Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe otirā ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I tū ki te mihi i ngā uri o Rua Kēnana te iwi o Te Urewera Maungapōhatu anei ngā mihi maioha ki a koutou katoa. Ōku rau rangatira mā e kui mā e koro mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[To the Speaker greetings to you. Indeed to the members of this House greetings to us all. I stand to acknowledge the descendants of Rua Kēnana the people of Te Urewera Maungapōhatu. My affectionate greetings to you all. My esteemed leaders the female and male elders greetings greetings greetings to us all.]I am pleased and honoured as the member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti the neighbouring Māori electorate to Waiariki to celebrate and support the passage of this significant piece of legislation. Can I acknowledge all those who are here in the House today. Can I acknowledge the hurt and the harm—basically the Crown stuffed up and here we are trying to make a small contribution of acknowledging its stuff-up with a pardon and an apology to this great leader Rua Kēnana. He was a great man a visionary a prophet and I want to acknowledge his role as a protector of the whānau as a protector of whenua which led to his arrest. I want to acknowledge in these contributions that we do the significance of the relationship I have with the people of Maungapōhatu. I want to acknowledge particularly Rua's stance on leadership on the protection of whenua and his leadership role.To that I want to acknowledge the Te Whaiti Scholarships which come off the Tūhoe whenua. I acknowledge the Te Whaiti Scholarships because without those scholarships my two sons would never have got to Lindisfarne. My colleague here the Hon Willie Jackson acknowledged Justice Joe Williams of the Supreme Court who also benefited from the Te Whaiti Scholarships which enabled him to be educated also at Lindisfarne. So as a mother of two boys who graduated through the generosity of Tūhoe whenua I say thank you. I say thank you. Last week my oldest son gave the graduate address at the Victoria University graduation and he centred his speech on leadership and posed this question: We are all leaders but the question remains—are we ready to lead?" So to those that are here I personally want to acknowledge the journey my sons have made through the connection and the generosity of Ngāi Tūhoe and the whenua that Rua stood up and protected. So I want to acknowledge that and say thank you.This is an auspicious day. It is an amazingly important day for the hurt and the mamae that you as descendants of Rua have carried over these hundred years. I want to add my acknowledgment to all those—the negotiators—on behalf of Rua's uri. I want to acknowledge the officials I want to acknowledge the Hon Nanaia Mahuta who's brought the bill here and my colleague Rino Tirikatene as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. I'm honoured to be a member of that select committee. I do know the enormous amount of work that people have put into this bill—the submitters and the report that came back to the House. It is a significant day it is one that we should celebrate as a nation—this righting of this wrong—in memory of Rua Kēnana an amazing leader and I do hope that his legacy of protecting whānau protecting whenua continues to his current people today. Kia ora tātou. I commend this bill to the House."