So I will begin my speech welcoming Matariki. I have been learning about the Māori calendar as it relates to Matariki for a long time. Four years ago I attended a seminar in Whangārei-terenga-paraoa to listen to Dr Rangi Matamua talking about Matariki. He talked about the current signs and the Māori calendar. At that time, my father had just passed, and I learned about Te Waka o Rangi, and the ancestor Taramainuku who bears the spirits of those who died in the previous year, and so, on the basis of that I acknowledge the many dead at this time. Matariki: a time to remember the dead. One of whom is Sir Wira Gardiner and another, Dame June Jackson. Therefore I acknowledge those who have become stars in the heavens.