Sharples Pita: Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill — First Reading 
Sharples Pita: Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:642;Page:12049] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe. I come to this bill knowing that neither the opinions of my constituency nor the opinions of the neighbouring constituency of Te Tai Tokerau have been canvassed about what Auckland-based amenities should reasonably qualify for funding through the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill being debated today. I am wondering whether this is just par for the course—another example of policy prejudice operating for decisions north of the Bombay Hills. 
Of course lack of consultation in Tamaki Makaurau is not a new occurrence. We remember back in June of this year when the Waitangi Tribunal reported that consultation by the Crown with iwi was cavalier and unfair and conducted in a generally uncooperative manner. We read the depressing findings that Ngati Te Ata Ngai Tai ki Tamaki Te Kawerau-a-Maki Marutuahu the Hauraki Maori Trust Board and Te Taou had been explicitly excluded from the discussions leading to the Tamaki Makaurau settlement. 
So coming to this new bill which is to address the need for specified amenities in the Auckland region we are disappointed but definitely not surprised to find that there has been no specific consultation with mana whenua. Let us face it: this Government does not value the rights of indigenous people. 
Hon Judith Tizard 
: This is not a Government bill. 
Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: That member is from the Government. This Government sees the rights of indigenous people as incompatible with its policy. This Government opposes the rights of indigenous people to be aspirational—meaning of course to have hope or ambition to achieve one’s goal. This Government in voting against the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples voted against the right of tangata whenua to have hope or ambition to achieve for themselves. 
So I have to ask: who could possibly think that anyone would dare to have hope that indigenous rights will be protected by this Government? This bill the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill is yet another example in which there has been no inclusion and seemingly no consideration of Maori facilities and services. The bill has wilfully ignored the views of mana whenua and what they consider the priorities to be for the adequate sustainable and secure funding of facilities that promote the arts education rescue operations or community development. In fact even although I am the member for Tamaki Makaurau—and Maori to boot—which includes most of the region of Auckland the Minister with responsibility for Auckland Issues did not deem it necessary to consult me for comment from mana whenua. 
So it falls to us of the Maori Party to speak out here. During the Committee stage of the bill we will be introducing a Supplementary Order Paper to include Maori organisations as specified amenities and thus as recipients of some of the funding. Two of the proposed organisations we consider worthy of inclusion are the Tamaki Makaurau Senior Kapahaka Society Inc. and the Auckland Regional Outrigger Canoe Association. The Tamaki Makaurau Senior Kapahaka Society has been considered a worthy facility to be included in this bill in order to ensure our high standards of kapahaka in the many adult kapa that exist in Auckland City. We believe also that the intention of this bill to make Auckland a vibrant and an attractive place to live in and visit can only prosper from its inclusion. Our Supplementary Order Paper will provide for support to that society to help with its annual competitions and festivals and also to run wananga to train new leaders and to assist in composition and Maori performing arts. 
I have to admit being astounded that the Maori cultural component has not been addressed in this strategy which is all about enhancing the well-being of this region. Cultural tourism is essential to the creation and shaping of our unique national identity. Quality performances that demonstrate cultural authenticity are a vital context for the international tourism industry as well as articulating our distinctive identity. In addition the numerous marae within the Auckland region are actively involved in providing traditional Maori powhiri hospitality and wananga services on behalf of the various Government agencies industry and all the local authorities. The Tamaki Makaurau Senior Kapahaka Society is a main source of education and skills training in the activities of marae operations. 
The other aspect that will be addressed in our amendment is the inclusion of the Auckland Regional Outrigger Canoe Association another significant resource in developing our young people in strengthening our whanau and in enhancing our unique cultural identity in that region. We will be recommending that the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill include provision to ensure that waka ama be resourced for the Auckland City area. 
I note with some irony that the key facilities addressed in this bill—the planetarium the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra the Auckland Theatre Company the New Zealand Opera Ltd and the Auckland Festival Trust—are institutions that are recognised as being more familiar to middle New Zealand than to the constituency and population of areas such as Mangere Otara Manurewa Otahuhu Te Atatu Ranui and Kelston. The information supplied to us by “Together: Creating a better Auckland for everyone” confirms that only 13 percent of the population of Manukau ever have occasion to use the 11 organisations included in this bill. Yet the proposal is that this same region through the Manukau City Council will be expected to bankroll the funding of these organisations providing 23 percent of the funds for the first year. The same region for which in June this year councillors voted to raise the rates for water charges by 4.9 percent and wastewater rates by 9.4 percent earlier this year faced the loss of 350 jobs with the closure of the Fisher and Paykel plant in East Tamaki. 
This is the same region in which between 1991 and 2001 rents shot up by a massive 68 percent for Maori households. This is the region that will feel the cost of recent hikes in butter and milk prices more dramatically than most other regions in the country. Yet it is this region that is being charged for almost a quarter of the costs for the Auckland-wide initiative. There is no justification to make the primarily Maori and Pasifika population of Manukau pay to a far greater extent than other regions within the Auckland metropolis particularly when there is little in the list of 11 organisations that reflects Aotearoa as a part of the Pacific. 
There are some serious questions about equity and fairness that need to be addressed at the select committee. We are extremely concerned about the impact of this bill on the region but we also want Maori and Pasifika populations to benefit should there be an opportunity for them to do so. So we will support this bill going through to a select committee in order to allow the voices of tangata whenua and our Pacific whanaunga to be heard in this Parliament. Thank you.