Maiden Address Marama Fox

E te Mana Whakawā nei rā te mihi mahana ki a koe, anō rā ki te whare hoki. I terā wiki i tū ake au ki te tuku mihi ki tērā o ngā hoea kua hinga ā e tika me mihi ki a rātou katoa kua mate, kei ngā ringa o te Atua e karapoti nei i a rātou i tōnā korowai aroha, rātou ki a rātou ka tika. A ki, a tātou te hunga ora nei, ko tātou te hunga tutuki i o rātou na wawata, tēnā tātou katoa.

Ko wai tēnei e tū ake nei? Ā, he uri tēnei o ngā iwi o te Ikaroa Rawhiti, o Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, o Rangitane hoki. He uri tēnei o te kahui rangatira o te Paremata Māori. Rātou i hanga, i whakarite i o rātou ake Paremata i runga i te whakaaro kua ngāro rā te reo hapai i ngā hiahia, ngā wawata, ngā take o ngā iwi Māori o te motu. A, ki te whai hoki i o rātou ake Rangatiratanga. Tamahau Mahupuku, Hoani Rangitakaiwaho, Manihera, Te Maari, Whatahoro, a me te kuia, Niniwa i te rangi, a wai rā, hoki wairua mai rā ……ka tu whakaiti au kei mua i a rātou nā aroaro, kei mua i a koutou aroaro, oku pou, oku rahi. Heoi anō rā ki te whare katoa tēnā tātou katoa.

Today is an auspicious day. A significant day in the history of this country. Yet there is no pomp and ceremony to mark this day, no grandeur, no national public holiday, no special programming by our state broadcaster.

In fact I would hazard a guess that there may be some seated here in this House who do not know what it is I refer to. Today is in fact the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Today, 179 years ago a confederation of Ngāpuhi chiefs gathered together in Te Hiku o te Ika to sign the article declaring this land its own sovereign state, an independent country in its own right, not open for ‘discovery’ not free to be claimed for princes and principalities, but independent, a land with its own customs, its own language, its own methods of environmental protection and its own system of justice, its own rangatiratanga.

Interestingly, and topically as it is now, those chiefs had also previously established their own flag.

A symbol of independence flown across the bow of the ships owned by Māori as they sailed throughout the world to trade in the ports of Australia, Canada and the United States, a symbol of their nationhood, raised to the world to show their independence. If these chiefs were here today what they would think; what would they think of what has become of their nation, would their flag be branded a ‘racist flag’ the way the Māori flag was just the other day by members of this House?

It is both interesting and enlightening to read of the history of the Declaration of Independence from the indigenous view point provided through Erima Henare who says:

“The words of the Declaration come right from the heart of Māori, from the eyes, (from) the mind, the face of Māori”

The truth or otherwise of the significance of the Declaration of Independence will not be solved here in my maiden speech, I raise it to bring light to the fact that we continue to express our nationhood in one-dimensional viewpoints. We raise our children on the litany of Eurocised history largely neglecting all together the rich and vibrant history of pre-colonised Aotearoa. On this historic day how do we remember our past? How do we take stock as we act in our present? How do we determine the ingredients needed to forge a pathway for our future? It is only right and proper to acknowledge Dr Pita Sharples for his role in bringing Māori history into our curriculum for the benefit of all our mokopuna and all of Aotearoa.

Just a week ago I proudly stood in the House to swear allegiance to the Queen and my commitment to carrying out my duties as a member of parliament, but, I was not afforded the honour to do so to the founding unification document of our country. The very document that allowed the Queen to assert her sovereignty in this land. To the Treaty itself.

Surely if I come here from the Māori roll I come as a representative of the Māori voice, surely I take my place in this House as a representative of the Treaty partner and should be able to acknowledge the Treaty in the oath as a partner to the Crown.

It was heartening to me to know that every single party in our 51st parliament attended a Karakia Taunaki held in Matangireia on the morning of the swearing in. The karakia offered on our behalf were significant. The wairua felt by all present bore testament to the chiefs who signed the Treaty and testament to the contributions of great Māori and non-Māori parliamentarians of the past.

I look forward to the day when all will recognise the importance of such remembrance and adherence to the Treaty as a matter of course in the fulfilment of our responsibilities as members of this House and representatives of this great nation. I look forward to the day when I can pledge an oath to carry out my duties in accordance to the law and the Treaty of Waitangi. I also look forward to the day when they won’t mean two different things.

When I first entered this House I desired to feel a sense of the spirit of this place. This place where debate and conjecture have raged over determining the pathways of our people. This place where our Māori predecessors stood to uphold the unending struggle to assert Māori aspirations. This place where Ngata, Pomare, Te Rangi Hiroa, Kara, Meha, and others have spoken, where Matui Rata, Tirikatene, Parata, Horomia, Turia and Sharples have argued the cause of Māori, endeavouring to uplift and change the impact of assimilation and colonisation on our people.

I recall reading for the first time the debate that raged in the parliament of the day when discussing the Native Schools Act. I was astounded, not just by what was said and done but by the lasting impact of such legislation on the inter-generational lives of our Māori.

Here in the parliament of this country in 1867 they debated whether to exterminate the natives or to civilise them through education. But if they were to educate them they needed to do so through a language that was more conducive to human thought. In the debate that followed there was also reference to the fact that, and I quote: “we need to be careful not to hunt them into education as we have hunted them into the selling of their land for fear that it might engender a spirit of resistance”.

Hence Māori language was outlawed in this country by an act of parliament. The Native Schools Act was entrenched and the Native Schools were instructed to only teach rudimentary literacy and numeracy to the natives. Instead teachers were encouraged to teach labouring, cooking, cleaning and nurse-maiding, not nursing just nurse-maiding for that is all they are capable of learning.

This was indicative of the colonial understanding of the day. This is not a reflection of those gathered here, it was after all a long time ago… but understand this - This piece of legislation stayed in place in this country for 100 years until 1969. That is, generation after generation of our people being told your language is not good enough, your culture is not good enough, and essentially you are just not good enough….. In the very least it is social engineering and cultural genocide.
E te mana whakawa, I come to this House as a proud descendant of Papawai - the ‘Home of Maori Parliament’.

Papawai – our Maori Parliament operated from 1892 until 1902. During that time it met also in the settlements of Waipatu; Tokaanu; Pakirikiri; Waiomatatini; Rotorua, and Waitangi. It acted as a forum whereby Maori leaders from around the country could discuss issues of the day and as an opportunity for leaders to meet with Parliamentarians to discuss legislation that affected Maori. It was the place where my ancestor and hero Niniwa-i-te-rangi stood on marae atea around the country to promote the Māori Parliament and the concept of kotahitanga, or the uniting of Māori to achieve equity and transform lives for the future wellbeing of the people. She would have made a great Māori Party MP.

E te Manawhakawā it is time to stand up and determine that this country has come of age by recognising our duality of nationhood as coined by Dr Hingangaroa Smith.

When we can acknowledge our joint history with all of its warts and tragedies perhaps then we can move forward as one nation. I look around this place and I wonder where are our joint symbols of nationhood, where is the place of Māori? Many continue to debate the necessity of the Māori seats in this House. I put it to you that when there are no longer disparities for Māori in this country then we can remove the Māori seats.

When Māori are recognised as ‘value added’ to our country and not merely entertainment fluff to be rolled out for special occasions then, we can remove the Māori seats.

When we can converse in te reo Māori without the need of a translator, then we can remove the Māori seats, and now I hear the murmurings of “that will never happen” – well why not? Surely we have proved our worth, surely our ancestors who have given their lives on the battlefields of this earth have fought the price of citizenship, surely those of our people who have sacrificed their land, their dignity and their traditional knowledge have given more than was necessary to give to share this land and to be acknowledged and valued.

When our local governments can look at their numbers of Māori population as an asset and not a deficit then we can move forward as a nation. When we can report wellness and not un-wellness, when we can strive for equity and not just equality we can move forward as a nation recognising duality of nationhood becoming truly ambicultural and not just bicultural.

I know the western culture, I have been completely assimilated into the constructs of that culture as one of the cultural contexts for our nation. ., I also know my culture I am equally versed in the traditions of my ancestors, their knowledge and their histories.

I regard myself as ambicultural – equally versed in the dual cultures of this country. I come here today to forge a place for Māori in this country as ‘value added’, as an asset not a deficit to change the poverty of not just the hand, but the poverty of the mind for not just our people but all people to believe there is a real place for Māori in this country in and through language, culture and identity.

It is not the only reason I come here… today in the gallery are members of my family, hapu, and iwi. I stand on their behalf. I am driven forward on their behalf to address those disparities I have referred to. I want to add my voice to those who advocate for our children. To build a nation where our children are not plagued by hunger, where our children are not reared on a diet of drug and alcohol-fuelled parties, where our children are not schooled by those who do not know how to say their name, or taught by those who do not believe in them, or harmed and exploited by those who are supposed to protect them.

In Wairarapa we know the pain of child mortality, and tragic death.

In 1992 our naive peace was shattered by the murders of seven of our whanau in the Judds Road massacre. The enduring picture I have of seven coffins laying on our marae atea surrounded by the mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers of our whanau is both bitter and sweet, sweet at the memory of the outpouring of love that followed. The other picture that will haunt me is that of one large open pit where all seven coffins were lowered into the open grave because seven graves side by side could not be dug with strength enough to hold up the walls of earth.

And as if this tragedy was not enough in the ten years that followed we lost the Sherman baby, the Aplin sisters Lillybing and Coral Burrows, and we, gathered here from Wairarapa, we are related to them all. When our children suffer in this way then I must stand up, when our young people chose to end their lives instead of live their reality, then I must stand, when our children cower in fear on the streets of this nation then I must stand, when our children sleep their nights in the backs of broken-down cars then I must stand.

I stand to give voice to those who have lost their voice and the song in their hearts. I stand to find a way to heal and restore love to our homes. I hold fast to a hymn of our church that sweetly reminds the listener, there is beauty all around, when there’s love at home, there is joy in every sound, when there’s love at home, peace and plenty here abide, smiling sweet on every side, time doth softly sweetly glide when there’s love at home. The most important work we will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes, when we change what we do in our homes we will change society. That song is the song of Whānau Ora – the lyrics of which Tariana Turia has written into the hearts of every person who calls this land home.

And so I want to acknowledge home, and those who have brought me here. The kuia and koroua who put my billboards up from Wharekahika to Uawa, Koka Connie, Papa Prince, Papa Erueni, and Papa Hemo ka tupou taku mahunga kei mua i a koutou, Leona, Lynlee, Aunty Cath, Uncle Hori, Henare, Phyllis, Christine, Jael, Rose, Pania, Pania, Kiri, Maxine me au tamariki, PJ, Big Bill, Ivy, Baden, Pete, koutou i whakapou werawera, nei ra te mihi e kore rawa e mutu.

To the Māori Party membership far and wide who have supported me to stand here today, proud to be a representative of the strong and independent voice of Māori in this Parliament. Tū Māori Mai!

To my own family, my sisters my brother who has acted as my father and even my Dad who I’m sure will watch this on youtube I love you all; you have made me who I am.

My children, Jordan and your spunky wife Marion, Rikihana and your cheeky wife Mahli; our moko Rakainuku, Ririwai and your soft and generous wife Fe and my darling moko Tohumairangi, to Whatahoro the epitome of who’s name you bare and Manahi, Manahi I will not forget bubba who was lost to us almost one year ago Lania, my daughters Te Ao Marama, Mihiroa, Aromea and Moeteao. I love you so much the testament of that love is etched on my heart and my puku forever, to my darling husband who I have trained to be a super dad over the last 26 years today, when we were remembered 26 years ago today, which I just remembered this morning, I am forever in your debt and care.

And finally to who is my privilege… for I am privileged not in the way it has been expressed in this House, I am privileged to be raised by a Mum, who taught me never to allow myself to be treated less than I deserve, who taught me I can do anything, who taught me to be better than the best I can be and not to be a statistic – you are my privilege, you who drove me 14 hours non-stop during the election when I was too sick to drive myself, there are not enough words to express the gratitude I have to a loving Father in Heaven who blessed me with you as a mother.
I commit myself to this House, I commit myself to our people I commit myself to this government to ensure those who I love and those who deserve the love of this nation will have the full benefit of all I am able to give on their behalf. I am excited to work alongside my colleague Te Ururoa Flavell, to add to the greatness of this nation, built on the greatness of our ancestors.

Oti ra e te whare huri noa i te motu whanui me maumahara no rangiatea he tangata rangatira tatou, no reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

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