Bridges Simon: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bridges Simon: Mokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 October 2012. Volume:685;Page:6198. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Consumer Affairs) 
: 
Tena koutou. Every so often I suppose a bill comes to this House that is out of the ordinary. We have our fair share of customs bills fisheries bills bills about the internet and various bits and pieces and we stand up and we speak. But this is one of those bills that is out of the ordinary. The history of the matter has been well traversed by the Minister of Maori Affairs. It is a matter of record. The context of course is the New Zealand Wars raupatu and a whole lot of I think very egregious things happening in our country. I will not relitigate that but can I make two or three points. Firstly there is the beauty of the thought expressed by Mokomoko an innocent man in his waiata. I think like so many war poems and poems throughout the ages it is simply expressed but with a depth of feeling and of concepts that I think make it a stunning presentation which I will come back to. As I say I note its beauty and its poignancy. His last words as I understand it which I do not think have been referred to in the House so far in this debate are: “I die an innocent man. Farewell Pakeha. So be it.” Really it says it all: “I die an innocent man.” It is certainly true; we know that today. “Farewell Pakeha.” It was a Pakeha a British system that had wrongfully convicted him. Then there is the stoicism I suppose of that last poignant phrase: “So be it.”—so be it. So it is the beauty of his expressions that I just want to put on record. 
Then secondly—and the last contributor alluded to this I think when she talked about the death penalty—we see what this case illuminates about wrongful conviction and innocence. We know as I say Mokomoko was hanged for a murder that he did not commit. Really if you ask me that is the best argument there is against the death penalty. I am not one of those—and I know there will be people in this House maybe in the gallery who disagree with me—who disagree with the death penalty for principled reasons. I actually can envisage cases where someone has perhaps gone on a killing spree and is deserving of the death penalty. But practically speaking when you face and encounter wrongful convictions as we have seen in America as we have seen in other countries and in this country so graphically in this case I could never support the death penalty. There is truth in that phrase that says that—as a former criminal lawyer I used to think this was an overused phrase but really it is so true in this case—you know it is better that 10 guilty go free than one innocent person is convicted because the injustice sticks in the craw. Today if we think about this case it would not even get past a prosecutor’s desk. It would not even get past the desk because as I understand it the piece of rope that was his is about all the British Crown had. Well arguably you could make a case about parties—section 66 of the Crimes Act—but that would never pass muster. It would be an entirely unsafe and as we know in this case wrongful conviction not even coming close to being decent circumstantial evidence. 
The sense of the injustice of all of this of wrongful conviction I think comes through incredibly clearly in that as I say beautiful poignant waiata: “They treat me like a common thief”—the sense of indignity of this. “The memory of the shame burns within me so deep”—the sense of legitimate grievance. He questions the reason why—the bewilderment really that comes with finding yourself in a position of wrongful conviction. As I have already said in his last words as I understand it Mokomoko said: “So be it.”—so be it. 
So I for one am privileged to speak in this reading in this House when as the title of this bill says we have the opportunity and the privilege to restore the character the mana and the reputation here albeit many years—well over 100 years—too late. I am glad we do not have a death penalty in this country. I am glad today we do have fair trials with due process. As I say having reflected in my short contribution on the poignancy of Mokomoko’s words on the circumstances he found himself in on the pride and stoicism with which he dealt with that situation and on the principles of our system today it means that we do everything we can to ensure that the innocent are not convicted in the same way that he was.