Williams ArenaARENA WILLIAMS (Labour—Manurewa): E ngā mana e ngā re e rau ieriki-ieriki mā. Tēnā kotou tēnā kotou tēnā kotou. [Exalted figures and voices of authority and multitudes of leaders. Acknowledgments to each of you.]I wish to first acknowledge te imi o Rēkohu gathered here today. Ki a koutou katoa. Haramai nau mai rā. He mihi aroha ki a koutou. I acknowledge you as the living manifestation of the hopes and dreams of the Moriori karāpuna to be worthy guardians of the henu Rēkohu and to carry yourselves with the peacefulness the poise and the grace for which they were known. This bill is the result of many years of hard work and advocacy by our guests in the gallery and those who began this journey who couldn't be here today. I thank everyone who has shown commitment and patience and peacefulness to see this mahi through. Tēnā koutou.I'd like to highlight for this House and those watching the special place of Moriori wahi t'chap to Moriori and the importance of conservation in allowing Moriori to act as tiaki of their lands for the benefit of all New Zealanders. This bill goes some way to resourcing and formalising the role of Moriori in the protection of our natural environment. For example the bill would enable Moriori to make use of a primary industries protocol that would allow aspects of environmental management and the participation of Moriori in things like national fishing plans and managing non-commercial fisheries in a customary way including the use of rāhui. The importance of that management for the people of Rēkohu shouldn't be underestimated. But it also provides for a framework where the Ministry for Primary Industries interacts with Moriori in relation to biosecurity and noting the following views of Moriori—which I quote from the schedule to the deed of settlement—that the indigenous biodiversity of Rēkohu/Chatham Islands is a core part of Moriori natural and cultural heritage and is important to the social and economic well-being of the residents of Rēkohu/Chatham Islands; pests and diseases not currently present on Rēkohu/Chatham Islands could pose a serious threat to Moriori cultural values and limit future opportunities to provide for the social and economic wellbeing of residents of Rēkohu/Chatham Islands; despite the significant physical distance between Rēkohu/Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand threats to biodiversity from pests and diseases are still possible and measures to enhance protection for Rēkohu/Chatham Islands may need to be considered; the benefits of guarding against biosecurity threats to Rēkohu/Chatham Islands have the potential to include the islands becoming a source of disease-free flora and fauna that could be of benefit to mainland New Zealand." It's that generosity of spirit—to see the henu o Rēkohu as a taonga for all New Zealanders—that I want to touch on now. Nunuku's law of peace which resounds so many generations on is reflected in this desire to protect biodiversity and our natural environment for everyone not just inhabitants and visitors but all of us who are yet to visit your shores. The role of our guests from Rēkohu is tiaki is kaitiaki of the biodiversity and natural ecosystem of their land will be properly recognised in law just as it is now properly recognised in tikane Moriori and tikanga Māori with the passage of this bill and that is why I support it.I want to speak to those descendants of ngā Moriori who may be watching and thinking about the future. Over the next part of this parliamentary process my colleagues and I on the Māori Affairs Committee who have been entrusted to hear those stories will welcome them. I can't emphasise enough the honour and privilege of being part of that select committee which gets to hear these stories and to do our part to set the record straight. You've heard from my colleagues in the House this afternoon about how important hearing those real histories are and acknowledging the mistakes of the past that have gone down as accepted history where they were not true. So this process in Parliament where we get to air those stories and hear as select committee members are so important and I would encourage not just those in the gallery here today but all descendants and everyone who wishes to tell their story to be a part of that process.Finally I wish to mihi to ngā karāpuna Moriori whose manaaki whose manawa ririki of my tīpuna of Rongowhakaata Te Whānau a Kai and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki in 1866 when they were sent to Rēkohu after being captured during the siege of Waerenga-a-Hika and especially their koiwi ki a Rēkohu. My great-great-grandfather Tamihana Teketeke was among the exiled and he was there when Te Kooti founded the hāhi o Ringatū on your shores of Rēkohu. I thank ngā Moriori for their continued tiakitanga of a place which has so much tapu for so many people in New Zealand and acknowledge not only the kaitiakitanga the tiakitanga that you exhibit over your natural resources but the wairua of that place and of what it has become as a cultural pou for not only the Hāhi Ringatū but the whole fabric of hāhi Māori within New Zealand.Ngā mihi aroha ki a koutou. Ngā moemoeā o ngā karāpuna Moriori. [The dreams of Moriori ancestors.]It's been an honour to speak on this bill and I want to mihi as well to all of those young people who have come along to see the next step in this process which has taken so much time. I can't emphasise enough how much it is a process and we are only at the beginning stages of the parliamentary journey for it and welcome all submissions on that. That's why I commend this bill to the House."