Harawira Hone: General Debate 
Harawira Hone: General Debate 
[Volume:667;Page:14656] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker Roy. On a completely different note I would like to talk about how coming into Parliament means different things for different people. For some it is a family thing: their uncle was a politician and they want to be a politician. For others it is a career choice with good money and good perks. For some it is passion for a political belief: a union background the free market love of the environment or Maori issues. For others it is an honest and conscious decision to be of service to the public. Some people come via the party route—party activist branch chairman electorate secretary national council member member of Parliament. And a lot come straight out of the real world—thankfully. 
My own entry into Parliament came off the back of a massive protest march that I led from Te Rerenga Wairua to the steps of Parliament itself in 2004. That protest was a huge outpouring of Maori anger at Labour’s theft of the foreshore and seabed in the Foreshore and Seabed Bill and a conscious Maori decision to say that no longer will we accept being on the backbenches of a party that had taken Maori for granted for far too long. 
As an activist I felt a little at odds with my role in Parliament and indeed my role in the newly formed Maori Party. It took a while before I came to terms with what that role should be. I have been an activist most of my adult life a strong believer in the rights of Maori and a strong supporter of the rights of indigenous people all over the world and I like to think I am a person who is prepared to take a stand against injustice as well. That does not make me anything special—others who have been through this place and a lot more who would not even bother coming to Parliament have done far greater things than I have—but it does define who I am. In those early days I nearly lost touch with that background but as different issues came up and I became more confident about speaking in the House I soon realised that it was that activist background and the things I had learnt on the streets that guided my thinking on what I should be saying in here. When I balanced that background with the kaupapa of the Maori Party—mana atua mana whenua mana tupuna whanaungatanga kotahitanga manaakitanga rangatiratanga kaitiakitanga and te reo—I realised that those activist instincts that natural inclination to be staunch on Maori rights was right for me both in and out of Parliament. I realised that my role in Parliament was to continue that activist tradition to push boundaries to challenge accepted opinion and at all times to push the Maori view of the world. 
That decision to stand up for Maori rights has often gotten me into trouble with Parliament with the media with a whole heap of Pakeha people and occasionally with my own party leadership. It has given me cause to ask myself whether I should just quieten down play the game by the rules talk like a robot not make waves not push boundaries not upset people and basically act like a good MP. But the question I keep coming back to is: why should I? If I go quiet who carries the Maori flag in Parliament? Who pushes the Maori issues to the edge? Who speaks for the hearts and minds of the ordinary Maori? And who says it exactly how they mean it? I am not trying to big-note myself here but that is just how it is. That is my role; that is my role in Parliament. 
One of my early mentors once said to me that the role of the activist and the aim of protest was to wake people up to force them to think and to make them ask why people do things in a certain way in a different way. That role is as important to me in 2010 as it was when I first heard about it nearly 40 years ago. I know that it does not endear me to those who would rather have us be seen but not heard I know that it will not score me any points with the political leaders around this place and I know that it means a lot of doors will be slammed in my face around here some by my enemies and some by my friends. But at the end of the day when we wake up in the morning it is not the rest of Parliament we see in the mirror and it is not even our own party colleagues; it is ourselves. If we are not first honest to who we are then we are just dancing to some other bugger’s tune. 
I am happy with my life. I am proud to represent the people of Tai Tokerau I am proud to be a member of the Maori Party and I have no plans to buckle under to those who seek to shut me up. Kia ora tatou. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.