Jackson WillieHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister for Māori Development): E te iti e rahi te katoa e mihi mai ki taku whānau tēnā koutou tēnā koutou i whakarangatira i tā mātou whānau tēnā anō tātou katoa.He tika me mihi ki a koe e Rangi mō tō kaha e hoa ki te kōkiri i tēnei kaupapa. He rawe rawe tō mahi ahakoa ngā piki me ngā heke ahakoa he tini ngā whakaaro o te rōpū Nahinara kia ū tonu ki te kaupapa e mihi ana ki a koe. Kei te tino whakahīhī Ngāti Porou oh no! Tūhoe—Tūhoe—i tēnei wā e hoa. E mihi ana mihi ana ki a koe me ō hoa i kōkiri te kaupapa Victoria Pauline Jack taku hoa tawhito Rereata Ruakere. I tino waimarie a mātou ki te kite i te mahi rawe ki te kōkiri i te kaupapa. Mihi ana ki a koutou.Ko tēnei he kaupapa tino whakahirahira mō tātou te iwi Māori me ngā iwi katoa me ngā iwi katoa mihi ana mihi ana ki koutou. Ki a koe e te tuahine. Tino waimarie koe ki te kōkiri tēnei kaupapa e mihi ana ki a koe me tō tātou Pirimia i tēnei wā. Kua wareware tana kōrero i te tīmatatanga o tēnei rautaki. Tino māia nui tana kaha ki te kōkiri ki te tautoko tēnei kaupapa. Ahakoa ki ētahi he tino mōrearea tēnei kaupapa kia ū ia ki te kaupapa e kōkiri ia te kaupapa. E mihi ana i a koe e Te Pirimia Jacinda. Koutou katoa i tēnei wā tēnā koutou tēnā anō tātou katoa.[To the small and the large to everyone who acknowledged my family thank you thank you for honouring our family once again thank you.It is appropriate that I acknowledge you Rangi for driving this issue forward. Your work has been amazing despite the ups and downs and despite the many opinions of the National Party you have held your course well done. Ngāti Porou is very proud—oh no! I should say Tūhoe—Tūhoe—at this time my friend. I acknowledge you and your colleagues who have driven this issue forward Victoria Pauline Jack my old friend Rereata Ruakere. We have been very lucky to see the amazing work in promoting this initiative. Thank you all.This is a very important issue for us the Māori people and for everyone for everyone I acknowledge you all. To you my sister. You are very lucky to be driving this initiative forward and I would also like to acknowledge our Prime Minister at this time. What she said at the beginning of this strategy has been forgotten. She was brave and very enthusiastic to drive this issue forward. In spite of the strong apprehension from some quarters she stuck to the task of advocating for this issue. I acknowledge you Prime Minister Jacinda. To all of you at this time greetings greetings one and all.]I did my poroporoaki to my whānau yesterday and I just want to thank everyone again for the support for the family. As I said National gave mum a damehood she always reminded me—she always reminded me—so thank you again. Thank you for those kind words—before I say some unkind words about your strategy with regard to this kaupapa and of course I have to turn to the ACT Party who have been terrible over the last few weeks.This bill isn't just about a public holiday as National and ACT have attempted to frame it; this is about identity. This is the flourishing of our cultural identity which is at the very grassroots of our communities. Communities that sadly the ACT Party have forgotten. For David Seymour over there Matariki is a public holiday; so for the ACT Party Matariki as a public holiday is cultural co-management and cultural co-governance in practice. Yes OK Mr Seymour. And the right are surprised that this sharing results in both sides of New Zealand doing well. It can happen. We believe in it.When we first announced the Matariki kaupapa I remember my good friend Judith Collins—who should probably still be the leader of the National Party—without a doubt supporting this kaupapa. No doubt about it. Judith Collins remembers that I watched her go Oh no what a beautiful kaupapa" Judith Collins said. But now we're upside down all around; they don't know whether they support Matariki whether they support co-management. They've forgotten Chris Finlayson—I'll get to him shortly—they've forgotten him. And clearly they've forgotten the words of the best leader they've had over the last couple of years: the Hon Judith Collins. Hon Judith Collins: Oh leave me alone. Leave me out of it.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Māori are—we know this Judith we know this—Māori are sharing their gift of Matariki with Pākehā and Pākehā are finding a deeper sense of being a Kiwi through this cultural taonga. You found that Judith—that's why you got emotional and supported this kaupapa. But now wanting a promotion back up the list you've forgotten what you said all those months ago.Hon Judith Collins: Point of order Mr Speaker. The kaupapa of this House requires members to be addressed fully; not by just their first name.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes I will actually and it's not the first time I've said this. It is correct. I might also add that the other names—you might want to mention their full names for Hansard and for the record. That would be nice.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Thank you Mr Speaker. My apologies to the Hon Judith Collins—sensitive people but kei te pai.DEPUTY SPEAKER: No—no.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Kei te pai—no?DEPUTY SPEAKER: No and then you just carry on your speech because any comment is a comment on the ruling so that's out of order.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: My apologies—my apologies sir. Many non-Māori Kiwi families now participate in Matariki festivals at schools and they've cherished the opportunity to reflect on the last year while casting hopes on the next year. There isn't a price on making Matariki a public holiday; the cost is in not having it. We saw on Parliament's lawns this year the dangers of isolation and fractured communities. Celebrations like Matariki are vital to reconnect those whānau who have fallen off the edges. We need to celebrate and come together to start the healing.I believe we're crying out as a society right now. This is not the time—and I'll direct us to the ACT Party—to count lost dollars and bitter cents to find ways to denigrate Matariki; this is the time to build in good faith without opportunism and without thinking that the party's lost 10 percent of votes to the National Party in the latest poll. It's time not to rebuild the vote but to try and work and build and work with communities. We look forward to a united nation. I was just on Te Karere and they said "Oh isn't it great the House are all working together?" Well they are not because we have an opportunistic ACT Party and a National Party that has forgotten its history and its background. We're blessed to have matured in my view as a country where a Māori festival is embraced respected and shared by our fellow Kiwis. That's why I'm hopeful that the co-governance debate that David Seymour is so desperately attempting to dog-whistle over will in fact lead to a reasonable fair and just conclusion because I believe that Kiwis are less spiteful and mean-spirited than David Seymour and the ACT Party.The fearmongering that some on that side of the House are trying to whip up is not in the spirit of partnership this country was founded on. If we can't celebrate Matariki in this home nation well where can we celebrate it? Where can we celebrate it? Our celebration of Matariki shouldn't come at the cost of another hard-won public holiday. To eclipse one by raising another is the very opposite spirit of Matariki. That's the spirit of the ACT Party eclipsing one by raising another. Matariki is a shared cultural gift and to impinge the mana of that gift by voting on which public holiday should be replaced in my view is crass.As we celebrate this cultural achievement this shared celebration we must look to this ACT Party's co-governance referendum and prepare in good faith to debate. But I warn this party over here that the forces you unleash will be on you. Māori will come right after Matariki to debate the co-governance and co-management process because we've been waiting 180 years as we've been told by many people to debate the promise of the Treaty. It is absolutely irresponsible some of the kōrero going on. Chris Finlayson a Minister who was an architect of the co-governance and co-management infrastructure that people are now railing against warned Mr Seymour on Radio New Zealand that a referendum would bring the worst out in people and that he wouldn't do a referendum. When Chris Finlayson is warning about being too corrosive the entire country should be put on alert.We celebrate Matariki—we celebrate it because it's a coming of age of our country where our culture can be celebrated in a nation of our people. It's incredibly moving to have watched New Zealanders grow and understand and appreciate the fullness and richness of our shared cultures and values. The House can come together for these types of kaupapa. As much as I attack the ACT Party or the National Party we dream of the day—and it has happened on the odd occasion—where we can whakakotahi for the kaupapa. This is the right kaupapa to come together on. Rangi Matamua knows that. That's why he put this kaupapa down and I thank him. I do thank you brother for your hard work and your dreams and your aspirations. He's a man who talks about kotahitanga and it's something we should think about. Attempting to put a price on that is too cheap of a spirit for the moment. We keep calculating the dollars instead of working out the benefits.This is a proud moment for our party. This is a proud moment for this Government. Again I mihi to my tuahine over here—Kiritapu Allan—for advancing it and to all of the members in our party. I mihi to the Māori Party too. Well done to them but stop trying to say that it's your idea; it was always our idea but we know the whanaungas you know they can't help themselves. I think that's that Tūhoe side. But in terms of the Māori Party well done to them. Well done to the Greens for supporting it. My only regret is that I wish my mother and uncle could have been both alive to see Matariki as a public holiday. Nō reira tēnā koutou ā tēnā anō tātou katoa."