MPs have been reflecting on the Queen's death again, with the passage of a bill under urgency to create a one-off public holiday for her. But not all the reflections were misty-eyed.
The Queen's death has prompted no shortage of occasion for reflection at Parliament - in fact a whole week of Parliament Business was pretty much wiped out last week because of it.
This week there was another opportunity for MPs to reflect on their connections to the Queen and her life of service with the passage under urgency of a bill to designate next Monday as a one-off public holiday. But not all the reflections were misty-eyed.
Michael Wood
"Public holidays are a day for our nation to breathe, for the relentless focus on work and commerce just to be paused a little bit for one day, to enable us to step back and participate as a society in important national moments. The end of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's remarkable and historic reign is such a moment," said Government Minister Michael Wood, the MP in charge of the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day Bill.
"This day should be a day in which people and communities across the country can reflect in whatever way is appropriate for them. I believe that people will do that when this bill passes the House."
The Bill was opposed by ACT and the Māori Party - an unusual pairing - but for starkly different reasons. In the case of Te Paati Māori, the Queen and what she stood for doesn't warrant a public holiday. Its MP Rawiri Waititi explained that he had honoured tikanga by giving people time to grieve for the Queen, but now it was appropriate to express past and current grievances of tangata whenua.
Rawiri Waititi
"We must acknowledge the brutal genocidal and ongoing impact of colonialism, of the imperial project that was overseen by the house of Windsor and its forebears, here in Aotearoa and around the world. It is said that at its height, the sun never set on the British Empire. It's hard to fathom, but that one statement is built on the backs of millions of indigenous peoples around the world. The sun never set on their colonialism, on their racism, and on their violence.
"The Crown was built on stolen assets and exploitation of tangata whenua and indigenous peoples all over the world. We cannot support this holiday. This holiday is a torturous and an insulting reminder for us. She said the Treaty has been imperfectly observed, but never tried to remedy this by honouring tangata whenua and honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi," Waititi said…