Ngarewa-Packer DebbieDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): E te Māngai tēnā koe. Huri rauna i te Whare tēnā koutou. The Māori Party is back. We are humbled by the support our people gave us this year. We have built a vibrant energised movement that is demonstrating a new way of politics: car-koi" filling galleries "Poi E" and yes with an attire of hats. Rawiri Waititi and I will work tirelessly to live up to the faith that has been put in us. We have started in this House as we intend to continue: hard on kaupapa soft on tāngata and yes the best dressed. We will be strongly pushing to implement our transformative policies by both working with Government and holding them to account. Our vision is for mana motuhake looking after our vulnerable whānau for climate justice for reo Māori and for education to name a few but to set out a revolutionary road map to reaffirm Te Tiriti our tino rangatiratanga as tangata whenua. But more than that we will also be focused on changing the way this place works and decolonising our politics while liberating the hearts and minds of our people. Our people told us they have had enough of subjugating ourselves to fit within Pākehā systems and Pākehā institutions like Oranga Tamariki that prejudicially affect our whānau and are allowed to. We are sick and tired of being treated as second class and standing up for our rights when it's considered acceptable by others. We want the balance to shift. It is our role as Te Paati Māori to prove to our people that we don't have to work and live to Pākehā expectations but we can indeed be our true selves as our Treaty intended: unashamedly unapologetically us. We're back and we're here to stay. It's been a big year. I'd like to acknowledge our Prime Minister and the Government's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cautious health approach was the best approach. As Māori our response too was cautious. Our experience is that our whānau were devastated when the flu epidemic pandemic hit Aotearoa in 1918. It was our people who put in place our own Māori pandemic response plan and exercised our mana motuhake to lead our own solutions. Right around the country whānau hapū iwi and our urban Māori organisations demonstrated exemplary leadership and stepped up to provide the Māori response as the Crown simply had nothing in place. Māori mobilised establishing Māori communication channels to protect whakapapa; set up core hubs; assisted those who could not afford to hoard groceries sending out kai and sanitation packs; and set up iwi community checkpoints working with the police to discourage inter-regional travel. I remind the House that Māori made huge sacrifices to ensure the team of 5 million were protected. We changed our tangihanga adapted our tikanga and closed our marae in some areas to ensure our vulnerable communities were protected. Many of our marae held back thousands of grievers burying rangatira and tohunga like Uncle Huirangi Waikerepuru to quietly lead by example and protect our nation and so it is only right that we expect to be acknowledged and respect Māori for who we are. I want to end by acknowledging you Mr Speaker and members across the House from all political parties. We will not always agree but I know that we will always find opportunities to work together for the better advancement of Aotearoa. I also want to acknowledge and thank all the officials the staff in the Office of the Clerk and the Parliamentary Service and across all our kaitautoko our security our cleaners and our caterers. We couldn't do this without you and in the short time I've been here I've seen firsthand how hard you all work to ensure that this place keeps running smoothly. I also want to mihi to our whānau our friends our iwi and everyone in our dream teams who have been here to tautoko us. Yes we are a party of great fashion and it's great to be back in this House where red is clearly the new black. My Xmas wish is to be elevated so I am not stuck here between Simon Bridges and David Seymour. I do hope the Holy Spirit—indeed the Xmas karma—may instead have me placed maybe beside Marama Davidson. But most of all as a special Xmas wish seeker I hope no ties for Rawiri will be granted by you Mr Speaker. So nā reira mai i a mātou o Te Paati Māori tēnei te mihi aroha ki a tātou katoa i tēnei wā o te tau. Haere pai ki ō koutou hararei i runga i te aroha o tētehi ki tētehi. Tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Therefore from us in Te Paati Māori please accept our best wishes for this special time of the year. Go well to enjoy your holidays and take care of each other. Greetings to one and all.]Rawiri will clap for me."