June 02, 2015
Ta Papa Pita counts contribution
New knight Sir Pita Sharples says the honour is a reward for work he enjoyed doing.
Sir Pita received the award in the Queen’s Birthday list, five months after his Maori Party co-founder Tariana Turia was made a Dame.
He says accepting it is a recognition of his relationship with his iwi, his people and New Zealand.
It also reflects the contribution he made in his six years as a minister.
"I enjoyed the ministerial work in parliament, make no bones about that, I loved being a minister because you could really do things. I built a new type of prison, me, and I'm really happy about that and I think its value is still to be recognised by New Zealand. Stuff I did for the reo, and poverty. Government didn't even talk about poverty, wouldn't talk about poverty when they asked us to join them, and now they are talking poverty and have a policy on poverty," he says.
Sir Pita says even though he will now be known out west as Ta Papa Pita, he is still looking to reinvent himself for life after parliament.
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