Kapa-Kingi MariamenoMARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI (Matarau—Te Pāti Māori ): Tēnā koe. Tēnā koe e te Pīka. I te tuatahi me mihi atu. Kua tae mai tō tātou rōpū tāngata mana. Tātau katoa nau mai ki tēnei Whare. Tēnā tātau. Me te mea anō hoki me mihi ki te Speaker mai i te Samoan Parliament. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe e te pāpā Aupito William Sio. Tēnā rā hoki koe. Me te mihi ki a koe mai i te Kīngi. Ko koe tēnā ka noho tata ki waenganui i Te Tekau Mā Rua—ka nui te mihi ki a koe. Ko koe tērā te tangata ka pupuri i te ahi i Rangiriri. Ka nui te mihi ka nui te mihi ka nui te mihi.[First I must acknowledge the esteemed group who has come today and all of us who have come to this House. I acknowledge us all. I must also acknowledge the Speaker of the Samoan Parliament. My acknowledgements to you sir. Thank you. And I acknowledge you sir Aupito William Sio and extend the King's acknowledgements to you. You sit closely amongst the Tekau Mā Rua—I acknowledge you. You held the fire at Rangiriri. I acknowledge you greatly.]I stand to acknowledge and be grateful and to fully support this idea and this discussion today and without it I think we would not be doing our job as Te Pāti Māori.The whakapapa of this bill takes us back in time to an era not so long ago in the time of the Polynesian Panthers of the Dawn Raids. And you know the picture that comes to mind right now is Hone Harawira and many of those of our whānau nō Te Tai Tokerau he Māori katoa ka tautoko i ēnei whānau. [family from Northland they are all Māori who support these families.]of a time where Māori and Pasifika joined together to fight back against the relentless infringement of our rights as Pasifika and Māori that a Muldoon or National Government—not too dissimilar to our current one—inflicted upon us.This era saw the rise of Pacific activism which responded to openly racist treatment. It was 1976 when Dawn Raids began targeting Pacific households accused of harbouring overstayers despite it being those of European ethnicity who made-up two-thirds of all overstayers in New Zealand at the time. Events such as this inspired activism from the Polynesian Panthers and it is important I recognise here not only their commitment to their people but also ours.They fought alongside us during the 1975 land march Bastion Point and for the right to equality during the Springbok Tour. And while the communities most impacted by events of the Dawn Raids have finally received their apology from the Crown—and there's been a few apologies in the last maybe 24 hours but I suggest that the Government might have to be prepared for more apologies to come from that side I mean—there has been little action taken to prove the sincerity of this. The affected community have not yet truly received their fair compensation. The amendments to this bill are the start of that process.The bill will restore the right of citizenship to our Samoan community born between 1924 and 1949 that was stripped away with the introduction of the Citizen (Western Samoa) Act of 1982. Amendments to this bill will remedy and illustrate restorative action to the racial discrimination that our Pacific community were most certainly subject to during this time period.It is our responsibility to ensure that those unfairly treated by this very institution are both witness to and recipients of restorative action. And it is important that whatever this restorative action may be it is those impacted communities—those impacted communities—who inform us what this action is and that it is not those of us in this House who have never walked a day in their lives that dictate what it is that they think they need.So I can stand in support of this bill—and I'm thrilled to and our party are absolutely glad to and so we should—as presented by our whanaunga Teanau. So ka mihi a Te Aupōuri ki a Te Aupōuri—tēnā koe. [Te Aupōuri acknowledges Te Aupōuri.] We Māori can both acknowledge and understand what it is to experience a historical and ongoing mistreatment from this institution.I'm glad we—well I want us to get to select committee. We should have select committee on this—if we don't we are still saying we know what's best for you. And that is simply not the truth. It is not that we should describe what it is for others that don't look like us sound like us and feel like us. And I'm saying that as a Māori.