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I think all people deserve authentic contributions, especially at their time of passing. So I do note on behalf of the Green Party that we did not always agree with his political positions. We all believed together that Government has a role in ensuring the wellbeing of all peoples in our country, but we had very different ideas of how to get there. I say that, being able to stand and acknowledge the full person at anyone's time of passing.

The experiences of people's intimate interactions and personal interactions with Mike Moore mattered. They made a big difference to those people. I've been seeing stories on social media and in the news about the many generous, authentic, and accessible engagements that he had with people from the public, with journalists, and with staff here. Those experiences matter. We are always more than a one-dimensional public face. I want to acknowledge those many authentic experiences that many people have had with Mike Moore.

I close with the words of his wife, Yvonne. I, particularly, find something in common—strongly—when Yvonne mentioned that he was elated when Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister and felt that she would be able to achieve more for New Zealand and on the international stage than any other Labour leader, and in that I attribute his words and thank Yvonne for bringing those thoughts to us at this time. Lastly, in her words, Mike Moore was stubborn, optimistic, generous, and kind. It is with those values and feelings in my mind that I leave our contribution from the Green Party on the floor of this House. Kia ora tātou katoa.

DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I wish to join with other leaders in supporting this motion by our current Prime Minister to honour the passing of a past Prime Minister. Mike Moore's photo in the gallery outside your office is as large as the longest-serving Prime Ministers of this country, and so it should be. It is fitting that this House pays tribute to a man who may have been short in stature but was a giant bestriding the world stage on behalf of our country.

If you'll allow me a very small personal indulgence—I never met Mike Moore; I entered this Parliament 15 years after he left it. About two years ago, a close friend of his, Clayton Cosgrove—also known as "mini-Mike"—gave me Mike Moore's phone number so that I could call him and meet him. In the rush of life, I never did it, and that's a bitter regret. I guess there's a lesson in that in life for everybody.

But the reasons why I wanted to meet him were mainly two. First, as I said, he was a giant on the world stage who can be, I think, solely responsible, as much as any one person can, for the belief and the mantra that New Zealand is a trading nation. Some of his fellow travellers from his early career have also been fellow travellers of ACT, and they tell me—as was acknowledged by Simon Bridges—that he was responsible for seeing that the Labour Party became supporters of Closer Economic Relations in 1983. Without that sort of consensus in this House, we couldn't have made that relationship with our nearest neighbours a model for the world in trade relationships, and this theme of cross-partisanship would actually come to punctuate his career.

He was nominated by a National Government both to be the chair of the World Trade Organization—rising to a higher office than any other New Zealander had—and also to be the Ambassador to the United States, and I, like a lot of younger New Zealanders, got to know Mike through his brilliant New Zealand Herald columns that he used to write before his ambassadorial post prevented him from having such a vocal megaphone in the nation's press. What I saw in those columns—and this is why I wanted to meet the guy—was that he had a certain amount of political pragmatism. It made him able to pierce the identity politics, the categorisation, and the boxes into which so many politicians are put or feel unable to escape, and achieve the kinds of results that our Prime Minister mentioned for ordinary people across the world. That's why I'm sad not to have met him, and why he is one of the very few politicians who can come through this place, grow in the role, and leave a mark that is indelible and that is defining of our nation and our identity—in particular, as a trading nation—and a mark that is also positive.

I also note that his first constituents were those from Mount Eden. So there will be people there with long memories who will remember his representation and the way that even while being swept to the side by the Muldoon landslide of 1975, he campaigned valiantly to be their representative. There will be many others from Dilworth School, in the area I represent, who can attest to the way that he was able to take at least some of the lessons that he got to from that school and the contribution that it made to his life.

Finally, for Yvonne and his relatives who survive him, I wish to offer sincere condolences, and to Mike Moore himself, a tremendous tribute. We may not see his like again. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti): Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. E tika ana mō Te Ao Māori kia poroporoakingia tēnei rangatira kua huri tuara ki a matou, nā reira, e te rangatira, e Mike, haere te ara tiketike.

Ko te ara tēnā o Mahuru e eke ai koe ki runga i a Huarau. Tīhaoa te kau kōpuni, ka pahure atu i reira te kāhui kura. Te kura i nunumi ki runga ki o Rehua, te kura i riro atu ki Tāpokopoko te Rangi, te kura i riro atu Te Ana Mātao ki te whare taua, Ngā Kurakura i Hine-nui-te pō. Whakauru atu ki roto i tō koutou whare, te whare o Rangiāio, takoto mai ki roto o Wharepapa o Ruakipōuri, ko tēnā te whare i tītari ai ō koutou tinana.

Nāu nei te kāwhaki au, kume au, romi au, hīrere. Hīrere ki te pō, hīrere ki te mate, hīrere ki te pō tangotango, hīrere ki te moana o te mate. Ehara koutou nō raro nei, nō ngā kūrae o runga haumātao korā puku ake te aroha, i haere te hau mihiata. I tau ai te rangimārie, te kakara o taua anō mahi aroha, i whiti ai ki te whei ao, ki te ao marama.

Nā reira, e te rangatira, e moe, hoea tō waka wairua ki runga tērā o ngā awa o Tāmaki kia puta atu koe ki Te Moana Tīkapa o Hauraki. Ana, kua huri ki te raki kia tae atu koe ki tērā o ngā maunga, tētahi o ngā pou o te whare tapu o Ngā Puhi, arā ko Manaia i tū ki te ākau. Nā, hoea tonu tō waka ki Rākaumangamanga, tētahi atu pou o te whare tapu o Ngā Puhi.

Anga tō huri ki roto tērā o ngā moana, te moana pukupuku i whiti kia pahore atu koe i te pā o tōku tupuna a Pōmare. Hoea tonu tō waka i tērā o ngā awa o ngā rangatira Taumārere-herehere-i-te-riri.

Hoea tonu atu koe kia tae atu koe ki tērā kāinga nōu i a koe e tamariki ana, arā ko Te Kawakawa. Tae atu ki tērā kāinga mō tētahi wā poto kia tukuna a Ngāti Hine, a Ngāti Manu kia tangihia mōu. Hoea tonu tō waka, whai atu i te au o tērā o ngā awaawa kia puta atu koe ki Pēwhairangi, kia tae atu koe ki tērā wāhi tapu o Ngāti Rāhiri, Ngāti Kawa, arā ko Waitangi tērā, arā ko Tau Rangatira, te wāhi i noho ai ō tātou tūpuna, ō mātou tūpuna, ki te wānangahia i Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Hoea tonu tō waka kia puta atu koe ki Te Tai Tama Wahine, haere tika tonu ki te whakateraki kia tae atu koe ki a Motukawanui, ki Motukawaiti, arā ko Matauri tērā tō kāinga i a koe e ora ana, i waenganui o Ngāti Kura. Hoea tonu tō waka kia tae atu koe ki a Rangaunu, te ara takingia koe i Te Iti Pioke.

Nā anga tō huri ka kite atu koe Maunga Tohoraha i mua i a koe, whai atu kia tae atu koe ki a Hikurua, ki ērā atu o ngā tōpito o Te Ika, o Te Hiku o Te Ika, kia tae atu koe ki Te Rerenga Wairua, atu i reira ki Manawatāwhi, atu i reira ki ngā Hawaiki i kōrerohia e ō tātou mātua tūpuna, arā ko Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, Hawaiki pāmaomao. Nā reira, e te rangatira, haere atu rā ki a rātou e tatari ana mōu. E moe, e moe, e moe. Kua ea ō mahi ki runga i te mata o te whenua.

I whakapau i ngā kaikōrero i mua i ahau te whakamāramatanga o te teiteitanga, te hōhonutanga o ō mahi i a koe i runga, e hīkoi ana i runga i te mata o te whenua. Nā reira, e te rangatira, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Nā reira, rātou ki a rātou, te hunga wairua, kua hoki mai ki a tātou ngā kanohi ora kei roto i tēnei Whare, puta noa, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Greetings, Mr Speaker. It is appropriate to the Māori world that this leader who has turned away from us is farewelled; therefore, oh chief, Mike, travel the lofty pathway.

That is the path by which you alight on Huarau. The multitudes are assembled, and that is where the esteemed company passes on. The dearly departed which went out of sight over Rehua, the beloved taken by Tāpokopoko to Rangi, the adored taken by Te Ana Mātao at the house of grieving of Ngā Kurakura i Hine-nui-te pō. Enter into your house, the house of Rangiāio, lie in state in Wharepapa o Ruakipōuri, that is the house within which your bodies lay spread out.

It was you who seized, who dragged the current, pressing the current to become a torrent. A torrent to the night, a torrent to death, a torrent to the intense dark, a torrent to the ocean of death. You are not from below, from the headlands of cold winds where love wells up and the dawn breezes blow. Peace has descended, the scent of that work of love, crossing to the living world, the world of light.

Therefore, oh leader, rest, paddle your spiritual canoe on that river of Auckland to emerge at the Hauraki Gulf. Indeed, you have turned to the north to arrive at that mountain, one of the stalwarts of the sacred house of Ngā Puhi—namely, Manaia, which stands on the coast. So continue paddling your canoe to Rākaumangamanga, another stalwart of the sacred House of Ngā Puhi.

Turn your direction to that ocean, the lumpy ocean which was crossed to reach the fortified village of my ancestor Pōmare. Continue to paddle your canoe on that river of Taumārere-herehere-i-te-riri.

Continue paddling until you arrive at yonder village which was yours when you were a child—namely, Te Kawakawa. Arrive at that village for a short time so that Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Manu can mourn for you. Continue to paddle your canoe, follow the current of the gorges to emerge at Pēwhairangi, to arrive at that sacred place of Ngāti Rāhiri and Ngāti Kawa, that is at Waitangi—namely, Tau Rangatira, the place at which our ancestors stayed, our ancestors, to discuss the Treaty of Waitangi.

Continue to paddle your canoe to emerge at Te Tai Tama Wahine, continue directly to the north to arrive at Motukawanui and Motukawaiti, that is at Matauri, which was your home when you were alive, amongst Ngāti Kura. Continue to paddle your canoe to arrive at Rangaunu, the route which leads you to Te Iti Pioke.

So if you turn you will see Mount Tohoraha before you, follow it to arrive at Hikurua, to the other extremities of the Fish, of the Tail of the Fish, until you arrive at Te Rerenga Wairua, and from there to Manawatāwhi, from there to the Hawaiki that were spoken about by our ancestors, namely Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki roa, and Hawaiki pāmaomao. Therefore, oh chief, travel to those who are waiting for you. Rest, rest, rest in peace. Your tasks on earth are complete.

The speakers before me have comprehensively explained the greatness and depth of your work while you were on and walking the face of the earth. Therefore, oh leader, farewell, farewell, farewell. Therefore, let the spiritual beings remain unto themselves; we return to the living faces in this House, throughout, greetings, greetings, greetings to us all.]

When I heard that Mike Moore had passed away, I was in Kaikohe, standing in the middle of a field, waiting and listening to the Rt Hon Winston Peters, the Hon Shane Jones, and the Hon Nanaia Mahuta making some announcements. It struck me that I was really only half an hour away from the place where Mike Moore grew up. That place was Kawakawa—funnily enough, the same town that I grew up in.

The high school that he initially went to was the same high school that I went to. In fact, he was the first of four members of Parliament to go through Bay of Islands College: himself, the late Pita Paraone, myself, and Willow-Jean Prime. Funnily enough, he left from there to go to Dilworth, which is also the school that my father attended.

One of the houses that he grew up in—funnily enough, I also spent a bit of time in that very house. It was on the main street of Kawakawa. By the time I was loose on the streets of Kawakawa in the 1980s, his house had actually become our local spacies parlour. I remember—it must have been in the 1980s—when he arrived in Kawakawa and visited that house, and that was the first time I had set eyes on Mike Moore.

Sadly, I haven't seen him for the last 12 months, but I visited him last Christmas at his home in Matauri Bay and spent a bit of time with him there. Despite the fact that he had been afflicted with a number of health issues, his mind was still sharp with clarity of thought, and he had a number of instructions for us to follow. I was pleased to be able to see him then, and sad that since that time I haven't had an opportunity to catch up with him.

But, of course, our thoughts go out to his widow, Yvonne. Everybody who has spoken before me has laid out the heights of his achievements and the depth of his thinking, and New Zealand has lost a great man.

So, from this Kawakawa boy, I just am very honoured to be able to pay tribute to a former Kawakawa boy and wish him best on his journey to ki tērā taha o te arai, as we say in Māori—to the other side of the veil.

Nā reira, tātou mā, huri rauna i tō tātou Whare, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora mai anō tātou.

[Therefore, to all of us, right around our House, greetings, greetings, greetings again to all.]

Hon RON MARK (Minister of Defence): Mr Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity. It's with great sadness, actually, that I stand to rise to speak about a friend—a friend of mine personally, a man I came to love and respect, and a man whom my children came to know as Uncle Mike. I guess, looking around the House, there are quite so many new MPs around here, or MPs who haven't been here as long as some of us have, who probably may not recall that, actually, I stood for Labour in 1993. In 1990, I got to know Mike because I'd been roped in by my then mother-in-law, my late mother-in-law, Marie Therese Berry—and I just note I'm going from the shoulder. I started writing notes, but it just seemed irrelevant to write notes right now, so I'm just going to talk.

I got to know Mike during that 1990 campaign, when I was helping the Labour candidate for Selwyn, one Val Elley—a lovely lady. Actually, I'd been the candidate, but I pulled out because I'd only just come back into the country. I said to Mike—you know, back in those days—"You can't have me standing for Parliament when I've been out of the country for five years, come back and try and tell people how to live their lives, particularly after a Labour Government's done what it's just done." It was a terrible campaign. We had dogs set on us at Kaiapoi—I don't think that's ever been repeated since then. We got to know Mike and Yvonne very, very well over that time.

Come 1993, I was talked into standing for Labour, not because I didn't like Mike and I didn't agree with where the policy was going; it was because, as an army officer, I just couldn't see myself standing for Parliament, one, and, two, standing for a left-wing party. But we did. Part of the reason I took it up was because my mother-in-law forced me—no, I wouldn't say that! But it was because of Mike.

Mike was a centrist. Mike was a pragmatist. Mike was straight up and down and honest, and if he didn't like what you were saying, he would argue with you and tell you bluntly, and if you still argued, he would argue with you more.

Mike was a damned hard worker. I think the only thing he did harder than work was smoke, back in those days. It would be cellphone in one hand, cigarette in the other, and going from cigarette to cigarette, butt-lighting off one to the other, and he just carried on. He would roll from interview to interview, and I'd be sitting in his lounge thinking "Holy hell! Is this what Parliament's going to be like? Is this what politics is?" This was Mike living, breathing the dream, and fighting as a true battler did.

In those days, the campaign was based on some pretty sound policy. Actually, when my boss, the Rt Hon Winston Peters, said to me "Ron, you should speak.", I went back to my office and I pulled out some boxes. Prime Minister, I found a few things, like my organisational chart for my campaign, like all the names of the people that I met through Mike Moore—people like Ivan Hibberd.

Here's my organisational chart. You might want to copy it sometime for the battle for Selwyn, the seat we almost won—which actually cost us the election, because some fifth-columnists within the Labour Party didn't like Mike and fought to undermine his campaign.

But we had a great campaign, and I found this little gem, a pamphlet that was released. [Holds up pamphlet] This is in my office right now—there's more if you want copies, Prime Minister—it's Mike head to head on the main issues against Jim Bolger. Tucked on the back side here was a policy which New Zealand First was glad to read and study and implement many years later. Mike announced this policy and launched it at my business, Daytona Park on Moorhouse Avenue. It was called the youth employment scheme and it, amongst many things, sought to "ensure no young person under 20 is left on the dole with nothing to do.", and I remember those speeches of Mike Moore saying things like "I don't know of a town that doesn't have a church that doesn't need painting. I don't know of a town that doesn't have a tree that doesn't need planting. I don't know of"—and it went on and on, and he believed it with an absolute passion.

I can still remember those speeches, and they have stayed with me. It's interesting that we sit here and we talk—my whanaunga behind me—about efforts, and we talk about young peoples' lives and opportunities being wasted, and we are still talking and trying to fight those battles in 2020 when Mike was fighting them in 1990 and 1993. I'd like to think, Mike, that we're winning.

I look, as no doubt many of you do, at certain politicians who pass through the political landscape of this country. To me, there are some that stand out and will for ever be kauri trees: Keith Holyoake, Richard Seddon. When I spoke in this House in my maiden speech as a New Zealand First MP in my first term here in 1996 as part of a coalition Government with National, I spoke of Norm Kirk: "People don't want for much. They only want somewhere to live, somewhere to work, someone to love, and something to hope for." That was a speech that was repeated by Mike Moore time and time again on the hustings.

There are many, many policies—and it's funny as heck, because I sat in my office assisted by one of my staff, pulling out one of the boxes, and we pulled out "Rebuilding the Kiwi Dream". [Holds up pamphlet] How many have used that slogan on hustings? That was Mike Moore. "Join Labour: Jobs, Growth, Health". [Holds up pamphlet] How many of you have used that campaign? There he is. [Holds up photograph] Zoom in. That's Mike—"A recovery without jobs is not what New Zealanders need. A recovery that sacrifices a proud public health system is not what New Zealanders want. An unshared recovery where the benefits are the property of a few is not what New Zealanders deserve." That was Mike Moore. I think my kids delivered hundreds and hundreds of these pamphlets during 1999.

"Labour's Plan for the Environment"—that was Mike Moore. "Let's get New Zealand working again". [Holds up pamphlets] This is all my stuff. These are my mementos—I even found one of the Speaker, which I put on my Facebook post over Christmas. "Labour's Plan for Jobs" under Mike Moore, "Labour's Plan for Women" under Mike Moore, "Education: Our Children, Our Future" under Mike Moore, "Security, Certainty, and Retirement" under Mike Moore, "Making Our Neighbourhoods Safe Again" under Mike Moore, "Adding Value to Jobs" under Mike Moore, and, of course, the key, the hinge pin, upon which all of those policies depended was Mike's plan for economic growth and jobs, which included trade and prosperity.

If I think back to when I went to the Middle East and I deployed, and I went into Oman, we went into a supermarket—well, it wasn't a supermarket. They didn't have supermarkets in those days. We were lucky to have tarseal roads. But in this little supermarket that I went into, the only meat you could buy was New Zealand lamb and New Zealand beef, and New Zealand butter. There were little round punnets of butter, and if you lifted the top off, the inside had a picture of Tony Garea. Anyone know who he is? World-famous New Zealand wrestler, big time in the United States—Mike Moore's work. Mike Moore driving the trade: the lamburger. When I left in 1990, we had a small little corner, and the Dutch, the French, and every other European country had moved in on us. That was a reflection of how things had changed, you know, and Mike tried desperately to recover those losses.

I remember that and I remember him talking to me. He helped me put up a hoarding. Clayton Cosgrove was one of the "Beagle Boys". He used to come down to check on my campaign, to see how we were going. Clayton was sent down to keep an eye on the unions—whether they were going turn up and veto my candidacy at my selection. Jesse Simpson, I remember you and the rest of those boys. Mike sent Clayton down just to see how Ron did. Clayton came back and reported, and Mike said to him "How'd he go?", and he said, "Don't worry about him. It's all done—he's the candidate."

But then Mike sent Clayton back down to see me on another, more sensitive mission. When I had my hoardings produced for Selwyn, we only had so much money, and so we took the photograph in black and white and put it up—Gerry Brownlee might remember this—and it was quite dark. Then the National Party team started talking about me not being a New Zealander and not being a Māori, but being a Pakistani, and that word got out around the electorate—"Don't vote for him, he's a Pakistani." Mike Moore called Clayton Cosgrove into his office and he said "Mate, you need to go down and talk to our mate.", and Clayton said, "What for?" He said, "Got to change his hoardings." "Why?" "Because he's too black." Clayton said "Stop—you want me to go down and tell this ex-army officer he's got to pull all his hoardings down because he's too black?", and Mike said, "Yeah."

So Clayton turned up and, very tentatively and gingerly, said "Ah, mate, I need to talk to you about your hoardings.", and I said, "Yeah, what?" He said, "Well, Mike's asked me—don't take offence. Please don't be offended, and understand it's about image, it's about perceptions, but Mike says that we need to change your photo—it's a little bit dark." I said, "Oh, it's too black?" He said "Yeah.", and I said, "Well, what are we going to do?" He said "We'll change it.", and I said, "OK". So he rushed back, and Mike said "Well, how did it go?", and he said, "Done. He said 'Oh, what are we going to do?', and I said, 'We've got to change it.' The only problem is he hasn't got any money." So that was sorted.

Then Mike came down and helped me put up some of my new hoardings with a colour photo, because we could afford to do it and I didn't look so black, and people could no longer say I was a Pakistani and not a New Zealander any more.

My memories of Mike—and I could go on for quite some time—are about a man who would just speak from the shoulder. You know, it's interesting that comment, because we were at a public meeting and the question was put to me, just like that. But those were those times, and we got on—thank you.

I want to finish on one note—if I might take the liberty, Mr Speaker. I can do no better than to quote from the state of the nation speech in 1993, which I still have a copy of: "The Rt Hon Mike Moore, Leader of the Opposition, MP for Christchurch North". At the end of the speech, and I think this pretty much sums up Mike—oh, excuse me, Yvonne—"I believe leadership is more than finding an angry crowd and agreeing with it. I want to offer New Zealand again a chance to be a fairer, safer, and more progressive society. I know that Government alone can't do this. This voyage needs all the crew rowing. We can't afford passengers. I am gripped by a sense of urgency, because I know that we don't have a moment to lose. We don't have a person to waste."

That was Mike Moore in 1993, a man my family loves. Kia ora.

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam): I hadn't intended to speak today, but I felt, given that I was on the other side of a lot of what Ron Mark was talking about, I should make a few comments.

Mike Moore was the MP for Christchurch North for 18 years, and I want to put on record that he was so highly respected by the Christchurch community in the role that he took. I was for six of those years the National Party's electorate chairman in Christchurch North. We were constantly aware that we were opposing a man who was deeply revered and respected by the citizens of that particular electorate. I didn't come to know him particularly well, but when I came into Parliament in 1996, he was more than generous in giving advice about how one should conduct oneself in the parliamentary environment, and he was, of course—as we have heard said so often today—a great parliamentarian.

I do recall though that for some reason, and I'm not quite sure why, the Hon Dr Wayne Mapp and I were at a luncheon held in Christchurch—probably not unusual that I was at a luncheon, I suppose—by a well-known American businessman in the city. He was entertaining a group of senators who'd come out in late 1998, or it might have been early 1999, on their way through to Australia and on to Thailand, who were, essentially, trying to get a bit of a steer on the World Trade Organization job and who might be there, given that the two, Supachai and Mike, were the preferred candidates.

We were invited, after these senators had a discussion on the tennis court of Mr Hagaman, to come and speak to them, so we wandered out there. They were doing this because they considered that was the most secure place for them to have a discussion, which is a bit odd these days. They asked us what we knew of Mike Moore and what we thought of him. We were both, I have to say, quite effusive about his commitment to world trade, to the liberalisation of trade, and, as he understood, the benefits of it. So they told us they were going to report back to—I think it was Charlene Barshefsky—the United States trade representative at the time. Wayne Mapp, in his own inimitable way, said, "Why don't you guys just cut it short and split the job?" Now, I don't know whether that's why they did it. I don't want to attribute that to Wayne—it's a very significant achievement—but when, in fact, they did do that, I do think it's a bit of shame that Mike didn't end up taking the second part of that job. I think he'd have been there a lot longer and I think a lot of the momentum that he created in those three years would have made a huge difference to where the world sits today on these matters.

I also, as Minister of Defence, was hosted by Mike in Washington. I've got to say, his access to their system was quite extraordinary. So all the facets of his personality—the genial approach that he took to people, the love that he always exhibited of being in the company of people who wanted to discuss ideas—was on display on those couple of days. We actually also got to see the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel. Now, I'm not sure whether it was anything Mike said, but that afternoon Chuck was dismissed from his job by President Obama. But none the less, the access was quite extraordinary.

We also enjoyed, that evening, quite an extraordinary dinner that Mike put on. One of the guests was the Hon Kim Beazley from Australia. It will be one occasion that I'll remember for the rest of my life because of the breadth of the conversation, the forward-thinking of that conversation, and the ability that Mike Moore seemed to have to see a couple of steps ahead of where everything else was. It took some deciphering, but you knew it was there. I am somewhat sorry, though, that it was a few weeks later that he became quite ill.

At the end of the dinner, at around 9 o'clock, he sort of rounded everyone up and said, "Well, Minister, you've got a big day tomorrow, you need to move on.", and I took a slight risk and said to him, "Oh, hang on a minute, Ambassador. Whatever happened to fine old MFAT tradition of port and cigars after the dinner?" He leapt out of his chair—remember, this was a man who was not overly well then, and he had trouble with his feet—and procured the most rubbishy bunch of cigars I've ever seen, but some of the finest port you could ever get. We sat outside in December until after 2 in the morning with the discussion continuing—quite an extraordinary occasion.

But I also want to say, particularly to Yvonne Moore, who was also highly regarded by the people in Christchurch, that their enduring partnership no doubt allowed Mike to have the career that he was able to follow. To her, our deepest sympathies and condolences as she goes about the rest of her life without her life partner, Mike Moore.

Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture): Kia ora, Mr Speaker, and, look, it's a great honour to say a few words to someone who I considered a friend and who I owe so much to. This won't be the last word on Mike Moore, but he had a saying that it was always hard to be too right too early. Mike, unfortunately, you've run out of time to prove so many things to us, but we now have the responsibility to prove that many of those things that Ron raised were, indeed, correct.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank Yvonne Moore. It was always Mike and Yvonne, Yvonne and Mike. For as long as I know, she has been a long-serving supporter of everything that Mike did. She shared her husband with the Labour Party, she shared her husband with New Zealand, and she shared her husband with the world, and so thank you for that.

I first met Mike in 1990. It was Mike's, I guess you might say, manic tour. He was the Prime Minister trying to hold together a party that was blowing apart. He was running around the country as fast as he could, literally at warp speed, talking to people, trying to keep our vote up. He was due to visit a little tourism business in the mouth of the Buller Gorge, where I was located. I didn't find out until later on, but, indeed, they came down out of the gorge at God knows what speed, right into a mob of sheep that my father was driving on the road. There were no lamburgers created in that incident, but he came into our business, asked how things were, in a genuine and engaging way, spoke with all 10 of us at that place, and then moved on in a shower of gravel and dust as he moved on.

He held the Labour Party together at a really challenging time. He went through that election and ended up with 29 MPs that kept the National Government honest for three years. That was an incredible achievement, and we have to thank him for that.

In 1992, I was selected as a candidate—never been in a campaign before—and, looking back now, the organisation and the discipline and the focus of that campaign has probably not been matched. Remember, that was at a time when cellphones were bricks—I'd like to thank Ron Mark for outlining some of the amazing organisational material that we had—and he oversaw, I guess, a discipline around that campaign that brought us to a point that almost saw the Labour Party win in 1993.

It was an interesting campaign. "Mike's mafia", the "Beagle Boys"—call them what you like, they were a passionate, loyal bunch of people that did things like rush into Hokitika a couple of hours before the plane would land and literally plaster the town with hoardings. These are people in pinstripe suits putting up hoardings all around Hokitika, organising a crowd at the airport to meet Mike, organising a crowd at the local tourism business, and organising a crowd at the bar to which he went. There was an astute journalist that recognised that they were all the same crowd.

But I can particularly remember Mike rushing out of a tourism business—you know, he'd been in there, talking genuinely with all the people, and he rushed out on to the street, saw the first person there and said "Right, drive me to the next gallery.", and I remember this West Coaster turned around and said, "I'm not your bloody driver." But, of course, Mike didn't flinch; he just carried on. He treated everyone with dignity, with respect, and with kindness.

In 1993, he almost brought the Labour Party from, I guess, the depths of despair in 1990 to 1993, when we almost won, and I have to say that it was something that brought me into politics. For that, I thank you, Mike. He saw the West Coast seat as a taonga, and he did so much to help me turn around what was a significant majority. Thank you, Mike, for that.

He, of course, ended up losing the leadership, and not long after that—or, as he liked to say, he mislaid it. It was pretty tough on him and a number of people, and it was tough on the party. He did say, of course, that he did sleep like a baby after that—you know, he dozed for a few hours, then he'd wake up and cry, and then he'd doze for a few more hours and he'd wake up and cry, and on it went.

He was distraught because it was the job that he'd always worked so hard for. But he wasn't one to sulk or to sit around and do nothing, and then his focus on trade, I have to say, has helped us all as a country. There was some, I guess, cynicism about his approach, because of, maybe, his position in a Labour Government. Some thought it should be fair trade, and they didn't trust his free-trade agenda. But what he did see, and what has been shown to be so true, is that trade—trade of not just goods; trade of culture, of ideas, the movement of people—has been so beneficial to hundreds of millions of people around the world. His determination, through the World Trade Organization and through his commitment to, I guess, a better planet, that has indeed cost him his health over time, is an enduring legacy to someone who is and always will be a great New Zealander.

Thank you, Yvonne. Thank you, Mike, for what you have done. I personally thank you, and the Labour Party will always be grateful for a wonderful, wonderful leader. Kia ora.