Ririnui Mita: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Ririnui Mita: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6424] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 I start by formally apologising to the member for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell. The reason I am doing so is when I took an earlier call on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill I made a very strong statement which I stand by: that the Maori Party members have been by and large quite invisible throughout this whole debate. They have made public statements and they have certainly taken a few calls in the Chamber but I was not convinced that they were totally committed to the kaupapa of Maori representation. However I held that view right up until the moment that the member for Waiariki stood to take a call. He made his position very clear in terms of his support and the support of his party. Now I am convinced that he is not dilly-dallying around he is not playing politics with this issue and he is very committed to the issues at hand. So I say to the member for Waiariki that that was a very important call and he raised some very relevant points. 
One particular point he raised was fear. It seems that he is of the same view as I am: for some reason the National-led Government has a fear of Maori. In the past particularly going back to 2001 when I introduced the Bay of Plenty Regional Council legislation I had the same impression: a number of National and ACT members in this Chamber—particularly the Minister now in the chair Rodney Hide—were fearful of Maori and fearful of the Maori voice. They were fearful that Maori might have a level of control over the issues that affect them. They had a fear that this Trojan Horse—“stalking horse” as it was described at the time—may eventually grow to a size and be accepted by and large by New Zealand society such that it could no longer be controlled. Scare tactics! I say to the member for Waiariki that the points he raised were very important because there seems to be a level of fear. Every time the name “Rodney” comes up whether it be Rodney Hide in the chair or the Rodney District Council there is fear. The Government seems to go into fear mode. It starts to amend things to suit “Rodney” be it the Minister in the chair or the Rodney District Council. As the member for Waiariki said there is no need to fear Maori. We have a vested interest in the well-being of our communities and we insist—not want but insist—that we make a valid contribution to the development of those communities. 
I also acknowledge the contribution of my colleague Su’a William Sio. He did a very very important thing. He focused his contribution to the debate on people—the voices of the people. He highlighted the communities of his area of Mangere. He highlighted the hapu and the iwi and where they were from. He went through a list of iwi who occupy that particular area. It is very important that we do that. He was saying that these indigenous people tangata whenua of certain tribal affiliations have been speaking to the Government but the Government has not been listening. When we put it in that context it becomes very very important that people start to listen. 
When we heard the submissions on the Bay of Plenty legislation we followed the same process. The voices of the hapu—the karangarangatanga hapu of Te Arawa—had the opportunity to speak and they were heard. The voices of all the hapu of Mataatua mai i Nga Kuri a Wharei ki Tihirau had the opportunity to speak and they were heard. The hapu of the tribes of Tainui who occupied the north-western part of the Bay of Plenty also had the opportunity to express a view and were heard. The tribes of Horotiu which cover the top end of Ngati Porou in the Bay of Plenty also made submissions and insisted that their concerns be raised and their voices were heard. That is exactly the point: to acknowledge—putting aside the argument around the Treaty of Waitangi—that there is a tangata whenua voice. I listened to the Minister earlier on. I wonder whether he was being politically mischievous because he kept raising the issue about the tangata whenua voice and the Maori voice in general although I do not know why that is an issue for the Minister.