Eagle PaulPAUL EAGLE (Labour—Rongotai): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Nau mai haere mai e te iwi o Rēkohu ngā whānau Moriori. Tēnā koutou.[I would like to welcome the tribe of the Chatham Islands the Moriori families. Greetings.]I stand here as the very proud member of Parliament for the people of the Chatham Islands and together with Rino Tirikatene it's a wonderful experience to be here and celebrating this historic occasion. It's my pleasure to welcome you here to our House—or your House—because today we make the gains that others in this House have talked about. I particularly want to acknowledge the whānau from across Aotearoa New Zealand and other parts of the globe who are watching. Thank you for your warm welcome of me. I've been your member for three years and I've been to Rēkohu the Chatham Islands many times. I also want to say thank you for the warm welcome of my whānau particularly my son Tamarangi who is a Huff and a Daymond so you have always afforded your hospitality and your warmth to him and to I and my wife Miriam. I have been to many parts of your island whether it's Waitangi West Kāingaroa Ōwenga or the south coast and thanks to you. You've taken the time to show me around you've taken the extra effort to make sure that I understand the things that really matter most and this is one of them—the redress of your people the Moriori. Every time I'm there I learn something new. I see things and I think Wow!" Behind the Catholic church I see a gravestone with Tamarangi Huff and I think "Wow there's a story there to be told." It's next to—I think—a Catholic nun when the nuns used to run your health services there but every time there's another story.I also heard Maui and I want to acknowledge Maui Solomon Susan Thorpe and the negotiating team for the patient effort in getting to where you are today. But I want to acknowledge the karāpuna who were talked about at our mihi whakatau this afternoon because in there I hear names like Rongomaipango. It was actually Pita Thomas who many of you will know who showed me around parts of the Islands once. I used to see this wee sign as you drive from the airport into Waitangi and I remember looking at that sign and he said "Don't take a photo of that and put it on social media" but I did and I always thought "I wonder what the meaning of that is". Today I know that it's one of your ancestors and it has deep meaning. That's the spirit of Rēkohu the Chatham Islands that I've come to know as their member. There is a story in those four corners of that island and not to forget Rangiaotea Pitt Island and the whānau from there too. I go there and hear the issues of infrastructure be it the roading network on Pitt Island which needs some work to say the least or whether it's the airport extension the lack of renewable energy and other resources—I know the windmills are still down—or whether it's something like a cell phone network. During COVID-19 the many young people who returned home from boarding school emailed me and said "Look Mr MP if there's one thing you could do for us could you redress our cell phone network and our Wi-Fi?" That's coming can I tell you? So I'll be back for a celebration or ringing you on your mobile phones when we get down to the island come December.But more importantly can I acknowledge all of those who have pulled this together with dignity and decency and that's the Minister Andrew Little; his predecessor the Hon Christopher Finlayson; and I do want to point out Eugenie Sage as well who as Minister of Conservation went there went out to those outer islands got around Mangere South East etc. and had a really good look around and understood the issues. So when this redress was put together it was put together with authenticity and the know-how to make sure that this was done in the correct manner. My predecessor Dame Annette King sort of left the hands-on stuff to Christopher Finlayson but her 24 years there too was also done in such a way where she said to me "Look I'd like you to really invest some time in Rēkohu look at those Treaty settlements there and make sure that they're resolved in your term."Other people I want to acknowledge too are the negotiating team led by Dame Fran Wilde and she certainly has had a tough time I feel. But no negotiation and no redress is done without some hard work—and often a lot harder than one thinks. I know in talking to Dame Fran many times about all the settlements she's proud and wanted me to say how proud she was in terms of what we have achieved so far. I couldn't go amiss without acknowledging the mayor of the Chathams the former mayor Alfred Preece but also Monique Croon who both are working hard behind the scenes and talking me weekly saying "Look these are the things that are the most important to our people on Rēkohu." I'm not going to say too much more because I think it's been covered but what I do want to say ladies and gentlemen is that I get lots of material to read and one of the most honoured occasions I had was accompanying the Minister Andrew Little on the Hercules—so we took a different form of air transport to you lot and actually got there and back. But what we did do is do the signing of the deed of settlement and that in itself was my history lesson; that in itself told me the full story and the tears flowed internally because I thought "Wow this is the story that hasn't been told." I have to say I didn't know half of it. But after that I went away thinking "Wow this has not been fair; this is unjust." and I probably didn't really understand the significance of what that day was about. So to all of the Moriori people the Crown apology is just words but I'm hoping the redress and the actions going forward from here really make amends in some small way. When Kōpinga Marae opened in 2005 a waiata was composed and I want to read out some of those words:Tōrea iho rā te tohinga o RongoKi runga o Rēkohu Mū Wheke ka eke RongomaiwhenuaToitū te whenua toitū te moana toitū te tangataMano tau rongomau rau tau WharekauriKa tū Te Kopinga hei tūnga mō te motu hei tauwhiro i te iwi Moriori tūāuriHutia ko te mate hutia ko te oraI te pō uriuri i te pō tangotango i te ao tāngataHutia ko te mate hutia ko te oraRēkohu haumako e.The ancient covenant of peace rises again and casts itself over the island of Rēkohu the covenant originating from ancestors such as Muwheke and Rongomaiwhenua Ensuring the land the ocean and the people remain in a state of constant peace and tranquillityFor 1000 years the covenant was maintained until recently when the name Wharekauri came into being.And now Te Kopinga is born a sacred foundation for the island A source of protection and shelter for the ancient Moriori people.Who always stated let life or death be in the hand of the godsnot in the hands of man.Let life or death be in the hand of the gods And so Rēkohu flourishes.Me rongo."