Speaker’s Statements — Parliament Grounds—Reopening Ceremony

Before we move on to petitions, I want to apologise to the members who were not invited to the ceremony this morning. That was my responsibility in that we were limited to 100 people, and I felt that it was better to invite members of the community who had been locked out, as well as members of Parliament and staff, to that ceremony. I will place on my record my thanks to Te Atiawa - Taranaki Whānui for the work that they did and helping us with the spiritual or emotional cleansing that goes along with the major physical decontamination of the site that has occurred. I will note that it is my intention to hold a “grand reopening of the grass”, or something similar, possibly in early June, leading into Matariki, to which all members—COVID willing—will be invited.