Coffey TamatiTAMATI COFFEY (Labour—Waiariki): Tēnā koe e Te Mana Whakawā. Tuatahi ka huri ngā whakaaro ki ngā mate o te puia o Whakaari i mate ai i tērā wiki. Ka tangi mōteatea te ngākau ki a rātou kua wehe kua ngaro. E ngā mate e moe e moe e oki. Ka tangihia Te Arawa i ngā mate o Mātaatua ka tangihia a Mātaatua i ngā mate o Te Arawa. E aku rangatira kei runga ake ngā Tamariki o te Kohu ngā uri o Rua tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Greetings Mr Speaker. Firstly my thoughts go to the deceased from the eruption on Whakaari / White Island who passed away last week. The heart laments for those who have passed who have been lost. To the dead rest peacefully in your eternal slumber. Te Arawa grieves the dead of Mātaatua Mātaatua grieves the dead of Te Arawa. My esteemed leaders above the children of the mist the descendants of Rua greetings greetings to you all.]First of all can I like many other members acknowledge the work of the previous member for the Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell. A member a colleague of mine said this started with the Waiariki and it will finish with the Waiariki as well. So I acknowledge the hard work that both Te Ururoa Flavell and the Hon Chris Finlayson did in bringing this to the House. Secondly to our visitors our manuhiri from the gallery: we all stand here alongside you acknowledging the hurt and the pain that you have suffered over the years and we do that with our hearts open to you.Three: I was accosted when I was recently up at Ruātoki. One of the aunties came and she said to me Tamati what's this pardon thing all about? What does a pardon mean?" I said to her "Oh it's kind of like an apology. It's like saying sorry." And she said well a pardon in her argument was actually—she felt as though it was the Government pardoning Rua Kēnana for his wrongs. I had to have a wee think about that and I had to say "No no no. I get where you're coming from on this one but actually this is the Government asking to be pardoned for the crime that took place the injustice that took place all of those years ago." So to our auntie out at Ruātoki if she's listening then actually I hope that I've clarified that because it did have me for a wee bit. Can I be really honest and say that if I had the opportunity to meet Rua Kēnana the man himself I'm pretty sure I would've liked him because it sounds like he was a pretty hardcase fulla. It sounded like he was somebody that knew his whānau he knew his followers he knew his place in the world. He had been guided by his kuia his kaumātua. Also he was I understand—in the Star there was a bit of kōrero back in 1916 about him being the Māori kaiser and he made some reference to the fact that if the Germans won the war he would be on their side. I don't know if that was lies or not but it would be something my uncle would say if he was up against the wall I'm sure. That's kind of what happened to Rua.In the early days I understand that he was very against alcohol; he didn't like it. But in fact he learnt that to be able to control the impacts of it to create the minimisation of harm he needed to control the sale and supply up at Maungapōhatu. So that was something that he tried to do. But of course the laws at the time and the direction that the country was going in was the way of prohibition so actually that wasn't an option for him. So he wasn't able to do the admirable thing the thing that we talk about lots here in the House of Parliament—about minimising the impacts of alcohol in our community. He wasn't able to bring that to fruition. We talk about history in schools and the impact that this is going to have with our tamariki growing up and learning about the wrongs of our Government our country the pathway that we've taken. We will celebrate the good stuff but we'll also acknowledge the warts as our Prime Minister says as well—warts and all. Let's have a conversation about that. But actually just hearing the contributions from my colleagues in the House this afternoon I realised that actually there's been a spin-off effect to that and that's been the learning in this House. Yes our children will learn that but actually our politicians have learnt that too. They've learnt about the journey of Rua Kēnana they've learnt about the discrimination and the hurt that his descendants have faced. So I thank you for being here. I thank you everybody that has been involved in this from the start to this very point right here. Can I say as your adviser in the Waiariki that actually now's a really good time to get in and start hustling some of our Ministers for some money. They know who you are now. So if you want some roads let's talk about some roads. Let's talk about some Provincial Growth Fund money Mr Shane Jones. Let's talk about some money for tourism so that if you guys want to embark on that let's go and hit up our Minister of Tourism as well. I advise you to start engaging and to start getting into the hustle. I look forward to seeing you in the weekend. Kia ora rā.Bill read a third time.WaiataHaka"