Field Taito Phillip: Obituaries — Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu 
Field Taito Phillip: Obituaries — Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu 
[Volume:633;Page:4750] 
TAITO PHILLIP FIELD (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 E Muamua na ave le viiga ma le fa’afetai i le Atua i le soifuaga ma le ola o Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. O se tamaitai tupu o Mauli o tagata whenua o Aotearoa. 
“Ua pa’u toa ua ma’imau ai aupega o le taua.” 
E iai le fa’amoemoe e avatu se manatu ma se upu e fai ma sui o tagata Pasifika totonu Niu Sila fa’apea fo’i le Pasifika atoa. E avatu ai se agaga fa’anoanoa i le Ali’i o tamaita’i Tupu ia Fatumoana ma le Aiga Tupu o tagata o Mauli nei. 
I rise because I think it is appropriate as a fellow Polynesian and a fellow Pacific person that something should be said in this House to acknowledge and to extend our respect as a Pacific people in New Zealand and throughout the Pacific region to the Maori people of New Zealand and in particular to the family of the Maori Queen Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. The word “arikinui” is not unique to New Zealand. The word “ariki” is common throughout the Pacific and particularly Polynesia. The word means high chief or paramount chief ali’i—ariki. Tupu is referred to also in terms of kingship. There are other words that describe the way of the kingship that is known in the Polynesian families throughout the Pacific and they are faatupu ma le faatamalii which mean a way of peace and humility and aroha. Members have spoken this afternoon about those qualities of Dame Te Ata—truly a way of the tupu; a way of the king.  
I want to mention just a few personal experiences with Dame Te Ata over the years because I know that she had a great fondness for the Pacific. She understood her heritage her ancestry and her links to the various parts of Polynesia. I know that she visited Aitutaki in the Cook Islands because the Tainui waka came through Aitutaki on its way to Aotearoa. Princess Te Puea accompanied her there as a young princess. I know that Dame Te Ata was very fond of those early years of contact with the Pacific and of the need to extend the special relationship between Maoridom and other Pacific people.  
I also remember a time when two major devastating cyclones hit the islands of Samoa and the fact that the New Zealand public raised $2 million towards the restoration and the rebuilding of the damage caused in those islands. That was back in 1990 and Dame Te Ata did not hesitate to volunteer her services to chair the committee that determined the distribution of that $2 million. I was part of that committee and I grew to know her personally and to know the qualities we have been talking about this afternoon.  
I am sure most members will know that Dame Te Ata travelled extensively and made very valuable links and friendships throughout the Pacific particularly with the other royal houses of Polynesia and other parts of the Pacific of Melanesia and Micronesia that are important for New Zealand as one of the major countries in the region. The representation at the tangi from the different nations of the Pacific was of the highest level and that was an indication of the respect they have for Dame Te Ata.  
So to the Maori people and to the King movement of Maoridom we extend to you our condolences and our best wishes that the movement will continue in terms of the legacy that Dame Te Ata established in the last 40 years. We look forward also to the reign of the new Maori King to carry on that legacy not only in promoting the unity of the people of New Zealand but also in the unity of the people of the Pacific. With that I say haere ra. Ia manuia le fa’amoemoe mo tagata whenua nei o Aotearoa. Ia manuia le fa’amoemoe mo le lumana’i o le atunu’u aua i le fuafuaga lelei o se Tupu Mauli. E le gata i le Tupu ua te’a a o le Tupu ua tu mai. Ia manuia ma ia soifua.