said he wanted to die doing what he loved doing. The idea that he anointed successors I just do not believe. He did flirt with the idea now and again and you would have heard that in the eulogies at Hauiti over the weekend but he wanted to do what he was doing. Actually I think this is a very fitting way for him to have left from all the work the mahi that he did which he loved doing and which he was respected for doing.We both come from a community where Apirana Ngata stood tall. Many know him as the guy on the $50 note. Where we grew up he walked tall in our community. Songs were and are sung about him. It was many years before I discovered he had actually passed away because all of the stories spoke of him as if he was very much alive. Oneof the things that he wrote before he passed away which has been quoted many times in this House in its shortened version was: “E tipu e rea mō ngā rā o tō ao.” Grow up and serve the needs of your generation. That is what Parekura has done. He has served the needs of his generation and he has honoured that whakataukī that poroporoaki of his tipuna of Apirana Ngata.So I would like to share in thanking him for the contributions that he made both personally and professionally the contributions that he made in terms of politics and policy. Many on the other side of the House will not know—they may have suspected—that he gave me constant feedback on how I was doing here in this House. All of you here and certainly all of our whanaunga will notice that messengers operate in this House. You do not know where a message has come from. I would often get one from my tungāne on the other side of the Chamber. I will not be sharing what they were but I really appreciated them and I will miss looking across the House to see him speak so expressively with his eyes and his eyebrows which he held many conversations through as we sat opposite each other in this House. Haere oki atu rā e te tūngane.[Farewell and rest up brother.]Our rambling shambling man thank you for so much that you gave to all of us. You will be remembered. Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tuoho koe me he maunga teitei—strive for the ultimate and if you must bow your head let it be to a lofty mountain. Katahi anō a ia ka tū nui—finally he has bowed his head. Kia ora. Tēnā koutou.