Hollow Promises, Billionaire Games and the Brexit Reckoning

Um, Chris, I thought today, uh, we'd start off just, uh, with a few remarks about the loss of our former parliamentary colleague, Adrian Rurawhe.

Um, Adrian, of course, was, uh, speaker up until the start of this year.

Um, rather sad, I, I, I ran into Adrian earlier this year after he'd stood down as speaker and I, I said to Adrian, "You know, well, what will you do now that you're, you're out of Parliament, you're no longer speaker?" And he said, "This is the time that I can, I can give to my family, I can give to my iwi, and I can give to my faith." And very sadly, uh, it was a very short period of time.

Um, Adrian, of course, uh, came from a long line of, uh, strong labor support and strong support for the Ratana Church.

Uh, he was in fact the, the grandson, the great-grandson, uh, of the founder of the Ratana Church, uh, Tahu Potiki Wiremu Ratana, and both of his grandparents, his grandfather and his grandmother, were sequentially, uh, MPs for, for Western Maori.

But what I'd say about Adrian, I, I never served in the House under him as speaker, but he had all of the qualities that made him an excellent speaker.

He's a, you know, a person of great humility, um, but also of great dignity and mana.

And i- it was often said of Adrian, he didn't speak frequently, but when he did, people would listen.

And I, I thought Trevor Mallard rather graciously actually conceded that, um, uh, that Adrian was a better speaker than he was because of the particular qualities he had, understanding that he had the kindness, uh, and the respect that he had from, from others across the House.

Yeah.

I, uh, was privileged to go to the, the, the final stages of the, uh, grieving process for him to the Nehu on Saturday, uh, at Wanga Ehu Marae.

I wanted to sit down the back, but some of the whanau found out I was there and dragged me up the front.

Uh, and, uh, Willie Jackson gave a brilliant, uh, eulogy, uh, both funny, shame-facedly political because he was so saying, uh, well, there are a few certainties in life now, but this is a labor Marae again, and of course, uh, it was Tariana Turia's Marae.

So-

[laughs]

...

it was, it was a genuinely, uh, it was a delightful, uh, eulogy, uh, and, uh, very nice, uh, comments about Adrian all round.

But I want to tell you a story about Ngati Apa because he was, uh, one of the leading lights in the negotiation with Michael Cullen over the Ngati Apa settlement that I t- uh, finished when I became the minister, and it was illustrative of this is the sort of thing that happens to Maori all the time.

Michael Cullen, uh, asked AgResearch if the flock house and the farm could be available for the treaty settlement.

Uh, Michael was told that, "Oh, sorry, it's a strategic asset," and so it couldn't be included in the settlement.

Uh, a month after or a month or two after the legislation was enacted, the strategic asset was put on the market, and Ngati Apa were enraged, and they were threatening to occupy the land.

Uh, and it's full credit to Steven Joyce, who was then minister in charge of, uh, uh, Crown, uh, Research Institutes.

He rang AgResearch and said, "Sort this out." And I remember English saying, "This is what happens when Maori are not treated honestly or fairly." The long and the ...

And Ian McKelvie, the local MP, was strongly in favor of Ngati Apa getting the farm, as were some neighbors, the Dalrymples.

Uh, the farm was purchased in the end by Ngati Apa, and it's been a roaring success.