Tuesday, 13 April 2021

Volume 751

Sitting date: 13 April 2021

TUESDAY, 13 APRIL 2021

The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.

Karakia/Prayers

DEPUTY SPEAKER: E te Atua kaha rawa, ka tuku whakamoemiti atu mātou, mō ngā karakia kua waihotia mai ki runga i a mātou. Ka waiho i ō mātou pānga whaiaro katoa ki te taha. Ka mihi mātou ki te Kuīni, me te inoi atu mō te ārahitanga i roto i ō mātou whakaaroarohanga, kia mōhio ai, kia whakaiti ai tā mātou whakahaere i ngā take o te Whare nei, mō te oranga, te maungārongo, me te aroha o Aotearoa. Amene.

[Almighty God, we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests, we acknowledge the Queen, and pray for guidance in our deliberations, that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom and humility, for the welfare, peace, and compassion of New Zealand. Amen.]

Obituaries

His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): I move, That this House express its sadness at the passing of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; that it place on record its sense of His Royal Highness’s services to New Zealand as consort to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; and that, as a mark of respect to the memory of His Royal Highness, the House do now adjourn.

On behalf of the Government and the people of New Zealand, I take this opportunity to extend our sympathy to Her Majesty the Queen and the royal family on the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Hoki ki te ringa o te Ariki, moe mai rā.

[Rest in the hands of the Lord.]

Prince Philip’s long life was marked by his devotion to duty and his unwavering support for Her Majesty. When he stepped down from his duties in 2017, aged 96, it was estimated that he had attended over 22,000 official engagements as consort to Her Majesty. In doing so, he had to sacrifice his own naval career and dedicate his life to supporting the Crown.

Prince Philip will be long remembered for his down-to-earth style and formidable sense of humour. Sometimes his directness created controversy, but he never shied away from his sense of duty. Just this morning I received an email from a woman whose daughter was selected to help Prince Philip plant a tree in the botanic gardens during one royal visit. Jess, a Brownie at the time, watched His Royal Highness working with a spade for a while before telling him, “You’re not very good at that.” Apparently, he laughed, delighted by the candid feedback.

Prince Philip accompanied Her Majesty on every one of her visits to New Zealand, from her first overseas tour as Queen in 1953 to her last visit here in 2002. He also visited New Zealand separately on a further four occasions. But his connections with this country run far deeper than just these visits. Prince Philip will probably be best remembered in New Zealand for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award, which provides life-changing opportunities for young people to learn new skills, get physically active, and give service to their communities. Achieving the award has been a transformative experience for many, including in prisons, teen parent units, refugee centres, and well over 300 schools. Together, the 250,000 who have received an award form an enduring legacy of His Royal Highness in New Zealand.

One of these 250,000 rangatahi, a student from Auckland, summed up the experience for so many. She said that when she went on her first bronze tramp, she wondered what she’d got herself into, but by the time she qualified for her gold award, she wondered why she’d ever had doubts. The Duke’s goal of empowering young people to find their own confidence and ability was truly achieved through this programme.

Additionally, the Duke held the highest honorary ranks in the New Zealand Defence Force. He was made Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal New Zealand Navy during a solo visit to New Zealand in 1958 on the Royal Yacht Britannia, and to commemorate the Queen’s silver jubilee in 1977 he was made Field Marshal of the New Zealand Army and Marshal of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The Duke was patron of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, reflecting his lifelong love of the sea and sailing, and patron of the New Zealand Society in the United Kingdom. He was a life member and Badge in Gold award holder of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association, and life member of Aviation New Zealand and the Tin Hat Club. He was an honorary member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Veterans Association and the Wellington Club. He was also involved with a number of Commonwealth associations, such as the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth.

New Zealanders formally recognised the Duke of Edinburgh’s service to New Zealand by awarding him a number of honours and appointments. He was appointed an Extra Companion of the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) in 1981—and I note the QSO badge features prominently at the front of his extensive medal bar—and received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. On 4 June 2012 he was appointed an Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand to commemorate the Queen’s diamond jubilee.

Finally, in remembering his service to Her Majesty, we do not forget that he was also a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. No matter what your role, no matter what your responsibility, grief spares no one, and in the most public of roles I do not imagine that having the space and time to grieve is easily granted. I know all New Zealanders join in heartfelt condolences to the Queen, who has lost her companion of over 70 years, and to his wider family.

Haere, haere, haere atu rā.

[Go peacefully.]

SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I support the motion and, on behalf of the National Party and as Leader of the Opposition, I express our profound sadness at the passing of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and extend our condolences and sympathy to Her Majesty the Queen and all the royal family. We honour and thank him for a lifetime of public service to his country, the Commonwealth, and, of course, his wife of 73 years, Her Majesty the Queen. He has shown her extraordinary dedication and support as the longest serving consort of our longest reigning monarch.

But we also honour and celebrate his life in his own right: his support for numerous charities, his support and encouragement of young people, his sporting and intellectual accomplishments, his championing of science and technology, his military service—a World War II veteran—and his support of the armed forces. He leaves an outstanding legacy to the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and, indeed, the world. He was involved in many charities in his lifetime, being associated with more than 800 charitable organisations. He was, in amongst all of that, a champion of the environment, a champion of wildlife, a champion for youth. And, as we’ve heard, the Duke of Edinburgh award is an amazing award scheme that helps many young people find their way through to a better life.

One of the tributes to the Duke over the weekend which was one that stood out for me was from a young Englishman called Jon Watts who, at age 18, was in prison and was given the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh awards. For his skills section he worked in the prison kitchen. That ultimately led him to working in one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants. While in prison, Jon Watts earned his bronze, silver, and gold Duke of Edinburgh awards, and was awarded his gold by the Duke himself. He is now a chef in his own restaurant, and credits the Duke of Edinburgh as saving his life by unlocking his potential and giving him the confidence and the tools to succeed. Here in New Zealand, as we have heard, the Duke of Edinburgh awards system and scheme has been instrumental in changing young peoples’ lives.

We must also honour the Duke of Edinburgh’s military service and a lifetime of championing the armed forces in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. He served with distinction in the Second World War in both the Mediterranean and the Pacific with his bravery in the Battle of Cape Matapan in Greece noted in dispatches. He was also present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945. In all, he saw 14 years of active service.

But it is actually as a human being that I really want to address the issue of Prince Philip, because he was born into remarkable rank—remarkable rank and connections—but he was simply a human being. And his world fell apart when, from exile in France, his father exited with a mistress to Monte Carlo and his mother, who had been born profoundly deaf, was institutionalised in a mental asylum in Switzerland, being diagnosed at the time as schizophrenic—a diagnosis that she always disputed. He was without the benefit of parents for around six years, with no contact whatsoever from his parents in that time, in the formative time of teenage years. When his mother, Princess Alice, escaped from the asylum, she made her way back to Athens, and it was there that she spent her time helping others and eventually founded an order of nuns in the Greek Orthodox Church. Prince Philip had no contact during those six formative years. And in a television interview, which I watched recently again, when questioned as to how he coped with it, his reaction was pretty typical of him—he said he just got on with it.

Prince Philip added to the world, he added to Britain, and he added to the Commonwealth. In conclusion, I will use his own words, which he said in Israel when his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was being honoured as Righteous Among the Nations. He said, “We did not know, and, as far as we know, she never mentioned to anyone, that she had given refuge to the Cohen family at a time when all Jews in Athens were in great danger of being arrested and transported to the concentration camps.”—we did not know—“In retrospect, this reticence may seem strange, but I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She would have considered it to be a perfectly natural human reaction to fellow beings in distress. You must also bear in mind that she has been well aware of the Nazi persecution of the Jews for many years.

Even I, at the age of 12 in the 1930s, had firsthand experience of the anti-Semitic frenzy that was gripping the members of the National Socialist party in Germany in those days. I had just moved from a private school in England to attend the boarding school at Salem in the south of Germany belonging to one of my brothers-in-law. The founder of the school, Kurt Hann, had already been driven out of Germany by Nazi persecution, and this was well known throughout the school. It was the custom of the school to appoint a senior boy to look after new arrivals. I was unaware of it at the time, but it so happened that our ‘helper’, as he was called, was of Jewish origin. One night he was overpowered in his bed and had all his hair cut off. You can imagine what effect that had on us junior boys. Nothing could have given us a clearer indication of the meaning of persecution. It so happened that I had played cricket for my school in England and I still had my cricket cap with me. I offered it to our helper and I was pleased to see that he wore it. It is a small and insignificant incident, but it taught me a very important lesson about man’s capacity for inhumanity, and I have never forgotten it. We may dislike individual people, we may disagree with their politics and opinions, but we should never allow us to condemn their whole community simply because of the race or religion of its members.”

In conclusion, it is a privilege to stand here today and recognise and give thanks for the life of His Royal Highness Prince Philip. I thank him for his service, I thank him for his courage, I thank him for being outspoken, and I thank him for his wit. Rest in peace.

Hon JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green): On behalf of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand I’d like to extend our condolences to Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II and her family on the death of her husband His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

As with any family suffering from the loss of a loved one, I’m sure that they will miss him greatly. There are many New Zealanders who had a connection to the Prince—from visits here, or aspects of his work—and they too are feeling his loss at this time. I’d like to echo the words of his grandson Prince William, who said: “I know he would want us to get on with the job.”

DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you, Mr Speaker. On behalf of ACT, I would like to join with other leaders in support of our Prime Minister’s motion commemorating the loss of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, and commiserating with those, particularly his immediate family and especially his wife, Her Majesty, whom he has left behind.

The Duke of Edinburgh was somebody who selflessly contributed to enormous stability. Many people have said to me over many years that the royal family is one of the few constants in their lives. I know from so many people I’ve heard and spoken to over the last few days that that permanence and constancy was felt very keenly by them, and the Duke of Edinburgh embodied it.

I read over the weekend about something that I thought embodied his public service. It was a statement that many men are able to salute correctly, but few men salute beautifully. It was His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh who was able and was recognised for his beautiful salute at annual occasions, which I think really showed one side of him, that he was committed to service, he was committed to the institution of the monarchy, and he was committed to the Commonwealth. But there’s another side to him that I think many people enjoyed, that His Royal Highness—I think it’s OK to say—was a little bit of a scallywag from time to time, and many people have struggled to reconcile these two sides of the Duke of Edinburgh.

I actually think that there is an easy resolution to this seeming contradiction. His Royal Highness was so committed to duty that, as we’ve heard, he did tens of thousands of events and he met many people who were perhaps a little bit nervous or intimidated about meeting such a venerated figure. He used his legendary wit to pierce the earnestness that can sometimes make official occasions such heavy going. That is how he was able to spread so much joy to so many people, particularly children, particularly those who benefited here in New Zealand from the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, as a true leader for the Commonwealth.

So we leave our condolences with Her Majesty. We can only imagine what a time it must be, regardless of her exalted position in the Commonwealth, as a person who has lost a life companion for 70 years. And we also want to remember all of his further family, his four sons and many grandchildren. Our thoughts are with them at this time. May he rest in peace.

Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Foreign Affairs): E te kāhu korako, e te whakawhitinga o te rā, kua tara ā-whare te pare kawakawa. Kua ngū tō reo i te taringa areare, kua ngaro koe i te tirohanga kanohi. Kua ngaro hoki te kāhui ariki o te huihuinga Piritānia, otirā ngā waihotanga o tēnei ao hurihuri. E tangi mōteatea te ao katoa i tō rironga atu. Kua kōrukiruki ngā rangi, auē te mamae e ngau kino nei. Te mūrau o te tini, te wenerau o te mano. Te pou o te Kuini o Ingarangi. Tangata herenga waka, tangata herenga tangata. E oki, e moe, e tau. E kore te aroha o te ngākau e mimiti.

[Oh, nobleman, the one who causes the sun to rise. The walls of the house have been lined with mourning wreaths. Your voice is no longer heard, and we can no longer look upon your face. A chiefly leader of Britain, indeed of the world, has been lost. The world mourns your loss. The skies have become grey, oh the pain is great. The dread of the multitudes, the envy of thousands. The pillar of the Queen of England. You brought all peoples together. Rest in peace. Our heartfelt sympathy will never wane.]

I join briefly to offer sincere condolences to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family, the people of Great Britain, members of the Commonwealth family. These are indeed challenging times as there are no orphans to grief and loss, and, in many ways, time is a solitary companion when one seeks solace. We join in sorrow to mourn the passing of Prince Philip, who has exemplified stoic commitment, service, and support in his role as the ultimate confidante to the Queen. There are no words that can heal the raw emotion and pain of grief and loss, and so I take this moment to acknowledge the man, the husband, the father, the grandfather, the friend, and the spirited and at times cantankerous individual whom we refer to simply as Prince Philip. May his memory be one of service and dedication. May he rest in peace.

E pā tō hau he wini i raro

He hōmai aroha

Kia tangi atu au i konei

He aroha ki te iwi

Ka momotu ki tawhiti ki Paerau

Ko wai e kite atu

Kei whea aku hoa i mua rā

I te tōnuitanga

Ka haramai tēnei ka tauwehe

Ka raungaiti au, e.

[Gently blows the wind from the north

Bringing loving memories

Which causes me here to weep

‘Tis sorrow for the tribe,

Departed afar off to Paerau.

Who is it can see,

Where are my friends of yesteryear,

Who all dwelt together?

Comes now this parting

And I am quite bereft.]

Moe mai i roto i te ringa o te atua. Pai mārire.

[Rest in the hands of the Lord. Peace and goodwill.]

SIMON O’CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s one of those sad honours to speak—but pleased to do so—to acknowledge the life of Prince Philip. He was a prince of the United Kingdom but also a prince of New Zealand and 14 other realms. He was to me a remarkable man, and many titles are shared—the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and others have shared them—but I think there are none higher than that of husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. As I say, a remarkable man for 99 years, and 73—almost 74—years of those married as the royal consort. Remarkable—a person, if you will, who’s been very much part of all our lives. Whether we sit on one side of the monarchical fence or the other, Prince Philip has simply been. He’s always there, and now he is not.

Her Majesty the Queen has spoken at many, many thousands of events, often speaking encouragement or consolation to others, and so today this is our small chance as the New Zealand Parliament to give her our words, to send her our thoughts, prayers, and condolences to her and all the family. It’s always struck me: one of the quotes, the words, that she expressed many years ago was “Grief is the price we pay for love.” and over the coming days Her Majesty will be experiencing this price heavily and so again we send to her our best and warmest sympathies.

I could speak for a long time, but I won’t, but there are two elements, I think, for me which highlight the Duke. The first is service. It’s one of the main reasons of the two I want to give for why he appeals to New Zealanders of all ages—it’s of service, a remarkable life of service right from his early beginnings. Duty and honour—these are timeless virtues which he extolled and none higher and perhaps most needed in our world today. He was a man who served with honour a woman—always a step behind Her Majesty, always supporting her, a remarkable woman; and he, a remarkable husband and consort.

There is, of course, the Duke of Edinburgh’s award—again, tens of thousands of Kiwi New Zealanders, and I suspect many here, who went through that programme. The Duke’s life and the legacy of the Duke of Edinburgh’s award is that young people can achieve and can achieve greatly, and I think it’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing social media awash with young people expressing their grief and sorrow at the passing of this man.

Yes, there will be those that have and will throw stones at him. I would suggest it, sadly, shows the content of their own character but one that’s at odds with the Duke. At the end of the day, Prince Philip knew his faults but he wasn’t one to hide them. He was very much a human being and wonderfully so, and as we here today say farewell I personally cannot help but feel it’s the way that he would have wanted: at his bed at home, holding the hand of his wife, surrounded by family, foregoing the fuss—he hated a fuss—of his 100th birthday celebrations, and slipping quietly into the night. And so we say, as we do to sailors,

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from the sea.

Hon PEENI HENARE (Minister of Defence): The New Zealand Defence Force mourns the passing of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. We all share in the deep sadness that his death brings to Her Majesty the Queen, the royal family, and all Her Majesty’s people throughout the world.

Prince Philip had a very strong relationship with the armed forces of New Zealand, including with our veterans of past conflicts, meeting them in New Zealand and many places overseas. Prince Philip attended a number of significant New Zealand military commemorations in Europe, including Anzac Days and the dedication of the New Zealand Memorial in Hyde Park, London, in 2006.

His Royal Highness himself had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, serving in the Second World War. As the Prime Minister has already mentioned, he held the ranks of Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal New Zealand Navy, Field Marshal of the New Zealand Army, and Marshal of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand sailors, soldiers, and airmen and women of all ranks have been proud to engage with him over the years, and the armed forces have welcomed him to the country with formal military honours on many occasions.

Prince Philip dedicated his life to the service of his country and the Commonwealth, and the long list of achievements in many fields and environments is a testament to his deep and unwavering commitment to the Queen and to that service. On Sunday, the 16th Field Regiment, Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery, fired the 41-gun salute using 25-pounder guns permanently positioned at Point Jerningham.

On behalf of every member of the New Zealand Defence Force, I extend the deepest sympathy to the Queen, the royal family, and all those who mourn his passing.

Kāti, e te mokopuna o Kuini Wikitoria, ka tiro atu ahau ki ngā kupu o te kawenata tapu o Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko koe tēnā kua taka iho mai te mana o tō tupuna a Kuini Wikitoria ki runga i ngā pokowhiwhi i ngā tau. Ana, kua waiho nā atu te mokopuna o Te Ruki Kawiti, nāna i waitohu i Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki te tangi atu ki a ia. E moe, e moe, e moe.

[To the descendant of Queen Victoria, I look to the words of the sacred covenant of the Treaty of Waitangi. Over the years, you have shouldered the responsibility inherited from your ancestor, Queen Victoria. It is now the descendant of Te Ruki Kawiti, who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, who cries for you. Rest in peace.]

CHRIS PENK (National—Kaipara ki Mahurangi): Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a sad honour to have the opportunity to comment on the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As others have noted, he wore a number of hats: husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. But one of the hats he wore, of course—as others have, again, noted—was the cap of a naval officer. The defence Minister has made mention of that, as did the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and others, in relation to ceremonial roles that he had with our armed forces, but, of course, in the very real sense, too, of having served at sea—as a veteran of World War II, no less.

So I wanted to comment briefly, as I hope the Duke would approve, on the influence of the navy on his life. In its earliest stages, he was carried on board a British warship in a makeshift cot fashioned from a crate as his family fled Greece. Despite that start, the armed force that he initially considered joining, I understand, was the air force, which just goes to show that no one’s perfect! But, nevertheless, he did join the Britannia Royal Naval College, and that in turn led to another wonderful life opportunity and an important development: when he had the honour of escorting the daughters of King George VI, one of whom was a young lady of 13 years of age named Elizabeth. It was reported that he had showed off a great deal on that occasion but also reported that he had evidently made quite an impression on the young Elizabeth.

When World War II broke out, he was technically still a foreigner and not allowed to serve in the theatres of war, despite being by that time an officer in the Royal Navy. But when Greece entered the war on the Allied side, he was able to serve in the Mediterranean theatre, which he did with great distinction. He was credited with saving the lives of his shipmates on the occasion that German dive-bombers damaged the ship HMS Wallace—of which he was the second in command—in a night-time attack. He proposed launching a makeshift raft equipped with smoke floats, which in the darkness had the desired effect of fooling the German bombers into thinking that that itself was the damaged destroyer.

I should note, too, that while exceptional, the Duke of Edinburgh was in many ways simply another person of his, the Greatest Generation, and it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the New Zealand Defence Force personnel, of whom he was technically a comrade, past and present—in particular, ahead of the Anzac Day celebrations and commemorations that we will shortly participate in as a nation. Lest we forget.

I conclude my remarks on the subject of the navy’s influence on Prince Philip by noting that Prince Philip, of course, in turn, did influence the navy, along with other institutions of British, Commonwealth, and New Zealand life. He supported the armed forces diligently, not least of all by supporting the woman whose name those vessels bear. God save the Queen, and, Prince Philip, rest in peace, sir.

Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Pacific Peoples): E rere te karoro, e rere ki te ao, e topa ana ki runga i ngā ngaru whatiwhati, haruru mai nei. Mai i Aotearoa ki te Moananui-a-Kiwa, tae atu ki runga o Wihanga, ka tau te manu ki ō rekereke. E moe i te āhuru mōwai o te whare ariki. E te makau o Kuini Irihapeti okioki atu rā e.

[We send the sacred messenger bird, the karoro, from Aotearoa across the great ocean of the Pacific, soaring above the multitudes of waves of emotion from the many islands of the Realm to you at Windsor, the sacred house, the royal house that provides sanctity. The dearest heart of Queen Elizabeth, rest, return, be at peace.]

That farewell reaffirms what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Pacific diplomatic corps and I feel about the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh. The Prince died at age 99, sending many around the world into mourning.

Prince Philip, the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch, made numerous trips to New Zealand and other parts of the Commonwealth before his retirement in 2017, including the Pacific region. People in the Pacific were able to recognise Prince Philip’s love for the region, highly respected by Pacific countries. They also respected the Duke as a leader, a man who would fit into the Pacific world of chiefs and kings, reminding us constantly also that no leader is perfect in their roles.

He was an inveterate traveller. He visited Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji in 1953. In 1974 he visited the New Hebrides Condominium that would soon become the independent nation of Vanuatu. I can remember seeing him in films in the 1950s on the wharf in Samoa. I can remember he was in shirtsleeves and seemed really relaxed, laughing, generally enjoying the songs, the dances, le FaaSamoa.

Of course, there was another corner of the Pacific that had a special meaning for the Prince. On the Vanuatu island of Tanna, they worshipped him and are now mourning his passing. In the misty mountain village of Tanna, the Yaohnanen tribe believed he was descended from a spirit ancestor.

There is another great story about the Duke of Edinburgh that I recently read from a grandson of Ned Marsters, who lived on the Palmerston atoll in the Cook Islands. The Duke visited there on the royal yacht, the Britannia. I understand he looked at the itinerary and asked for a change of plan. He said, “We are only here for six hours in Palmerston.”, and he would like everybody on the island to go on to his royal Britannia yacht, “And leave me on Palmerston.” So all the family went on board the royal Britannia yacht and were treated like kings and queens while His Highness Prince Philip stayed on Palmerston with a young man called Armstrong Marsters, who showed Prince Philip around the island. They went for a swim, and to this day that spot on the atoll is called the Duke’s Pool.

Through Prince Philip’s life in service, he was able to demonstrate, I think, our foreign policy principles, including manaaki and whanaunga, kindness and connectedness. Prince Philip’s contribution to the Commonwealth is highly valued by New Zealand. The Commonwealth, with a combined population of 2.2 billion, includes almost a third of the world’s population and provides a useful platform for Pacific countries to advocate on issues that are important to them, including climate change and sea-level rise. Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth are powerful symbols.

I want to relay to this House a poem by Selina Tusitala Marsh. This poem was commissioned by the royal household, about unity. This reflects to their Highnesses how we in the Pacific feel:

Let’s talk about unity

Here in London’s Westminster Abbey

did you know there’s a London in Kiribati?

Ocean Island: South Pacific Sea.

We’re connected by currents of humanity

alliances, allegiances, histories

for the salt in the sea, like the salt in our blood

like the dust of our bones, our final return to mud

means while 53 flags fly for our countries

they’re stitched from the fabric of our unity

it’s called the “va” in Samoan philosophy

what you do, affects me

what we do, affects the sea

land, wildlife – take the honeybee

nature’s model of unity

pollinating from flower to seed

bees thrive in hives keeping their queen

unity keeps them alive, keeps them buzzing

they’re key to our fruit and veggie supplies

but parasitic attacks and pesticides

threaten the bee, then you, then me

it’s all connected – that’s unity.

There’s a ‘U’ and an ‘I’ in unity

costs the earth and yet it’s free.

My grandad’s from Tuvalu and to be specific

it’s plop bang in the middle of the South Pacific

the smallest of our 53 Commonwealth nations

the largest in terms of reading vast constellations

my ancestors navigated by sky and sea trails

way before Columbus even hoisted his sails!

What we leave behind, matters to those who go before

we face the future with our backs, sailing shore to shore

for we’re earning and saving for our common wealth

a common strong body, a common good health

for the salt in the sea, like the salt in our blood

like the dust of our bones, our final return to mud

means saving the ocean, saving the bee

means London’s UK seeing London in the South Seas

and sharing our thoughts over a cup of tea.

There’s a ‘U’ and an ‘I’ in unity

costs the earth and yet it’s free.

Tulouna le lagi!

Tulou!

Waiata

Motion agreed to.

SPEAKER: I now ask members to stand with me and observe a period of silence as a mark of respect to the memory of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Members observed a period of silence.

SPEAKER: Thank you, members. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow.

The House adjourned at 2.40 p.m.