Sio Su'a William: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Sio Su'a William: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5833] 
SU’A WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Mangere) 
: 
 I rise to make a contribution to the estimates debate and I say to the members of the House that councils should be about communities not corporations. Mr Hide’s Local Government Act reform is about gutting local government and clearing the way for the privatisation of income-generating assets and services. Those assets and services were built up by ratepayers over many many years. Many people in Mangere would find the words used tonight by the Minister in the chair the Hon Rodney Hide in referring to accountable and transparent councils to be hollow when we consider that the Auckland reform disestablishes the eight local councils in Auckland and instead establishes the Auckland Transition Agency made up of people who are not elected by the people but appointed by the Minister and accountable only to the Minister. 
Local Government New Zealand is critical of Mr Hide’s suggestions about core services and we ask Mr Hide how he defines core services. We ask whether housing for the elderly is a core service or whether social housing is a core service. We ask whether community art is a core service. We ask whether social well-being or cultural well-being is a core service. We ask whether economic and environmental well-being is a core service. We ask about Maori participation Asian and Pacific participation and indeed youth participation. All of those things currently exist in local government throughout Auckland and it appears that the Minister is attempting to get rid of those things. 
Yesterday Radio 531 PI invited callers to express their views when a caller complained about an Auckland billboard that states: “At least our brownies won’t eat your pet dog”. Pacific callers were outraged at the insensitivity and racism that those remarks portrayed. This is 2009 we say and still some people in New Zealand—and I have to say with the greatest respect to this House they are mainly Papalagi—cannot seem to live in one of the world’s biggest multicultural cities without making derogatory remarks about people’s race or the colour of their skin. 
Then again we heard that Mr Hide was prepared to throw his toys out of the cot because he could not support race-based seats. Yet Maori see themselves as New Zealanders as Kiwi not as a race. Maori are mana whenua tangata whenua. We have Maori of Samoan ancestry and Maori of Tongan Cook Islands Niuean Indian and Pakistani ancestry. We even have Maori of Dalmatian Scottish Welsh and English ancestry. Some of them are good-looking; others on the other side of the Chamber may not be. All of them see themselves as home-grown Kiwis who are proud to be New Zealanders. Those are the people who make up local government in Auckland. All of them share a vision of being inclusive. They recognise that we each have great strengths and that we would be a better country if we accepted that Maori have a special place in our history and in the culture of Aotearoa but more important they recognise that if Maori are not included in local government decision-making processes in this country then we perpetuate the minority view that what is European is best. 
I say to members that is not the view held by the majority of the people who live in the Greater Auckland region. Pacific people are united in our support for Maori and for Maori seats on the Auckland super-city. Manukau was one of the first local councils to establish Pacific advisory committees and they exist today. That was followed by the establishment of such committees in Waitakere Auckland central and North Shore. Those advisory committees exist today and they desire to be part of the future Auckland super-city. We know that if Europeans were able to recognise the strength of Maori then they would be more open to recognising the strength of Pacific and Asian people in all facets of New Zealand decision-making. The Pacific Island advisory committees of Manukau Auckland central Waitakere and North Shore all advocated strongly for there to be Maori seats on the Auckland Council. Organisations and individual submitters who represented people from the Cook Islands and from Samoa Tuvalu Niue and Tonga all supported the establishment of Maori seats. Pacific people were prepared to sacrifice their own ambitions regarding the super-city in order to ensure that Maori were treated with the mana and dignity that they deserve to be treated with in their own land. 
Sadly this is not to be. One wonders about the mana-enhancing relationship that the Maori Party has with the Government. Many people in my electorate are asking whose mana has been enhanced by the decision to deny Maori a seat on the new super-city. This decision is very short-sighted. It reflects the lack of long-term vision the Prime Minister has for the building of strong and inclusive cities in New Zealand. 
Vote agreed to.