Jackson Willie; Rurawhe AdrianHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister of Employment): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. Jeez I've got to thank that member Barbara Kuriger for that advice to the Māori caucus! I'll pass that on at the next meeting.Hon Shane Jones: Sleep inducing. Moemoe.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Ha ha! My goodness! I just have to be very clear—and we've had some great kōrero from this side today and also from the Rt Hon Winston Peters—that we stand by our Prime Minister's decision with regard to Meka Whaitiri. We stand by what she's gone through and the process that she has used. I'm getting sick of the nonsense that is being perpetrated from the other side in terms of the Māori caucus lobbying the Prime Minister—what a load of nonsense. They need to get that out of their heads because we trusted our Prime Minister. We trusted the process. Meka Whaitiri bought into the process. She accepts the process and the Māori caucus accepts the process. So we stand by that decision.Mr Assistant Speaker we have heard and you may have heard that Meka Whaitiri through the media has made a commitment that she wants to make a change. She wants to be an effective member of Parliament which she most certainly is in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. She's been an effective Minister with the Hon Shane Jones and has worked tirelessly in the forestry area with the Minister of Forestry over there. It's been tremendous. Can I say today she is a tremendous Māori caucus co-chair. We keep hearing Oh you Māoris support each other." Everyone supports each other. All colleagues support each other. We all get this from both sides of the House when people get into trouble. It's only natural. What's happened with the Hon Meka Whaitiri is tragic and sad. We are all deeply disappointed with what's happened but that's the nature of politics.I know from her that she's absolutely gutted. She's made that very clear and she said she wants to work in terms of self-improvement. I say to the Opposition today I come from a community where forgiveness is part and parcel of what we are part of.Hon Andrew Little: That's right. Redemption.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I come from that community. The Hon Andrew Little talks about it all the time. I come from a community where when people make mistakes we pick them up and give them another shot. That's what we do. Clearly our member knows she's made a few mistakes. She's admitted that. She wants to get on with the work. When does it all stop here? When does it stop? When does the Opposition stop going for the jugular? We're talking about women who have children. So we don't care—we don't care. That's the problem in this House. It goes on and on and on. We're talking about women. I'm talking about Meka Whaitiri and Clare Curran who are mothers who are part of the whānau but no one on the other side cares. They just want to rip their hearts out. It's all part of the game—yeah keep laughing about it. Keep laughing about it. The communities notice what's happening. It's a strategy that the Opposition should be embarrassed about. Our communities are disgusted with this type of strategy constantly happening and you see the effects on our members of Parliament. But a constant humiliation is all we get from the Opposition and laughter laughter laughter.We all play politics hard but I ask the question in the House today: when does it stop? When does it stop and how far do we go? That's what we're staying today. As a Māori caucus we stand behind the Prime Minister we stand behind Meka Whaitiri and we stand behind the victim. If the victim has been hurt—we've only got assertions at this stage. But we want to get into a position where we support everyone. People make mistakes they pay the price and I ask today as our Prime Minister keeps asking when does compassion kick in in terms of this Government? Quite obviously it never does. I'm proud to be part of a Māori caucus who stands by our tuahine who has gone through hell over the last few weeks and wants to get on with the job. She wants to get on with the job. We bought into a process with the Prime Minister. It was a process that was rolled out. There was no lobbying from the Māori caucus just consultation and respect given from a Prime Minister who is leading the way not just in Aotearoa but on the world stage at the moment. We are proud of her; we tautoko her. We support our Prime Minister and we support Meka Whaitiri. Kia ora anō tātou.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Adrian Rurawhe): I call Simon O'Connor—five minutes."