Henare Tau: General Debate 
Henare Tau: General Debate 
[Volume:666;Page:13996] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 Today 15 September 2010 marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. In that battle 127 Kiwi soldiers fought and 20 of them lost their lives. New Zealanders made up the second-largest number of foreign aircrew involved in the Battle of Britain. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: They were fliers not soldiers. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: He has to be picky—he just has to be picky. Even on a solemn occasion he cannot resist himself. He just cannot handle it. 
I will talk about a real New Zealander in that battle—Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park. He was a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and the winner of the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath the Military Cross and Bar the Distinguished Flying Cross the Legion of Merit and also—excuse my pronunciation—the Croix de Guerre the French war cross.  
He was born in Thames. He was a King’s College old boy and also an old boy of Otago Boys’ High School. He was a New Zealand soldier a British soldier and also a member of the Royal Air Force. 
One stunning thing about this man is that he was a World War I veteran as well. He was a veteran who had gone ashore at Anzac Cove and who also had led an artillery attack on Suvla Bay at Gallipoli. He was wounded at the Somme. To me he epitomises the courage and perseverance that is shown in times when we really need courage and perseverance. With an eye for detail he led the defence of Britain in 1940. Many other great war heroes including Sir Douglas Bader Lord Tedder and Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory have attested to Sir Keith Park’s brilliance and eye for detail. 
I raise the topic of Sir Keith Park today because thousands of kilometres away on the other side of the world a statue of him is being unveiled—and not before time. Many many soldiers who defended the British Isles in those very dark times would have attested to Sir Keith Park’s resilience and brilliance. It saddens me that 70 years have gone past and we have never had a memorial to—I believe—one of New Zealand’s greatest war heroes. We have stories about Ngarimu we have stories about Upham but the story of Sir Keith Park has been somewhat lost in the space of time since that battle. 
When Sir Keith Park came home in 1946 he retired and he spent the rest of his life here before passing away in the early 1970s at the age of 82. He spent the majority of his time back in New Zealand serving his community and he was a councillor on the Auckland City Council. So that is another serendipitous event being remembered as the Auckland super-city is happening just around the corner. 
On behalf of this House and this Government I say a big thankyou to Sir Keith Park—a big thankyou—because I believe that if Britain had fallen in those dark days we might not be who we are and a whole lot of things might not have happened. I think we owe a debt of gratitude not only to Sir Keith Park but also to the thousands and thousands of soldiers who defended Britain in those dark days and also to the mums and dads. I go on record to commemorate and put into the record of the House of Representatives his name and our gratitude to him. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.