Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēnā koe Te Mana Kaiwhakawā. Tēnā koutou ōku rangatira Ngāi Tūhoe ngā uri o Rua Kēnana tēnā koutou tēnā koutou nau mai whakatau mai. He hōnore nui māku ki te tū ki te tautoko i tēnei pire Te Pire Unuhia Hara kei Runga i a Rua Kēnana nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Greetings Mr Speaker. Greetings to my leaders Ngāi Tūhoe the descendants of Rua Kēnana greetings greetings welcome welcome. It is a great honour for me to stand and support this bill the Rua Kēnana Pardon Bill. Therefore greetings greetings greetings to all.]It's indeed a privilege to stand at this third reading of the Rua Kēnana Pardon Bill. I want to add my endorsement to all the kōrero and the welcomes that have taken place and to welcome the whānau of Rua Kēnana and all of his many descendants who have descended upon Parliament this afternoon. I'm very proud as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee that we achieved what I think could be close to a record of actually giving a thorough examination to the bill and a full submission period that was opened up we were able to complete that mahi and also now we are ushering in this third reading. So I want to acknowledge all the members of the committee. In particular I want to acknowledge the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for her tautoko and our mahi and the many submitters that we had on the bill. They are too numerous to name but—another record I guess—this bill had 100 percent tautoko from submitters and there was not one opposed. That's testament to the tautoko and the yearning of this bill for this day to arrive so I want to acknowledge all of the whānau many of whom—in fact the majority of whom—are mokopuna or whānau of Rua Kēnana. We acknowledge their pleas to us to hasten the passage of this bill and I'm pleased that we were able to do that which will culminate in the Royal assent in Maungapōhatu this weekend. I've got only a short call but I want to acknowledge Rua Kēnana. I was handed this wonderful commemorative booklet by Professor Black to commemorate not only his works and his profound impact but also this occasion and what a striking young man Rua Kēnana—Marama Davidson: Yes we were just saying that. RINO TIRIKATENE: Yeah. He has many many descendants and they are all here to witness this occasion. But he was a striking—a striking—prophet leader rangatira an activist and a freedom fighter. He was quite a leader and he founded the Te Hāhi Iharaira and I want to acknowledge that also. Such an impact that this rangatira had that we are pardoning today through the passage of this legislation. Terrible wrongs were committed against Rua Kēnana: trumped-up charges culminating in invasions into Maungapōhatu and imprisonment. The impacts of that on the Iharaira faith and the whānau of Maungapōhatu have been long lasting but it ends today. It ends today with the passage of this bill. This bill formalises the agreement that was negotiated very thoroughly with Ngā Toenga o Ngā Tamariki a Iharaira me Ngā Uri o Maungapōhatu Charitable Trust. I want to acknowledge their work along with the officials from Te Puni Kōkiri who worked to come up with this agreement. I guess not every detail was able to be included but at the end of the day that agreement was reached and the parties were happy with what we're enacting through the passage of this bill.The most important aspect is the pardon and I want to just in conclusion read a lovely quote that is contained herein this booklet. It was by Paetawa Miki. He said Kua kitea e te ao kāore he hara o Rua o ngā tāngata o Maungapōhatu [The world has seen Rua was innocent as were the people of Maungapōhatu]." and that has come to pass today. With that I tautoko this bill. Kia ora tātou."