Harawira Hone: General Debate 
Harawira Hone: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:11796] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tena tatou katoa e te Whare. I apologise for breaking with tradition but instead of using this general debate to slag off others in this House I would like to take the opportunity to recognise a man who has played a critical role in the Maori renaissance here in Aotearoa. 
Some years back I was asked who had had a big influence on my life. I started thinking about it and ended up with a huge list which I had to cut back so that I did not look like some dork who needed everybody else to run his life for him. I ended up with these people: my mum Titewhai because she will always be my mum and for her total commitment to all her whanau; my wife Hilda who hates my saying so but is everything to me; Nelson Mandela who proved that if one’s spirit is strong then not even 27 years in jail can break it; Muhammad Ali for being young incredibly gifted and proud to be black; Maori Marsden who taught me that being Maori is a gift to be thankful for every day of my life; and Syd Jackson who taught me that if we believe in something then we should not let anyone set us aside from that belief. 
Last week we buried Syd Jackson at his home marae Matahiwi which is down Hastings way. Here is my poroporoaki to him. 
Syd Jackson was a founding member of Nga Tamatoa which people of my generation or older will remember as that radical Maori group that back in the 1970s fought for Maori to be taught in schools and that dared to say that Maori had Treaty rights. Back then Pakeha people all round the country hated Syd—and so too did a whole heap of Maori just quietly. But Syd was never cowed by that. He would always say that Aotearoa is Maori land and he would argue his point with anyone anywhere. He never ever took a backward step. 
Syd never voted either because he did not believe in Parliament. I suspect I was a bit of a disappointment to him probably saved from absolute condemnation in his eyes only by my comments about John Howard and my visit to Alice Springs to visit our Aboriginal cousins. 
Syd made being Maori highly educated and fearless his trademark. He dominated university life and gave up any hope of a glittering corporate career in order to fight for Maori rights. His Maori was hopeless but he fought for the language so that others might benefit from knowing its beauty. He marched to Waitangi when Maori were afraid to talk about it publicly. He put his freedom on the line in land occupations at Raglan and Bastion Point. He worked tirelessly within the trade union movement. He hosted the  
Liberation Talkback 
 show on Radio Waatea for years. He helped to build Turuki Health Care into a powerful health provider in South Auckland. 
For all of that Syd Jackson was my hero. And now his life is over. The funny thing though is that I am happy he died. He gave his all when he was with us—100 percent every single day of his life. Even when his body was being eaten up by cancer his mind was always sharp and his politics never wavered. I am happy for him that the pain has gone and that his wairua can return to those others who have gone before him—people like Eva Rickard Hana Te Hemara Tom Poata Eddie Hawk and many many others. 
No reira e te rangatira haere. Hoki atu ki a ratou e tatari ana kia kite ano hoki i a koe. Ano ra e te rangatira haere haere hoki atu ra. Our lives are brighter for his having lived amongst us. Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou katoa.