Allan KiritapuKIRITAPU ALLAN (Labour): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai; otirā ki a koutou ngā uri o Rua Kēnana kua hara mai nei i tēnei ahiahi tino whakahirahira. I tēnei rā ka huri ake au ki a koutou ko koutou e kawea te mana o tō tino tipuna o Rua Kēnana. Anei tā mātou nei hē i ngā wā o mua heoi anō ko tēnei tā mātou rā ki te huri ki a koutou ki te kī ki a koutou aroha mai aroha atu aroha mai. [Greetings Mr Speaker; indeed to you the descendants of Rua Kēnana who have come here on this very important afternoon. Today I address you you who are carrying the prestige of your important ancestor Rua Kēnana. This was our wrong in the past and so this is our day to turn to you and to say to you sorry love and compassion given love and compassion received.]I cast my eyes up to you all this afternoon—indeed this afternoon when you came into the pō'hiri—and I looked across as we saw young and old who came from the tihi o tō koutou maunga o Maungapōhatu [the peak of your mountain Maungapōhatu] to this House our Parliament and we looked upon you all as you came in. Some were chuckling some were quiet and there were many who carried tears not just of those that came to this House today but for the generations that have come before you and for the mamae that many of you have carried for so long.It is upon us as members of this House to acknowledge that mamae and to acknowledge that pain for the generations of hara that you have all carried for the wrongful incarceration of the prophet Rua Kēnana. We cannot undo the trauma that has been carried for generations but what we can do is acknowledge it and turn to those of you that have carried that trauma and have carried the mana of his name of his toto of his whakapapa and for the role that you all have played in ensuring that that wrong was restored today. We acknowledge the many many years that has taken.In particular I want to turn to the young people who have come to this House—ā tātou nei taiohi ā tātou nei rangatahi [our youth our young people]—because today we as the Crown turn to the descendants of Rua Kēnana and we say There has been a wrong that has been incurred and today we seek to restore the mana of your tipuna." But let this not be the last day that you all as a generation hold us as the Crown to account because this day is a day in the restoration of that wrong but this Crown has an ongoing role to ensure that we act with you all as our partner. I turn to the words of my colleague the Hon Willie Jackson who just prior said that today and this pardon is about the restoration of mana. But too in turn it is to acknowledge the tino rangatiratanga of all of you from that maunga.So as we embark upon the new dawn and the new day and when we all gather on Saturday for the Royal assent so that that mamae is restored may you turn to us as well and say "But now you guys have got to keep your word—every single day from here you keep your word." And that's a challenging issue for us all as we have to try and understand what this partnership looks like in this day and age. That's a kōrero that we will have with you ongoing and with our people ongoing. How does that partnership manifest?Before I close my remarks today I also want to acknowledge the close hononga that you all have to Ngāti Awa and the impacts of Whakaari on all of you that have gathered here today. I know I saw Jackie Te Amo who was up there in the trenches working alongside many people in the recovery. I know that all of the people gathered here today have a close hononga to that motu and to those that have passed. This is a big day for you all and I acknowledge you for coming to this House. With that said we commend this bill to the House. Nō reira."