Henare Tau: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Henare Tau: Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:674;Page:20289] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I do apologise for not acknowledging you Mr Chair. New section 229A inserted by clause 6 is headed “Membership of students associations voluntary” and states: “No student or prospective student at an institution is required to be a member of a students association.” 
Moana Mackey 
: Wrong clause. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I am sorry—wrong clause? No it is not the wrong clause; it is the right clause. Most people coming into the country whether or not they are aliens on reading that would think to themselves: “Oh crikey I quite like that. That means that my freedom of choice is enshrined. My freedom to be— 
Hon John Boscawen 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I draw your attention to the fact that Mr Rick Barker has had his back to you for the last minute. I think he is being discourteous to the Chair. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I thank the member for that but this is getting to the state of being stupid and silly. There are many members in the Chamber in the course of a debate. The whips of parties have the ability to go and talk to their members. The Hon Rick Barker is the senior Labour whip and he has the right to move amongst his members. Raising these spurious points of order does not add anything to the debate so that is the end of the matter. The call has gone to the Hon Tau Henare. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It is all about democracy. It is all about the freedom of choice. It is all about saying to people that if they want to join an organisation that is fine but if they do not they do not have to. There is no compunction for anybody to belong to an organisation they do not want to belong to. 
Moana Mackey 
: Why did you say you wouldn’t do this in the last election then? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well the member can have her shriek later on. The member can take the call have a little play around in the sandpit and pretend that she wants to protect a person’s choice. But look here is the deal: I say to members of Parliament— 
Moana Mackey 
: Why did you lie at the last election? Why did you lie? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: —that if people do not want to belong to the Labour Party they do not have to. If they do not want to belong to the National Party they do not have to—and guess what? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I am reluctant to do this because I am sure that it is the role of the senior Government whip rather than people on our side. One of my colleagues just called Tau Henare a liar. I think that is out of order and you should have rebuked her. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I did not hear that comment— 
Chris Tremain 
: I didn’t either. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: And nor did I. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: I did not hear that comment. Had I heard it I would have certainly—I ask the senior Labour whip because I am dealing with a point of order to please sit down. I did not hear that comment. Had I heard that comment I would certainly have acted on it because I have the  
Speakers’ Rulings 
 open at that page. Let us continue. 
Simon Bridges 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I am a relatively new member to this Chamber but the previous Chair asked the Hon Trevor Mallard to leave the Chamber for trifling with the Committee. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No my understanding is that the member is entitled to be here and that is the end of the matter. 
Moana Mackey 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I did make that comment and I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Now we are all friends again. She has apologised and my mana is intact. But I tell members what else is intact due to this bill and the good work of my colleague the Hon Heather Roy and it is the fact that students who go up to university on orientation day will not have to join an organisation they do not want to belong to. That is the crux of the matter. That is what we are talking about. We are not talking about anything other than a person having the right to say “No I do not want to join your organisation.” That is what we are talking about and that is what new section 229A states. 
Labour members love to get up on their hind legs and say they are there protecting the rights of the innocent so to speak but I tell you what—this is where the ends of the political spectrum start to meet each other. Here fascism and the dictatorship of the proletariat—communism socialism call it what we will—start meeting each other and shaking hands. This is nothing more than Labour members saying that they know best and that they will tell people which organisations they should belong to. 
Grant Robertson 
: This is the member’s clause. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Grant Robertson can dance all around the topic but at the end of the day new section 229A states quite clearly that I do not have to belong to an organisation if I do not want to belong to that organisation. What more can you ask of democracy? Nothing! You cannot ask anything more of democracy on the right— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. The member has been here for some time—in a couple of bursts I understand—and he knows by now that he should not refer to “you”. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: A number of members have said “you” during the course of the debates. I have not bothered to bring up members; I would rather see a free flow. It is a robust debate and I would like to hear some facts about what is pertained to in clause 6A. The member has a minute to go on clause 6A. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: What is contained in clause 6A is the statement that if people are enrolled at a private training establishment they will not be forced to join the “student army” or student union. We all know that universities especially are the hive of Young Labour. They have to sort of “put it on”; they are Young Labour. But I tell you what: no longer will people be frogmarched into an association they do not want to belong to. No longer will they have to dress up in silly uniforms walk into an association and pay their fees—pay money—to belong to an organisation they do not want to join. That is what clause 6A tells us. It is about saying to people that they have a choice. It says that on this particular day the choice is yours—