Tirikatene Rino: Address in Reply 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tirikatene Rino: Address in Reply 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:358. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 Ka rere taku manu ki te Tahuhu-o-te-Rangi topatopa ai ko muritai tokerau ata rangaranga hei hiki i ona parirau. Tau ana nga kanohi ki te pito o te Tiriti ki Waitangi ki roto o Ngapuhi nui tonu te kainga o taku whaea te ukaipo. 
Tere tonu te haere tae noa ki nga tai o te uru ki te Pa o nga Ariki ki te papa i turia ai te temepara i kauhautia ai e Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana te Mangai te tangata nana i hapai te Tiriti me te Paipera ki ona ringa. Kororia hareruia ki a Ihoa o nga mano Matua Tama Wairua Tapu me nga anahera pono—me te Mangai hei tautoko mai. Ae. 
Whakawhiti atu i Te Ikaroa a Maui ki Te Wai Pounamu makere noa ki nga maunga hukahuka o te tonga. Tau ana te mata ki nga taonga i Arahura oku panga tupuna. Huri noa ki Kaiapoi ki Murihiku te ure tarewa. Piki rawa ki te tauihu o te waka ka rongo te ao ka rongo te po—tihei mauri ora! 
E nga iwi e nga reo e nga mana e nga matawaka tena koutou katoa. E te Kaikorero o te Whare Paremata o Aotearoa tena koe. E rau rangatira ma e mihi tonu atu ki a koutou e huihui mai nei tatou i tenei wa. No reira tena ano tatou katoa. 
[ 
My bird soars high to Tahuhu-o-te-Rangi its wings uplifted by the northern sea breeze. The eyes gaze upon the part of the Treaty founded at Waitangi among greater Ngapuhi my mother’s home. 
The flight continues quickly down to the western tides until it reaches Ratana the place where the temple was established and where the Mouthpiece Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana the man preached and held up the Treaty and the Bible in his hands. Glory hallelujah to God of the thousands the Father the Son the Holy Spirit the faithful angels—and the Mouthpiece endorses. Yes indeed.  
My bird crosses over from the North Island to the South Island to alight upon the snow-covered mountains of the south. The eye gazes upon the treasures at Arahura my ancestral ties and turns to look upon my paternal heritage at Kaiapoi and Murihiku. Eventually it ascends to the prow of the canoe where the day hears and the night hears—behold I speak. 
To the people voices authorities and many races greetings to you all. Greetings to you Mr Speaker of the House of Parliament of New Zealand. I particularly acknowledge you the many leaders as we gather here at this point in time. Greetings to us all once again. 
] 
Mr Speaker I join with my colleagues in congratulating you on your reappointment in this 50th Parliament. 
It is gratifying to be here as the member of Parliament for Te Tai Tonga representing the largest electorate in the country and the many diverse iwi and Maori communities within it. It goes from our capital city Te-Whanga-nui-a-Tara or Wellington to the entire Te Waka-a-Maui the entire South Island and extending to the outlying islands of Rakiura or Stewart Island and Wharekauri Rekohu or the Chatham Islands. To the people of Te Tai Tonga thank you for your tautoko. 
I wish to acknowledge my predecessor Rahui Katene of the Maori Party and her work and service to Te Tai Tonga during her term. I extend my heartfelt personal thanks to the many helpers and volunteers in the Labour whanau across Te Tai Tonga for their generous support and in particular my small dedicated team many of whom are here today. To my new caucus colleagues I look forward to working with you all and making my contribution as a paddler on the Labour waka. To my tuakana Parekura Shane and Nanaia thank you for your support mentoring and encouragement. To all other members of Parliament from all sides of this House and all Maori members of Parliament I congratulate you all. My hope is that Maori will see the benefits of our presence here. 
Finally to my family my beautiful children and extended whanau thank you for your unwavering love and belief in me. I dedicate this occasion of my maiden speech to my late father Te Rino Tirikatene. 
Mr Speaker 80 years ago in this room maybe even in this chair my grandfather Sir Eruera Tirikatene stood before this House as the MP for Southern Maori. Forty-five years ago in this room maybe even in this chair my aunt Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan ONZ stood before this House as the MP for Southern Maori. Today I stand before the House as the MP for Te Tai Tonga. 
At the time my grandfather rose to address the House for the first time the Maori population numbered a mere 82000. We were at that time a rural people still recovering from the ravages of land sales and the scourge of introduced diseases. We existed at the very margin of the country’s economy. What income we were able to earn as unskilled labourers in the agriculture and forestry industries was supplemented by gardening and foraging. The land development assistance programme introduced by Sir Apirana Ngata in the 1920s which eventually gave rise to the Maori incorporations and trusts of today was in its infancy and poverty was all pervasive especially among those communities that had been left landless by confiscation and land sales. 
Statutory recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi the claims of Ngai Tahu Waikato and Taranaki and poverty were my grandfather’s main concerns. As a Ratana Independent member of this House he presented T W Ratana’s Treaty petition and took every opportunity to press for its adoption. He drew attention to Maori unemployment and to the need to remove the discriminatory rates paid to Maori for relief work pensions and family allowances and pressed for a Maori housing programme. Unfortunately the Treaty petition languished and it would be another 33 years in the time of the third Labour Government before his efforts in this area bore fruit. But the issues of discriminatory treatment of Maori in the social assistance area were addressed after the election of the first Labour Government as were Maori housing and education. 
By the time that my aunt Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan entered Parliament the Maori population had grown to 201000 Maori. Urbanisation had quickened in the intervening years reaching a peak in the 1950s and early 1960s and 62 percent of the population was now living and working in towns and cities. Lack of educational qualifications meant most Maori were employed in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs in factories and freezing works and on the wharves—industries that were sensitive to boom and bust. Nevertheless the incomes they received were considerably higher than what they might have received had they remained “at home” in rural areas and the overall standard of living of Maori improved. 
Urbanisation however was not without its downsides. On the one hand many Maori found it difficult to adjust and social problems now much more visible given the proximity of Maori and Pakeha began to emerge and grow; on the other the retention of Maori culture was being threatened. I understand that Norman Kirk used to refer to urbanisation as a movement as significant to Maori as the Great Migration in terms of distance and socio-cultural impact. And he conceived of that impact from two perspectives: from that of the people who had migrated to the towns and cities and were now in danger of losing their bearings through loss of culture; and from that of their whanaunga left at home and still struggling with the legacies of colonial land laws and practices. It was these issues—those afflicting urban migrants and those afflicting the rural sections of their whanau—that my aunt Matiu Rata and the other Maori Labour MPs sought to redress in the shaping and passage of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It was a watershed moment in the history of our people. 
Fast forward to my time. In 2011 the Maori population was estimated to be 673000. The urban component at the time of the last census 2006 was 84 percent. With urbanisation has come deeper and deeper integration into New Zealand’s economy. In 2006 more than 78000 Maori were employed as managers professionals technicians and trades workers and for the first time workers in these occupation groups combined outstripped the number working as plant and machinery operators and labourers. More than 70000 Maori held a qualification above National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 3 and more than 45000 received a personal income of $50000 or more. In terms of household income more than one in every two Maori was living in a household with a combined income of more than $50000 and well over one in every three in a household with a total income of $70000 or more. What we are witnessing is the steady growth of a Maori middle class. 
On the collective front we are witnessing the rise of the Maori economic authorities—Maori land trusts and incorporations and iwi authorities. It has been my good fortune to have held positions that have enabled me to work either alongside or within some of these organisations and I have found the experience exhilarating. I began my professional career as a commercial lawyer but after a few years I transitioned from the law as I wanted to broaden my scope and become involved in the emerging Maori business sector. It was through trade promotion work with Trade New Zealand that I became involved with Maori businesses and Maori exporters—in particular working alongside them in trade development and promotion. I then took up a position with Ngai Tahu to help in the expansion of its seafood business. All this work has allowed me to become involved in Maori economic networks such as the Federation of Maori Authorities and to develop greater awareness of the potential for Maori to continue to improve on the contribution they are already making. 
The rise of the Maori economic authorities is something that goes largely unnoticed by New Zealanders. Not only are these organisations contributing to national wealth; they also contribute to the economies of their local regions. In some local body districts Maori authorities are already the largest single employer of labour—and I might add not just Maori labour. Many have reached out to Asia and the Pacific and as they continue to do so that contribution will become even more significant. In the not too distant future I can see at least five of these authorities breaking the $1 billion mark in their own right—something my forebears could not have dreamt of. And what is more sustainable development is not an option for these organisations since the principles of sustainability are already spelt out for them either in Maori land law generally or in their enabling legislation. 
There is a saying: the more things change the more they stay the same. The origin of this saying is thought to be French but I am pretty sure it is Maori. Life and prospects for Maori are so much better than they were 80 years ago but Maori know better than anyone that much remains to be done. We are still overrepresented at the bottom of the wealth pyramid. We will on average die sooner than our Pakeha mates. We will more so than our Pacific cousins end up in prison and unlike any other group in Aotearoa New Zealand we now receive more in transfer payments than we pay in tax. Too many of us remain locked into a cycle of dependency and poverty. 
The issue of Maori poverty is exacerbated by the deficit approach to the measurement of our progress and the eagerness of the media to capitalise on Maori failures and to ignore our successes. We have travelled a long way towards socio-economic parity with Pakeha and we have a fair way to travel yet. Our people are not helped by being constantly framed as a problem to be fixed or by a growing climate of opinion that positions inequality as a signal of market success rather than market failure; that attributes underperformance to rocky economic conditions rather than the structural settings of our economy; and that maintains it is too costly to change the present even if a change made now might save the future. 
 For me Maori development as Maori conceive of the idea has always been about enabling Maori to live the life that they want to live by extending the range of opportunities and choices open to them to do so. Mana Maori motuhake a concept that Pakeha have feared and some Maori have misconstrued was the term that was used in my grandfather’s day. It has little to do with secession but a lot to do with freedom. Until very recently for example Maori had little or no choice about the type of schooling they received or about how their health services should be delivered. It was the mainstream or nothing at all. Today some but certainly not all Maori have a choice between kohanga reo and mainstream at the preschool level kura kaupapa and mainstream at the school level wananga and mainstream at the tertiary level and Maori or mainstream primary health care delivery. 
I stand in awe of the succession of Maori MPs and of Maori leaders from outside of this House who never lost sight of the goal despite the hardships and frustrations that must have been involved in challenging mindsets and winning majority support for change. Incremental ad hoc and opportunistic though these initiatives might appear to be there is no mistaking their direction. Although I might differ from them in outlook priorities and experience I nevertheless share with them a commitment to the fundamental idea of Maori living the life they want to live and as well as ensuring that the safety net is set at a high enough level of working to extend the range of opportunities and choices open to those among us who are falling by the wayside. 
We are no longer as homogenous as we were in the past. Indeed increasing diversity and differentiation are the hallmarks of modern Maori society. It is this diversity—of ethnic and iwi affiliation of cultural proficiency of attachments to the past of the composition of our households and families of knowledge and skills of occupations and incomes and of values beliefs and opinions—that we as members of this House will be challenged by. It is not our place to tell our people how they should live their lives or to marginalise those who do not fit a prescribed picture of what it is to be Maori. As I see it our job as elected representatives is to embrace the diversity to give fair hearing to all interests and to ensure that the range of views are voiced and weighed fairly when it comes to decision making. This is my commitment I give to my electorate to Maori generally and to my parliamentary colleagues. No reira tena koutou tena koutou tena tatou katoa. 
Waiata 
Sitting suspended from 6.04 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.