Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Labour): Tuatahi e mihi ana ki a koe e te whanaunga Rawiri mō tērā kōrero ataahua me Te Pāti Māori; e mihi ana ki a koutou. [Firstly I acknowledge you my relation Rawiri for that beautiful speech and the Māori Party; I acknowledge all of you.]It's a privilege and an honour to speak in this debate and I want to mihi to the whānau of Efeso—lovely to see you all here today. On behalf of the Māori caucus and Labour and the Labour Party it's just a privilege to say a few words today about my old friend Efeso Collins. I've been listening to some of the beautiful kōrero today from all sides and I was thinking: how would you sum up Efeso? For me I was thinking about three terms and I thought: proud brave and brilliant. He was so proud of his whānau. I've never seen a man who was doing just the most magnificent speech and then in the middle he would talk about Fia and the girls and then break down in tears. He loved his whānau so much—so much. He was so proud of his family and so proud of his heritage and we heard that in his maiden speech. He spoke about how important the language was for him speaking the reo in this House. It was wonderful to watch and wonderful to listen to. Efeso was so brave and so courageous. It's not easy to call out racism. Efeso called out racism all the time—all the time—and sometimes when you call out racism you get called the racist. That was the sacrifice that Efeso made. It didn't help him a lot in terms of his political aspirations. I remember when he came over and he talked to me about standing for the Auckland mayoralty. He said Matua Willie"—and I hated him calling me Matua Willie. I said "That's only Matua Shane as far as I remember." But he said "Matua what do you think my chances are for the Auckland mayoralty?" and I said "Zero." He said "Why is that Matua?" and I said "Because the racists—they're not going to vote for you in Parnell they're not going to vote for you in St Heliers they're not going to vote for you in Remuera." and that never deterred him at all. That takes courage—that takes bravery. So few people show that type of bravery and that type of courage. And brilliant—oh was he brilliant. One of the greatest communicators of our time of our generation—a wonderful orator. Just so good—so good. I was thinking about him and I was thinking was there anything negative about the brother? I didn't think he was that politically savvy sometimes. That wasn't one of his great strengths. I was charged with sort of facilitating and mediating on behalf of the Labour Party because I had to remind him that he was a Labour Party councillor. Sometimes he would say "Well I don't get that Matua Willie. What about my conscience and what if it's wrong?" I said "You're a Labour Party councillor; I think we all get that."—"Oh."—"So when you're there you vote according to the Labour lines." It didn't always translate for the brother. It didn't help him a lot in his real aspiration of being a Labour MP and Labour Minister although we loved him—didn't we Barb? We loved him dearly. He said to me "You know how I've been voting—do you think it's going to help me with the list?" and I said "Oh I'm not too sure about that." "But the sisters love me" he said "The sisters Barb and Carmel and Jenny and Aupito." I said "They all love you; I don't know if you're going to get that vote for the list though." But we loved him and they loved him very much. We loved him very much in the Māori caucus too and that he didn't become a Labour MP and a Labour Minister—well we were sad about that but we were so happy that the Greens took him on. He talked to me about joining the Greens. I said "Oh I don't know brother—I don't know brother." He said "I can make it work." and he certainly did—he certainly did. So I mihi to the Greens for embracing our brother. We missed out on an incredible career. He was one for the generation—one of the greatest of the generation. I mihi to you; I mihi to his whānau. We will all remember and love Efeso Collins. Kia ora tātou."