Appropriation Bill

Hone Harawira, MP for Te Tai Tokerau

Wednesday 26 August 2009

The Appropriation (2009/10 Estimates) Bill includes within its schedules, the commitment in departmental output expenses to implement the Government’s decisions on the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance.

Pretty straightforward until you get to the report of the Local Government and Environment committee and then it starts to come unstuck.

Yes, there were issues about cost, but the real issue for us as a Maori Party was the arrogant dismissal of the issue of Maori representation

Mr Speaker, this house knows well of our commitment to strong Maori representation at every level of governance in this country, because of the value we place on the Treaty partnership – and the honouring of that partnership by both Maori and the Crown.

In fact our Agreement with the National Party includes a line which reads “Both the National Party and the Maori Party will act in accordance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi”.

And we take that line seriously, because the Treaty partnership is the basis of the Crown’s relationship with Maori, and we expect government to do its best to uphold the Treaty.

And the issue of the Maori seats was just the vehicle for the Prime Minister to use to advance his philosophy about taking the country forward.

And he would have had the support.

Hell, even before he came along, the Royal Commission on the reorganisation of Auckland travelled all over the region, talked to hundreds of people, received more than 3,500 submissions, and publicly recommended Maori seats, making the point that Maori have simply not been represented in local governance at all – 8 councillors in 150 years is an indictment on the current system, not an endorsement.

On election night 2008, the PM famously spoke of looking forward to a positive relationship with the Maori Party; the Maori seats in parliament have been there for more than 100 years, without there ever being a collapse of government, and with the emergence of the Maori Party, finally a recognition that the Maori seats in the House provide the opportunity for greater participation by Maori in the electoral process, and more independent thinking from Maori MPs.

The newly-minted Minister of Local Government thought he could run a sly one past the Maoris in Auckland by talking up the importance of the Auckland Governance select committee process probably expecting people to oppose the Maori seats there, but whadda you know – the select committee ALSO travelled all over the region, talked to hundreds of people, received more than 2,500 submissions, and guess what – more than 80% of non-Maori submissions also came out in support of the Maori seats.

Most of the councils in Auckland have come out in support of the Maori seats as well, as have 3 of Auckland’s mayors.

The PM himself thought the seats was a deal worth doing, the leader of the opposition supported it, Russell Norman and Metiria Turei added their weight as leaders of the Greens and of course the Maori Party’s Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples were clearly in favour of the Maori seats as well.

Thousands of Aucklanders marched in support of the Maori seats, and for heaven sakes, even the good old conservative NZ Herald has spoken out strongly in favour of the Maori seats

And yet what do we get from the Minister of Local Government? A threat to throw his toys out of the cot if he can’t get his way; a threat to resign if the Maori seats goes in as part of his legislation!!!

Well, so much for democracy.

 In fact, government caved in completely by announcing their rejection of the Maori seats, even before the select committee report was in !!! Never mind the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on the exercise. Never mind about the will of the people. Never mind even thinking about the overwhelming support for the Maori seats from all over the place and from all kinds of people – black, white and all shades in between.

And the select committee – well what a bloody joke that turned out to be. I am glad that I didn’t bother hauling my little black ass round to all of the hearings because at the end of the day, the word was sent down from on high – we don’t care what you National and Act members saw, we don’t care who you met, and we certainly don’t care what you heard, YOU WILL PUT TOGETHER A MEALY MOUTHED REPORT that uses petty little words like “substantial” instead of “overwhelming”, and prattles on about different models as the reason for trying to deny what people were actually saying – and 80% of those submissions can be summed up in 5 little words – WE SUPPORT THE MAORI SEATS.

Ngati Whatua's chairperson Naida Glavish, described the Government's unequivocal no to Maori representation as a slap in the face. She said the future now looked "bland and unrepresentative".

Ngati Whatua o Orakei spokesman, Ngarimu Blair, described it as “just one more chapter in our long struggle” – a struggle to uphold the nation’s constitutional foundations, a struggle to live by the promise of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Tainui chairman Tukuroirangi Morgan said that he was disappointed in Mr Key, saying he had "caved in to Rodney and his 1 per cent party". 

Mr Morgan went on to say that he thought the relationship with Maori was a significant relationship. “Well, clearly,” said Mr Morgan, “that has amounted to nothing."

Mr Morgan said that Tainui would refuse to take part in any advisory board, and I quote:

"That's not where the decisions are made. Giving Maori people the crumbs at the second level is a nonsense and we've made it quite clear we are not interested in being a tekoteko or tonotono - people who are subservient to the top table."

Mr Speaker, I wanted to present those views up front because this house needs to understand how seriously Maori view this breach of the relationship between Maori and the Crown – hugely, massively disappointing, but surprisingly, unsurprising.

Mr Speaker, I put this all before the House today as we consider the Appropriations Bill – because it also signals a substantial cost that this nation can ill afford.

Mr Speaker, in the same way that this country agonised over MMP and finally accepted it as a model which would better enhance democratic representation in the parliament of this nation, so too should we be bold enough to consider other ways of enhancing representation at local body level.

And in the same way that Maori seats in parliament is a means of enhancing democratic representation for a Treaty partner in a plural society, so too are Maori seats on the proposed Auckland Council.

Mr Speaker, the facts tell us that Maori representation does not happen as of right, and that it will not happen unless there is a political will for the Treaty to matter.

When government says that if the new Auckland Council wants Maori seats then they can choose to establish them, then they are consigning those Maori seats to the dustbin of history, for if there are no Maori seats in the council to begin with, who on earth is going to advocate for them to be established?

The long history of Maori participation and representation in local government, is all the evidence that we need to support the view that this House has an obligation to provide for Maori representation in the governance structure of the proposed Auckland Council. 

Pita Sharples says that Maori will never go away, and that Maori representation is inevitable; all that Rodney Hide’s political tactics are doing is putting off the inevitable, putting this government on the wrong side of history, and bringing discord to the relationship between Maori and the Crown.

The Maori Party will continue to work with mana whenua and with other Maori in Auckland to fight this attack on our rights as Treaty partners, and to push for those Maori seats, and let me make one final statement about those seats if I may – getting Maori seats at local government is like having Pantene shampoo – it may not happen overnight, but it will happen. The sadness is that when history looks back on this time, it won’t see a head of shining hair, all it will see is a balding scalp riddled with kutus, because Rodney is too mean to use his shampoo.

ends 

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