Jones Shane: Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill — Second Reading 
Jones Shane: Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:670;Page:16997] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 Kia ora ano tatou. I te tuatahi e te Kaihautu o te Whare tena koe i tenei po i a tatou e whakawhitiwhiti e whiriwhiri nei i nga toenga o tenei pire me te mohio ara noa atu te aritarita te pouri nga whakaaro e puhia ana e te hau i waenga tonu i a tatou ara matou nga mema Maori i runga i o matou marae. Engari kua tae mai te pire ki te aroaro o tenei Whare. Hei konei ka whakaturengia ka whakaritea hei ngaungau hei takahi hei aha ranei ma nga uri whakatupu. Koia taku e wheke nei kia tu ki te whakahe i tenei pire. Na reira tena koutou tena tatou kia ora tatou katoa. 
[ 
Greetings to us once again. Greetings to you Mr Deputy Speaker of the House in the first instance this evening as we exchange views and debate the remaining parts of this bill knowing full well that there are still so many other irascible gloomy thoughts being cast about by the wind immediately amongst ourselves the Maori members and then on to our marae. Nevertheless the bill has now arrived before this House and will eventually be passed into law for future generations to chew over criticise or whatever—hence the reason I rise to oppose this bill. Greetings to you collectively to us and to everyone 
.] 
An earlier version of this bill led to Tariana Turia turning her back on the people who provided her with the opportunity to establish a parliamentary career. When she took that fateful step Labour provided Tariana Turia with an opportunity to speak in the debate related to the first version of the takutai moana legislative foray. She did not extend that courtesy and she did not extend that constitutional nicety to a member of her own party recently departed and therein lies the untold story about this bill. It has led to the fracturing and the demise of what was in many respects a powerful concept—that Maori tribes and other backers could have their own party in Parliament. Speaking for myself I say that it is not my preferred political trajectory but I have to acknowledge that a number of our people are in the House and they came on the back of Tariana Turia’s removal of herself from Labour and her standing against our legislation. 
It is bizarre that this legislation is akin to some sort of poroporoaki—farewell speech—for a significant number of members of the Maori Party. In an indiscriminate way they have followed their rhetoric and fallen into the trap of surrendering to the Attorney-General whose skill at manipulating legislative language has no peer. They have unfortunately signed their own death warrant by moving too close to National. 
Hone Harawira made a number of very thoughtful remarks. He basically said that this is the kaupapa—this is the life force—that enabled the Maori Party to come into being and as a consequence of its literally defecating on that life force it is about to depart in the ballot boxes. That is what Hone Harawira has said. That is fantastic given that Hone Harawira has said he will not be attacking the Maori Party and will not indulge in any personal unparliamentary treatment of the Maori Party. Unfortunately those members’ vision their goals are now inversely related to the day-to-day interests of their voters and that verdict will be delivered upon later in the year. 
Let us come back to the bill. Quite a treacherous decision has been made under the dust under the misery of Otautahi—the calamity otherwise known as the visitation of Ruaumoko the earthquake—by the Government. This decision was largely driven by the senior members of National. Cuckolded our Maori Party friends were. National is sneaking this legislation through against a wide chorus of disdain disappointment and anger. 
I agree with the Attorney-General on one small point in relation to the bill in relation to a number of the submissions and to the viral campaign—an organised campaign by Mr Peter Dunne who is fortunately soon to disappear along with the low-tide mark as this legislation gets further and further into trouble. Mr Dunne is a man associated with the Coastal Coalition group and that group has disgraced its underlying purpose. It pretends that it protects the interests of all New Zealanders but that group has no place in this debate because they have been so extreme that they have actually ended up empowering Bill English. In addition to that they have been so extreme that they have turned off many parliamentarians. 
Our disagreement with this bill is not because of our desire to ally ourselves with Muriel Newman or similar miscreants such as the ACT Party wanting to spread discord against our Maori people. We do not agree with this bill because it does not settle the issue. We do not agree with the process; we do not like it because of the very surreptitious manner with which this bill in a week of misery is being rammed through Parliament. Secondly we do not want to see legislation that causes these grievances to fester on and on. We were willing to work with a whole variety of political interests in the spectrum. Unfortunately the opportunity to do so was dashed. There was very little opportunity. 
We share a number of the concerns that have been talked about in the House but this legislation is not the remedy to this particular problem. This constitutional process reflects an undermining of people’s ability to participate and of people’s ability to have confidence that what small influence they can bring to the constitutional process will be dealt with in a legitimate and caring fashion. 
Tau Henare and the Maori Affairs Committee actually delivered a very poor result in terms of how they engaged with the submitters. I know that Tau Henare has a new reputation as a bit of a headbanger. I think personal political reputations ought to be eclipsed by the integrity of the process and the legitimacy of the constitutional role that this House has. I hope Tau Henare bears that in mind in the future although I fear his future may be pitifully short. However that is another matter. 
There is another resident near Te Atatu: the co-leader of the Maori Party. Dr Pita Sharples has to be acknowledged as the Renaissance man of Te Ao Maori. He has walked many of the huarahi or pathways leading to the flowering of Maori identity and how we see it. But this is a very very retrograde and egregious error with which he is now to be permanently associated. His people unfortunately will remember it because the concerns they have are no longer about the high-tide mark the mauri stone and the pohutukawa tree. They are actually to do with the day-to-day woes of the cost of living and the more mundane burdens that Maori families have to bear. It is very unfortunate that he has lost his way on this rather romantic flight his believing that this legislation represents an improvement on the Helen Clark and Michael Cullen version. It does not. 
Dr Cullen wisely made a contribution and it corrected an error that Labour made. I have said this on numerous occasions: Labour ought not to have denied the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court. That was a very very bleak day although I could go on to blame other people not in the House but unlike Peter Dunne I will not do that. Peter Dunne is a man capable of acting like an inhabitant of the takutai moana low tide - high tide mark. A crab can move sideways whilst giving the impression of going forwards. In a jellyfish one never ever knows where the backbone is. That is why this bill will not settle the issue. 
This bill will lead to a fatal fracturing of the Maori Party. This bill leads to a fresh opportunity for Hone Harawira; whether that is good for Maori only time will tell. Hopefully they will exercise some judgment that has a very red tinge to it come 26 November or whatever the day of the election is. This bill has cost a great deal of support for National. We do not think it is a solution and we will not be voting for it.