Faafoi KrisKRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): Taloha ni. Can I begin by doing what we do in our culture and that is to acknowledge our visitors to the second Pacific Parliamentary Forum being held here in New Zealand. Can I also acknowledge the Hon Shane Jones our ambassador to the Pacific-at-large. As Mr Mitchell pointed out he is a notable member of the Parliamentary Rugby Team. Can I also acknowledge someone who is not here with us today and he is someone who has been mentioned already: the Hon Parekura Horomia who hosted the pōwhiri for the first Pacific Parliamentary Forum. I think that the way he did that and the way he carried himself and also his humour really set a great tone for the success of the first forum and we miss him on our side of the House every day.I am very proud to be speaking in this debate—first of all as a Labour member of Parliament and I acknowledge my Pacific colleagues Su'a William Sio Jenny Salesa Carmel Sepuloni and Poto Williams who is currently in the gallery. I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge two members across the House who are also of Pacific origin: the Minister for Pacific Peoples Sam Lotu-Iiga and Alfred Ngaro. We may have some political differences with our brothers on the other side of the House but I know them both very well. I know they both have strong Pacific hearts and in my books that is very very good.I welcome the delegation here. You have had the opportunity to talk about a lot of common issues that we have with the Pacific Islands whether they be global warming or whether they be fisheries management economic opportunities for your Pacific islands or governance in general. I know that global warming has been talked about a lot and I acknowledge that the Government has in the last week included Tokelau—the place of my parents' birth—in New Zealand's agreement to the Paris Agreement which was signed earlier. I just wanted to tell a quick story about some of the advocacy for Tokelau's inclusion in that. Earlier this year my colleague Su'a William Sio hosted a meeting of Pacific leaders. One of them was from Tokelau and she made a very strong and very angry case that Tokelau should be included within New Zealand's agreement. My colleague Megan Woods was at that meeting—I was stuck in a select committee—and Megan said: There's a Tokelauan woman in this meeting getting very angry and telling the Labour Party that we should do more about making sure that Tokelau should be included in this agreement." I said to Megan "Can you please send me a photo?" so she sent a photo to my iPhone and I said: "That's my auntie. I'm on my way." Ha ha! I would like to acknowledge my Auntie Paula for her very aggressive advocacy for that. The Government saw sense and has included Tokelau within that agreement.It is not very often that we get a chance to talk carte blanche about Pacific issues and many speakers have already spoken about the success of Pacific people within New Zealand whether that be in business or in the fields of arts culture or academia in New Zealand. But I am going to take this opportunity to confront an issue that is an issue for the Pacific community here in New Zealand concerning youth and that is the increasing rate of Pacific youth suicide. I think it is something we should confront head-on. It is an issue that is growing. I think we need to—as a culture that has in the past not talked about mental health issues and suicide issues—start being much more comfortable with talking about this.As the member of Parliament for Mana the heart of the Pacific community in Wellington there have been far too many times when I have been told as the member of Parliament who represents the city of Porirua about young Pacific people who have taken their own lives. I think it happens far too often and I think many of them are preventable. I think it is really an obligation on all of us whichever Pacific Island grouping we come from to start talking more about the mental health issues of our young people.Earlier this year during Tokelau Language Week it was said that only one in eight can speak Tokelauan. For my particular community that means I think we have got many identity issues that our youngsters have to deal with. They have to live in many worlds—in their New Zealand world and also in their Tokelauan world—and I think that puts a lot of pressure on our young people to be able to survive in those two worlds. I think that talking about that much more often having those difficult discussions with children and with grandparents is something that we need to do much more often to save our young people from taking their own lives. Pacific people are about family and those discussions need to happen to make sure our families are stronger.I wish the delegation the safest of travels home and we look forward to our dinner with you tonight."