Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Mr Speaker I want to indicate to you and the House that in the final minute of my contribution today I will be speaking in te reo Māori.I've known Dr Reti all my life. In fact Dr Reti was my family doctor a doctor to my father and in fact Dr Reti also delivered my son into this world. Dr Reti and I also entered Parliament together in 2014 and yet here we are: sadly one built a whare; the other dismantled it. I am sad today. I wear a black suit to mark the passing of my grand-uncle John Davis who is being buried today in Ngāti Manu and with the help of Te Aka Whai Ora had it been given more of an opportunity I'm sure it would have continued to support him in life. I also wear a black suit today to acknowledge that this bill is taking the Māori people backwards.Dr Reti has said outside of this House that he wanted to hold his powder to deliver a grand plan in the grandeur of the House to give it depth and volume and the lustre. The contribution throughout the entire passage of this bill from Dr Reti and indeed members of the Government has lacked depth volume and lustre. In fact the depth is so shallow that the dissatisfaction on this side of the House with the answers and the explanations given by the Minister and this Government shows that the depth of thinking in this action was not there.When it comes to volume—volume? Well if anything it's more silence—silence from the Minister and the Government when asked and pressed on matters relating to whether or not he and the Government have met with key stakeholders and whether or not they would be prepared to wait for the Waitangi Tribunal and their recommendations. Nothing but silence from the other side of the House. Lustre? Well lacklustre is a better description—lacklustre in the aspiration for the health of Māori people and indeed all New Zealanders. It disappoints me so much when I think of this whakataukī that says Kaua e mate wheke mate ā ururoa!"—"Don't die passively like the octopus die fighting like the shark!"—and I look towards my colleague my whanaunga and my friend Dr Reti to say please we the Māori people and this side of the House ask you to fight like a shark. Even when those around him seem intent on pulling him down the ask is that he fights like a shark for our people.Dr Reti has said he is focused on priorities and targets. The statistics in health for Māori clearly state a case then that there will be increased funding from this Government for Māori health outcomes. The statistics are very clear. This House will be looking to the other side of the House that Government who are intent on austerity and cuts in the public sector and health services in order to make a tax cut for New Zealanders. We will be holding this Government to account to make sure that their words around prioritising and focusing the spend and the energy of the health sector to where it's needed the most will actually be delivered upon. That's for Māori. The statistics are all there—they are clear—and if this Government had given the Waitangi Tribunal the opportunity for an urgency hearing every member on that side of the House would have seen the case put forward for those statistics that paint a grim picture for the Māori health of this country.I make the point that what's good for Māori is good for this country. Not only is this bill and the bill that's about to come a detriment to Māori health statistics it is to this country. There's an old saying that I remember Sir John Key used to say outside of Parliament. He'd say about a rising tide that all boats rise. Well my recommendation to the Minister and this Government is that the waka was left behind that the only boats that rose here were the ones that have dictated to this Government that apparently there's special privilege for Māori. There is no privilege in dying seven years earlier—show me where that privilege is. There is no privilege in higher rates of type 2 diabetes—show me where that privilege is. There is no privilege for a higher death rate of lung cancer by Māori women—there is no privilege in that. So I am extremely disappointed that today we are taking our people backwards.I want to acknowledge all of the hard-working people in the health sector not just the Māori health workers but all workers in the health sector: many Māori many Pākehā who have continued to support the health aspirations of Māori.The Minister in his contribution in the third reading said that his grand plan would take time. The Minister and this Government gave the Māori Health Authority 18 months—18 months—to see whether or not they could turn around decades of inequities—decades of inequities—and I can guarantee that Minister and this Government that our people can't wait. He said it would take time; our people can't wait. They deserve better and we will be pushing this Government to make sure that they deliver that.Back to the health workers. All have said to me and to us that their commitment to Māori health in this country is unwavering. I say thank you and I say once again "Kaua e mate wheke mate ā ururoa" to continue to fight for the health outcomes for Māori communities up and down this country. To the team at Te Aka Whai Ora ka whawhai tonu mātou and we will continue to fight and continue to champion the cause that you are all fighting for in our communities and in the bureaucracies that have been established by Government. I also want to note the mishandling of this bill from its inception to here the third reading and even to its commencement date in June. My colleagues will no doubt flesh this out even further but the mishandling has been absolutely appalling. It flies in the face of years and generations of work through the tribunal good work through different shades of Government over decades and it's absolutely shameful the handling of this bill. The Minister admitted himself that the commencement date in June set out in the bill was to allow a transition etc. But what we were saying was it should allow the voice of our people to be heard.I want to now turn to te reo Māori. Ki aku tamariki i whawhai tō pāpā mō te oati a tō tupuna a Erima a tō tupuna a Rob Cooper. I tutuki ia engari kua tukuna atu mā tētahi e whakakore. Ko tāku e oati atu ana ki a kōrua ki a koutou ki tō tāua iwi Māori kei konei tonu tō iwi e whawhai ana. Ka kore mātou e hinga ka kore mātou pahemo. Ko tō tāua whakapapa ki runga i te nukuroa ka haere tonu ki roto i ngā tau maha kei mua i a tātou.E aku tamariki ko taku oati ki a koe ka whawhai tonu tō pāpā ka whawhai tonu tō iwi ka whawhai tonu te Iwi Māori mō āke āke āke.[To my children your father fought for the vow made by your grandfather by Erima and your predecessor by Rob Cooper. I was successful but it has now been given over to someone else to abolish. What I vow to the two of you to all of you and to our Māori people your people are still here fighting. We will not fall; we will not pass away. Our genealogy on the breadth of the land will continue throughout the many years that are before us.To my children my vow to you your father will continue to fight your people will continue to fight and your Māori people will continue to fight for ever and ever.]"