Te Ururoa Flavell

Māori Party on the Security Council notion of motion

21 October 2014; 2.15pm

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātou e te Whare.

Mihi to the team that put forward the successful bid – and in particular Murray McCully, Jim McLay, David Shearer, former Prime Ministers Helen Clark and Jim Bolger

Just to also acknowledge the other gentleman and ladies who have been mentioned earlier and the contribution that they made in terms of presenting New Zealand’s case to the United Nations.

When the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, spoke at the University of Auckland just recently, I am told that he talked about the powers of connectivity in creating enduring peace. In his speech he referred to the lack of mutual understanding and respect for the traditions, beliefs, and faiths of others and the initiative of creating the Alliance of Civilizations to promote genuine understanding.

New Zealand, as others have said, can be proud today of our success in winning a Security Council seat, but there is also the courage and the foresight of this Government in overturning the previous Labour Government’s bizarre decision in 2007 to oppose the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. So I count myself pretty lucky and privileged to have been at the United Nations when Dr Pita Sharples presented the case and righted the wrong. That was indeed a great privilege of my political career.

Although we congratulate all of those involved in supporting the bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, as others have said, we must also recognise the challenges ahead. New Zealand must use our strength and our moral courage to now focus on those goals of connectivity, particularly in light of the rights of indigenous peoples.

We must take advantage of our efforts to address the most pressing security concerns for humanity: issues such as the negative impact of climate change and the degradation of our environment, the desperate need to disarm nuclear weapons, and the elimination of poverty.

We in Aotearoa are clearly respected throughout the world and have a solid reputation. We need to ensure that we continue to build on that. Ka nui te mihi.

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