Maharey Steve: General Debates 
Maharey Steve: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:12640] 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 I do not think that any debate can take place in the House today without members acknowledging the events taking place on the forecourt of Parliament. For the many thousands of people who are there the issue is obviously the foreshore and the seabed of New Zealand. I want to say to those people that we respect their point of view we have listened closely to their point of view but we do not agree with their point of view. The task of this Government is to govern on behalf of all New Zealanders and that means guaranteeing that the foreshore and the seabed are there for all New Zealanders. It means access for all New Zealanders. It means Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed. It means that existing customary rights and ancestral connections are recognised and protected. 
Our approach to governing this country is to provide a basis for all people to move forward together. We are a bicultural nation. Tangata whenua are the first people of this land. They signed a treaty agreement with the Crown. Today we are beginning the 21st century as a diverse and diversifying society. This Government recognises those differences but wants to lay a foundation for us going forward together. We are all New Zealanders and our future together will depend on all of us making a contribution to the 21st century. In the last 4 years we have made huge strides. In 1999 when this Government came into power people will recall that we inherited a divided country—a country that was not performing economically and that was in the midst of major social breakdown. Many many people said that the personal isolation that they found after 9 years of not living in a society where people felt they could and should care for each other was such that they wanted to see a change in direction. 
In the last 4 years this Government has committed itself to doing basic things that bring people together. Our education policies are ensuring that people get early childhood education as a right. Our school policies mean they get extra education as a right. Our tertiary education policies have seen more people in tertiary education than ever before in the history of this country. Today we have more New Zealanders employed than ever in the history of this country. Some time this year the two-millionth New Zealander will find a job and start contributing economically to this country. We have the lowest rate of unemployment in 16 years. 
We have services being rebuilt in every key area. Mrs King has seen her primary health organisations deliver primary health care into the community at a price people can afford thereby guaranteeing that on the front line of our communities people are being made healthy because they can get access to health care. We have strengthened families. We have tried to work with United Future on ensuring we have a Families Commission. We are ensuring adequate incomes into those households. We have begun to rebuild the housing stock of this country. 
In all of this we have sought to take all of New Zealand with us because we know that when all our talents are engaged in the project of building a better future our lives will be better and so will the future of this country. For Maori this has meant a renaissance. For those who say that this has not mattered I say it has. We have halved unemployment for Maori. We just have to go to a young Maori businesswomen’s award ceremony to see the huge number of young Maori women getting started in their own businesses. In art sport business academic life—everywhere now—we are beginning to see the fruits of Maori exploding into a 21st century that will be good for them and good for this country. 
Perhaps we are at a watershed. We have begun to lay the foundations for a way forward for all New Zealand. Yes we know there is an issue over the foreshore and seabed but what is at stake here today is bigger than that. It is bigger in the sense that we are laying foundations for social economic cultural and environmental development that give us all a future. Let us go forward together.