Turei Metiria: Obituaries — Hon Parekura HoromiaText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Obituaries — Hon Parekura Horomia[Sitting date: 07 May 2013. Volume:689;Page:9594. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green):Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. I te tuatahi moe mai rā Nanny Ani Denham o te marae Āraiteuru i Ōtepoti moe mai rā moe mai rā. Kua hinga he uri o Ūawanui a Ruamatua te whatukura o Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti te māngai o Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. Kua haere tō tātou hoa kei tua o te ārai. Ki a koe e te rangatira Parekura moe mai rā. Moe mai rā i te whenua o Kohimārama i te taha o tō whaea. Moe mai rā i tō moenga roa. Mā tō mana nui koe e kawe ki ngā ringaringa o ō mātua tūpuna. Ki ngā uri o Te Kani-a-Takirau ki ngā kaitiaki o te ahikā o Hauiti ngā mihi aroha ki a koutou mō tō koutou manaaki rangatira ki a tātou i tērā wiki.[Thank you Mr Speaker. Greetings to the House. First of all to you Nanny Ani Denham of Āraiteuru courtyard in Dunedin rest and slumber there. Ruamatua a descendant of Ūawanui a noble of Hauiti and the representative of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti has fallen. Our colleague has gone beyond the divide. To you the leader Parekura sleep and rest there at Kohimārama beside your mother. Sleep the long sleep of no awakening. Let your huge influence deliver you to your ancestors. Fond regards to you the descendants of Te Kani-a-Takirau and those of Hauiti who keep the home fires burning. Thank you for the wonderful way you looked after us last week.]So what of the man whose tangi brings more than 12000 people from across the country who travel many many hours and many hundreds of kilometres to pay their respects to him at his death? There are two views of Parekura Horomia—views that epitomise I think the cultural gap in Aotearoa New Zealand. One was a very stereotypical view of a working-class Māori man assumed perhaps to be above his station. It was a very unflattering view and one often perpetuated in the media. The other view was of a member of Parliament—a Māori member of Parliament—who was loved and supported because he was genuinely a man of his people a man who understood that he lost nothing by supporting and encouraging others. It is clear to us now how much he gained by his generosity and his lack of ego.He was not always the greatest combatant in this fighting Chamber although he certainly could be the funniest. He was often more shield than sword. But this arena is only one measure—and many believe a poor measure—of what it means to be a good member of Parliament and a good representative. The other measure is whether he achieved for his people and how he treated others in making those achievements. I talked with Russel about this yesterday and he told me that Parekura had been incredibly supportive and encouraging when Russel spoke at Te Tii Marae at Waitangi for the first time on our behalf. He was certainly very supportive of me personally as a young and somewhat politically clumsy MP during the foreshore and seabed debates when we were on opposite sides of the issue.Over the last week we have heard story after story of his major achievements but more important story after story of the many small significant things he did to support his people. Most of those achievements the ones that mattered the most to the people who depended on him the most have gone unnoticed by mainstream New Zealand. He was harshly judged at times by criteria that were culturally bound and therefore missed the true measure of Parekura Horomia. Parekura was not an arrogant man. He never held himself above other people; he carried them on his shoulders—a true rangatira.Nō reira e ai ki te whakataukī: “Toitū te whenua whatu ngarongaro te tangata”. Ko tēnei te wā whakaata mō Parekura ēngari haere tonu āna mahi ō tātou katoa mō te hauora o ō tātou whānau tamariki me te taiao e whāngai nei i a tātou. Nō reira huri noa i tēnei Whare Mīere tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[So according to the proverb: “Land remains while people disappear”. This is rest time for Parekura but his work as with all of our work goes on for the health of our families children and the environment that nourishes us. Therefore I acknowledge salute and thank you all throughout the Beehive.]