Wagner NickyHon NICKY WAGNER (National): Kia ora. Tīhei mauri ora. Te Whare e tū nei tēnā koe. Te papa e takoto nei tēnā koutou. Ngā mate haere haere haere. Ngā reo ngā mana tēnā koutou katoa. Kei te kōrero ahau mō te pānuitanga tuatoru o Te Pire kia Unuhia te Hara kai Runga i a Rua Kēnana / Rua Kēnana Pardon Bill.[Greetings. Behold it is the breath of life. To the House standing here greetings to you. The earth lying here greetings to you. The dead farewell farewell farewell. The representatives the authorities greetings to you all. I am speaking about the third reading of the Te Pire kia Unuhia te Hara kai Runga i a Rua Kēnana / Rua Kēnana Pardon Bill.]This is a very special day. It's a special day because it is a chance to recognise a past wrong—to recognise a past wrong—and for Parliament to do everything it can to reconcile that wrong. Our mahi today is to restore the mana to restore the reputation of Rua Kēnana and his descendants and to apologise—to apologise for the deep hurt the shame and the stigma suffered as a result of the invasion of Maungapōhatu in April 1916.In many ways Rua Kēnana was a victim of his times. He was a visionary a prophet and an enlightened and peaceful leader. But he lived in a time when New Zealand was in great turmoil. If you think back the New Zealand Wars were only a generation or so past and indeed Rua's father had been killed by the Crown and the hurt and the mistrust of those times lingered on both sides. And in 1916 New Zealand and New Zealanders were grieving from the terrible loss at Gallipoli—that campaign that caused the death and wounding both psychologically and physically of so many young New Zealanders so many sons so many brothers so many husbands. Every family and community had been affected. So on the back of a huge wave of patriotism for the First World War when it broke out and the dreadful pain hurt and disappointment of Gallipoli the public were looking for scapegoats. People were upset people were paranoid and people were prepared to believe all sorts of nonsense and mistruths about traitors in their midst. Rua Kēnana prophet pacifist leading a non-violent religious community in Maungapōhatu was seen as an easy target. Lots of allegations were made about him: he was letting the side down; he was an unwholesome influence over his people—some even said he was the Māori kaiser and had machine guns mounted at Maungapōhatu. Anger flared because it was known that he had discouraged Māori from enlisting saying Māori shouldn't be fighting in the white man's war.But it also seems that Rua and the Maungapōhatu community were also victims of the Commissioner of Police John Cullen. He was a staunch Irishman. He was the commissioner from 1912 to 1916 and he'd been trained by the Royal Irish Constabulary. That's not the sort of police that you would normally expect to ring up if you had a burglary. They were like a paramilitary organisation and they were designed to stamp out rebellions. He brought that experience to the New Zealand police force. The problem for commissioner Cullen of course was that Rua wasn't breaking the law. His discouragement of Māori from enlisting wasn't illegal. So Cullen revived an old charge of sly-grogging selling alcohol without a licence and much to everybody's confusion and dismay decided to re-enforce it.The arrest of Rua Kēnana on Sunday 2 April 1916 by John Cullen and nearly 70 heavily armed policemen was an invasion and it was a total overkill and violence to a peaceful community. Indeed as we've heard the Waitangi Tribunal in its Te Urewera inquiry found that the Crown used excessive force and although the local police had met Rua cordially as soon as Cullen turned up things quickly got out of hand and as we know Rua's son Toko and another young man Te Maipi were killed. There were also another three Māori injured and four police wounded and on top of that the people of the community were harshly and violently treated—and all along the arrest was illegal. Despite that after one of the longest trials in New Zealand history Rua was convicted of moral resistance and that was because the jury couldn't support any other conviction and he served 18 months in jail. And that conviction and the 18 months made the jury members so concerned that they protested his sentence. But nothing changed. So today now we recognise that the Crown's treatment of Rua Kēnana and the community was unreasonable and that it's had a long-lasting effect for the whole Maungapōhatu community Rua's followers and of course his whānau—and it's wonderful to see so many of you here today. So today the New Zealand Parliament acknowledges that miscarriage of justice and the harm that was done to the community and to the Iharaira faith and provides a pardon for his conviction of moral resistance to arrest. The restoration of the character the mana and the reputation of Rua Kēnana his uri and Ngā Toenga o Ngā Tamaraki o Iharaira faith is declared.Today is a hugely significant day and it's been a very long time coming. And I'd like to recognise the work of the Hon Chris Finlayson and the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell for beginning this process and for everyone that's here today for completing it. It has been a collaborative effort. People have worked long and hard and we've done it before Christmas. But most of all I would like to thank the whānau and the followers of Rua Kēnana for their grace and for their tolerance in accepting this pardon and the accompanying apology. And I particularly look forward to coming to Maungapōhatu to celebrate with you this coming Saturday. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa. Kia ora.