Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Tēna koe e te Māngai o te Whare. E ngā mātāwaka o te motu tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou aku rangatira tēnā koutou i tēnei rā nui whakahirahira ā ko tēnei te rā e whakamana i te ture hou mō te rā o Matariki ā-motumotu i tēnei pānuitanga tuatahi.Ka rere a Puaka ki runga o Aoraki ka rere a Matariki ka rere whānui. E ngā mate huhua o te wā haere haere atu rā kua whetūrangitia koutou āpiti hono tātai hono. Ko te hunga mate ki te hunga mate āpiti hono tātai hono. Ko tātou te hunga ora ki a tātou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. [Greetings Mr Speaker to the tribes of this land greetings. Greetings to the esteemed members greetings on this important day where we will validate the new law concerning a national day for Matariki in this first reading. Puaka rises above Aoraki / Mount Cook Matariki rises elsewhere. To the many who have passed may you rest in peace. You have become stars the lines are unbroken. The dead to the dead the lines are unbroken. To the living greetings greetings greetings to us all.] I'm delighted to speak to and to wholeheartedly tautoko this significant bill for Aotearoa Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki or the Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill. This is a really historic bill and I want to acknowledge my tuahine and our Minister Kiritapu Allan for shepherding this bill and leading this bill through the House as well as our colleague the Hon Michael Wood the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. But I also want to acknowledge the work of our Government because we took it to the motu that we would be creating a new public holiday in celebration of Matariki and here we are today fulfilling our commitment to the motu through the first reading of the passage of this significant bill. So I'm very proud because this bill is going to make a difference in the lives of all New Zealanders for all the years moving forward. I want to acknowledge the mātauranga that sits behind this bill and that has been enacted by this bill and the work of the Matariki Advisory Group especially who are the experts that came together to provide that mātauranga Māori—that traditional knowledge—which underpins the authenticity that we are putting into this legislation in the enactment of this holiday. So I want to acknowledge that mātauranga Māori because this isn't just any old public holiday that we're enacting. We are voting on a Māori public holiday—a Māori public holiday—and one that is for all New Zealanders to share in. That is wonderful. This acknowledgment gets to the heart of this bill because we can talk all day and night about the cost to businesses and what it might cost and we can talk all day and all night about the benefits of a public holiday and what that might confer on working people and their families but this bill is so much more than a cost-benefit analysis. This bill is about honouring who we are as a country. This bill is about acknowledging that we are a multicultural country but we are founded by cultural roots based on a Tiriti between the Crown and te Iwi Māori. That is what is captured by this bill and that's what we can celebrate through the celebration of this Matariki holiday. We are honouring who we are as a country. We are a Pacific country we are anchored in the Southern Hemisphere and our calendar should reflect that fact. We aren't a European country and we aren't part of the Northern Hemisphere. Before anyone had heard of Pope Gregory and his Gregorian calendar we had a calendar. We had a calendar based on mātauranga Māori. Māori signalled the new year through the rise of the stars in the southern skies and that's what we want to celebrate and capture through this public holiday. As my time is brief I want to acknowledge the work of the Matariki Advisory Group and all of the esteemed members who were part of that: Professor Rangiānehu Matamua Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr Rereata Makiha Victoria Campbell—my whanaunga from Ngāi Tahu—Dr Pauline Harris Dr Ruakere Hond and Jack Thatcher. As the Minister has outlined in her speech I want to acknowledge their work and their contribution because Matariki is a celebration for all particularly across Māoridom and we have our variations. We have variations which we do have and that's another thing that we can celebrate through this holiday period. In the South in Te Wai Pounamu we celebrate kōanga or paunga. That ushers in our seasons around mahinga kai around our tītī and around the heke of the tuna and it also marks with Matariki the changing of the seasons and the rising of the frosts. So we all have our unique stories and our unique celebrations that we have all had and this public holiday is an opportunity for us to share and to share and to wānanga on this mātauranga that we have. So this is a special special holiday and it's so much better than the public holiday that is the day after the New Year's Day which doesn't even have a name. This is so much better than that. This is a Matariki public holiday and we should all be proud of that. So I wholeheartedly support this bill and I acknowledge my colleague Tāmati Coffey and the Māori Affairs Committee who will be doing their wonderful examination of this bill. There is much to celebrate in this bill. I wholeheartedly support it and I'm looking forward to 24 June 2022 when we will all be coming together to celebrate it. Nō reira e aku rangatira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora tātou katoa. [Therefore to the esteemed members greetings greetings greetings to us all.]