Potaka TamaTAMA POTAKA (National—Hamilton West): Kia ora. Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to comment—in a healthy manner—on the first reading of the Integrity Sport and Recreation Bill. I'm pretty mindful that this bill is in the name of the Hon Grant Robertson and willingly admit that he and I were involved in a lot of recreation—but not recreational matters—for several years in New York City. It was there that I heard one of the biggest patsy questions asked by an Australian to Nelson Mandela: How does sport unify people?" It was a very interesting question given that the great man Nelson Mandela had just emerged from prison in South Africa and was doing a tour of the world talking about unifying people. And in rural New Zealand—it was inspiring to hear my colleague and fellow Hamiltonian Jamie Strange; and almost for the first time three Hamiltonians in a row with David Bennett nearly imitating the Chiefs rugby team which at this stage is six for six. And I wanted to acknowledge the recent Aupiki women's rugby final: absolutely fantastic—sadly Manawa lost to Matatū but the fact is women rugby and sports were the winners on the day. Unlike my urban friends—some of which are here today—I grew up playing some genuine rural sports like spotlight long ball tee ball go home stay home—and the occasional game of chains which only people from Taihape like my whanaunga Shanan Halbert and I actually know about. Kī-o-rahi and triathlon—they actually didn't exist in Hunterville at the time but rugby really dominated my life. I spent many a moment at the Hunterville Rugby Club waiting for my father and driving him home and subsequently the Te Aute College first XV which Minister Whaitiri will recall with fondness her brothers' faces adorning the walls of the Te Aute wharekai—all three of them actually. There were three sports available at Te Aute: rugby rugby and rugby—and I was lucky enough to be on the 1990 Te Aute College softball team when we toured Australia; I was the scorer. Then I was lucky enough to participate in events like the national touch championships in Auckland—and actually 1998 when I was the Wellington team's masseuse. Later in life I tried to be the next Cameron Brown by training over in Iron Māori half Ironman and I wanted to pay a special acknowledgment to my whanaunga Heather and Wayne Skipworth for the magnificent work that they've been doing in Te Matau-a-Māui and throughout Aotearoa. But participating in Ironman and Ironwoman New Zealand—I always say Ironman and Ironwoman New Zealand—was somewhat challenging perhaps embarrassing actually to me because often I'd be coming in on the bike and Cameron Brown at the age of 42 would be finishing the run. And it was a bit daunting to me to know that I still had a marathon to go after the folks at the end had finished their race but the lakefront in Taupō is just about as beautiful as the Rangitīkei river valley.So organising TriMāori with my wife with the kaupapa "For the Whānau" was an inspiring and motivating part of my life. To engage with people to invite them to participate in health and wellbeing and to bring them to the mighty Waikato river at Karapiro and the whenua to reconnect them in sport—actually enables that and enables people not only to connect with one another but also to connect with our taiao and with our rivers with our lakes—with our iced-up lakes; curling in the South Island—and the hills and the mountains of our tīpuna. But what an absolutely inspiring moment for me to see during those TriMāori events that we used to run my peers coming together—three of them good friends of mine each being over 250 kilograms to be swimming cycling and run-walk-running their way to good health. Since then I've had the great fortune of having children with my wife and seeing them participate in various sporting activities whether or not it's rugby down at the Grammar TEC clubrooms or the Hamilton Boys' High clubrooms; my daughter playing rugby for the Waikato Diocesan School and hockey basketball judo karate and all the other activities that I've become a professional Uber driver in participating in. But at the outset I affirm National's support for this bill and forward to discussions on how to better strengthen and protect the integrity of the sport and recreation sector by establishing the independent Crown entity known as the Integrity Sport and Recreation Commission.Over the years our nightly intake of nutritious and sometimes gluten-light meals in the evenings have been interrupted by various news reports alleging breaches of integrity and breaches of mana tangata across professional sports organisations with cycling being particularly topical. Now these stories were sometimes very gutting and wrenching to hear about particularly given the incursion of mana tangata amongst these athletes who have dedicated their lives—and sometimes their whānau members' lives—to achieving at the apex of their chosen sports. Now National gives tautoko to the proposal to set up a commission to handle integrity issues in the sports sector and particularly helpful that the commission is independent from Sport New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand. I'm mindful about the reports that Mike Heron KC and others undertook and delivered into high performance cycling which noted some distressing matters around aggressive texting coach-athlete relationships the bullying and belittling of athletes by coaches for the athletes raising concerns shaming on various matters and other related toxic behaviour. But that lack of accountability effective leadership human resources culture—and for want of a better term—rangatiratanga leadership worried Heron and others and led to what I would describe as real genuine mana tangata issues. So this bill is something that we would commend for further discussion. Heron's and others recommendations to address those issues and athlete safeguarding and to reconsider the funding model were insightful. There are a couple of issues that we would like to see addressed: the high level of power proposed for the commission to require organisations to supply documents or information during an investigation—that might need a bit better balancing a bit better checking and to be a bit better justified—and the optionality that the commission may publish reports upon its investigations. That's something that we want to see a bit more action a bit more inquisition and a bit more debate around. So sport: it's a platform for success a platform for health and wellbeing and a platform for kotahitanga across our country. How does sport unify people? It unites through mana tangata; it unites the country; and I hope and I pray and I recommend that all of us in this House today unite behind the Chiefs for the Super Rugby finals. Kia ora tātou."