Henare Tau: Address in Reply 
Henare Tau: Address in Reply 
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Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 To coin a phrase used by a former member of this House ka po ka po ka awatea. 
[ 
It is night it is night and then it is dawn 
.] 
It is a new dawn for Maori under a National Government. I want to pick up five points. The first one is Waitangi Day—a baptism of fire. But under the Labour Government its members were too gutless to turn up year after year— 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen  
I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. A member has just said that Labour members were too gutless to turn up at Waitangi. That is an out-of- order accusation and the member knows it. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Speaking to the point of order I said the Labour Party was too gutless to turn up year after year. If you want to take that as referring to the members of the Labour Party here well that is up to you. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I thank the member for that. Exception is taken and the exception is ruled for. I ask the member to refrain from using that language in that tone. It is a very cute line to draw between the party the person represents and the individual. Members should well know that. I ask the member to continue with his speech. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: The Labour Party was too scared to turn up. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member is now being very cute indeed. He is also factually incorrect; a number of members of the Labour Party turn up every year. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Speaking to the point of order we have just seen the former Deputy Prime Minister rise to his feet and call a point of order. There was no point of order in the point of order he raised and he immediately sat down. It was used just to break up the momentum of a speech. I ask you to deal with that matter very seriously because if we let Dr Cullen get away with it [ 
Interruption 
]—and there goes another interruption on a point of order—and if we let that sort of thing go then you will have disruption in the House. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Mr Assistant Speaker you ruled out of order the member saying Labour members were too gutless. The member then said the Labour Party was too scared. That is just a cute way of trying to make the same point. It is out of order as well as being factually incorrect. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Firstly I say to Mr Henare it is well known and understood that it is just as wrong to refer to people as parties as it is to refer to them as individuals. I make that point again. The second thing is that it is not correct to simply try to remake the objection in another way. The third point the member raised was about the breaking up of his speech. As I recall it the member had hardly uttered a further 10 words before objection was taken to the same thing. I just invite the member to continue with his speech but in a vein that is acceptable to the House. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: They did not turn up because they knew they would get a hiding at Waitangi. They did not do the bully-boy tactics but they did the verbals and the protests and they said they did not want to go there but would rather go somewhere where their mates were. 
I will give members a quote from John Roughan in the  
New Zealand Herald 
: “she could not find it in herself to rise above small indignities and defeat them with humility and generosity of spirit. … She couldn’t find the capacity in her soul to say something humble heartfelt and uplifting in” the cradle of the nation’s people “the cradle of the nation’s hopes.” At Waitangi Labour members have shown how really awkward they are when faced with difficult situations. That is reflected in their relationship with Maori which is strained and awkward. 
The National Party leader has turned up every year despite the scuffles and the tellings-off because it is a demonstration of our Government’s humility and generosity of spirit. Our Prime Minister has pledged to the people of Te Tii Marae that he will be back no matter what occurs. He will be back no matter what occurs every year—ia tau ia tau ia tau. And why? This is a new dawn. 
Where else has Labour demonstrated its clumsiness? Oh that is right; it is on the battlefields of national identity. We heard from Labour about Kiwi this and Kiwi that but it never properly defined what it means by the word “Kiwi” or even by the words “national identity” because it was all just spin. When Labour ran out of ideas it was all spin spin spin. Labour applied that to everything from closing schools to State housing. When National asked where Maori fitted into Labour’s version of a national identity we were told that they had a special place. I have always wondered what that place was and now after 9 years and after looking back I see that it is in the corner on the naughty-mat. 
Under National we approach national identity is a deeper and more meaningful way because we know that Maori are central to this country’s identity. Without Maori and their unique outlook on the world in terms of their language customs traditions history and stories this country would indeed be a cultural wasteland filled with the ghosts of lost opportunity. That is why National has more Maori MPs than the Labour Party. That is why under National it is important for us to celebrate Waitangi Day at Waitangi the birthplace of our nation. That is why under National the debate is not about whether a Maori flag is flown but about which Maori flag is flown over this noble building and why under Labour debate on that would absolutely not have been possible. The Labour members did not believe in the idea of a national identity. I say it is a new dawn. The biggest— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Ka awatea! You’ve said that before; you said that 10 years ago. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is right. Absolutely! I am glad Darren Hughes was listening. 
But the biggest insult that Labour directed at Maori was the foreshore and seabed legislation. A vicious campaign of misinformation was carried out by none other than the former Prime Minister and the former Deputy Prime Minister ending with the immortal words of Dr Cullen: “If you do not agree with it you do not understand it.” Well 30000 people marched on Parliament simply to say they understood the bill all right and still did not agree with it. The question remains whether Helen Clark was there to listen to their pleas. No; she sent her mates Parekura Horomia and John Tamihere out on to the battlefield. Where was she? She was watching a sheep being shorn—adding Shrek to her version of national identity. 
But it is a new dawn. One would expect that under Labour with its significant Maori support we would have seen huge progress with Treaty settlements over 9 years—not just over the last part of it before the election. Labour had teenagers from the Office of Treaty Settlements negotiating with tribal leaders. But as I say it is a new dawn. 
Labour’s best faux pas was reserved for the Maori Party calling those members “haters and wreckers” and “the last cab off the rank”. That is what the former Prime Minister said. That relationship degenerated by the day to the point where Labour now struggles to engage with voters in the Maori seats who were once the party’s most loyal supporters. And I doubt whether those seats will ever go back to the Labour Party. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: You said that when you were in New Zealand First. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh no! No I never did. Members can see that the difference between the Hon Dr Michael Cullen and me is that I can remember. I am glad that voters in the Maori seats have once again seen the light and returned to a National coalition Government. It is a new dawn. 
I have a message for Parekura Horomia and it is that I can hear the hills of Tolaga Bay calling the former Minister home. The dogs are in the yard; the sheep are all ready to be rounded up. My message to Shane Jones is to take the reins right now and maybe just maybe he can retain what little mana Labour has left among Maori voters. It is over. It is done and dusted. It is time for him to ride off into the sunset and close the door behind him because it is for Labour ka po ka po and for National ka awatea ka awatea. What that means is out of the darkness comes a new dawn. Kia ora.