Mahuta Nanaia: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Mahuta Nanaia: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1189] 
Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 People in exclusive glass houses should not throw stones. While the brethren on the Opposition benches preach doom and gloom the Government has a good story to tell. I listened with interest to the debate. I listened to a lot of the comments made across the House. The Maori members on the Government side of the House copped quite a bit of flak from one of the Opposition speakers and I want to have a look at what was said because some of it deserves a response. 
One of the comments was that only the Maori Party stands for Maori rights in this House. No that is not the case. Maori are as diverse a population group as they are in their views on how the world should be. To say that only one party in this House reflects the views and aspirations of Maori I think would be stretching it a little and pushing the interests of Maori into a very small pigeon-hole. That is the first point. 
The second point was about the issue of the Treaty of Waitangi. A comment was made in the debate that this Government will remove references to the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation. That is not this Government’s policy. I believe that it is one of New Zealand First’s policies but it was never ever the intention of the Labour Government. If people look further back at the position on the Treaty I think they will see a lot of commonalities amongst some of the Opposition parties. But it is not the Government’s intention to remove references to the Treaty of Waitangi or its principles. 
However in saying that we should all be asking how we can give effect to the intent of the Treaty which may or may not require legislation. I think there are some mixed and varied views about that. For example we could have quite a big debate about whether there should be references to the Treaty of Waitangi in legislation principally around article 3 rights. Some would argue in this House that that is not the way to go and some would argue that it is the way to go. I think that is a very real debate. 
The other comment concerned prisons. That issue is as topical to the people around Te Kauwhata as it is to the people of Ngawha. Although some of the hapu may have objected to the prisons—and I am sure that is the case in the north—others are working at the prisons and others are trying to have a proactive engagement through developing restorative justice rehabilitation programmes and post-parole programmes at the prisons. So on the one hand we cannot simply say that we do not want prisons when on the other hand we know that half of our whanau are working in them. I know that is the case with regard to the speaker who raised that issue. 
I turn to the whole approach in the Department of Corrections and I want to mention something that is happening very close to home for me. It is an initiative that grew out of people asking how they can do things differently. Because these things take time initiatives grew out of a direction led by Judge Henwood by some of the providers throughout the country and in my own electorate—they said they could try to do something different. A youth justice facility Te Hurihanga is going up in Hamilton and I know that the member for Hamilton East is very well aware of it. That facility tries to divert young people from ever going through the prison system by working with them and their families. That initiative may help to steer young people away from prison altogether and I support it. It is a Government-led initiative but it grew from the community and that is the point. So those things take time. We cannot simply say “no prisons”; we have to have alternatives to them. We cannot simply be critical and raise problems without having solutions that are workable and generally the ethic of the Government is to work alongside communities. That is what we are about. 
I speak in this debate tonight with a sense of optimism about the kind of New Zealand that this Government is working hard to build. It is a kind of New Zealand that draws on its strengths and optimises its potential a kind of New Zealand where culture is to be celebrated a kind of New Zealand where innovation is fostered a kind of New Zealand where we value research and a kind of New Zealand where the “can-do” attitude extends to and is the hallmark of both Maori and Pakeha alike. The kind of New Zealand that I am proud to be a part of is one that seeks to restore a balance in the lives homes and communities of everyday New Zealanders who just want there to be investment in a better future for themselves. That is what this Labour Government is about. There have been 6 years of setting a platform on which to build a better New Zealand that we can all be proud of. It is a positive message; it is not one of doom and gloom. It is one that we own here with the Government. 
New Zealanders did not vote for a reactive retrospective way of dealing with the economy or with people and communities. They voted for a forward-looking Government that is able to foster strength diversity and opportunity born from a sense of being distinct and unique as a country that is not afraid to show leadership when it really matters—and there are some really hard issues facing us. Last year in particular we saw a panorama of success stories too numerous to go through today. But New Zealand’s leadership innovation and natural talent excelled in many areas—in sport film television business music art and science. I will just say that those successes did not happen by accident. 
In fact if we look at my electorate and at some of the hallmarks of success which are owned by the communities and supported by the Government we see we can have a lot of stories to be proud of. Let us look at Port Waikato and the land of Ngati Tipa Ngati Amaru and Ngati Tahina where people are trying to build the capacity of marae to engage in their own development plans. Let us look at those successes because those initiatives came from that community. They have increased homeownership in that region. They are better targeting the training needs of their young people. They are securing local government support for Maori participation in local government decision-making. They are implementing resource management responses to care for the lower catchment of the Waikato River. Those initiatives have all grown from that community supported by this Government and that is a positive story to tell. 
If we traverse to Morrinsville and to Ngati Haua what is happening there? People are supporting hapu development strategies to build a sustainable future. How are they doing that? Homeownership is a big issue for them and they are improving the range of options for homeownership. They are strengthening initiatives for youth development so that all youth have a real opportunity in their communities and beyond their communities. They are working with local councils to improve sewerage and waste-water infrastructural services to homeowners. They are increasing local training opportunities and employment opportunities. They are responding to the wide and diverse range of mental health needs in their communities. They are delivering those initiatives for themselves. They are also exploring ways to release new products into the market and also overseas. That is a good story to tell the people out there. 
What is happening in Hamilton the home of Ngati Wairere and Ngati Mahanga and the region where Waikato-Tainui operates? People are engaging in public and private sector partnerships to support the aspirations of Maori developments. What are some of the hallmarks of that? There are smart economic alliances involving iwi and local council for example Novotel Tainui Hamilton; iwi and the private sector for example in partnership with the Warehouse; iwi and iwi in a Ngai Tahu and Tainui joint venture in fisheries; and iwi and tertiary institutions in relation to Waikato University Wintec and the Waikato Innovation Park. We have the first stand-alone wharekura in that community. We have initiatives with the public sector that work with Maori to reduce violence and to increase employment opportunities. 
Those types of success stories have all grown from communities supported by the Government. So although the brethren on the Opposition benches preach a story of doom and gloom if they bothered to go into the communities that I work alongside they would see that positive things are happening. Why? It is because we want people to be able to do things for themselves. We know that they have to be able to do that supported by Government investments. They will be able to be the architects of their own future. There is really only one question to end with having listened to the doom and gloom on the other side of the House: is this mainstream enough for Don Brash?