Maipi-Clarke Hana-RawhitiHANA-RAWHITI MAIPI-CLARKE (Te Pāti Māori—Hauraki-Waikato): Tēnā rā koe e te Pīka otirā tēnā rā tātou e te Whare. Tuatahi ake ka nui taku reo whakamiha ki a koe e James otirā tō koutou tira kua kōkiri i tēnei kaupapa otirā tēnei pire e whakamana ana i tō tatou nei taiao.[Firstly I'd sincerely like to show my appreciation to you James and your group who are at leading this matter this bill to enhance our environment.]I rise on behalf of Te Pāti Māori in full support of this bill the New Zealand Bill of Rights (Right to Sustainable Environment) Amendment Bill. The human right to a clean healthy and sustainable environment with tikanga Māori concepts of connection between te ira tangata me te taiao [the human element and the environment.] For the majority of us on this side this is the whole reason why we are here. That is why I'm going to fully use my five minutes as much as I can.Everyone has their connection to the land and water which grounds us to our ancestral way of life. However my personal connection will be our awa. As a Hauraki-Waikato kaitiaki as a mokopuna of Waikato our awa is our biggest asset on a spiritual level. We have been stripped of our right of connection to our awa due to the overwhelming capitalism that continues to take from our pepeha. The climate is constantly evolving—that is its sole purpose. It's been changing since the beginning of time; however it is the human change that needs to seriously be addressed. Without our kāinga of Rāhui Pōkeka next to our tūpuna awa the detrimental harm that our tūpuna goes through—for context our awa gets hammered left right and centre from big corporations like AFFCO Fonterra Tegel Genesis Energy and the old coal mining industry.Now I come from a third generation freezing works whānau and as an iwi and hapū we have a long relationship with Genesis Energy. I have many whānau that work within these industries because they need to provide kai on the table for their whānau. They heavily over-contribute to the 98 percent of our country's economy in the meat and dairy industry. They are providing kai for many people on an international scale; however they can't even afford the bread and butter in the supermarkets and we are left to continuously hurt our awa without even realising how much harm we are causing due to needing to put bread and butter on the table. The reason I bring this up is because this is the whole overall contributing system that most rural communities face for tangata whenua in real time. This is our everyday reality that we face. In a study by the Environmental Protection Authority Māori are more likely to live in areas with poor environment quality with 51 percent of Māori living in areas with high air pollution compared with 36 percent of non-Māori. In a Ministry for the Environment study Māori are more likely to be exposed to contaminated drinking water with 24 percent of Māori drinking from sources that do not meet water standards compared to 16 percent of non-Māori.I want to specifically touch on the tikanga Māori concepts of connection between māuiui whenua māuiui tangata. [sickly environment begets sickly people.] I consistently talk about our mātauranga Māori and connection to the rongoā of our taiao and parties opposite like New Zealand First consistently continuously mock me in the media and even in public for my understandings of mātauranga Māori maramataka Māori māra kai cultivation Matariki practices or even when I noted that our marama had a kurahaupō which would see extreme weather events after which followed Cyclone Gabrielle. Now I'm not surprised by that because we are the living breathing reverses of the Tohunga Suppression Act. So they just simply don't understand. They just simply don't understand our mātauranga Māori and its connection and its rongoā to our taiao. Mātauranga Māori tikanga Māori indigenous customs and practices are a rongoā for our taiao. Otirā ngā mihi nui ki a koe James me tō tira e kōkiri nei i tō tatou nei taiao ki angitu tēnā rā tātou katoa.[And so huge salutations to you James and your group leading this matter to ensure the best for our environment. Thank you everyone.]