Waititi RawiriRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): That prompt then gave me a hua of a fright! Kia ora tātou i tēnei rā. [Hello to all of us here this day.] First of all I apologise for what you've had to hear in this House over the last hour. You're never going to get that back in your life ever again. Kei te aroha atu ki ngā kōrero o te Whare nei; āhua pōtatutatu wētahi. Āhua pōtatutatu. Ka kōrero mai it's insulting to call you Wānanga A Wānanga B Wānanga C" and in the second breath call you a sandwich.Tēnā tātou i tēnei rā i tēnei pire kei mua i a tātou kei mua i a tātou. Me te mea hoki kia kauaka awahau e āta kārawarawa i ngā kōrero kei roto i te pire. Kua tutuki. Kua tutuki. Kia kauaka tātou e hoki whakamuri. Ko te whakamua tātou e haere ake nei. Inā ngā kōrero a Awanuiārangi "mau tonu ki tāu ake ōhākī". Ki tā te kōrero a Raukawa "e kore au e ngaro". Ki tā te kōrero a Aotearoa "ka mua ka muri".Me pērā pea tā tātou whakaaro i tēnei rā. Hāunga ngā huihuinga kua oti hika! Kua mutu noa atu ngā carpark meetings. Kei te ahu whakamua tātou. Ahakoa wētahi mea kua mahue kē ake i waho i te pire nei kei te pai. Kua pai ake ināia tonu nei ki tā te pire ki mua noa atu. Āe āhua iti noa incremental steps. Oh well koinā te āhuatanga o tēnei Whare. Engari kei te ahu whakamua tātou. Nō reira e ngā wānanga haramai ki tō koutou Whare haramai ki te whakarongo ki tēnei pire e āhua whakatikatika i ngā mahi hē ka roa e hē nei i tēnei Whare i a tātou.[My condolences for the comments of this House; some are a bit distracted. A bit distracted. They say "it's insulting to call you Wānanga A Wānanga B Wānanga C" and in the second breath call you a sandwich.Greetings to us today and this bill that is before us that is before us. And also let me not cut the statements in the bill into shreds. It is complete. It is complete. Let us not go backwards. We are about progress now. There are the statements of Awanuiārangi "hold onto your own legacy". According to the statement of Raukawa "I will never be lost". According to the statement of Aotearoa "walking backwards into the future".Perhaps that is how we should think today. Aside from the meetings that have already been completed geez! The carpark meetings finished a while ago. We are moving forward. Even though some things have been left out of this bill it's OK. It is better in this moment than the bill from earlier. Yes only a little incremental steps. Oh well that is the nature of this House. But we are moving forward. So to the wānanga welcome to your House welcome to listen to this bill that kind of corrects the misguided work that has long been misguided in this House by us.]I just want to acknowledge the wānanga here today and I think I'm more closely related to the wānanga than Willie Jackson. The big difference is that I have a degree out of those wānanga; he doesn't. Oh it's not nice—it's not nice but you know he told us how he was related to all the clever ones. I was wondering what happened to him. He just about had his 21st at secondary school so maybe his wife should be taking him to Te Whare Wānanga to go and get a degree. But look I've been a teacher I've been a student I've been a graduate and I've been in a lecturer of all three wānanga. Te Ara Poutama Te Ara Reo Māori—I've been a teacher in that particular space. I was a graduate of Raukawa with a Master's in mātaurangi Māori. I'm currently a graduate of Awanuiarangi but I've still got to finish my PhD. I see the CEO up there; I won't make eye contact with him right now. And I was also elected for Raukawa for the mātaurangi Māori paper. So look we are here to celebrate—although tinkering—a huge milestone here today kura kaupapa Māori. Kia kaua tātou e wareware ki te kura kaupapa Māori [Māori immersion schools. Let us not forget the Māori immersion schools.] who have been pushed aside and made special character and I won't accept this House taking the mana away from the people who set up kura kaupapa Māori who set up kōhanga reo. That was business as usual and so you should be doing that. But I am sick and tired of them saying "It was under us that kōhanga reo was able to fly. It was under us that kura kaupapa was able to fly." Whakamutua atu! Nā tātou anō tātou ērā kaupapa. Ka whakaaro au mō ngā pakeke kua riro atu ki te pō. Ngā kaiako i roto i te kōhanga reo ngā kaiako i roto i te kura kaupapa Te Heikōkō mā.[Cut it out! Those initiatives were our own. I think about the elders who have passed on into the night. The teachers in the Māori immersion early childhood centres the teachers in the Māori immersion schools Te Heikōkō and them.]That's what's insulting—that we continue to allow this House to claim the merit of the hard work our people have continuously done in our communities. And that's not isolated to Te Whare Wānanga. So kei te mihi atu rā ki a koutou kei te mihi atu rā ki a tātou i tēnei rā ka roa nei e whawhai mō te oranga o tō tātou iwi Māori. You know what would be even better? Te Matakahuki kei te whakarongo mai koutou.[So I acknowledge you I acknowledge all of us today who have long been fighting for the benefit of our Māori people. You know what would be even better? Te Matakahuki you are listening.]Do you know what would be even better? That we set up a known independent Māori education authority that takes 25 percent of the total funding of education puts it in there so we can be in charge of our own oranga. So you fellas know who to vote for come October—kia ora tātou. But just to say look this is our opportunity to celebrate the small gains. This is our opportunity to celebrate us. This is our opportunity to continue the mahi—the awesome mahi—we do in our communitiesNō reira kei te mihi atu rā ki a koutou. I'm waiting for Whakatōhea to arrive this afternoon. [So I acknowledge you. I'm waiting for Whakatōhea to arrive this afternoon.] We've got some more firecrackers. Kia ora tātou."