Davidson MaramaMARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. Huri noa ki a tātou katoa i roto i tēnei Whare Pāremata. Tēnā koutou. Tuatahi he mihi aroha ki a koutou ngā uri o Maunga Pōhatu me Rua Kēnana ki a koutou o te hāhi Iharaira.[Madam Speaker greetings. Greetings to everyone who is in this Parliament. Greetings. Firstly I would like to give a heartfelt acknowledgement to the descendants of Maunga Pōhatu and Rua Kēnana and the church of Iharaira.]I wanted to get further than the start of my speech before I started having a tangi. It's quite hurtful to be an educated wāhine Māori political leader in this House and not know this history. I'm happy that today we declared that in our education we will gift all our nation's children the chance to better understand: the chance to better understand this is us the chance to better understand who we are—not so that we put upon the generations behind us shame and guilt but so that we have a clearer understanding of what happened and can address justice and harmonious relations for Māori and tauiwi and Pākehā to live in this land of ours in a way that acknowledges the pono and the tika in a way that hohou te rongo restores the balance for all of us to be able to walk free of the ignorance that far too many of us hold of what happened to our people to our communities to our ancestors. This is the day for Rua Kēnana and his uri and followers to be acknowledged firmly and at the forefront of this kōrero in Parliament—and this is a common story across our lands—and I want my children to know your story. My children are not from your iwi or your maunga or your awa. My children are from Te Tai Tokerau and Te Tai Rāwhiti and Scotland and I want them to know your story because it is our story. And I want to stop feeling inadequate about what we grow up not knowing as a nation. I wanted my contribution to be focused on the legacy of Rua Kēnana and going right back to before the invasion by the Crown into Maungapōhatu going right back to the incredible mahi that he led with his people to clear hundreds of acres of dense native bush to plant orchards and divert a stream of water and to build whare—and with innovative architecture—and building a community and a disciplined community for the purposes of independence and tino rangatiratanga and connecting his people with their whakapapa and the whenua. He also stood against racial discrimination and actually this in my understanding was at the core of what led to the escalated police presence—this is what we might call something similar today: the escalated police presence—which initially came about because he wanted to do what everyone else was doing legally but which for Māori came under a different judgment and he railed against that racial discrimination. I acknowledge that stand because today in this House this Government is trying to correct that exact same racial discrimination in our system in our justice system which is still here today where two people from two different communities can do the same thing—the same thing—but come under different laws different judgments different penalties and different apprehension approaches. It's still happening and so we are continuing to fix the work that Rua Kēnana stood strong against right back then 100 years ago. That led to I think it was the first sort of police presence where I believe his response was to offer them a cup of tea and have a kōrero and a sit down. And then a second party of more police from Gisborne arrived some hours later as you move from the cup of tea and the kai—a big kai is being prepared. And then the third wave of 57 or so police who had ignored Rua Kēnana's request for a kōrero—Let's have a kōrero."—and just rode straight on to the marae. That invasion lasted three days—including his son being shot in cold blood; including arrests and being held and detained and without trial and a long trial which decimated the funds and the whānau and the connection of the people to the Maungapōhatu community. That trial and that burden are the aspiration I understand of the descendants today who want to bring people back to the community who want to restore that decimation and long-lasting harm that happened as a result of the original hara the original injustice. We as my colleagues have said all attended the unveiling of the New Zealand Land Wars plaque that sits behind my seat here. And it was announced from the Prime Minister today that our schools will include New Zealand history as a core subject and now we are here recalling the mana and the tapu of Rua Kēnana and his uri and his followers to restore the reputation and the dignity of everyone who had to face that harm. And it is right and it is right and it is right. It is right also previous Minister Te Ururoa Flavell that you are acknowledged today. This is restorative important crucial mahi for our nation for all of us. There is no minimising the importance of this. And it is not finished; this is just one of the important steps and there is ongoing work to do. I acknowledge everyone who has worked to get it into this House to get the pardon into this House today. I want to finish with—part of the bill refers to the pardon in a way that suggests that the Crown forgives Rua Kēnana and his people. And I stand here as a representative of the Crown to ask for your forgiveness. Rua Kēnana Maungapōhatu Hāhi Iharaira—I stand here as a representative of the Crown asking for your forgiveness. Kia ora."