Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. Ka noho ahau ki roto i taku Reo Māori mō te wāhanga tuatahi o taku kōrero. Ko te kī atu ahau ki a koutou e Tākitimu waka tōia mai rā ki runga i ngā wai kapakapa o Aotearoa e hora ake nei. Tōia mai rā e Aotea waka ki runga i Te Whare Pāremata e tū nei. Tōia mai rā ko Ārai-te-Uru ki runga i tō tatou Whare e tū nei. E mihi atu ana ki a koutou—haere mai haere mai tēnā rā koutou katoa.[Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I shall stay in my Māori language for the first part of my speech. Let me say to you who hail from the great canoe of Tākitimu haul (your canoe) across the rippling waters of New Zealand which surround us. To you from the great canoe of Aotea haul (your canoe) to Parliament. To you from the great canoe of Ārai-te-Uru haul (your canoe) to this House which belongs to us all. Warm greetings to you all. Welcome welcome welcome. I acknowledge you all.]Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. Can I—after my mihi of course—just talk about some of those connections as was referred to by the Hon Alfred Ngaro in his contribution to this particular bill because I believe those are really important—not just the matters of this bill but in terms of our enduring and evolving relationship with our relatives from the Pacific Islands. I say relatives" because according to my whakapapa we come from the same canoe and I think that's important because the honourable member the Hon Alfred Ngaro talked about the brotherhood that's stood side by side in World War I. We know too that they stood side by side as part of D Company of the 28th Māori Battalion in World War II. So it's only right we acknowledge our history. I believe that it is that particular history that has led to this bill which has taken some time but we are here today. I also take the point made by members who have contributed to this bill about the possibilities and the prospects for the future and that's exciting and I want to touch on all three of those.We know now for many years in Aotearoa New Zealand that the Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau communities have been meaningful contributors to our country—on the rugby field on the battlefield in business in Parliament and right across every corner of our country. It's important that we acknowledge that contribution because this goes in part some way to making sure that we acknowledge that by also allowing them to fulfil the great words left to us by our forefathers which say te pai o te nohoanga a te tuakana me te teina ki raro i te whakaaro kotahi [it is truly wonderful when the older brother and the younger brother are of one mind].I think that's important because as tuākana and tēina we know the value of that cultural premise. We know that when we provide opportunities as is provided in this particular bill for whānau of Cook Island descent of Niuean descent and of Tokelauan descent to return home it speaks to many of those aspects that have already been mentioned: economic prosperity social prosperity; and I want to also add to that cultural prosperity.It is not by coincidence—in fact I'd say it's good planning of the House—that just prior to this bill was a Treaty settlement bill. That's important because it's these kinds of bills that provide opportunity for whānau and tuākana to go home to make sure that they have the means to be able to contribute meaningfully to their communities to their country. That is really important. Why? Because we know the language loss is a terrible thing; cultural loss is a terrible thing. As is the tradition in the Polynesian cultures the way that we are able to actually pass on our knowledge and our teachings and genealogy to our young people is through our elders.This particular bill of course we know allows for the residency to be more portable. It allows for those of Cook Island Niuean and Tokelauan descent to actually be able to return home and I think that's really important. It can't be missed in this debate. I agree economic prosperity is a good thing and social prosperity is a good thing but I know as a Māori and having witnessed people leave our rural communities to go to the urban centres who haven't returned—I'd argue in this House that actually many of the symptoms that are plaguing our society—in particular my people Māori people Ngāpuhi people in Auckland—today is simply because of disconnection to culture and disconnection to home. A bill like this allows for those people from the Islands—from Tokelau Niue and Cook Islands—to head home and that's really important to me.It provides flexibility. We know that now—and the honourable member Alfred Ngaro mentioned it—the world is becoming more and more connected. We are able to travel more and more. It's easy to pop home and to come back to Aotearoa New Zealand and actually to call both places home and that's a good thing. I think that's an excellent thing. And it should never ever be one is sacrificed for the other. We know that in fact it's cheaper to fly to the Cook Islands than it is to fly to Wellington at some points in time but I will leave Air New Zealand to the side.Hon Tim Macindoe: I'm coming with you.Hon PEENI HENARE: Ha ha! Other members have raised that—but look I think that's important because of connectivity and as the world gets smaller it's important that we have bills like this that will allow that flexibility to allow members from communities of Cook Islands Tokelau and Niue obviously to be able to call both places home to make sure that not just them as individuals but their families can do that too. That's a multi-generational thing and these are the added benefits that a bill like this actually provides.Improvements to the pension portability—that's a no-brainer. I say "improvements" because this particular bill and the purposes of this bill have come through iterations and come to a certain point today. It hasn't always been as good as I believe this particular bill is. In fact in the past as the Hon Carmel Sepuloni has already mentioned in her contribution under the last regime it was this. [Gestures with hand] We acknowledge that the uptake of this particular provision wasn't very high so we wanted to be able to make sure that in this new and exciting Government in acknowledging our Polynesian connections we can actually make this provision more available to those people of Niue Tokelau and Cook Island descent. So that's an important thing.My colleague the Hon Carmel Sepuloni obviously spoke to much of the technical aspects of this particular bill: the number of years required before one is eligible the ability for it to be portable to and fro—if you like—from the two homes of Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands. Those are all good things. I think that the economic prosperity that will come from actually having a more engaged community between Aotearoa and the Islands is a good thing. As mentioned by the previous speakers the skill set that people attain while coming to New Zealand—and other places in the world but in particular here in New Zealand—they're able to take that back to their particular homes and make sure that their communities are prosperous is a good thing and it's a no-brainer. In fact I've said previously this relationship is an evolving one and I'd like to think that in the future the shared prosperity between those Pacific Islands mentioned in this particular bill and Aotearoa New Zealand can be a longer and more meaningful discussion but we'll leave that for another time.At this particular point in time we want to once again on this side of the House support this bill say it's a good bill—it's a great bill in fact; promoted by my colleague the Hon Carmel Sepuloni. It is I believe long overdue and will contribute to a wider and more robust conversation about the prosperity of the wider Pacific into the future.So finally just once again a big thankyou to all of the people that have had a contribution to this particular bill. We know that on a recent tour of the Pacific people outside of this House have made their thoughts known on this particular bill and so we want to thank one and all—of course the Hon Carmel Sepuloni for the promotion of this bill—and to say to this House that we're proud to pass a bill like this. In true Māori and Polynesian tradition I want to finish by saying tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa."