Ririnui Mita: General Debate 
Ririnui Mita: General Debate 
[Volume:648;Page:17334] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) 
: 
Otira kei te Kaihautu tena koe. Tu whakahihi tonu au i te mea ra ko tenei Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori. Na runga i tena kore e taea e tena ki te wero i te tuara o tenei tangata a-waha o Winitana. Mihi tonu atu au ki a ia ki te matenga ake o tona whaea kua tuku atu nei ki te kopu o te whenua i nga ra kua taha ake nei. No reira na runga i tena ka mihi ake ki a ia me tona whanau.  
Hoki mai ra ki te kaupapa i hui ai tatou i roto i te Whare i tenei ahiahi. Tu whakahihi tonu au i te ahuatanga o te kaupapa e pa ana ki to tatou reo. Na runga i tena ka motini hoki au ki nga mema o te Whare kia korero Maori katoa nga tangata e whai muri mai i ahau i tenei wa. Ma te mema mo tera takiwa o Otaki te mema makawe whero a Darren Hughes hei tautoko i taku motini. Na te katoa o te Whare nei e ki ae kua oti ra tena. 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Assistant Speaker. I stand proud because this is Maori Language Week. Because of that no one can verbally attack Winston to his face but to his back. But I do acknowledge him in the loss of his mother who passed away recently and express condolences to his family as well 
. 
I come back to the business and the reason why we are assembled here in the House today. I remain proud in respect to our language and as a consequence propose a motion that all members of the House who speak after me should do so totally in Maori. The member from that electorate of Otaki the red-haired Darren Hughes will second my motion. The whole House says yes that is done! 
] 
I will take a couple of minutes to translate what I have said. I have listened to the debate and the challenge on the Minister of Foreign Affairs the Rt Hon Winston Peters. I have nothing to criticise him for this week. This is a very sad week for him and for his family with the passing of his mum. I have one thing to say to Winston: “Nga mihi aroha”—my sincere condolences. All I expect from him this week is to korero Maori. I say that to every member of this House and to that end I would move a motion that everybody who speaks in this House after I sit down must speak Maori. I am sure the member for Otaki the Hon Darren Hughes would support my motion because he is a very good Maori speaker. I think he is from that tribe called “Ngati Panewhero”—the people with red hair! 
Na runga i tena kei te Kaihautu mihi kau ana ki a tatou. Otira hoki mai au ki te kaupapa o te Ropu Nahinara. Tenei taku wero ki a ratou kei hea ratou e tu ana i runga i te Tiriti o Waitangi? He aha o to ratou kaupapa kia wharikihia ki waenganui i iwi o te motu kia marama tonu ai kei hea ratou e tu ana? Kei hea o ratou mema Maori? A Horiana mai ra i Ngati Tuwharetoa. A Tau Henare mai ra i Te Tai Tokerau. Kihai ratou te hara mai ki roto i te Whare ki te whakamanahia i to ratou reo to raua reo to tatou reo. No reira karanga atu ki a ratou hoki mai ra ki te korero kia marama ai te Ropu Nahinara he Maori tonu ratou. Kei a ratou te wairua o to tatou reo kei a raua te mana o to tatou reo kei roto i tera ropu torangapu te Ropu Nahinara. 
[ 
Because of that Mr Assistant Speaker I congratulate us. Indeed I come back to the National Party’s policy. This is my challenge to National members: where do they stand in respect of the Treaty of Waitangi? What part of their policy will they place before the people of the country so that it is clear to them what National’s position is? Where are National’s Maori members—Georgina te Heuheu of Ngati Tuwharetoa and Tau Henare of the north? They have not come into the House to honour their collective language Georgina’s and Tau’s language and our language. So my call is for them to come back to explain so that it is clear to National they are still Maori that they have the spirit of our language that Georgina and Tau have control over their language in that political party National 
.] 
Once again I give a translation on my own behalf. I just say that this is a very very significant week for the Maori language. The language has a great history and I stand proud in the House this afternoon speaking in te reo but I have to ask the question of the National Party and I should be asking it of most parties that although there are two significant prominent Maori members in that party I have yet to hear them stand in this House and honour the Maori language. I hear them speak Maori a lot outside but I do not hear a lot of it in here. So I ask the National Party where it stands. Where does it stand in terms of the commitment to the development of the Maori language and Maori development generally? I do not see it I do not hear it and out there in the electorates people are asking what we stand for. 
On that note—ka hoki au ki te reo Maori kia haere tonu nga wero ki nga mema o te Whare. No reira hoki taku mahara ki te Kawangatanga Tuatoru Reipa i raro iho nei i te Pirimia o tera wa a Norman Kirk. Nana te reo i whakamanahia i roto i te Whare tae atu ra ki te Kawanatanga Reipa tuawha i raro ra i a David Lange me nga Minita Maori koira ko te Honore Koro Wetere nana i whakamanahia te reo Maori i roto i te Whare hei reo tuarahi mo te motu. Na runga i tena ka tipu haere ka pakeke haere nga tamariki i roto i nga kohanga reo kei roto i nga kura kaupapa e korerohia nei e te reo. I tenei wa he wero ano taku nei ki tena tangata e noho atu ra ki te mangai korero mo nga take kereme mo te Ropu Nahinara tena koe Chris. Kei te mohio tonu au ko koe ra te tangata kai te hiahia hoki o te Ropu Nahinara kia tu hei Minita mo nga Take Kereme. Taku ano ki te wero i a koe kai hea koe e haere ana kei koe e tu ana i roto i enei tuahuatanga te ahua nei kei te tamariki tonu koe. Kaore koe e piki ake ki nga teitei rangatira pera ra i a Takuta Michael Cullen. Kei a ia te mana kei a ia te tautoko huri noa te motu. 
[ 
So I go back to speak in Maori to resume the challenges to members of the House. My thoughts go back to the third Labour Government under the Prime Minister of that period Norman Kirk. He authorised te reo in the House as did the fourth Labour Government under David Lange with Maori Ministers namely the Hon Koro Wetere who sanctioned te reo Maori in the House and as a second official language throughout the land. Because of that children in kohanga reo and kura kaupapa where Maori is spoken emerged and matured. At this time I have a challenge to that person sitting over there the Opposition spokesperson on treaty negotiations: greetings to you Chris; I understand that you are the person from the National Party who wants to stand as Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. My challenge once again to you is: where are you going where do you stand in these circumstances? It seems that you are still a novice. You are not yet at the highest levels that Dr Michael Cullen is at. He has the standing and support throughout the land in these matters. 
] 
I say to the National Party that I have heard on the grapevine—in fact I have heard an announcement—that Chris Finlayson will be the National Party’s Treaty of Waitangi spokesperson and that he will lead the Treaty claims process. I wonder whether he can fit the shoes. Can he do all that work that Dr Michael Cullen has materialised in just a few months? 
Chester Borrows 
: It’s a secret ballot. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: A secret ballot! Then it is the worst-kept secret I have ever known. One thing is for sure—the member who interjected is gone out of Wanganui. I was there the other day and I tell members that he is gone—he will be gone by lunchtime. 
The National Party has a lot of challenges ahead of it. Labour has a strong track record in terms of Maori development and the challenge is going out to National Party members. When they go around the traps they should not only say National will do this and that and will carry on with what Labour has done but they should tell people something new because they are waiting to hear. They know that Chris Finlayson cannot hold his own in the room with Maori leaders. They will eat him alive and spit him out. 
Na runga i tena kei te Kaihautu koinei taku korero ki a tatou i tenei wa whakamanahia ra te reo Maori i nga wa katoa kia ora tatou. 
[ 
On that note Mr Assistant Speaker this is what I say to us at this time: honour te reo Maori at all times. Thank you 
.]