Fox Marama: Address in ReplyText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Address in Reply[Sitting date: 28 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:288. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Māori Party):E Te Mana Whakawā nei rā te mihi mahana ki a koe anō rā ki Te Whare hoki. I tērā wiki i tū ake au ki te tuku ki tērā o ngā hōia 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 tōna korowai nei aroha. Rātou ki a rātou ka tika. Ā ki a tātou te hunga ora nei ko tātou te hunga i whakatutuki i ō rātou nā wawata tēnā tātou katoa. Ko wai tēnei e tū ake nei? Ā he uri o ngā iwi o Te Ikaroa Rāwhiti o Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Porou o Rangitāne hoki. He uri tēnei o te kāhui rangatira o Te Pāremata Māori rātou i hanga i whakarite i ō rātou ake pāremata i runga i te whakaaro kua ngaro rā Te Reo hāpai i ngā hiahia ngā wawata ngā take o ngā iwi Māori o te motu ā ki te whai hoki i ō rātou ake rangatiratanga. Tamahau Mahupuku Hoani Rangitakaiwaho Manihera Te Maari Whatahoro ā me te kuia Niniwa-i-Te Rangi a wai rā hoki wairua mai! Ka tū whakaiti au kei mua i ō rātou nā aroaro kei mua i a koutou aroaro ōku pou ōku rahi. Hoi anō rā ki Te Whare katoa tēnā koutou.[Mr Speaker warm greetings to you and to you as well the House. Last week I got up to deliver a tribute to the soldiers who were killed. It is fitting indeed that one be made to them all who died. They are in the arms of God enveloped in his loving cloak. It is appropriate that they be left among their own. And to us here the living we are the ones to accomplish their aspirations and I salute us all. Who then is this individual standing here before you? Ah it is a descendant of the tribes of Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Porou and Rangitāne also of Te Ikaroa Rāwhiti. This then is a progeny of the esteemed company of the Māori Parliament the ones who create and prepare their own parliament upon the view that the very language to lift up the needs aspirations and matters pertaining to the Māori tribes of the nation is gone. They pursue their right to exercise autonomy as well. Tamahau Mahupuku Hoani Tangitakaiwaho Manihera Te Maari Whatahoro the matriarch Niniwa-i-Te Rangi and others come back spiritually! I stand humbly before you my pillars and my greatness and so my thanks to you all the entire House.]Today is an auspicious day. It is 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 and 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 that 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 languages its own methods of environmental protection and its own system of justice its own rangatiratanga.Interesting and topical 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 and a symbol of their nationhood raised to the world to show their independence. If these chiefs were here today what would they think? What would they think of what has become of their nation? Would their flag be branded a racist flag in the way the Māori flag was just the other day by members of this House?It is both interesting and enlightening to read the history of the Declaration of Independence from the indigenous viewpoint provided through Ērima Henare who said: “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 a litany of “Eurocised” history largely neglecting altogether 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 and 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 with the law and the Treaty of Waitangi. I also look forward to the day when they will not 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 Pōmare Te Rangi Hīroa Kara Meha and others have spoken and where Matiu 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 intergenerational 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 “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 teach only rudimentary literacy and numeracy to the natives. Instead teachers were encouraged to teach labouring cooking cleaning and nursemaiding—not nursing just nursemaiding—for that is all they were capable of learning.This was indicative of the colonial understanding of the day. This is not a reflection on those who are gathered here. It was after all a long time ago but understand this: that 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.” At the very least it is social engineering and cultural genocide.I come to this House as a proud descendant of Papawai the home of Māori Parliament. Papawai is where our Māori Parliament operated from 1892 until 1902. During that time it also met at the settlements of Waipatu Tokaanu Pākirikiri Waiōmatatini Rotorua and Waitangi. It acted as a forum whereby Māori 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 Māori. It was the place where my ancestor and hero Niniwa-i-te-rangi stood on marae ātea 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 well-being of the people. She would have made a great Māori Party MP.It is time to stand up and determine that this country has come of age by recognising our duality of nationhood as coined by 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 our joint symbols of nationhood are. 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 for a translator then we can remove the Māori seats.Now I hear the murmurings that that will never happen. Well why not? Surely we have proven 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 unwellness and when we can strive for equity and not just equality we can move forward as a nation recognising duality of nationhood becoming truly ambi-cultural and not just bicultural.I know the Western culture. I have been completely assimilated into it. I know the constructs of that culture. I also know my own culture. I am equally versed in the traditions of my ancestors their knowledge and their histories. I regard myself as ambi-cultural—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 all of our people to believe there is a real place for Māori in this country through language culture and identity.It is not the only reason I come here today. In the gallery are members of my family hapū 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 and 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 and where our children are not schooled by those who do not know how to say their name 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 whānau in the Judds Road massacre. The enduring picture I have of seven coffins lying on our marae ātea surrounded by the mothers sisters aunts and grandmothers of our whānau 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 grave because seven graves side by side could not be dug with strength enough to hold up the walls of earth. As if this tragedy was not enough in the 10 years that followed we lost the Sherman baby the Aplin sisters “Lillybing” and Coral Burrows and we gathered here from Wairarapa were related to them all.When our children suffer in this way then I must stand up. When our young people choose 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 aroundWhen there’s love at homeThere is joy in every soundWhen there’s love at homePeace and plenty here abideSmiling sweet on every sideTime doth softy sweetly glideWhen 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. So I want to acknowledge home and those who have brought me here the kuia and koroua who put my billboards up from Wharekāhika in the north to Ūawa: Kōkā Connie Pāpā Prince Pāpā Erueni and Pāpā Hemo ka tūpou taku māhunga ki mua i a koutou. [Uncle Prince Uncle Herewini and Uncle Hemo I bow my head before you.]Leona Lynlee Auntie Cath Uncle Hōri Hēnare Phyllis Christine Jael Rose Pānia Pānia Kiri Maxine me au tamariki PJ Big Bill Ivy Baden Pete koutou e Takapou werawera nei tā te mihi kore rawa atu ki a koutou katoa. [To you collectively Takapou the warmth of my appreciation to you all is endless.]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 Māori voice in this Parliament tū Māori mai! To my family my sisters my brother who has acted as my father and even my dad who I am 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 Rākainuku; Ririwai and your soft and generous wife Fe and my darling moko Tohumairangi; to Whatahoro the epitome of whose name you bear; and Mānahi—Mānahi I will not forget bubba who was lost to us almost a year ago Lania—and my daughters Te Ao Mārama Mihiroa Aromea and Moeteao I love you so much. The testament of that love is etched on my heart and my puku for ever. To my darling husband whom I have trained to be a super-dad over the last 26 years—we were married 26 years ago today which I just remembered this morning—I am for ever in your debt and care.And finally to the one who is my privilege for I am privileged—not in the way it has been expressed in the past by members of this House but 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 that those whom 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.Otirā e Te Whare huri noa i te motu me maumahara nō Rangiātea tātou katoa he tangata rangatira tātou nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[But at the same time to the House and indeed to those ones throughout the country you must remember that we are all from Rangiātea and a revered lot so acknowledgments salutations and congratulations to you all.]Waiata