Horomia Parekura:  
Horomia Parekura:  
[Volume:654;Page:72] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 I noticed the Minister in the chair the Hon Rodney Hide gave me the thumbs up. But he has a problem in Auckland—it is the thumbs down. All around him people give him the thumbs down. The Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill is one of the silliest things that has been done in contemporary times. Any transition has to be well managed and there are some simple things that we have to remind ourselves about. 
David Bennett 
: Like what? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Like the fact that the Minister of Local Government is the only person—and he alone—who chooses the “no fewer than 2 but no more than 4 other members” who will sit on the governing body of the Auckland Transition Agency. Where else has that happened in this country? 
We know that 56 percent of Maori live in Auckland. There is nothing in Part 3 about them. I really want to join with the Maori Party and support Rahui Katene who spoke before me. The Maori Party members have been ignored by their mana-enhancing partner the National Party. National has just tossed them aside. Hone Harawira gets up in the Chamber gives a mihi to Rodney Hide and then a mihi to National and talks about Bainimarama. The situation reminds me of that great historical assumption of people with dual roles: one was a doctor—Dr Jekyll—and the other was Mr Hyde. They had totally different natures. During the day this Mr Hyde would smile and share his charisma so that it would prevail upon all the cultured of the town of London but at night the other side of his dual nature would come out and he would run through London stalking everybody else. [ 
Interruption 
] This is my story not the member’s. He should be quiet. This bill is a cool stalking horse to distort democracy in Auckland. It is shameful. It is arrogant. 
On the radio Mr Brownlee said he is considering what Maori are saying. He has a very interesting view. His statement tells us Gerry’s views on Maori people. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: Use the member’s full name. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: On the radio Mr Brownlee said “I find it amazing that New Zealanders who travel overseas and who want to identify themselves as being different to Australians will inevitably start doing mickey mouse half-baked hakas. No disrespect for trying but on the one hand you get them saying they don’t want that stuff when they’re in the country and when they’re out they can’t get hold of it quick enough.” Mr Brownlee and his cohorts do not want any cultural aspirations or the tangata whenua or Pacific people in Auckland to be recognised. That is shameful. 
One of my colleagues mentioned that nearly 35 percent of the population in Auckland are a mix of cultures—Maori and Pacific peoples. In the 1950s and 1960s one did not need a passport to come to Auckland because the labour market was so short. Then we had those mongrel things called the dawn raids after the unemployed numbers started to rise. Some members are a bit young and cannot remember the dawn raids but I can. We had the dawn raids then and this bill is another raid. This bill is a terrible raid on the democratic rights of people in Auckland. We have collapsed down other councils just to build a fiefdom that Mr Hide is going to manage. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Disgraceful! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It is disgraceful and that member should know it because he is a Maori who lives in Auckland. He is one of the people who left home went there in the urban drift and has stayed there all his life. He knows a fair few of our urban people there. 
In Part 3 clause 13(3)(c) states that the Transition Agency must ensure that “key local government projects in Auckland are not hindered or interrupted.” The Government has hindered and interrupted everything so much so that Melissa Lee suggests—I will not carry on. Members know what she suggested. She did not know where the off-ramp was. Part 3 carries on to state that the expenses of the Transition Agency have to be sustainable. 
One of the real issues during this transition is that the workers miss out. Their rights are removed. The unemployment rate is rising. I was talking to people who have been kicked out of the Inland Revenue Department. That is right—the whanau. We care about the workers. National does not care about the workers. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Who laid off the freezing workers? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Who laid off the freezing workers? Why are we seeing the unemployment rate in this country tracking at 5.6 percent? It is a disgrace.