Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Associate Minister for Māori Development): Tuatahi e tika me mihi ki ngā whanaunga tae mai nei i tēnei wā. Ka mihi ki a koutou i tae mai nei. Selwyn ngā rangatira whakarangatira mātou i tēnei wā tēnei te tino mihi ki a koutou. E tika ana ki te hoki taku mahara ki tō tātou rangatira Uncle Api Mahuika; nānā anō rā i parau te huarahi hei whāinga mā tēnei reanga. Ko ia tētahi e tū toa ana e tū hei rangatira mā tātou me ana mahi maha nei i kawea mai. Ahakoa te uaua ahakoa te taumaha ko Uncle Api tētahi i hiki i te nui o ngā mahi ki runga i ana pakihiwi. Nō reira Uncle moe mai moe mai moe mai rā.[Firstly let us welcome our relatives who have arrived here today. Greetings to you all. Selwyn and the leaders who honour us with their presence today I salute you. We must take the time to remember our great chief Uncle Api Mahuika; it was he who forged the path and this generation continues that work. He was one of the staunch ones who took the lead and assumed responsibility on our behalf in sundry areas. Despite the trials and tribulations Uncle Api was one of those who shouldered those burdens. Therefore Uncle rest now rest in peace.]I stand today as a son of Ngāti Porou—a son of Ngāti Porou which is something very special to many of us who were brought up in urban settings. One of the saddest times for me was when our chairman and great rangatira Uncle Api Mahuika died and sadly I was flying over to Europe when uncle died. He was a great influence in terms of Ngāti Porou—in Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Porou in the cities. He was a man who always reminded us of our Ngāti Poroutanga particularly myself and John Tamihere who used to irritate him somewhat through the years. So it's good today to see the cuz there the whanaunga with the haukāinga up there in the gallery mixing with them because we have been—well not at each other's throats but we had talked about iwi rights as opposed to urban rights many times with our Uncle Api Mahuika. We even took him to court actually. And we didn't go too well in that respect either because we were trying to determine rights in terms of urban Māori as opposed to iwi but our uncle stood tall and nothing was ever personal from him. He had so much influence so it's wonderful—I know we're not meant to be referring to the gallery but it's wonderful—to see our chair up there my whanaunga Selwyn Parata and the relations come here because it reminds me so much of Ngāti Porou when I was brought up. Kiritapu Allan was talking about it earlier. I have to say that in Wellington particularly just for the Opposition when I was young Ngāti Porou ruled. Anything and everything was run by a Ngāti. If you were listening to my father Bob Jackson only Ngāti Porou could speak Māori properly. There were only two types of Māori: those who were Ngāti Porou and those who wanted to be. Humility was not one of our strong characteristics at the time. But that's what pervaded in those days.I remember going to Ruatōria with John Tamihere and talking to the locals about our upbringing because when we were into these property rights debates we talked about us being as proud as Ngāti Porou as the Selwyn Paratas and others who were brought up on the coast. Though we were never brought up under the umbrella of Hikurangi we always said Hikurangi followed us wherever we went. If you were brought up in Porirua or you were brought up down here in Wellington you would have thought you were in Ruatōria because everyone was a Ngāti. Uncle Api always said the best Māori language speakers were only Ngāti Porou. I recall him saying vividly one night that the best Māori language speaker—and can I say Kīngi Īhaka and Shane Jones were there—was Koro Dewes and Kīngi Īhaka and Shane Jones said What about Ngāpuhi?" Uncle Api said "No the second-best speaker is me and you don't feature."So these are the stories that I was brought up on you know—wonderful stories and it's wonderful to talk about this today. It's almost appropriate that Ngāti Porou is the first tribe—and I mihi to the former Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson over there for his work—to exercise rangatiratanga. Uncle Api would say "Who else should be exercising rangatiratanga first?" But Ngāti Porou is doing that.I assure everyone in the House and people who are listening that everybody's going to be safe on the East Coast. Our people will manage the situation just fine which was a worry just a few years ago—a worry that led us to the infamous foreshore and seabed bill and the nonsense that went on at the time. I won't go down the track about who turned it into law and all that sort of thing but I will say that one person stuck with Labour and the insults that were coming their way. I shouldn't say that—I shouldn't say that; there was more than one. But there was certainly one person who stood up and said "We're going to stay with the kaupapa here. We're going to change things." and that was Parekura Horomia. He fronted at the time. He fronted protesters at the time and he was at the forefront in terms of what we are talking about today. So I want to remember that whanaunga—remember that whanaunga for the wonderful work he did for the people of Ngāti Porou for the wonderful work he did for the Labour Party. He held the Māori caucus strong together when they were getting booted—I was going to say "deservedly" but I'm part of the team now aren't I so I can't say that. Anyway—no no they deserved nothing right. No no—Pare well we had a number of debates at the time in 2004 and 2005 and Parekura stood strong. He set up things well for the member Meka Whaitiri who followed in his footsteps and the dream the moemoeā that I have to say a lot of Pākehā people don't get which is that we can manage our own. We can look after the beaches. We can look after the rohe. We don't need a council to look after us. We are mature experienced people. We have wonderful people on the coast like Selwyn Parata and the board and Whaimutu Dewes. All the different whanaunga are well versed in management in governance so New Zealand and the East Coast do not have to worry about Ngāti Porou looking after the governance the customary rights the tino rangatiratanga of that area. That fear that was promoted sadly by irresponsible politicians in the early 2000s must no longer come to the fore—must no longer come to the fore.Hon Christopher Finlayson: You guys botched it. Hon WILLIE JACKSON: And we're all on the same wavelength. We're all on the same wavelength here. That promotion that was—and I will say by both sides Mr Finlayson by both sides; there's no argument there.Hon Christopher Finlayson: Correct.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: There is no argument there. We are more mature politicians now. These are the types of kaupapa where we come together where we say: Kua tae ki te wā.[We have come to the time.]We've come to that time where we can see Māori leading the way in terms of managing and governing different rohe. I see this as only the start—only the start—of something that is very very exciting. Who would have thought when we were going through that whole infamous foreshore and seabed debacle that we would end up where we are today. It's a tribute to our whanaunga who are here today; to Uncle Api Mahuika who was the chief negotiator; and to some of the members of the Māori Party National Party and now Labour Party that we have got this bill which will I'm sure travel through with no problem through our committee process.So it's a privilege to stand as I said as a son of Ngāti Porou a tribe that as Kiritapu Allan said—you can't shut them up sometimes eh Kiritapu in Wellington—led all the way with all our different rangatira. It had the top—we always say—Māori politicians like yourself Kiritapu Allan and Peeni Henare has got the whakapapa links and Marama Davidson over there. I hope she talks more about her Ngāti Porou side than her Ngāpuhi side.Marama Davidson: I did au.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Absolutely. You know when you come into this House there's a number of us here—and of course Meka Whaitiri our member who'll be wrapping up our kōrero today. It's an honour to talk on this bill. Again I mihi to the whanaunga who are here today. Tēnei te mihi ki a tātou katoa tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā nō tātou katoa."